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| Object Lessons: The Life of the Woman and the Poet in Our Time | 
 enlarge | Author: Eavan Boland
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Category: Book
List Price: $14.95 (€11.81)
Buy New: $8.12 (€6.41)
You Save: $6.83 (€5.40) (46%)
Buy New/Used from $3.48 (€2.75)
Avg. Customer Rating:  (4 reviews)
Sales Rank: 231157
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 254
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.7
ISBN: 0393314375
Dewey Decimal Number: 821.914
EAN: 9780393314373
ASIN: 0393314375
Publication Date: July 1996
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
In this text, Eavan Boland meditates on being a woman and a poet in modern Ireland. In prose, she talks about the challenges of speaking honestly and truly in Ireland - where to be a woman (especially a surburban married woman with children) and a poet has seemed in the past a contradiction in terms. Boland focuses on "obstinate details" that represent larger meanings. The autobiography is not confessional, the facts connect with other voices, other lives. She is uneasy with Modernism and concerned with the erotic. A sense of continuities mark the book, the portrait of a critical imagination moving among history's obstacles, finding itself in the lessons of objects and poems.
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| Customer Reviews:
 Feminist rhetoric without effective arguement July 31, 2008
I'm all for feminist discourse and when I began reading this collection of essays I was impressed with Boland's unique style, direction and many times thought that she in some ways compared to Virginia Woolf. Unfortunately as the collection progressed I found myself growing more and more bored, this I attribute to the "I" which Woolf spoke about in "A Room of One's Own". Boland puts I at the front and center of the poem, constantly accusing Irish male poets of turning the female into a symbol without allowing them to be an actual part of the poem. In turn this arguement gets repeated and repeated and repeated to the point that when you're reading you find yourself questioning if maybe you've backtracked and are rereading something again. With a little editing, proper education and enlightenment Boland could have written a fantastic collection but ultimately it falls short. Is it possible that the female is both symbol and subject simultaneously? Boland fails to consider this option and as a result I cannot take this collection seriously, stick to poetry.
 Multi-dimensional Issues for Poetic Consideration August 26, 2006
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
The author talks about how-- the history of her country (Ireland), her experiences growing up in London and New York, the culture of poets, and her process of self realization all influenced the development of her poetic voice. This isn't a book just for Irish poets or women, the issues she discusses go to the heart of why people write the poetry they do and what expectations they have in doing so as well as how it influences other poets.
More than anything, her book shows the many ways in which we can find ourselves in different environments and roles throughout the course of our lives. She goes from daughter to exile to urbanite to rural to suburb to mother as well as exploring her own ancestry. She discusses the culture and politics of nations, poetry, and gender.
A good read for people who aren't even interested in poetry.
Amazing, Beautiful October 11, 2000
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
I first read Eavan Boland in an Irish literature class in college. Her writing is magical, lyrical, ethereal and forces you realize the power of identity, language, culture.Not just for Irish literature fans, but anyone who enjoys beautiful prose.
Powerful; lyrical; explores issues of women, poets, Irish October 14, 1998
8 out of 9 found this review helpful
Boland addresses the struggles of a poetess finding her voice in a society which seems to lack a place for her. Through seemingly circular reasoning, she approaches, considers, defines, and returns to consider the significance of the events of Ireland and the writing of others in her own unique and powerful voice. An enchanting read that reminds women of their own experiences while addressing the dichotomy that keeps them separate.
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