Patrick Kavanagh

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Patrick Kavanagh (Irish: Pádraig Caomhánach) (21 October 1904 - 30 November 1967) was an Irish poet.

He was born in Iniskeen,County Monaghan, the son of a shoemaker and small farmer. He himself worked at both trades at various times of his life. He wrote an epic poem about sexual repression of the Irish farmer titled "The Great Hunger." He popularized Irish rural life in two separate works, "The Green Fool", and "Tarry Flynn."

When the Irish Times compiled a list of favourite Irish poems in 2000, ten of his poems were in the top fifty, and Kavanagh was rated the second favourite poet behind W. B. Yeats.

"On Raglan Road," perhaps Kavanagh's most popular poem, was also intended to serve as lyrics to the traditional Irish air "The Dawning of the Day." As such it has been performed by Van Morrison, Luke Kelly, Mark Knopfler, Billy Bragg, Sinéad O'Connor, and many other singers. The first stanza is:

"On Raglan Road on an autumn day I met her first and knew

That her dark hair would weave a snare that I might one day rue;

I saw the danger, yet I walked along the enchanted way,

And I said, let grief be a fallen leaf at the dawning of the day."

- "On Raglan Road"

Arriving in Dublin in the late 1930s, Kavanagh often found his rural mannerisms and imagery the subject of mockery by the city's literary community. Kavanagh himself claimed he was hated for his superior gift. He defined the situation as "the enmity of the Poet." When the Irish Times published an early Kavanagh poem, "Spraying the Potatoes," Myles na gCopaleen responded satirically:

I am no judge of poetry — the only poem I ever wrote was produced when I was body and soul in the gilded harness of Dame Laudanum — but I think Mr Kavanaugh [sic] is on the right track here. Perhaps the Irish Times, timeless champion of our peasantry, will oblige us with a series in this strain covering such rural complexities as inflamed goat-udders, warble-pocked shorthorn, contagious abortion, non-ovoid oviducts and nervous disorders among the gentlemen who pay the rent ^[1].

Patrick Kavanagh statue along the Grand Canal in Dublin

There is a statue of Kavanagh by Dublin's Grand Canal, inspired by his poem "Lines written on a Seat on the Grand Canal, Dublin":

" O commemorate me where there is water,

Canal water preferably, so stilly

Greeny at the heart of summer. Brother

Commemorate me thus beautifully."

Patrick Kavanagh found solace beside the Grand Canal and often sat there to contemplate his life. After a near fatal illness he began to write poems about being reborn. He began to appreciate nature and his surroundings and took his inspiration from this for much of his latter poetry.

The annual Patrick Kavanagh Weekend takes place from the 24th of November-26th of November this year in Inniskeen.

The actor Russell Crowe has stated he is a fan of Kavanaghs. "I like the clarity and the emotiveness of (Patrick) Kavanagh. I like how he combines the kind of mystic into really clear, evocative work that can make you glad you are alive". In February 2000, Crowe quoted Kavanagh during a lengthy acceptance speech at the annual BAFTA awards. When he became aware that the Kavanagh quote had been cut from the final broadcast he became aggressive with the BBC Producer responsible.^[2]

[edit] Notes

^ The "gentleman who pays the rent" was a facetious Irish expression for a pig kept by subsistence farmers
^ Details of the aggressive behaviour by Russell Crowe can be found at http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0442578/news