The Pomegranate (Leaving Cert English): Revision Notes
The Pomegranate
Introduction
"The Pomegranate" is a deeply personal poem by Irish poet Eavan Boland that explores the complex relationship between mothers and daughters. Boland masterfully weaves together the ancient Greek myth of Persephone with her own experiences of motherhood, creating a powerful meditation on growing up, letting go, and the passage of time.
Overview and themes
The poem draws on the Greek myth of Persephone, where a young girl is kidnapped by Hades and taken to the underworld, whilst her mother Ceres (also called Demeter) searches desperately for her. Eventually, a bargain is struck allowing Persephone to return to earth for part of each year.
The Persephone myth is one of the most enduring stories in Western literature, used by countless writers to explore themes of loss, separation, and the cycles of life. Understanding this foundational myth is crucial to appreciating how Boland transforms it for modern readers.
Boland uses this legendary story to examine several key themes:
- Coming of age and loss of innocence
- Mother-daughter relationships and the pain of letting go
- The passage of time and inevitable change
- Love and sacrifice within families
The poem's mood shifts between wistful nostalgia and serious contemplation as the speaker reflects on both her own childhood and her daughter's approaching adulthood. Boland's tone is thoughtful and introspective, using complex personal imagery to connect ancient myth with modern reality.
Structure and poetic techniques
"The Pomegranate" is structured as a fifty-three line poem contained within a single stanza. The lines are written in free verse, meaning they don't follow a strict rhyme scheme or regular rhythm pattern, giving the poem a natural, conversational flow.
Critical Concept: Free verse poetry allows poets greater flexibility in expression, but this doesn't mean the poem lacks structure. Boland carefully uses other techniques like caesura and enjambment to create rhythm and emphasis throughout the single, long stanza.
Boland employs several important poetic techniques:
Caesura
This occurs when a line is deliberately split in half, creating intentional pauses that affect the poem's rhythm. Examples include:
Textual Example: Caesura in Action
- "I can enter it anywhere. And have"
- "The pomegranate! How did I forget it?"
The pauses created by caesura (marked by punctuation mid-line) force readers to slow down and reflect, mirroring the speaker's contemplative mood.
These pauses create dramatic emphasis and mirror the speaker's thoughtful, reflective state of mind.
Enjambment
Lines flow into one another without natural stopping points, forcing readers to move quickly forwards. This technique appears between lines eight and nine, and lines thirty and thirty-one, creating momentum that mirrors the urgency of the speaker's emotions.
Understanding Enjambment: When lines "run over" without punctuation, readers must continue to the next line to complete the thought. This creates a flowing, urgent quality that contrasts with the pauses created by caesura.
Alliteration
Boland uses words beginning with the same sound close together for musical effect:
- "plucked a pomegranate"
- "cars and cable"
Detailed analysis
Lines 1-7: Introducing the legend
The only legend I have ever loved is / the story of a daughter lost in hell. / (...) And the best thing about the legend is / I can enter it anywhere. And have.
The speaker immediately establishes her deep connection to the Persephone myth. She describes it as a story about kidnapping and the underworld, but emphasises its personal significance. The phrase "Love and blackmail are the gist of it" captures the complex emotions in the myth - love between mother and daughter, but also the manipulative power of Hades.
Analysis Example: Personal Connection to Myth
The phrase "I can enter it anywhere. And have" reveals how the speaker has used this story throughout her life. The brief, emphatic "And have" suggests years of returning to this myth for understanding and comfort.
The speaker reveals that she can "enter" this story at any point, suggesting how deeply it resonates with her own experiences. The brief phrase "And have" implies she has spent considerable time exploring and relating to this myth throughout her life.
Lines 8-16: Childhood connections
As a child in exile in / a city of fogs and strange consonants, / (...) When she came running I was ready / to make any bargain to keep her.
The speaker recalls how she first encountered the story as a child feeling lost and displaced. The "city of fogs and strange consonants" suggests foreign surroundings where she felt like an outsider, much like Persephone in the underworld.
