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"I was an urban twelve. This was the Arctic garden [...] with Aurora Borealis--apple-green and icy [...] I am three times twelve. No more the Aurora, its apple-icy brightness. But if I raise the window and lean I can see [...] a nursery light rising [...] The days will be the same [...] And all the light I love leave me in the dark," (lines 8-9, 13-14, 32-35, 38, 46-47).

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Boland looks for reminders of her childhood in her now adult life; looking for an Aurora but finding only the light emitting from her child's nursery. She carries her past memories with her, and they shape her perspective on her life as she transitions into motherhood--into Demeter. How motherhood holds her back.

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"When she came running I was ready to make any bargain to keep her. I carried her back past whitebeams and wasps and honey-scented buddleias. But I was Ceres then and I knew winter was in store for every leaf and tree on that road," (Lines 15-21)

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Boland's childhood memories dictated how she brought up her own children. She has a desire to safeguard her children, to protect them from any bad experiences & carry them through hardship. Her choices to protect are a response to the deeply-rooted idea (that tends to be ingrained in women from childhood) that motherhood equates ultimate feminine identity.

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"The cutlery glitter of that sky has nothing in it I want to follow," (Lines 5-8).

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Boland displays a familiarity with traditional religious symbols and rituals in this poem. Lamb as a sacrifice, nativity (occasion of birth connoted with religion) candles, an altar, a psaltery, (pre-harp instrument used in religious contexts)--she combs through these symbols while also observing a nursery. She feels trapped by traditional roles, by how religion and her ancestors define motherhood (not necessarily that she doesn't want to be a mother, but that SHE should be the one to define her experience as one, not archaic values.)

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"The pomegranate! How could I forget it? She could have come home and been safe and ended the story and all our heart-broken searching but she reached out a hand and plucked a pomegranate [...] If I defer the grief I will diminish the gift. The legend will be hers as well as mine," (Lines 28-31, 47-48).

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Boland confronts her grief in this poem, the idea that her daughter will inevitably grow up, and she cannot protect her from everything. She grieves this loss of innocence in her child because she herself has lost the same. There is a sense of anguish and grief in motherhood as she loses her child, just as her mother, and her mother before. This grief (in both exclusively a woman, or a woman and her child) and how a mother can experience it shapes her identity.

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"--all [her features] had been chiseled out with the veil in the same, indivisible act of definition which had silenced her [...] And my mother wept [...] She dried her tears. She put one hand up to her throat and pulled, between her thumb and forefinger, the rope of light there. 'Did you know' she said 'some people say that pearls are tears?'"

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Boland explores the similarities between art and grief, specifically in women. Both are forms of intimate expression that stem from our personal experiences, beliefs and values--what cause us to grieve are the things we love, hate and care for. She refers to the statue as being silenced by a veil, referencing the idea that grief or struggle in women specifically is repressed or shunned by greater society.

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Domestic tradition greatly impacts the feminine identity. We see this in the endurance of the Cult of Domesticity, and ideals reaching across many cultures. The societal pressure to maintain tradition as well as the ideal image of a mother causes many women to submit to motherhood rather than considering what they desire first. We see this in Boland herself as she comments on the pressure she felt to become a mother from her very birth in "Hymn." Despite the apparent grief, the bust she observes is completely quiet, and reminds her of her mother's weeps. The idea that the art is silenced and the mother is tangible, but she goes unheard much like the statue itself. That the image of a woman in sorrow is tired to objectivity.

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"Hymn" further explores how tradition can impede on expression, which contributes to identity. Boland has become familiar with motherhood, with the routine of domestic life, however, she alludes to symbols that are either religious or have been present in poems that outline her own mother's experiences as a woman.

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"...sharkless Eden porched by the North. A snow-shrubbed orchard with Aurora Borealis [...] But I was a child of the Fall: I loved the python waves--" (Lines 10-13, 16-17).

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Religion often plays a role in how one expresses themselves and their worldview. In this poem, Boland comments that she is a child of the Fall, signifying that she is a child of, or a result of sin--or even that she desires to break free from traditional roles of womanhood that are outlined in ancient texts like the Bible. She comments on the desire to express her identity, which means facing the constraints of religion or traditional beliefs.

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"There was a singing kettle. I want to know why no one [...] crouched to hear its rising shriek in winter or wrote it down with the birds in their blue sleeves of air," (Lines 12-16).

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Explores the struggles and grief a mother faces. Boland's mother endured feelings of isolation due to her husband's job, and as a child, Boland was unable to fully understand or help her mother. Idea that certain qualities or feelings come with motherhood and shape identity; such as feelings of isolation, grief, but also a strong sense of foundation or tether to her family. Boland herself realizes that her mother, while a strong figure in her life, was constrained to her domestic roles, perhaps contributing to Boland's own experiences as she becomes an adult.

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HOW DOES BOLAND EXPLORE THE COMPLEXITIES OF A WOMAN'S MULTIFACETED IDENTITY BEYOND TRADITIONAL ROLES LIKE MOTHERHOOD?

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HOW DOES BOLAND EXPLORE THE COMPLEXITIES OF A WOMAN'S MULTIFACETED IDENTITY BEYOND TRADITIONAL ROLES LIKE MOTHERHOOD?

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Boland tackles the complexities of feminine identity through targeting the societal constraints a woman faces. She focuses on tradition, and how oftentimes religious or societal values impede on a woman's ability and right to express herself. Furthermore, she explains how grief coexists with maturity of self, and how the death of innocence and birth of maturity contributes to identity; especially in the specific context of intimacy between mother and child. She also outlines how memory and choice contribute to the growth of identity, how one carries moments of their childhood with them, and how you become the person defining your own identity, not the traditions you grew up with. It is important to mention that she does not vilify motherhood or religion, but provides readers with the tools to assess how these concepts affect a woman's identity, which is a focus of many social and political movements in modern-day contexts.

