--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: It has always seemed to me a great honor…" description: "\"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 it's also a great honor to be a woman poe..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/29e/eavan-boland-14364_honor_it-has-always-seemed-to-me-a-great-honor_79338.png" --- # It has always seemed to me a great honor to be called an… ![“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 it's also a great honor to be a woman poet. I put those things together.” quote by Eavan Boland](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/29e/eavan-boland-14364_honor_it-has-always-seemed-to-me-a-great-honor_79338.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/29e/eavan-boland-14364_honor_it-has-always-seemed-to-me-a-great-honor_79338.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/29e/eavan-boland-14364_honor_it-has-always-seemed-to-me-a-great-honor_79338.png) > “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 it's also a great honor to be a woman poet. I put those things together.” [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. The speaker sees identity as a convergence of cultural and gender heritage, valuing both Irish and female poetic traditions as sources of pride and responsibility. **In simple terms:** Identity blends cultural and gender heritage. Key Takeaway Embrace intersecting identities. Themes identity heritage gender pride responsibility Mood proud reflective determined Type personal reflection cultural statement When to use this quote - academic lecture on literature - personal essay on self - interview about poetry Key Concepts cultural identity gender identity poetic tradition Practical Applications - teaching multicultural literature - inspiring diverse writers Questions to Reflect On - How does overlapping identity shape creative voice? - What responsibilities arise from multiple heritage claims? ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Honor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/honor/) [Poet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poet/) [Poetry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poetry/) [Thinking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thinking/) ## Related quotes > [I had grown up as an Irish poet in a country where the distance between vision and imagination was not quite as wide as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eavan-boland/i-had-grown-up-as-an-irish-poet-in-a-country-where-the-distance/) [Eavan Boland](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eavan-boland/) > [To be an Irish poet after that 19th century in which there was such a struggle toward the light, I think still will always…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eavan-boland/to-be-an-irish-poet-after-that-19th-century-in-which-there-was-such-a/) [Eavan Boland](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eavan-boland/) > [I do go back to Ireland, and I'll probably be doing a film in Ireland in January, and I guess that kind of keeps…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/colm-meaney/i-do-go-back-to-ireland-and-i-ll-probably-be-doing-a-film-in-ireland/) [Colm Meaney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/colm-meaney/) > [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/) > [“The Woman Poet // Die Dichterin You hold me now completely in your hands. My heart beats like a frightened little bird's Against your…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gertrud-kolmar/the-woman-poet-die-dichterin-you-hold-me-now-completely-in-your-hands/) [Gertrud Kolmar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gertrud-kolmar/) > [My mom is Irish. She is a poet and a humanitarian who believed in ensuring that people around her had a better life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amala-akkineni/my-mom-is-irish-she-is-a-poet-and-a-humanitarian-who-believed-in/) [Amala Akkineni](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amala-akkineni/) > [“Examine this statement: ‘A woman cannot be a poet.’ Dr Samuel Johnson (Englishman 1709-84 Occupation: Language Fixer and Big Mouth.) What then shall I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeanette-winterson/examine-this-statement-a-woman-cannot-be-a-poet-dr-samuel-johnson/) [Jeanette Winterson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeanette-winterson/) > [And when her biographer says of an Italian woman poet, 'during some years her Muse was intermitted,' we do not wonder at the fact…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-garlin-spencer/and-when-her-biographer-says-of-an-italian-woman-poet-during-some/) [Anna Garlin Spencer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-garlin-spencer/) > [The woman poet must be either a sexless, reclusive eccentric, with nothing to say specifically to women, or a brilliant, tragic, tortured suicide.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marilyn-hacker/the-woman-poet-must-be-either-a-sexless-reclusive-eccentric-with/) [Marilyn Hacker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marilyn-hacker/) > [“...at a luncheon, I sat next to a green-eyed young woman, a poet, who declared loftily that you learned nothing from books, it was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-salter/at-a-luncheon-i-sat-next-to-a-green-eyed-young-woman-a-poet-who/) [James Salter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-salter/) > [“I am a black woman poet and I sound like one.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lucille-clifton/i-am-a-black-woman-poet-and-i-sound-like-one/) [Lucille Clifton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lucille-clifton/) > [So, I've never been politically correct, even before that term was available to us, and I have really identified with other people who don't…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/diane-wakoski/so-i-ve-never-been-politically-correct-even-before-that-term-was/) [Diane Wakoski](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/diane-wakoski/) > [“How I hate this silk dress that conceals a poet. Written in the mid 9th century by a brave woman poet. Even then, even…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yu-hsuan-chi/how-i-hate-this-silk-dress-that-conceals-a-poet-written-in-the-mid/) Yu Hsuan-Chi > [A poet is wounded into speech, and he examines these wounds, meticulously, to discover how to heal them. The bad poet harangues at the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-r-delany/a-poet-is-wounded-into-speech-and-he-examines-these-wounds/) [Samuel R. Delany](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-r-delany/) > [I fell in love with social work, and that was my undoing as a poet.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-rakosi/i-fell-in-love-with-social-work-and-that-was-my-undoing-as-a-poet/) [Carl Rakosi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-rakosi/) ## 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/) > [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/) > [At the age of seventeen, I left school. I went to university, and I wrote my first attempts at poetry in a room in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eavan-boland/at-the-age-of-seventeen-i-left-school-i-went-to-university-and-i/) [Eavan Boland](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eavan-boland/) [Explore all 47 Eavan Boland quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eavan-boland/) ## More Honor quotes > [Women still, when they have breast cancer, go to work; they still lead their lives. They have to. 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