Eavan Boland

Leon Lewis (Appalachian State University)

Ed. by Anne Markey, Dublin City University, Ian Campbell Ross, Trinity College Dublin
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.4: Irish Writing and Culture, 400-present.
Vol. editors: Anne Markey (Dublin City University), Ian Campbell Ross (Trinity College Dublin), Eoghan Smith (Carlow College), Sinéad Sturgeon (Queen's University Belfast)

Dates

Born 1964
Died 2020

Places

Born in Ireland, Republic of (Eire)
Active in Ireland, Republic of (Eire)

Activities

Primary

Poet

Resources

Boland's Works

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From her earliest awareness of herself as a writer, Eavan Boland defined her identity as an Irish woman. “Even now, my parents seem to me perfectly Irish, completely of their time and place”, Boland wrote in her 2011 collection

A Journey with Two Maps

(Boland,

A Journey with Two Maps,

27). As an aspiring young student and poet in Dublin in the 1960s, Boland was drawn to a traditional vision of Irish literary life, “imagining myself there” as

“I loved that narrative with its irresistible mix of dark violence and Victorian sentiment” (Boland,

Object Lessons,

62/63). The inducement to “write in that cursive and approved script can seem, for the unwary poet”, Boland reflects, “a blessed lifting of the solitude and skepticism of the poet’s life” (Boland,

The Southern

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3482 words

Citation: Lewis, Leon. "Eavan Boland". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 28 July 2020 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=5517, accessed 23 November 2024.]