--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I began to watch places with an interest…" description: "\"“I began to watch places with an interest so exact it might have been memory. There was that street corner, with the small newsagent which sold copies ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2c1/eavan-boland-14364_childhood_i-began-to-watch-places-with-an-interest_1525456.png" --- # I began to watch places with an interest so exact it might… ![“I began to watch places with an interest so exact it might have been memory. There was that street corner, with the small newsagent which sold copies of the Irish Independent and honeycomb toffee in summer. I could imagine myself there, a child of nine, buying peppermints and walking back down by…” quote by Eavan Boland](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2c1/eavan-boland-14364_childhood_i-began-to-watch-places-with-an-interest_1525456.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2c1/eavan-boland-14364_childhood_i-began-to-watch-places-with-an-interest_1525456.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2c1/eavan-boland-14364_childhood_i-began-to-watch-places-with-an-interest_1525456.png) > ““I began to watch places with an interest so exact it might have been memory. There was that street corner, with the small newsagent which sold copies of the Irish Independent and honeycomb toffee in summer. I could imagine myself there, a child of nine, buying peppermints and walking back down by the canal, the lock brown and splintered as ever, and boys diving from it. It became a powerful impulse, a slow intense reconstruction of a childhood which had never happened. A fragrance or a trick of light was enough. Or a house I entered which I wanted not just to appreciate but to remember, and then I would begin.”” [Eavan Boland](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eavan-boland/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. She describes how precise observation of places triggers vivid memories and a reconstruction of imagined childhood, turning sensory details into powerful creative impulse. **In simple terms:** Detailed observation revives imagined past. Key Takeaway Observe to inspire. Themes memory observation creativity Mood contemplative nostalgic Type poetic philosophical When to use this quote - writing poetry - visual arts - personal therapy Key Concepts sensory detail nostalgia imagined past Questions to Reflect On - What places stir your deepest memories? - How does sensory detail shape your creativity? 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Group homes. Foster homes.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-shamrock/i-had-a-rough-upbringing-group-homes-foster-homes/) [Frank Shamrock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-shamrock/) > [We were so poor as kids. I didn't even see a bathtub, running water, hot water, commode - we didn't have any of that.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/phil-robertson/we-were-so-poor-as-kids-i-didn-t-even-see-a-bathtub-running-water-hot/) [Phil Robertson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/phil-robertson/) > [“From childhood’s hour I have not been As others were—I have not seen As others saw—I could not bring My passions from a common…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edgar-allan-poe/from-childhood-s-hour-i-have-not-been-as-others-were-i-have-not-seen/) [Edgar Allan Poe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edgar-allan-poe/) > [“Children's lives are always beginning and adults' lives are always ending. Or is it the opposite? Your childhood is always ending and your adult…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alison-espach/children-s-lives-are-always-beginning-and-adults-lives-are-always/) [Alison Espach](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alison-espach/) ## More by Eavan Boland > [I didn't know how to weigh ideas about poetry. Nothing in the life I lived as a student - and later as wife and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eavan-boland/i-didn-t-know-how-to-weigh-ideas-about-poetry-nothing-in-the-life-i/) [Eavan Boland](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eavan-boland/) > [It has always seemed to me a great honor to be called an Irish poet. I don't think I will ever lose that, but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eavan-boland/it-has-always-seemed-to-me-a-great-honor-to-be-called-an-irish-poet-i/) [Eavan Boland](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eavan-boland/) > [Flesh is heretic. My body is a witch. I am burning it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eavan-boland/flesh-is-heretic-my-body-is-a-witch-i-am-burning-it/) [Eavan Boland](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eavan-boland/) > [Love will heal What language fails to know](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eavan-boland/love-will-heal-what-language-fails-to-know/) [Eavan Boland](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eavan-boland/) > [Sleep in a world, your final sleep has woken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eavan-boland/sleep-in-a-world-your-final-sleep-has-woken/) [Eavan Boland](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eavan-boland/) > [I loved the illusion, the conviction, the desire - whatever you want to call it - that the words were agents rather than extensions…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eavan-boland/i-loved-the-illusion-the-conviction-the-desire-whatever-you-want-to/) [Eavan Boland](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eavan-boland/) > [When I was young, I struggled with authorship: with everything the word meant and failed to mean. 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The poet's life stood in a burnished light in the Ireland of that time.