Exploring the Text

1. How do you interpret the title? What relationship is Eavan Boland, as the speaker of the poem, suggesting?

   Question

   Exploring the Text: - How do you interpret the title? What relationship is Eavan Boland, as the speaker of the poem, suggesting?
2. In what ways does “Mare Hibernicum [lead] to Anne Bradstreet’s coast”? What is Boland suggesting by this statement?

   Question

   Exploring the Text: - In what ways does “Mare Hibernicum [lead] to Anne Bradstreet’s coast”? What is Boland suggesting by this statement?
3. Why do you think Boland chose to include two lines (ll. 11–12) from “The Author to Her Book” in her own poem? Why might those particular lines appeal to Boland?

   Question

   Exploring the Text: - Why do you think Boland chose to include two lines (ll. 11–12) from “The Author to Her Book” in her own poem? Why might those particular lines appeal to Boland?
4. To whom does “We” refer (l. 13)?

   Question

   Exploring the Text: - To whom does “We” refer (l. 13)?