“There is a way of making free with the past”: W.B. Yeats’s “A Prayer for My Daughter” and Eavan Boland’s “The Pomegranate” as allegories for poetic legacy
Throughout his long career as a writer, William Butler Yeats established a legacy as perhaps the most influential Irish poet of the twentieth century. He was an advocate for Irish Nationalism and one of the leaders of the Celtic revival movement. Through Yeats’s pastoral, mythic imagery and, later, his explorations of the country’s political and social struggles, he gave a bold poetic voice to Ireland. His influence on the national narrative of Ireland propelled him into the Irish Senate for two terms and solidified his legacy as the driving force behind the Irish literary revival.
In 1967, …show more content…
They are seen as as poets who reflected the consciousness of Ireland in their respective eras. However, their approaches to expressing and refiguring the important moments, myths, and themes the of Emerald Isle were vastly different. Yeats, a formalist poet, was deeply concerned with the way his poetry and other works would contribute to his legacy. His 1919 poem, “A Prayer for My Daughter,” imagines how Yeats’s daughter might navigate the obstacles she will encounter as she comes of age. His anxieties focus mostly on her beauty, chastity, and her ability to found a dynastic succession. The poem is his attempt to reinforce Big House politics, customs, and identities in a chaotic, revolutionary Ireland. The poem’s strict structure—ten stanzas of eight lines each with two rhyming couplets followed by a quatrain—underline his preoccupation with order and …show more content…
She is less assured than Yeats, not of her ability as a writer, but of her capacity to give a definite, holistic picture of what Irish identity should be. Boland’s 1994 poem “The Pomegranate” uses the Greek myth of Ceres and Persephone to illustrate the relationship between a mother and her daughter. She infuses domestic and mundane moments with the significance of Greek myth to demonstrate the cyclical nature of motherhood and female relationships. Unlike Yeats, Boland includes the daughter’s perspective and takes into account what is best for her as an individual. “Pomegranate” is reflective rather than authoritative. Boland wants her daughter to experience life at its fullest, with all of its hardships and pleasures. Simply, “Pomegranate” is a love poem from a mother to her daughter. But, it is also indicative of Boland’s philosophy as a writer. She is is interested in stories: how they are crafted, written, and revised. Her work is compelling because she believes in the power an artist has to sincerely tell histories by collecting and refashioning the range of fleeting moments that make up people’s
Throughout his long career as a writer, William Butler Yeats established a legacy as perhaps the most influential Irish poet of the twentieth century. He was an advocate for Irish Nationalism and one of the leaders of the Celtic revival movement. Through Yeats’s pastoral, mythic imagery and, later, his explorations of the country’s political and social struggles, he gave a bold poetic voice to Ireland. His influence on the national narrative of Ireland propelled him into the Irish Senate for two terms and solidified his legacy as the driving force behind the Irish literary revival.
In 1967, …show more content…
They are seen as as poets who reflected the consciousness of Ireland in their respective eras. However, their approaches to expressing and refiguring the important moments, myths, and themes the of Emerald Isle were vastly different. Yeats, a formalist poet, was deeply concerned with the way his poetry and other works would contribute to his legacy. His 1919 poem, “A Prayer for My Daughter,” imagines how Yeats’s daughter might navigate the obstacles she will encounter as she comes of age. His anxieties focus mostly on her beauty, chastity, and her ability to found a dynastic succession. The poem is his attempt to reinforce Big House politics, customs, and identities in a chaotic, revolutionary Ireland. The poem’s strict structure—ten stanzas of eight lines each with two rhyming couplets followed by a quatrain—underline his preoccupation with order and …show more content…
She is less assured than Yeats, not of her ability as a writer, but of her capacity to give a definite, holistic picture of what Irish identity should be. Boland’s 1994 poem “The Pomegranate” uses the Greek myth of Ceres and Persephone to illustrate the relationship between a mother and her daughter. She infuses domestic and mundane moments with the significance of Greek myth to demonstrate the cyclical nature of motherhood and female relationships. Unlike Yeats, Boland includes the daughter’s perspective and takes into account what is best for her as an individual. “Pomegranate” is reflective rather than authoritative. Boland wants her daughter to experience life at its fullest, with all of its hardships and pleasures. Simply, “Pomegranate” is a love poem from a mother to her daughter. But, it is also indicative of Boland’s philosophy as a writer. She is is interested in stories: how they are crafted, written, and revised. Her work is compelling because she believes in the power an artist has to sincerely tell histories by collecting and refashioning the range of fleeting moments that make up people’s