Ireland, Influence, and Idealism: Eavan Boland and the Nobel Prize in Literature

Abstract

In this article I argue that Irish poet Eavan Boland (1944–2020) ought to have won the Nobel Prize in Literature, and would have done so were it not for her untimely death in April 2020. Beyond the excellence of her poetry, I base my argument on three factors prized by the Nobel committee: Boland's self-insertion into the Irish literary canon, her influence on other writers, and her idealism in refusing to choose absolutely between a personal ‘I’ and a communal ‘we’ in her poetry. Each of these factors is conditioned by Boland's ‘anarchic transgression‘: her poetry pushes, but does not burst, boundaries. This soft heterodoxy was also cherished by Alfred Nobel as part of his interest in an Enlightenment committed to progress and self-improvement. This re-affirms that Boland would not only have merited the Prize, but could be thought of as the model Prize winner.