Eavan Boland
Encyclopedia
Biography
Boland's father, Frederick BolandFrederick Boland
Frederick Henry Boland was an Irish diplomat, who served as ambassador to Britain and the first Irish Ambassador to the United Nations....
, was a career diplomat and her mother, Frances Kelly
Frances Kelly
Frances J. Kelly was an Irish painter. She was married to Irish diplomat Frederick Boland. They had five children, one of whom is the poet Eavan Boland. Kelly studied at the Metropolitan School of Art, Dublin, Ireland. From 1932-1935, she studied in Paris, France with the cubist painter Léopold...
, was a noted post-expressionist painter. She was born in Dublin in 1944. At the age of six, Boland's father was appointed Irish Ambassador to the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
; the family followed him to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, where Boland had her first experiences of anti-Irish sentiment. Her dealing with this hostility strengthened Boland's identification with her Irish heritage. She spoke of this time in her poem "An Irish Childhood in England: 1951."
At 14, she returned to Dublin to attend Holy Child School in Killiney. She published a pamphlet of poetry (23 Poems) in her first year at Trinity, in 1962. Boland earned a BA with First Class Honors in English Literature and Language from Trinity College, Dublin in 1966. Since then she has held numerous teaching positions and published poetry, prose criticism and essays. Boland married the novelist Kevin Casey in 1969 and has two daughters. Her experiences as a wife and mother have influenced her to write about the centrality of the ordinary, as well as providing a frame for more political and historical themes.
She has taught at Trinity College, Dublin
Trinity College, Dublin
Trinity College, Dublin , formally known as the College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, was founded in 1592 by letters patent from Queen Elizabeth I as the "mother of a university", Extracts from Letters Patent of Elizabeth I, 1592: "...we...found and...
, University College, Dublin, and Bowdoin College
Bowdoin College
Bowdoin College , founded in 1794, is an elite private liberal arts college located in the coastal Maine town of Brunswick, Maine. As of 2011, U.S. News and World Report ranks Bowdoin 6th among liberal arts colleges in the United States. At times, it was ranked as high as 4th in the country. It is...
, and was a member of the International Writing Program
International Writing Program
The International Writing Program is a writing residency for international artists in Iowa City, Iowa. Since its inception in 1967, the IWP has hosted over 1,100 emerging and established poets, novelists, dramatists, essayists, and journalists from more than 120 countries...
at the University of Iowa
University of Iowa
The University of Iowa is a public state-supported research university located in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. It is the oldest public university in the state. The university is organized into eleven colleges granting undergraduate, graduate, and professional degrees...
. She was also writer in residence at Trinity College, Dublin, and at the National Maternity Hospital. In the late 70s and 80s, she taught at the School of Irish Studies in Dublin. Since 1996 she has been a tenured Professor of English at Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
where she is currently Bella Mabury and Eloise Mabury Knapp Professor in the Humanities and Melvin and Bill Lane Professor for Director of the Creative Writing program. She divides her time between Palo Alto and her home in Dublin.
Works and Awards
Her books of poetry include Domestic Violence (W. W. Norton & Co., 2007), Against Love Poetry (W. W. Norton & Co., 2001), The Lost Land (1998), An Origin Like Water: Collected Poems 1967-1987 (1996), In a Time of Violence (1994), Outside History: Selected Poems 1980-1990 (1990), The Journey and Other Poems (1986), Night Feed (1982), and In Her Own Image (1980). In addition to her books of poetry, Boland is also the author of Object Lessons: The Life of the Woman and the Poet in Our Time (W. W. Norton, 1995), a volume of prose, and co-editor of The Making of a Poem: A Norton Anthology of Poetic Forms (W. W. Norton & Co., 2000). Her most recent prose book is A Journey With Two Maps: Becoming a Woman Poet (W. W. Norton, 2011 and Carcanet Press UK).In 1976, Boland won a London's Award for her involvement in The Arts Programme broadcast on RTÉ Radio
RTÉ Radio 1
RTÉ Radio 1 is the principal radio channel of Irish public-service broadcaster Raidió Teilifís Éireann and is the direct descendant of Dublin radio station 2RN, which began broadcasting on a regular basis on 1 January 1926...
