Woman in Kitchen: Structure & Language Techniques

Structure & Language Techniques in “Woman in Kitchen”

Structure

The poem employs a free verse form, consistent with much of Boland’s work, which replicates the fluid, unstructured nature of thought and memory.
Movement of time: Boland structures the poem to move from the night to the morning, then to the afternoon, accompanying the progression of the woman’s day in the kitchen.
The poem combines personal and historical perspectives, allowing Boland to explore individual experiences within larger societal structures and the intersection of personal/private with public/political realms.

Language Techniques

Boland uses sensory imagery, particularly of sound, to bring the scene to life. Phrases such as ‘a pan sizzles’, ‘water boils’, and ‘an oven ticks’ make the reader feel the sounds, smells, and warmth of the kitchen.
Metaphor: The kitchen becomes a metaphor for the woman’s life - a place of work but also of creation and the facilitator of family relationships. The contrast between the banality of domestic chores and the beauty of life created and nurtured within the kitchen is emphasized.
Symbolism: Several everyday objects are imbued with deeper meaning in the poem. For example, ‘the kettle’s elements’ symbolise the mundane, commonplace elements of the woman’s life, while ‘the long suds they can’t break away from’ represent the woman’s endless tasks and responsibilities.
Paradoxes: Language techniques involving paradoxes are used to underline the complexity of the woman’s life, such as ‘the unfinished past and the resolve of the ordinary day’. This reveals the multilayered experiences of women, torn between societal expectations, personal dreams, and the reality and demands of domestic life.
Boland’s use of juxtaposition in ‘the variants of flame and the absolutes of light’ highlights the swinging moods and phases in a woman’s life, moving from the passion of flame to the steadiness of light.
The title “Woman in Kitchen” itself is a direct approach linking the work to the feminist critique of society’s traditional confining of women to domestic roles.