Patrick Kavanagh
NOTE: Patrick Kavanagh is not one of the prescribed poets for Leaving Cert 2013 – the podcasts are staying up on the site for international visitors and/or college students to access.
Patrick Kavanagh was born in the County Monaghan townland of Inniskeen in 1904. He is now regarded as one of the foremost Irish poets of the 20th century.
As a young man he worked as a shoemaker and a farmer but he eventually moved to Dublin to follow his dream of becoming a poet and full-time writer.
His poetry offers a new perspective on rural Ireland, transforming ordinary scenes into something worthy of poetry, yet he also makes us aware of the hardship of working the land and the lonliness endured by bachelor farmers the length and breath of our country. His sense of being an outsider is brilliantly captured, as is the pain of unrequited love. His disillusionment with religion and ultimately his redemption as he rediscovers his faith are wonderfully evoked in poems which are moving, brutally honest and masterfully crafted.
In this Study Guide, we analyse the following poems by Patrick Kavanagh:
- Inniskeen Road
- Shancoduff
- On Raglan Road
- Advent
- Canal Bank Walk
- The Great Hunger
- A Christmas Childhood
NOTE: This is a PODCAST not a word file – download onto your iPod/mp3 player. Listen whenever & wherever you want to help you get to grips with the poet.