As an adult, the speaker now identifies with Ceres, the searching mother. When her own daughter comes running to her, she experiences the fierce protective love that would drive her to "make any bargain" - echoing Ceres' determination to destroy the earth's harvest until her daughter was returned.
Lines 17-24: The mother's perspective
I carried her back past whitebeams / and wasps and honey-scented buddleias. / (...) It is winter / and the stars are hidden.
The speaker describes carrying her daughter home past beautiful flowers and insects - the very sights that attracted Persephone in the original myth. However, she was "Ceres then" and understood that "winter was in store for every leaf" - a reference to how Ceres' grief caused the seasons to change.
The hidden stars create an atmosphere of foreboding, suggesting the speaker's anxiety about her daughter's future and the inevitable changes that time will bring.
Lines 25-32: The daughter's adolescence
I climb the stairs and stand where I can see / my child asleep beside her teen magazines, / (...) our heart-broken searching but she reached / out a hand and plucked a pomegranate.
The poem shifts to contemporary reality, showing the daughter as a teenager surrounded by magazines and Coca-Cola - symbols of modern adolescence. The sudden appearance of a pomegranate is both startling and metaphorical.
Key Moment: The speaker's question "How did I forget it?" represents a crucial realisation - she should have anticipated this moment when her daughter would be tempted by adult experiences, just as Persephone was tempted by the pomegranate seeds.
Lines 33-41: The moment of choice
She put out her hand and pulled down / the French sound for apple and / (...) the story was told, a child can be / hungry. I could warn her. There is still a chance.
When the daughter reaches for the pomegranate, the speaker feels that mythical and real worlds collide. Even though the choice has been made, the speaker desperately hopes "there is still a chance" to protect her daughter from the adult world's dangers and influences.
The phrase "beautiful rifts in time" suggests that by sharing this story with her daughter, the speaker is offering something precious - the ability to connect with ancient wisdom and universal experiences of growing up.
Lines 42-48: The magical transformation
Using anaphora (repetition at the start of lines), Boland creates a dreamlike sequence mixing realistic details with mythical imagery. The speaker asks what else a mother can give her daughter except these "beautiful rifts in time" - suggesting that sharing stories and legends is one of the most valuable gifts parents can offer their children.
Literary Technique: Anaphora creates a hypnotic, incantatory quality that mirrors the magical transformation happening as the daughter crosses the threshold into adulthood.
Lines 49-53: Acceptance and silence
The legend will be hers as well as mine. / (...) And to her lips. I will say nothing.
In the final lines, the speaker accepts that the legend now belongs to both mother and daughter. There will be silence between them, but both will understand their connection to the story and its significance to their lives. The daughter will wake holding the "papery flushed skin" of the pomegranate, having crossed the threshold into a new phase of life.
Key symbolism and imagery
The poem is rich with symbolic meaning that connects ancient myth with modern experience:
- The pomegranate: Represents temptation, loss of innocence, and the transition from childhood to adulthood
- Winter and hidden stars: Symbolise the mother's grief and anxiety about her daughter's future
- Teen magazines and Coke: Modern symbols contrasting with ancient myth, showing how universal themes persist across time
- The underworld: Represents the adult world with its dangers and complexities
Symbol Analysis: The pomegranate works on multiple levels - it's the literal fruit from the myth, a symbol of temptation and knowledge, and a metaphor for the bittersweet nature of growing up. The "papery flushed skin" suggests something beautiful but fragile, much like the transition from childhood to adulthood.
Key Points to Remember:
- The Persephone myth provides the framework for exploring universal themes of growing up and mother-daughter relationships
- Free verse structure allows natural, conversational flow whilst caesura and enjambment create rhythm and emphasis
- The pomegranate symbolises the moment of transition from innocence to experience
- The speaker evolves from identifying with Persephone (the daughter) to Ceres (the mother) as she ages
- The poem's power lies in showing how ancient stories continue to resonate with modern experiences of family, love, and loss