Eavan Boland - The Pomegranate Flashcards
The myth = Ceres (mother) and Persephone (daughter)
Ceres searched for her daughter in the underworld
The story of a daughter lost in hell
Different aspects of the story can be relevant at different times. Sees herself as Persephone when she is “a child in exile” and as Ceres when she “walked out into a summer twilight searching for [her] daughter at bedtime”
“I can enter it anywhere”
Sees herself at Persephone
“A child in exile’
Sees herself as Ceres
“Walked out into a summer twilight searching for [her] daughter at bedtime”
Winter means the separation of Ceres and Persephone
When her daughter becomes a teenager, she will become more cold and distant
I knew winter was in store
The poet becomes aware of the painful emotions that lie ahead for her daughter.
Adolescence in contrast to childhood, is a foreboding place.
Diamonds represent the mature adult who will emerge from the teenage daughter and the emotional stress she will endure in the process of maturing.
Conscious of her innocence
Unshed tears ready to be diamonds
Legend = warn her not to eat pomegranate seeds
Reality= warn her about the dangers of life
Fierce maternal protectiveness
Maternal instinct is to protect and warn the child now
I could warn her
She understands that her daughter must experience the truth of the legend for herself, to experience temptation, pain and make mistakes
Is she protects her too much, the wisdoms of the legends will mean less
If I defer the grief I will diminish the gift
She must allow her daughter space and freedom to grow up.
She will not attempt to delay her growth any longer.
Complex nature of mother-daughter experience
I will say nothing
Sensational language = sexual awakening
As she eats the pomegranate, she becomes partially lost to her mother as she enters the world where her mother is excluded.
Parallel to myth
She will wake up. She will hold the papery flushed skin in her hand. And to her lips.
Themes
Mother daughter relationship
Myth
