The Pomegranate by Eavan Boland Flashcards
What are the themes in ‘The Pomegranate’ by Eavan Boland?
Loss
Mother-daughter relationship
Mythology
What is the tone of ‘The Pomegranate’ by Eavan Boland?
○Quite gloomy and bleak: hell; city of fogs; dusk of the underworld, the stars blighted; twilight; winter; stars are hidden; place of death; rocks full of unshed tears
○Appropriate for the painful experience being recorded
○Also a tone of acceptance towards the end → “i will say nothing”
What is the structure of ‘The Pomegranate’ by Eavan Boland?
○Unstructured → descriptive narrative; straightforward; factual yet personal
○No stanzas; no spacings
○Blank verse, which achieves a natural sounding utterance/ speaking voice
Describe the use of punctuation in ‘The Pomegranate’ by Eavan Boland
○Frequent use of short sentences → factual &slows tempo
○Exclamation mark and question mark in “The pomegranate! How did I forget it?” captures the mood of sadness as Boland remembers her daughter will have to leave
Give the quote that contains the repetition of “she will” and the impact this has on the poem ‘The Pomegranate’ by Eavan Boland
“She will enter it. As I have.
She will wake up. She will hold
the papery flushed skin in her hand.
And to her lips. I will say nothing.”
This highlights the inevitability and the need to let her daughter go. Boland is deciding to remain silent, despite her grief
“The only…
"The only legend I have ever loved is the story of a daughter lost in hell. And found and rescued there. Love and blackmail are the gist of it. Ceres and Persephone the names."
“As a …
“As a child in exile in
a city of fogs and strange consonants”
“Later…
“Later
I walked out in a summer twilight
searching for my daughter at bed-time”
“winter was…
“winter was in store for every leaf
on every tree on that roof”
“I climb the …
“I climb the stairs and stand where I can see
my child asleep beside her teen magazines,
her can of Coke”
“She could have…
“She could have come home and been safe
and ended the story and all
our heart-broken searching”
“…but she reached…
"...but she reached out a hand and plucked a pomegranate. She put out her hand and pulled down the French sound for apple and the noise of stone"
“I could …
“I could warn her. There is still a chance”
“But what else…
“But what else
can a mother give her daughter but such
beautiful rifts in time?”
“The legend…
“The legend will be hers as well as mine”
