Poetry for Students, Volume 31

heritage, as McCallum affirms, ‘‘Boland’s poems
make their own best argument for not only her
right but also her ability to lay claim to Irishness
and Ireland.’’

CRITICISM

Catherine Dominic
Dominic is a novelist and a freelance writer and
editor. In this essay, she explores the contrast
between the sense of turmoil and struggle pre-
sented in ‘‘Outside History’’ and the idea of per-
manence suggested by Boland’s depiction of the
relationship between the Irish people and the land
of Ireland itself.

In Boland’s poem ‘‘Outside History,’’ the
poet depicts a transition within herself, a choice
to move from one position or vantage point to
another. She describes the moment of choosing
between existing as an outsider and living within
the confines or structures of history. Many crit-
ics have observed, and Boland herself has explic-
itly explained in her nonfiction, that as a poet
and a woman she has often felt herself to be
living a life of exclusion from the social, cultural,
and literary history of Ireland. In many ways,
her poem may be understood as a reaction to this
sense of exclusion and isolation. ‘‘Outside His-
tory’’ is essentially a poem about struggle and
conflict. There is, however, a point of stillness at
the center of the poem’s transition and turmoil,
and that is Ireland itself. Boland depicts her
native land as a solid, immovable essence amidst
the conflict, sorrow, and death in the poem.

In the preface to her nonfiction workObject
Lessons: The Life of the Woman and the Poet
in Our Time, published in 1995, Boland explains
that when she began writing, poets held a

respected place in Irish culture and society, and

that the very ‘‘idea of the poet’’ served as ‘‘an

emblem to the whole culture that self-expression

and survival could combine.’’ Later, as Boland

describes, this notion fell out of fashion, to be

replaced by a new emblematic idea, that of the

female life, with the richness of ‘‘its ritual, its

history,’’ now viewed as ‘‘a brilliantly lit motif.’’

Boland discusses inObject Lessonsa sense of

WHAT

DO I READ

NEXT?

Object Lessons: The Life of the Woman and

the Poet in Our Time(1995) is a nonfiction

work in which Boland combines autobiog-

raphy with argumentative essay in order to

explore the experience of women in Ireland

and the life of the poet, and to comment on

the overlap and connection between these

two identities.

New Territory(1967) is Boland’s first full-

length volume of poetry. It is characterized

by her interest in language and identity and

by her deeply emotional responses to life.

W. B. Yeats and His World (1970), by

Boland and Michea ́l MacLiammo ́ir, is a

biography of William Butler Yeats (1865–

1939), an Irish poet, dramatist, and author

whose work was, like Boland’s, inspired and

informed by Irish mythology and history.

Self-Portrait in the Dark(2008), by Colette

Bryce, represents the work of one of several

female rising stars in the world of Irish

poetry. Like Boland, Bryce acknowledges

the challenge of having few female Irish

poets with whom one may seek connection

and inspiration.

Over Nine Waves: A Book of Irish Legends

(1995), retold and edited by Marie Heaney,

is a collection of Irish folktales and mythol-

ogy written in an accessible, modern style.

The volume offers a glimpse into the foun-

dations of Irish literature that influenced so

many later Irish writers.

‘OUTSIDE HISTORY’ IS ESSENTIALLY A POEM

ABOUT STRUGGLE AND CONFLICT. THERE IS,

HOWEVER, A POINT OF STILLNESS AT THE CENTER

OF THE POEM’S TRANSITION AND TURMOIL, AND

THAT IS IRELAND ITSELF.’’

Outside History