White Hawthorne in the West of Ireland: Poet & Context

“White Hawthorn in the West of Ireland”: Poet and Context

Eavan Boland was a 19th-century Irish poet whose work often focused on the role of women in Irish society and the complexities of Irish identity.
As an Irish writer, Boland grappled with the duality of her identity as both Irish and a woman. Her work often reflects the struggle to balance these intersecting identities.
Boland expressed a strong sense of disconnection from the traditional literary canon, which was typically dominated by male voices.
This sense of otherness fostered by her gender and nationality greatly influenced the tone and themes of her poetry.

The poem “White Hawthorn in the West of Ireland” was published in 1975, a time when Ireland was undergoing significant socio-political change.
Boland was deeply influenced by the feminist movement of the 1960s and 70s, and her poetry often reflects a questioning of traditional gender roles.
Throughout the poem, Boland grapples with the tensions between her personal experiences and the national narrative of Ireland, a nation that was often romanticised in literature and popular culture.
The poem reflects Boland’s desire to create a more nuanced and realistic portrayal of modern Ireland, challenging the idealised images often portrayed in Irish literature.

Boland has cited William Butler Yeats as a significant influence. Although she admired his ability to capture the spirit of Ireland in his poetry, she also critiqued his tendency to idealise and romanticise Irish rural life.
This dialectic with Yeats is particularly evident in “White Hawthorn in the West of Ireland”, where Boland juxtaposes the romantic visions of rural Ireland against the harsh realities of modern life.
Boland’s use of folklore and myth in her poetry, including in this poem, provides a framework for examining her own positions within her culture and society.

Boland’s poetry often revolves around nature and its relationship to human life.
Nature imagery in her poetry, such as the white hawthorn in the title, are not just aesthetically pleasing, but contain symbolic and emotive resonance.
In “White Hawthorn in the West of Ireland”, Boland uses the motif of the hawthorn tree to articulate her feelings of displacement and her attempt to reconcile her dual identities as a woman and an Irish.
By drawing on her own experiences and nuances of meaning, Boland creates a personal mythology which contributes towards a broader and more complex understanding of Irish identity and womanhood.