Stan Carey4d ago

Eavan Boland and the emergence of a poetic self. On the blog: https://stancarey.wordpress.com/2026/03/29/eavan-boland-and-the-emergence-of-a-poetic-self/

#poetry #IrishPoetry #EavanBoland #literature #identity

Eavan Boland and the emergence of a poetic self

I picked up Object Lessons (1995) by Eavan Boland (1944–2020) thinking it was a memoir, but it’s more focused than that: a meditation on the emergence of her identity as a poet, specifically a woma…

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Show threadStan Carey2d ago

"Without knowing, I had used that thing for which the English reserve a visceral dislike: their language, loaded and aimed by the old enemy."

—Eavan Boland, on using the word "amn't" in a London school at the age of 6 or 7

#language #IrishEnglish #dialect #poetry

Show threadrivets
@stancarey I have always said amn't. Aren't doesn't make sense. (Scottish)
Mar 30 at 5:15pmWeb
Show threadStan Carey1d ago
@rivets Which is why children learning English often produce "amn't", till they're told not to