Transforming Spaces in Evan Boland's Selected Poems: A Feminist Perspective

Although it may appear to readers that she is a poet of nationalist sentiments, Evan Boland's (1944-2020) rejection of Irish national history suggests otherwise. Her powerful Irish female voice challenges the traditional notion of belonging to one's nation, specifically women's connection to her land. Despite the emotional depth of her poems concerning women's place in Ireland, the focus of these emotions is consistently detached from the common sense of the nation and in support of the female experience in the face of a patriarchal society. By examining her selected poems, this paper underlines that Boland's poems about Ireland exist within a feminist sphere. It also argues that they can be classified as traditional feminist poetics, which provides a retreat from the totalizing tendencies of ethnic nationalism.