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”
what is the music from “the paling post” described as?
“magical”
what was playing in the hay shed like for the poet?
like heaven itself
heaven quote:
“The light between the ricks of hay and straw/ Was a hole in Heaven’s gable”
what does Kavanagh’s use of onomatopeia helps us to do?
to hear the sounds of the countryside in winter
sounds of the countryside in winter (quote)
“A water-hen screeched in the bog, /Mass-going feet crunched the wafer-ice on the potholes”
how is the beauty of the frosty countryside captured expertly?
in a lovely visual image “The winking glitter of a frosty dawn”
what does the title ‘The Great Hunger’ refer to?
the Great Famine
what is the hunger referred to in the title?
a hunger for emotional and sexual fulfillment that characterised life in rural Ireland from the early to mid-twentieth century
what is Maguire and his men’s religion centred around?
the land they farm
what have they sacrificed in making their lives revolved around their farms?
any potential wife or family
wife quote:
“lost in the passion that never needs a wife”
simile that compares the potato gatherers to:
“mechanised scarecrows”
what does the comparison of potato gatherers being “mechanised scarecrows” suggest?
that lives of hardship and loneliness have left them spiritually lifeless
how is the natural world portrayed in ‘The Great Hunger’?
in a grim manner
natural world portrayed in a grim manner quote:
“Here crows gabble over worms and frogs”
what does the image of the men standing in the field “shivering” reinforce?
the cold, dark atmosphere that pervades in the poem ‘The Great Hunger’
what were the poems ‘Lines Written on a Seat on the Grand Canal, Dublin’ and ‘Canal Bank Walk’ written following?
Kavanagh’s recovery from serious illness
what do the ‘Dublin poems’ reflect?
the poets gratitude at being alive
what do the ‘Dublin poems’ celebrate?
the beauty, wonder and spiritual richness of everyday life
what do the sights and sounds of the canal bank fill the poet with?
joy and a deep sense of contentment
what do the opening lines of ‘Lines written on a Seat on the Grand Canal, Dublin’ suggest and portray?
-the tranquillity of the canal bank
- portrays the great senses of happiness and contentment it brought to the poet
childlike language in ‘Lines written on a seat on the Grand Canal, Dublin’:
“silly” and “greeny”
what does Kavanagh’s utilisation of childlike language suggest?
his childlike wonder at the beauty and mystery of commonplace things
what did the poet love in Dublin?
the canal bank
the poets love for the canal bank (commerating him) :
“commemorate me where there is water, canal water preferrably”
what is water associated with for the poet?
his spiritual rebirth
what does the poem ‘Canal Bank Walk’ celebrate?
those ordinary everyday things in nature that tend to go unnoticed and unappreciated
what does the opening line of ‘Canal Bank Walk’ suggest?
the richness and fertility of nature
opening line of ‘Canal Bank Walk’: (leaf)
“Leafy-with-love banks”
what are the waters in the canal compared to in ‘Canal Bank Walk’?
the waters of baptism “pouring redemption”
what does the natural world reflect in the poets eyes (‘Canal Bank Walk’)?
the glory of God’s creation
what will the poet do by appreciating and enjoying the commonplace things? ‘Canal Bank Walk’
“do the will of God”
what are indeed pleasures to be savoured for the poet in ‘Canal Bank Walk’?
“the habitual, the banal”
what enables the poet to grow spiritually?
The poet’s renewed sense of wonder and his fresh appreciation of the everyday world
growing spiritually quote: (Canal Bank Walk)
“Grow with nature again before I grew”
