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The Black Lace F an M y M other G ave M e

The Black Lace F an M y M other G ave M e. By Eavan Boland. *It was the first gift he ever gave her, b uying it for five francs in the Galeries i n pre-war Paris. It was stifling . A starless drought made the nights stormy . *They stayed in the city for the summer.

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The Black Lace F an M y M other G ave M e

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  1. The Black Lace Fan My Mother Gave Me By Eavan Boland

  2. *It was the first gift he ever gave her, buying it for fivefrancs in the Galeries in pre-war Paris. It was stifling. A starless drought made the nights stormy.

  3. *They stayed in the city for the summer. They met in cafés. She was always early. *He was late. That evening he was later. They wrapped the fan. He looked at his watch.

  4. She looked down the Boulevard des Capucines. She ordered more coffee. She stood up. The streets were emptying. The heatwaskilling. She thought the distance smelled of rainandlightning.

  5. These are wild roses, appliquéd on silk by hand, darkly picked, stitchedboldly, quickly. The rest is tortoiseshell and has the reticent, *clear patience of its element. It is

  6. a worn-out, underwater bullion and it keeps, even now, an inference of its violation. The lace is overcast as if the weather it opened for and offset had entered it.

  7. *The past is an empty café terrace. An airlessdusk before thunder. A man running. *And now way now to know what happened then- none at all- unless, of course, you improvise:

  8. *The blackbird on this first sultry morning, in summer, finding buds, worms, fruit, feelstheheat. Suddenly she puts out her wing- the whole, full, flirtatious span of it.

  9. Vocabulary • Francs (2): The basic monetary unit of several European countries until the introduction of the euro, equal to 100 centimes. • Galeries (2): Refers to the Galeries Lafayette, a10-story department store in Paris. • Appliquéd (13): Ornamental needlework in which pieces of fabric are sewn or stuck onto a large piece of fabric to form pictures or patterns. • Reticent (15): Not revealing one's thoughts or feelings readily.

  10. Vocabulary (cont.) • Bullion (17): • Gold or silver in bulk before coining, or valued by weight. • Ornamental braid or trimming made with twists of gold or silver thread. • Way of crocheting a rose/flower. • Inference (18): A conclusion reached on the basis of evidence and reasoning. • Sultry (25): • (Of the air or weather) Hot and humid. • (Of a person, esp. a woman) Attractive in a way that suggests a passionate nature.

  11. Historical/Geographical References • Galeries (2): Refers to the Galeries Lafayette, a10-story department store in Paris. • Pre-war Paris (3): Paris before WWII. • Implies that speaker is post-war. • Boulevard des Capucines: one of the four “grands boulevards” inParis, a chain of boulevards running east-west. • Named after the convent of the Capuchin nuns.

  12. Inarguables • Speaker is a daughter a woman who was courted one summer in pre-WWII Paris. • About the fan the daughter inherited from her mother, and how the fan came to be in the family. • Context: • Being in different places: In Which the Ancient History I Learn Is Not My Own • Love: IV Quarantine & V Embers of Marriage • Iambic pentameter used at places throughout

  13. Arguables • Poem is set up to resemble a film • Interconnection between humans and nature • Nature is violated to an extent • Draws attention to conflict between the lovers • Questions: • Was the man the speaker’s father? • How did the fan exchange go exactly? • What was the role of the gift?

  14. Literary Features • Enjambment • Only in stanzas detailing fan • Staccato • Supports film idea • “I use no caesura in the first or last line.  Then in the following three lines I put the caesura or internal line-break after the second stress.  That way I get a jerky, grainy feel to the stanza: a little like the frames of an old film.  And that’s what I wanted.” -Eavan Boland • Timing/Order word choice also support film idea

  15. Literary Features (cont.) • Iambic pentameter • Combine iambic lines and get synopsis? • It was the first gift he ever gave her They stayed in the city for the summer. He was late. That evening he was later. …clear patience of its element. It is… The past is an empty café terrace. And no way now to know what happened then- The blackbird on this first sultry morning,…

  16. Works Cited Boland, Eavan. Object Lessons: the Life of the Woman and the Poet in Our Time. New York: W.W. Norton, 1995. Print.

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