History

The poem argues for two things: the recognition of women's contributions to art and history and the greater inclusion of women in public life outside of the domestic sphere. Throughout the poem, the speaker laments that the way of life for women has barely changed since the dawn of history, which she states in the first stanza. Boland emphasizes that women have been too preoccupied with daily household chores such as purchasing bread, doing the wash, and cooking soup to participate in more public events that would qualify for the historical record. Although she also acknowledges in stanza 8 that this relegation of women to the domestic realm has enabled women to avoid some of the grislier aspects of history, she also firmly decries this situation, likening it to being drawn self-destructively like a moth to a flame. In stanza 11, Boland rues the fact that women's history and anger...