Patrick Kavanagh

Question 1

what are the two distinct phases of Kavanagh’s poetic career?

Answer 1

1. the Monaghan poems
2. The Dublin poems

Question 2

what is illustrated in the Monaghan poems?

Answer 2

the love/ hate relationship he possessed with the place he grew up

Question 3

what is evident throughout the Monaghan poems?

Answer 3

a great sense of disillusionment and discontentment

Question 4

what does the rural nature of Monaghan remind Kavanagh of?

Answer 4

his loneliness

Question 5

What type of outlook on nature is explored throughout the Dublin poems?

Answer 5

a much more positive outlook

Question 6

what does the change of scenery and the canal offer the poet?

Answer 6

in his eyes a redemption and hope

Question 7

what can one assume the poet is making reference to when talking about ‘redemption’ and ‘hope’ in the Dublin poems?

Answer 7

his operations and recovery from stomach cancer

Question 8

spiritual rebirth quote:

Answer 8

“As a poet, I was born in or about 1955, the place of my birth being the banks of the Grand Canal

Question 9

what feelings are expressed in ‘Inniskeen Road’?

Answer 9

isolation and loneliness

Question 10

where did the poet feel the feelings of isolation and loneliness?

Answer 10

Monaghan

Question 11

what suggests the secrets of the countryside which the poet hopes to unlock while wandering through the world of nature?

Answer 11

When the poet speaks of “a footfall tapping secrecies of stone”

Question 12

what does Kavanagh see himself as?

Answer 12

as monarch of the rural kindom which surrounds him

“banks and stones and every blooming thing”

Question 13

what is Kavanagh likely trying to do by deliberately being ambiguous?

Answer 13

to express his mixed feelings in relation to his isolation

Question 14

as a poet, what does Kavanagh accept?

Answer 14

that isolation is an undeniable aspect of his poetic vocation

Question 15

what is kavanagh happy to do on his own?

Answer 15

to wander alone through the countryside

Question 16

why is he happy to wander alone?

Answer 16

because he finds inspiration and solitude

Question 17

what does the poem “A Christmas Childhood” portray

Answer 17

Kavanagh’s vision of the world at Christmas when he was a child in Monaghan

Question 18

what is the opening section of ‘A Christmas Childhood’ filled with?

Answer 18

images of everyday life

Question 19

what are the images of everyday life described in ‘A Christmas Childhood’?

Answer 19

frost-covered potato pits, cattle tracks and “a green stone lying sideways in a ditch”.

Question 20

what did Kavanagh marvel at in ‘A Christmas Childhood’?

Answer 20

ordinary, everyday sights “any common sight” and the sounds of life

Question 21

special and wondrous quote:

Answer 21

“How wonderful that was, how wonderful!”

Question 22

what does the repition of “wonderful” and use of exclamation marks convey?

Answer 22

a sense of childlike excitement

Question 23

the ‘music’ from:

Answer 23

“the paling post”

Question 24

what is the music from “the paling post” described as?

Answer 24

“magical”

Question 25

what was playing in the hay shed like for the poet?

Answer 25

like heaven itself

Question 26

heaven quote:

Answer 26

“The light between the ricks of hay and straw/ Was a hole in Heaven’s gable”

Question 27

what does Kavanagh's use of onomatopeia helps us to do?

Answer 27

to hear the sounds of the countryside in winter

Question 28

sounds of the countryside in winter (quote)

Answer 28

“A water-hen screeched in the bog, /Mass-going feet crunched the wafer-ice on the potholes”

Question 29

how is the beauty of the frosty countryside captured expertly?

Answer 29

in a lovely visual image “The winking glitter of a frosty dawn”

Question 30

what does the title 'The Great Hunger' refer to?

Answer 30

the Great Famine

Question 31

what is the hunger referred to in the title?

Answer 31

a hunger for emotional and sexual fulfillment that characterised life in rural Ireland from the early to mid-twentieth century

Question 32

what is Maguire and his men's religion centred around?

Answer 32

the land they farm

Question 33

what have they sacrificed in making their lives revolved around their farms?

Answer 33

any potential wife or family

Question 34

wife quote:

Answer 34

“lost in the passion that never needs a wife”

Question 35

simile that compares the potato gatherers to:

Answer 35

"mechanised scarecrows"

Question 36

what does the comparison of potato gatherers being "mechanised scarecrows" suggest?

Answer 36

that lives of hardship and loneliness have left them spiritually lifeless

Question 37

how is the natural world portrayed in 'The Great Hunger'?

Answer 37

in a grim manner

Question 38

natural world portrayed in a grim manner quote:

Answer 38

“Here crows gabble over worms and frogs”

Question 39

what does the image of the men standing in the field "shivering" reinforce?

Answer 39

the cold, dark atmosphere that pervades in the poem 'The Great Hunger'

Question 40

what were the poems ‘Lines Written on a Seat on the Grand Canal, Dublin’ and ‘Canal Bank Walk’ written following?

Answer 40

Kavanagh’s recovery from serious illness

Question 41

what do the 'Dublin poems' reflect?

Answer 41

the poets gratitude at being alive

Question 42

what do the 'Dublin poems' celebrate?

Answer 42

the beauty, wonder and spiritual richness of everyday life

Question 43

what do the sights and sounds of the canal bank fill the poet with?

Answer 43

joy and a deep sense of contentment

Question 44

what do the opening lines of 'Lines written on a Seat on the Grand Canal, Dublin' suggest and portray?

Answer 44

-the tranquillity of the canal bank - portrays the great senses of happiness and contentment it brought to the poet

Question 45

childlike language in 'Lines written on a seat on the Grand Canal, Dublin':

Answer 45

“silly” and “greeny”

Question 46

what does Kavanagh's utilisation of childlike language suggest?

Answer 46

his childlike wonder at the beauty and mystery of commonplace things

Question 47

what did the poet love in Dublin?

Answer 47

the canal bank

Question 48

the poets love for the canal bank (commerating him) :

Answer 48

“commemorate me where there is water, canal water preferrably"

Question 49

what is water associated with for the poet?

Answer 49

his spiritual rebirth

Question 50

what does the poem 'Canal Bank Walk' celebrate?

Answer 50

those ordinary everyday things in nature that tend to go unnoticed and unappreciated

Question 51

what does the opening line of 'Canal Bank Walk' suggest?

Answer 51

the richness and fertility of nature

Question 52

opening line of 'Canal Bank Walk': (leaf)

Answer 52

“Leafy-with-love banks”

Question 53

what are the waters in the canal compared to in 'Canal Bank Walk'?

Answer 53

the waters of baptism “pouring redemption”

Question 54

what does the natural world reflect in the poets eyes ('Canal Bank Walk')?

Answer 54

the glory of God’s creation

Question 55

what will the poet do by appreciating and enjoying the commonplace things? 'Canal Bank Walk'

Answer 55

“do the will of God”

Question 56

what are indeed pleasures to be savoured for the poet in 'Canal Bank Walk'?

Answer 56

“the habitual, the banal”

Question 57

what enables the poet to grow spiritually?

Answer 57

The poet’s renewed sense of wonder and his fresh appreciation of the everyday world

Question 58

growing spiritually quote: (Canal Bank Walk)

Answer 58

“Grow with nature again before I grew”