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Light as a symbol for connections or experiences Boland is missing out on, idea that the stereotypical visual of motherhood is betraying her; not what it looked like

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Light as a symbol for connections or experiences Boland is missing out on, idea that the stereotypical visual of motherhood is betraying her; not what it looked like

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Silent struggles a mother faces; postpartum depression, domestic labor, how your identity changes after you have children imbalances and how this shapes perspective on one's life 

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Silent struggles a mother faces; postpartum depression, domestic labor, how your identity changes after you have children imbalances and how this shapes perspective on one's life 

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Allusion to Demeter and Persephone symbolizing maternal relationships and transition from childhood to adulthood

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Allusion to Demeter and Persephone symbolizing maternal relationships and transition from childhood to adulthood

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Protective diction emphasizes how Boland desires to safeguard her children, even in times of joy

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Protective diction emphasizes how Boland desires to safeguard her children, even in times of joy

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Potential fear that if her children/daughters grow up, she will lose purpose. Anguish in motherhood

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Potential fear that if her children/daughters grow up, she will lose purpose. Anguish in motherhood

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The sky/heavens as a symbol for ancestry or tradition. The "star of her nativity" (meaning her projected purpose AT BIRTH) is her current life as a mother--idea that she was pressured into motherhood or that this was the expectation. Again, not suggested that she dislikes her child, but the idea that she felt the need to have one due to her upbringing, and that her memories shaped her identity rather than her own choices.

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The sky/heavens as a symbol for ancestry or tradition. The "star of her nativity" (meaning her projected purpose AT BIRTH) is her current life as a mother--idea that she was pressured into motherhood or that this was the expectation. Again, not suggested that she dislikes her child, but the idea that she felt the need to have one due to her upbringing, and that her memories shaped her identity rather than her own choices.

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A gift as a symbol of experiences, both good and bad

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A gift as a symbol of experiences, both good and bad

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Allusion of Demeter and Persephone symbolic of a cycle; even if a daughter doesn't grow up to have a child, she will still experience a loss of innocence and grieve her past as she transitions into adulthood, and her identity matures

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Allusion of Demeter and Persephone symbolic of a cycle; even if a daughter doesn't grow up to have a child, she will still experience a loss of innocence and grieve her past as she transitions into adulthood, and her identity matures

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Pearls as tears emphasize the idea that grief is an expression of self, a display of what one cares about

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Pearls as tears emphasize the idea that grief is an expression of self, a display of what one cares about

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The statue is representative of women, the veil symbolic of the way women's struggles are shrouded by society, and how this affects the greater feminine identity. That a woman is too emotional, that she should suppress her emotions rather than express them.

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The statue is representative of women, the veil symbolic of the way women's struggles are shrouded by society, and how this affects the greater feminine identity. That a woman is too emotional, that she should suppress her emotions rather than express them.

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The clotheshorse as a symbol for how Boland's mother was tethered to domestic roles rather than able to fully grow into herself, or reach her full potential. Idea of a constraint on identity.

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The clotheshorse as a symbol for how Boland's mother was tethered to domestic roles rather than able to fully grow into herself, or reach her full potential. Idea of a constraint on identity.

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Kettle as a symbol of loneliness, and fire dogs as a symbol of how Boland's mother was the foundation of her family.

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Kettle as a symbol of loneliness, and fire dogs as a symbol of how Boland's mother was the foundation of her family.

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Boland approaches these symbols retrospectively, realizing how she misunderstood and ignored her mother--how when she was young she'd brush over the toll domestic duties had on her mother. These realizations contribute to her own experience as a mother, shown in memory and choice.

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Boland approaches these symbols retrospectively, realizing how she misunderstood and ignored her mother--how when she was young she'd brush over the toll domestic duties had on her mother. These realizations contribute to her own experience as a mother, shown in memory and choice.

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The weeping statue and crying mother is possibly an allusion to a Weeping Mary/The Seven Sorrows of Mary, typically connoted with grief.

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The weeping statue and crying mother is possibly an allusion to a Weeping Mary/The Seven Sorrows of Mary, typically connoted with grief.

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“She cries not only over the sins of the world, but also over the pain she endured in her earthly life." (Taken from Google for reference) 

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“She cries not only over the sins of the world, but also over the pain she endured in her earthly life." (Taken from Google for reference) 

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Allusion to biblical events: the Fall from grace into sin as Eve eats from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. As well as "python waves" being an allusion to Satan or greater sin. Confronts the idea that one is attracted to things labeled as sin, that these things contribute to identity.

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Allusion to biblical events: the Fall from grace into sin as Eve eats from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. As well as "python waves" being an allusion to Satan or greater sin. Confronts the idea that one is attracted to things labeled as sin, that these things contribute to identity.

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Religious symbols; Lamb, nativity, altar, candles, psaltery. The routine of motherhood had become as familiar to her has religion, as ritual. Her self expression can be dampened by routine, or a static life that has been defined by her religion since birth.

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Religious symbols; Lamb, nativity, altar, candles, psaltery. The routine of motherhood had become as familiar to her has religion, as ritual. Her self expression can be dampened by routine, or a static life that has been defined by her religion since birth.

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Important to note that religion is not bad, but has been a contributing factor in Boland and her mother's feelings of constraint or inability to express. 

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Important to note that religion is not bad, but has been a contributing factor in Boland and her mother's feelings of constraint or inability to express. 