Patrick kavanagh poetry outdated but, unique poetic language had enduring appeal Flashcards
(6 cards)
Shancoduff
- Poem show a focus on rural life - a lovers representation of his homepage (lover being Kavanagh)
“My black hills have never seen the sun rising “
Use of my = kavanagh is possessive of his home place and it is important to him.
It has referencing to farming and rural living which might seem outdated - people are moving to cities for better opportunities.
- Kavanagh’s clever use of alliteration, sound effects and humour.
The soft vowel sounds mixed with the percussive sounds of Consonants creates a rich musical quality.
“Bright shillings of March while the sun searches in every pocket”
Repetition of ‘i’, ‘sh’ and, ‘ch’ give the poem a slow rhythm.
The humour in the poem also makes the poem have an enduring appeal.
He compares the hills to the Alps and the Matterhorn.
“They are my alps and I have climbed the Matterhorn”
This shows his love for the hills and that the hills are grand and tall in Kavanagh’s eyes
A Christmas childhood - religious references
He refers to the “light of his mother’s stable lamp” as the star of Bethlehem.
“ and the frost of Bethlehem made it twinkle” this refers to the birth of Jesus Christ.
The “Three wise Kings” are also referenced.
The form and structure of the poem give it an enduring appeal.
The structure is in the structure of a hymn, with four lines per stanza. The structure emphasises the religious theme.
The poem is also seen as a hymn to Kavanagh’s home-place and signifies his love for his home
A Christmas childhood - Christmas celebration in rural Ireland
The poem also discusses the traditional Irish way of celebrating Christmas.
“ my father played the melodian, my mother miked the cows”
He recounts seeing his neighbours, The “Lennon and the Callans”.
There is also a reference to farming, which was the dominant practice in Ireland at the time “the tracks of cattle to a drinking place”
He uses onomatopoeias.
“Mass going feet crunched the wafer ice on the pot holes, and “a water hen screeched the bog”
The hospital
At first seems irrelevant, it’s just a poem about a visit to the hospital, nothing important and no point to prove.
With a deeper look into the poem, you can see that the random mentioning of objects emphasises the theme of the poem: love can hold anything and everything, no matter how “common and banal”.
“Square cubical all in a row, plain concrete, wash basins - and art lover woe”
Repetition
Lines written on a seat on the grand canal, Dublin
About enjoying life’s simple pleasures.
Kavanagh asks the reader to “commemorate him where there is water”.
He names places he loves very much like the bridges and the canal with a boat from Athy.
People may see this poem as irrelevant, life = fast paced, you don’t stop to observe the world’s natural beauty.
He uses casual, colloquial, childlike words like, “stilly” and greeny”.
There is also skillful use of internal rhyme and assonance to maintain the poems structure.
“ canal water preferably, so stilly”
This line has the emphasis of the “ee” sounds.
On Raglan Road
Outdated views of gender roles.
“ I saw her first and knew that her dark hair would weave snare that I might one day rue”.
Line emphasises that a woman’s appearance is something that will trap a man, instead of liking her for her personality.
“I saw her first and knew” conveys a sense of ownership.
He said he knew about her just by looking at her which suggested that Kavanagh’s view on love is centred around his perception.
Misogyny.
It is also written in traditional ballad form, which makes it nicer to read.
Four stanzas and with a pair of rhyming couplets.
The internal rhyme “hair” and “snare” , “hearts and tarts” makes the poem more graceful.
