Boland: The Pomegranate

Question 1

What is the central theme of the mother-daughter relationship?

Answer 1

The complexities of motherhood and the inability to shield a daughter from life’s hardships.

Question 2

5 quotes

Answer 2

“The only legend i have ever loved is the story of a daughter lost in hell”
“Was ready to make any bargain to keep her”
“Asleep beside her teen magazines, her can of coke, her plate of uncut fruit”
“The rain is cold. The road is flint coloured. The suburb has cars and cable television”
“Hold the papery flushed skin in her hand”

Question 3

Analysis of “the only legend i have every loved is the story of a daughter lost in hell”

Answer 3

Technique: Allusion
Effect: Universal pain of a mother losing her child to independence or danger. Sets the emotional tone of the poem — love, loss, and inevitable separation

Question 4

Analysis of “was ready to make any bargain to keep her”

Answer 4

Technique: Hyperbole / Emotive language
Effect: Conveys the desperation and powerlessness of a mother trying to protect her child.

Question 5

Analysis of “asleep beside her teen magazines, her can of coke, her plate of uncut fruit”

Answer 5

Technique: Symbolism
Effect: The uncut fruit symbolizes temptation and change (like Persephone’s pomegranate), implying danger or transformation ahead.

Question 6

Analysis of “the rain is cold. The road is flint-coloured. The suburb has cars and cable television”

Answer 6

Technique: Mundane imagery
Effect: Bleak, emotionally distant.
The everyday setting contrasts with the emotional weight of myth, showing how profound emotions can exist in ordinary places.

Question 7

Analysis of “hold the papery flushed skin in her hand”

Answer 7

Technique: Sensory imagery / Symbolism
Effect: A symbol of knowledge, choice, and maturity. Shows her growing autonomy, echoing Persephone’s moment of change.