The Lost Land

Eavan Boland's new book, her first since the Collected Poems, is in two parts. The opening sequence entitled 'Colony' explores the theme of Irish language and culture. This is followed by a collection of individual poems which open out from autobiography into a sense of larger belonging. 'The Lost Land' of the title, the poet says, is 'not exactly a country and not entirely a state of mind ... the lost land is not a place that can be subdivided into history, or love, or memory. It is the poet's own, single, and private account of the ghostly territory where so much human experience comes to be stored.'