Patrick Kavanagh Flashcards
what are the two distinct phases of Kavanagh’s poetic career?
- the Monaghan poems
- The Dublin poems
what is illustrated in the Monaghan poems?
the love/ hate relationship he possessed with the place he grew up
what is evident throughout the Monaghan poems?
a great sense of disillusionment and discontentment
what does the rural nature of Monaghan remind Kavanagh of?
his loneliness
What type of outlook on nature is explored throughout the Dublin poems?
a much more positive outlook
what does the change of scenery and the canal offer the poet?
in his eyes a redemption and hope
what can one assume the poet is making reference to when talking about ‘redemption’ and ‘hope’ in the Dublin poems?
his operations and recovery from stomach cancer
spiritual rebirth quote:
“As a poet, I was born in or about 1955, the place of my birth being the banks of the Grand Canal
what feelings are expressed in ‘Inniskeen Road’?
isolation and loneliness
where did the poet feel the feelings of isolation and loneliness?
Monaghan
what suggests the secrets of the countryside which the poet hopes to unlock while wandering through the world of nature?
When the poet speaks of “a footfall tapping secrecies of stone”
what does Kavanagh see himself as?
as monarch of the rural kindom which surrounds him
“banks and stones and every blooming thing”
what is Kavanagh likely trying to do by deliberately being ambiguous?
to express his mixed feelings in relation to his isolation
as a poet, what does Kavanagh accept?
that isolation is an undeniable aspect of his poetic vocation
what is kavanagh happy to do on his own?
to wander alone through the countryside
why is he happy to wander alone?
because he finds inspiration and solitude
what does the poem “A Christmas Childhood” portray
Kavanagh’s vision of the world at Christmas when he was a child in Monaghan
what is the opening section of ‘A Christmas Childhood’ filled with?
images of everyday life
what are the images of everyday life described in ‘A Christmas Childhood’?
frost-covered potato pits, cattle tracks and “a green stone lying sideways in a ditch”.
what did Kavanagh marvel at in ‘A Christmas Childhood’?
ordinary, everyday sights “any common sight” and the sounds of life
special and wondrous quote:
“How wonderful that was, how wonderful!”
what does the repition of “wonderful” and use of exclamation marks convey?
a sense of childlike excitement
the ‘music’ from:
“the paling post”