School of Distance Education

Atlantis : A Lost Sonnet 
by Evan Boland 
Considered as one of the foremost female voices 
of Irish literature, Evan Boland presented an honest 
account of female experience through her poetry. Born 
in Dublin, Ireland, she published her first collection, 
23 
Poems 
(1962) when she was a student. Boland’s poetry 
is known for subverting traditional constructions of 
womanhood, as well as offering fresh perspectives on 
Irish history and mythology. Her fifth book, 
In Her Own 
Image
(1980), brought Boland international recognition 
and acclaim. Her next books, including 
Night Feed 
(1982) and her first volume of selected poems 
Outside 
History 
(1990), continued to explore questions of female 
identity. The poet and critic Ruth Padel described 
Boland’s “commitment to lyric grace and feminism” 
even as her subjects tend to “the fabric of domestic life, 
myth, love, history, and Irish rural landscape.” Irish 
folklore and mythology forms an important area of 
interest for Boland.
‘Atlantis A Lost Sonnet' uses the imagery of 
Atlantis to convey a deep sense of loss. Boland carves 
the mythology to mold the feeling of longing, dilemma 
of the heart.Boland is able to create a close and personal 
atmosphere throughout this sonnet through a first person 
narrator, the use of word choice and rhetorical 
questions.The poem starts with the narrator talking about 
how they used to wonder about how Atlantis was able to 
sink to begin with. The phrase “used to wonder” gives it 
a childlike quality. She then leads into, “The world was 

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School of Distance Education
English Literature in the 21
st
 century
19 
small then. Surely a great city must have been missed?” 
The narrator is using Atlantis to relate it back to 
something in their life. A deep nostalgic sense. She talks 
about how much she misses her old town in the next 
stanza. She talks about “you and I meeting under 
fanlights and low skies to go home in it” They make 
their old city and relationship seem beautiful. Just like 
Atlantis, it is very easy to see something with rose-tinted 
glasses once you have lost it. The last stanza tries to 
explain what Atlantis is to her. That Atlantis was never 
Atlantis at all but a feeling. A feeling of longing of grief 
for something too far gone to ever come back. That 
Atlantis just represents the things in their past — their 
old city, their old relationship — that has also sunk down 
to the bottom of the ocean. Just as an entire city can 
never raise from the bottom of the ocean, neither can 
their past.
The message of this powerful poem is understood 
in its last two most important lines, “to convey that what 
is gone is gone forever and never found it. And so, in the 
best traditions of … where we come from, they gave 
their sorrow a name and drowned it. ” Boland’s simple 
rhyme, imagery, and use of personification create the 
final resolution of the author’s feelings and thoughts 
towards a past which cannot be recovered except with 
your memory.

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School of Distance Education
English Literature in the 21
st
 century
20