Please the following poems by Irish authors:
Seamus Heaney, “Punishment” (feel free to read the “contextual note” as well)
Eavan Boland, “The Achill Woman”
Eavan Boland, “A Woman Without a Country”
Eavan Boland, “Mother Ireland”
Eavan Boland, “In Which the Ancient History I Learn is Not My Own”
Please write a blog post responding to these poems. You many not have studied poetry very much before, and that’s ok. What lines or images did you like? Which confused you? What do you think is happening (on a plot-level) in these poems? If you are more comfortable reading poetry, I’d encourage you to select one or two poems and under take a close reading. Zoom in on metaphors, images, rhyme scheme, and words, and speculate as to why you think the poet may have written his/her poem in that particular way. In class, we will discuss how Boland and Heaney represent Ireland.