.
Her other awards include a Lannan Foundation Award in Poetry and an American Ireland Fund Literary Award.She also received the Corrington Medal for Literary Excellence Centenary College 2002, the Bucknell Medal of Distinction 2000 Bucknell University, the Smartt Family prize from the Yale Review and the John Frederick Nims Award from Poetry Magazine 2002.Her volume "Domestic Violence" (2007) was shortlisted for the Forward prize in the UK.Her poem
"Violence Against Women" from the same volume was awarded the James Boatwright III Prize for Poetry for the best poem published in 2007 in Shenandoah magazine.
In 1997 she received an honorary degree from University College Dublin. She also received honorary degrees from Strathclyde University and Colby College in the US in 1997, and the College of the Holy Cross in 1999. She received one from Bowdoin College in 2004. In 2004 she also received an honorary degree from Trinity College Dublin.
Eavan Boland's first book of poetry was New Territory published in 1967 with Dublin publisher Allen Figgis. This was followed by The War Horse (1975), In Her Own Image (1980) and Night Feed (1982), which established her reputation as a writer on the ordinary lives of women and on the difficulties faced by women poets in a male-dominated literary world.
Her collection In a Time of Violence (1994) received a Lannan Award and was shortlisted for the T. S. Eliot Prize
T. S. Eliot Prize
The T. S. Eliot Prize for Poetry is awarded by the Poetry Book Society to "the best collection of new verse in English first published in the UK or the Republic of Ireland" in any particular year. The Prize was inaugurated in 1993 in celebration of the Poetry Book Society's 40th birthday and in...
. Several of her volumes of poetry have been Poetry Book Society Choices in the UK, where she is primarily published by Carcanet Press
Carcanet Press
Carcanet Press is a publisher, primarily of poetry, based in the United Kingdom and founded in 1969 by Michael Schmidt.Carcanet Press is now in its fourth decade. In 2000 it was named the Sunday Times millennium Small Publisher of the Year...
. In the United States her publisher is W. W. Norton. Her volume of poems Against Love Poetry (W. W. Norton 2001) was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year.
Former Irish Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, quoted from her poem "The Emigrant Irish" in his address to the joint houses of the US Congress in May 2008.
She is co-editor of The Making of a Poem: A Norton Anthology of Poetic Forms (with Mark Strand; W. W. Norton & Co., 2000). She also published a volume of translations in 2004 called After Every War (Princeton University Press).With Edward Hirsch, she co-edited "The Making of a Sonnet: A Norton Anthology of the Sonnet" (W. W. Norton & Co., 2008).
Publications
- 23 Poems. Dublin: Gallagher, 1962.
- Autumn Essay. Dublin: Gallagher, 1963.
- Eavan Boland Poetry/Prose Joseph O’Malley. Dublin: Gallagher, 1963.
- New Territory. Dublin: Allen Figgis, 1967.
- W.B. Yeats and His World. With Micheál Mac Liammóir. London: Thames, 1971; New York: Thames & Hudson, 1998.
- The War Horse. London: Victor Gollancz, 1975.
- In Her Own Image. Dublin: Arlen House, 1980.
- Introducing Eavan Boland. Princeton, NJ: Ontario Review P, 1981.
- Night Feed. Dublin: Arlen House, 1982. Reissue: Manchester: Carcanet PressCarcanet PressCarcanet Press is a publisher, primarily of poetry, based in the United Kingdom and founded in 1969 by Michael Schmidt.Carcanet Press is now in its fourth decade. In 2000 it was named the Sunday Times millennium Small Publisher of the Year...
, 1994. - The Journey and Other Poems. Dublin: Arlen House, 1986; Manchester: Carcanet PressCarcanet PressCarcanet Press is a publisher, primarily of poetry, based in the United Kingdom and founded in 1969 by Michael Schmidt.Carcanet Press is now in its fourth decade. In 2000 it was named the Sunday Times millennium Small Publisher of the Year...
, 1987. - Selected Poems. Manchester: Carcanet PressCarcanet PressCarcanet Press is a publisher, primarily of poetry, based in the United Kingdom and founded in 1969 by Michael Schmidt.Carcanet Press is now in its fourth decade. In 2000 it was named the Sunday Times millennium Small Publisher of the Year...
