An Expression of Love

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An Expression of Love

        Spanning just twelve lines and two stanzas, Eavan Boland's poem “Ceres Looks at the Morning” offers a rich amount of analogies to Greek mythology. She vividly shows her ideas and her life by linking them to myths such as the myth of Ceres and Persephone. In “Ceres Looks at the Morning,” Eavan Boland also expresses her experiences as a mother by superimposing herself onto a reminiscing Ceres.

        Plotted on the time-line of life, dawn represents new life, twilight represents senility, and darkness represents death. The lines “Already / my body is a twilight: Solid. Cold” symbolizes how the ordeal of Persephone and Hades had worn out Ceres. It also represents Boland's view of herself as worn out and exhausted from taking care of a daughter. In lines 8-12, the poet speaker compares her daughter to a beautiful morning. Just as the morning rose from the darkness, so had Boland's daughter come from the darkness of Boland's womb. As morning ultimately become day, her daughter will anticipate adulthood.

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        Boland utilizes several things from Greek mythology. Nyx, the goddess of darkness, plays an important, though mostly oblivious role in several myths. In the myth of Ceres and Persephone, Ceres, while looking for her daughter, carried torches during the day as she did during night, which showed that for her, day is as dark as night.  In line 2, Nyx plays a similar role. Boland is so concerned about the well-being of her daughter that she lives in perpetual near-darkness. The apple trees in line 5 was associated with love in Greek mythology. It represents Boland's love for her daughter. ...

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