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Zach Soer
Response 5
Literary Criticism
In His Own Image
By following Roberts Scholes suggestion that reading poetry begins with
situating the poetic text: asking what kind of poem this is, where it comes from, who is
speaking, who is being addressed, what the situation is in which these words are
uttered or about which they have been spoken one can fully understand the poem they
are analyzing. Using this process for In His Own Image by Eavan Boland one can draw
the conclusion that the speaker of the poem is female, who is physically abused by a
man. The poem turns sarcastic half way through; suggesting that Boland herself is
using this poem to denounce physical abuse towards women. Understanding the
speaker and speaking situation helps to make understanding of the syntactic and
semantic deviance in the poem.
Initially, the beginning of the poem is confusing. The speaker says I was not
myself, myself (1). The repetition of the word myself draws attention the the mental
state of the speaker. On one hand, the word myself is used as a sarcastic statement
by Boland herself to criticizes physical abuse in which she is implying that the solution
for the abused individual to feel like herself is to be abused by the abuser to fit into his
ideal image of what women should be. On the other hand, myself is used to suggests
that the speaker of the poem feels desensitized by the abuse and feels that in order to
feel like herself, she needs and deserves the abuse. Another part that is difficult to
understand on the initial read through is the line they were all I had to go on. // How

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could I go on // With such meagre proofs of myself? (10-12). Prior to these lines the
images that the speaker shows are domestic images and an image of the speaker's
face being bruised and how she saw her reflection in a kettle. Understanding that she is
bruised and observing her reflection is critical to understanding lines 10-12. Knowing
that the speaker is looking at herself, the reader can understand that the speaker is
struggling with her self-worth and asking how she can proceed if the only vision of
herself being one that is abused.
The third stanza offers more semantic deviance. It is a single line that says And
then he came home tight (16). This is the first time that the reader gets any hint of a
potential abuser. The word tight on the initial read through was confusing, but it means
drunk. The way the line is situated in the text suggests that the man coming home is
happening that instant. It gives an image of a drunken man walking through the door.
This helps tie into the poem's overall meaning because it gives the abuser an identity
and a relationship to the speaker in the first stanza. This relationship is observed in the
next stanza, which enhances the understanding that this poem is about the speaker
being abused.
The fourth stanza has a much more sarcastic and energetic tone than the rest of
the poem. Based on the melancholic tone of the first two paragraphs, the last two
stanzas are presumably Boland speaking. This shift allows Boland to critique abuse and
she does it in a sarcastic way. Initially, the last two stanzas seemed out of place given
the tone of the first two. But understanding that the new speaker is the poet and
recognizing that the speaker is sarcastic helps the reader understand that Boland
obviously doesnt support abuse. The fourth stanza opens with the sarcastic remark

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such a simple definition!// How did I miss it? (17-18) which means nothing to the
reader until lines 19-27 are read. In those lines, Boland states now I see// that all I
needed// was a hand// to mould my mouth// to scald my cheek...by whose lights I find//
my self-possession,// where I grow complete (19-27). Boland uses the imagery of
physical abuse to relate to the title of the poem In His Own Image and is in a very
sarcastic tone stating that male abusers use their power to beat the female into
submission, compliance and into what the abuser wants the woman to be in that the
abuser is beating the woman into his own image. There is also an interesting rhyme
that the poet uses to make note of this (cheek..complete). This rhyme draws the same
conclusion that my analysis made, suggesting that according to the abuser, that beating
the speaker makes her complete in his mind. The sarcasm is continued into the next
stanza as well. Boland continues to provide images of abuse like He split my lip with
his fist and knuckles my neck to its proper angle (28,29). Those images are
supplemented when Boland calls the abuser a perfectionist and describes his hands
as sculptors hands which implies he is shaping her into the image that he thinks is
correct. Boland also makes note of this by saying his sculptors hands which bring me
to myself again.// I am a new women. Here again is an example semantic deviance.
Boland is comparing the work of artist, which is usually precise, perfect, and beautiful, to
the horrific reality that the abused faces where the abused is beaten to reach an ideal
form that works for the abuser. This imagery that the poet presents all relates to the title
of the poem and its meaning in which Boland presents the horrific reality that abused
individuals faces and uses these terrible images to condemn the male abuse of power.

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In His Own Image suggests the dynamic that exists between the abused and the
abuser; the abused is molded into the shape in which the abuser wishes.
This poem presents the sinister and horrendous reality that people, especially
women, who are in a abusive relationship face. This reality is something that many
people face and is something that is often kept private for fear of what may happen to
them. As a future educator, there is strong possibility that I will encounter this is some
shape or form and it is my duty to provide a safe haven for those students or colleagues
who are victims to such abuse. Bolands poem gets to the heart of the matter of the
harsh reality of what it is like to be abused and in recognizing that, I need to recognize
that there is potential that this sort of abuse could affect me in a indirect way.
The emotional weight that this poem carries impact me every time I re-read it. It
truly is a heavy, borderline hopeless poem. It uses that sort of hopelessness initial to
draw the reader in and make them question whats happening, why doesnt the speaker
feel like herself? Then the sarcasm starts to pick up as Boland becomes the speaker
and it is sadly ironic, uses images of sculptors, something one would associate with
creating beautiful pieces of art, only to use that image to depict a man beating a women.
These emotions of hopelessness truly trap the reader into feeling as if there is no
possibility of resolution. This feeling of no resolution for the speaker truly changes the
way that I have thought of abuse. Before I was blissfully ignorant to abuse and figured
that it was something outside of my realm, when the reality is, abuse is usually kept in
the dark because of the potential for further harm suffered by the abused person. I now
realize the impact that abuse has on an individual, and how much it impacts the person,

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and that it is a reality that many people face, probably including people I know
personally.
My groups responses to the poem were very similar to my response in that
everyone had the thought that this poem was powerful and was a very powerful way to
bring up a topic that is often condemned by the public, in which not many people want
to hear about something so personal as being physically abused. My groups response
both alter my argument and augment it. I had not considered how the female members
would have felt, because as a white male, I have never had the threat of physical
abuse. In this new recognition, I sympathize with woman, although I can never
understand exactly what knowing that there is a possibility of abuse, I am more
enlightened to the fact and am able to understand how and why they would feel that
way. The other group members who are male are similar to me in that they understand
and sympathize after reading this poem. Overall, the general consensus is that this
poem evokes feelings of anger and regret that this is the sort of society in which we live.
Eavan Bolands poem, In His Own Image, presents the horrific reality that
abused woman face and uses this poem to condemn physical abuse. She uses
semantic and syntactic deviance to force readers into understanding the harsh reality of
abuse. Boland adopts a sarcastic tone to renounce physical abuse of women and to call
attention to the plight of those who are stuck in situations like this one.