, 1989. - Outside History. Manchester: Carcanet PressCarcanet PressCarcanet Press is a publisher, primarily of poetry, based in the United Kingdom and founded in 1969 by Michael Schmidt.Carcanet Press is now in its fourth decade. In 2000 it was named the Sunday Times millennium Small Publisher of the Year...
, 1990. - Outside History: Selected Poems 1980–1990. New York: Norton, 1990.
- In a Time of Violence. New York: Norton, 1994; Manchester: Carcanet, 1994.
- Collected Poems. Manchester: Carcanet PressCarcanet PressCarcanet Press is a publisher, primarily of poetry, based in the United Kingdom and founded in 1969 by Michael Schmidt.Carcanet Press is now in its fourth decade. In 2000 it was named the Sunday Times millennium Small Publisher of the Year...
, 1995. - Object Lessons: The Life of the Woman and the Poet in Our Time. New York: Norton, 1995; Manchester: Carcanet PressCarcanet PressCarcanet Press is a publisher, primarily of poetry, based in the United Kingdom and founded in 1969 by Michael Schmidt.Carcanet Press is now in its fourth decade. In 2000 it was named the Sunday Times millennium Small Publisher of the Year...
, 1995. - Penguin Modern Poets: Carol Ann Duffy, Vicki Feaver, Eavan Boland. London: Penguin, 1995.
- An Origin Like Water: Collected Poems 1967–1987. New York: Norton, 1996.
- The Lost Land. Manchester: Carcanet PressCarcanet PressCarcanet Press is a publisher, primarily of poetry, based in the United Kingdom and founded in 1969 by Michael Schmidt.Carcanet Press is now in its fourth decade. In 2000 it was named the Sunday Times millennium Small Publisher of the Year...
, 1998. - The Lost Land: Poems. New York: Norton, 1998.
- The Making of a Poem: A Norton Anthology of Poetic Forms. Ed. Eavan Boland and Mark Strand. New York: Norton, 2000.
- Against Love Poetry. New York: Norton, 2001.
- Code. Manchester: Carcanet PressCarcanet PressCarcanet Press is a publisher, primarily of poetry, based in the United Kingdom and founded in 1969 by Michael Schmidt.Carcanet Press is now in its fourth decade. In 2000 it was named the Sunday Times millennium Small Publisher of the Year...
, 2001. - Three Irish Poets: An Anthology: Eavan Boland, Paula Meehan, Mary O’Malley. Ed. Eavan Boland. Manchester: Carcanet PressCarcanet PressCarcanet Press is a publisher, primarily of poetry, based in the United Kingdom and founded in 1969 by Michael Schmidt.Carcanet Press is now in its fourth decade. In 2000 it was named the Sunday Times millennium Small Publisher of the Year...
, 2003. - After Every War: Twentieth-Century Women Poets. Trans. Eavan Boland. Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP, 2004.
- New Collected Poems. Manchester: Carcanet PressCarcanet PressCarcanet Press is a publisher, primarily of poetry, based in the United Kingdom and founded in 1969 by Michael Schmidt.Carcanet Press is now in its fourth decade. In 2000 it was named the Sunday Times millennium Small Publisher of the Year...
, 2005. - Domestic Violence. Manchester: Carcanet PressCarcanet PressCarcanet Press is a publisher, primarily of poetry, based in the United Kingdom and founded in 1969 by Michael Schmidt.Carcanet Press is now in its fourth decade. In 2000 it was named the Sunday Times millennium Small Publisher of the Year...
, 2007; New York: Norton, 2007. - Irish Writers on Writing. Ed. San Antonio: Trinity University Press, 2007.
- Selected Poems by Charlotte Mew. Ed. Manchester: Carcanet PressCarcanet PressCarcanet Press is a publisher, primarily of poetry, based in the United Kingdom and founded in 1969 by Michael Schmidt.Carcanet Press is now in its fourth decade. In 2000 it was named the Sunday Times millennium Small Publisher of the Year...
, 2008. - New Collected Poems. New York: Norton, 2008.
