Eavan Boland

Brief HistoryBrief History Born in Dublin, Ireland 1944 to Frederick Boland a career Born in Dublin, Ireland 1944 to Frederick Boland a career

diplomat who later became the U.N. President and Frances diplomat who later became the U.N. President and Frances Kelly a noted post-expressionist painter. She was the Kelly a noted post-expressionist painter. She was the youngest of five children.youngest of five children.

Moved with family to London in 1951 Moved with family to London in 1951 where she first encountered anti-Irish where she first encountered anti-Irish sentiment. This strengthened her sentiment. This strengthened her identification with her Irish heritageidentification with her Irish heritage

Returned to Ireland and attended Returned to Ireland and attended Trinity College earning her B. A. and Trinity College earning her B. A. and publishing poetry.publishing poetry.

Married author Kevin Casey and had Married author Kevin Casey and had two daughters.two daughters.

Currently teaching at Stanford Currently teaching at Stanford UniversityUniversity

BibliographyBibliography

POETRYPOETRY 23 Poems 23 Poems (1962) (1962) New Territory New Territory (1967)(1967) The War Horse The War Horse (1975) (1975) In Her Own ImageIn Her Own Image

(1980)(1980) Night Feed Night Feed (1982)(1982) The JourneyThe Journey (1987) (1987) Selected Poems 1980-Selected Poems 1980-

19901990 (1990) (1990) Outside HistoryOutside History (1990) (1990)

In a Time of ViolenceIn a Time of Violence (1994)(1994)

The Lost LandThe Lost Land (1998) (1998) Against Love PoetryAgainst Love Poetry

(2001)(2001) New Collected PoemsNew Collected Poems

(2005)(2005) Domestic ViolenceDomestic Violence

(2007)(2007)

PROSEPROSE Object Lessons: The Object Lessons: The

Life of the Woman and Life of the Woman and the Poet in Our Timethe Poet in Our Time (1995)(1995)

In 1990, Boland published Outside History, a book of poetry divided into three sections: Object Lessons, Outside History: A Sequence, and Distances. The following is an excerpt from R. T. Smith’s essay “Altered Light: Outside History”

“In her relentless excavation of the local events and moments that bear witness to

women’s legitimate place in history and the interpretative community, Eavan Boland has

for a decade brought to light the nature of the myths that women have been relegated to. . . . Each poem represents a significant

skirmish or pitched battle in the quest for full investiture . . .. The initial section, ‘Object

Lessons,’ introduces motifs of exile, fragility and damage, and the puzzling interactions”

between men and women through meditations on an elegant fan, [etc.]. Although she makes no pretence of

presenting ‘objective’ lessons, she does focus on ‘objectionable’ ones, lessons in which the outsider’s perspective is given weight, the acts and words in the private house and garden are recognized as too

close to the lens for conventional history to examine. This is an insurrection against

traditional male iconography.”