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eavan-boland/i-began-to-write-in-an-enclosed-self-confident-literary-culture-the/) [Eavan Boland](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eavan-boland/) > [As far as I was concerned, it was the absence of women in the poetic tradition which allowed women in the poems to be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eavan-boland/as-far-as-i-was-concerned-it-was-the-absence-of-women-in-the-poetic/) [Eavan Boland](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eavan-boland/) > [I had started writing as a poet in a closed, post-Revival, claustrophobic world, where the shadows of the national upheaval and the intense effort…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eavan-boland/i-had-started-writing-as-a-poet-in-a-closed-post-revival/) [Eavan Boland](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eavan-boland/) > [There is nothing settled about a poet's identity. The becoming doesn't stop because the being has been achieved. They proceed together, attached in ways…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eavan-boland/there-is-nothing-settled-about-a-poet-s-identity-the-becoming-doesn-t/) [Eavan Boland](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eavan-boland/) > [I once gave a workshop and I asked the women poets there, If you went back to that little town you've come from -…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eavan-boland/i-once-gave-a-workshop-and-i-asked-the-women-poets-there-if-you-went/) [Eavan Boland](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eavan-boland/) > [The nineteenth century, especially the second half of it, was a time of restatement in Ireland. After the famine, after the failed rebellions of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eavan-boland/the-nineteenth-century-especially-the-second-half-of-it-was-a-time-of/) [Eavan Boland](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eavan-boland/) [Explore all 47 Eavan Boland quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eavan-boland/) ## More Childhood quotes > [“Children's lives are always beginning and adults' lives are always ending. Or is it the opposite? 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Foster homes.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-shamrock/i-had-a-rough-upbringing-group-homes-foster-homes/) [Frank Shamrock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-shamrock/) > [When I talk about my childhood I used to say it as if it was scripted and I'd make jokes because it was a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kerry-katona/when-i-talk-about-my-childhood-i-used-to-say-it-as-if-it-was-scripted/) [Kerry Katona](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kerry-katona/) > [Every man remembers his childhood as a kind of mythical age, just as every nation's childhood is its mythical age.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/giacomo-leopardi/every-man-remembers-his-childhood-as-a-kind-of-mythical-age-just-as/) [Giacomo Leopardi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/giacomo-leopardi/) > [It's a very familiar type of place where people either go to their house on the lake or they get together in different places.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steve-carell/it-s-a-very-familiar-type-of-place-where-people-either-go-to-their/) [Steve Carell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steve-carell/) > [Ideal for the child and society in the best of times, Rudolf Steiner's brilliant process of education is critically needed and profoundly relevant now…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-chilton-pearce/ideal-for-the-child-and-society-in-the-best-of-times-rudolf-steiner-s/) [Joseph Chilton Pearce](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-chilton-pearce/) > [Downstairs in my house, I have a museum room. I keep all of my awards down there, and childhood photos, and even all the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/r-kelly/downstairs-in-my-house-i-have-a-museum-room-i-keep-all-of-my-awards/) [R. Kelly](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/r-kelly/) > [Childhood is Last Chance Gulch for happiness. After that, you know too much.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-stoppard/childhood-is-last-chance-gulch-for-happiness-after-that-you-know-too/) [Tom Stoppard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-stoppard/) > [On paper, it looks rough, but I had a great childhood.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samantha-morton/on-paper-it-looks-rough-but-i-had-a-great-childhood/) [Samantha Morton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samantha-morton/) > [Let positive, strong, helpful thoughts enter into your brains from very childhood. 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It was a mixture…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tove-jansson/i-m-not-sure-i-would-have-ever-started-to-draw-let-alone-write-if-my/) [Tove Jansson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tove-jansson/) [Browse all 5,837 Childhood quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/childhood/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“I began to watch places with an interest so exact it might have been memory. There was that street corner, with the small newsagent which sold copies of the Irish Independent and honeycomb toffee in summer. I could imagine myself there, a child of nine, buying peppermints and walking back down by the canal, the lock brown and splintered as ever, and boys diving from it. It became a powerful impulse, a slow intense reconstruction of a childhood which had never happened. A fragrance or a trick of light was enough. 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