- The Making of a Sonnet: A Norton Anthology. Ed. with Edward Hirsch. New York: Norton, 2008.
- A Journey with Two Maps: Becoming A Woman Poet.(prose essays) Manchester: Carcanet PressCarcanet PressCarcanet Press is a publisher, primarily of poetry, based in the United Kingdom and founded in 1969 by Michael Schmidt.Carcanet Press is now in its fourth decade. In 2000 it was named the Sunday Times millennium Small Publisher of the Year...
, 2011; New York: Norton, 2011.
See also
- Irish PoetryIrish poetryThe history of Irish poetry includes the poetries of two languages, one in Irish and the other in English. The complex interplay between these two traditions, and between both of them and other poetries in English, has produced a body of work that is both rich in variety and difficult to...
- Seamus HeaneySeamus HeaneySeamus Heaney is an Irish poet, writer and lecturer. He lives in Dublin. Heaney has received the Nobel Prize in Literature , the Golden Wreath of Poetry , T. S. Eliot Prize and two Whitbread prizes...
- Michael LongleyMichael LongleyMichael Longley, CBE is a Northern Irish poet from Belfast.-Life and career:Longley was educated at the Royal Belfast Academical Institution and subsequently read Classics at Trinity College, Dublin, where he edited Icarus...
- List of Irish Writers
Further reading
Allen Randolph, Jody. Eavan Boland: A Sourcebook Manchester: Carcanet PressCarcanet Press
Carcanet Press is a publisher, primarily of poetry, based in the United Kingdom and founded in 1969 by Michael Schmidt.Carcanet Press is now in its fourth decade. In 2000 it was named the Sunday Times millennium Small Publisher of the Year...
, 2007.
Allen Randolph, Jody. Eavan Boland: A Critical Companion. New York: Norton, 2008.
Allen Randolph, Jody, and Anthony Roche, eds. Special Edition: Eavan Boland. Irish University Review 23.1 (Spring/Summer 1993).
Allen Randolph, Jody, ed. Special Issue: Eavan Boland. Colby Quarterly 35.4 (Dec. 1999).
Haberstroh, Patricia Boyle, Women Creating Women: Contemporary Irish Women Poets. Syracuse University Press (Syracuse, NY), 1996.
Hagen, Patricia L., and Thomas W. Zelman. Eavan Boland and the History of the Ordinary. Bethesda, MD: Academica Press, 2004.
Müller, Sabina J. Through the Mythographer's eye : Myth and Legend in the work of Seamus Heaney and Eavan Boland. Tübingen : Francke, 2007
Villar-Argáiz, Pilar. Eavan Boland’s Evolution As an Irish Woman Poet: An Outsider within an Outsider’s Culture. Ceredigion, UK: Mellon, 2007.
Villar-Argáiz, Pilar. The Poetry of Eavan Boland: A Postcolonial Reading. Bethesda, MD: Academica Press, 2008.
Rióna Ní Fhrighil. Briathra, Béithe agus Banfhilí: Filíocht Eavan Boland agus Nuala Ní
Dhomhnaill. An Clóchomhar: Dublin 2009
External links
- Audio: "Eavan Boland's Journey from KQED "Forum" with Michael Krasny on NPR
- Audio: Eavan Boland reads "The Wife's Lament" from The Word Exchange: Anglo-Saxon Poems in Translation
- Audio: Eavan Boland reads "Atlantis-A Lost Sonnet" from Domestic Violence
- Eavan Boland at Carcanet Press website U.K.
- Essay on Science of Cartography by Eavan Boland
- Eavan Boland reading Science of Cartography
- Eavan Boland at Academy of American Poets
- Interview at Academy of American Poets
- Eavan Boland page at the Poetry Foundation
- Eavan Boland Notebook at Poetry magazine
- An Interview with Jody Allen-Randolph
- Jonathan King Lecture Stanford Hospital
- An Interview at Caffeine Destiny
- Eavan Boland poems at Poemhunter
- Eavan Boland at Irish Writers Online
- Eavan Boland:"Letter to a Young Woman Poet"
- Address by Taoiseach Bertie Ahern to US Congress April, 2008
- Eavan Boland poem:Quarantine
- Eavan Boland in Iowa 2009