The New Pastoral: Structure & Language Techniques

Poem: “The New Pastoral”

“The New Pastoral” by Eavan Boland is one of her more significant poems. It delves into the topics of artistic tradition and the painful realities of rural life, specifically with regards to women.
Through the use of the pastoral tradition in literature, which often idealises rural life, Boland calls attention to the harsher truths of such living and the often unseen suffering of ordinary people.
Boland’s main objective is to destabilise the traditional pastoral narrative and give voice to those who have been silenced in literature, particularly rural and working-class women.

The poem is divided into six six-lined stanzas, maintaining a consistent and tightly-knit structure.
The use of enjambment in the poem disrupts the flow, intending to emulate the disruptions in the idealised vision of rural life.
Each stanza ends with a powerful, stand-alone line. These ending lines often contain revelations or crucial insights that offer a counter-narrative to pastoral traditions.

Boland uses vivid imagery and sensory language to immerse readers in visceral rural scenes, often exploiting the harsh realities of rural life.
The language is often tactile and visceral; Boland discusses the physicality of the women’s work (“Our hands are wounds”).
The use of juxtaposition in the poem brings into stark relief the real pain and hardship of rural life against the backdrop of its romanticised depiction in art and literature.
Boland reaches into her toolkit of metaphor, simile, and personification to craft evocative images that deeply resonate with her focus on realism (e.g., “Their eyes are ponds of shadow under sallow trees. Their voices fountains.”)
She often employs pastoral diction and phrases traditionally associated with an idyllic countryside, but proceeds to deconstruct them through the rest of the poem.
The tone of the poem is ironic and subversive, challenging the traditional depictions and romantic ideals associated with pastoral poetry.