Patrick Kavanagh

Patrick Kavanagh is widely regarded as one of the most important Irish poets of the 20th century. The purpose of this book is to confront the myths surrounding Kavanagh and to assess his work on its own merits, while placing him in his proper position in the Irish literary tradition. The book is divided into two parts, the first looking at the young "ploughman poet" and the second at the more mature Kavanagh following his move to Dublin in 1939 and his subsequent development as a major literary figure. The book focuses on the phenomenon of Kavanagh the post-colonial writer who brought what had been a sub-culture to literary consciousness and at the struggle in his life and work for poetic "irresponsibility", that freedom from the burden of repectable subject matter and gravity of manner which he deliberately set out to achieve.
 
Patrick Kavanagh is widely regarded as one of the most important Irish poets of the 20th century. The purpose of this book is to confront the myths surrounding Kavanagh and to assess his work on its own merits, while placing him in his proper position in the Irish literary tradition. The book is divided into two parts, the first looking at the young "ploughman poet" and the second at the more mature Kavanagh following his move to Dublin in 1939 and his subsequent development as a major literary figure. The book focuses on the phenomenon of Kavanagh the post-colonial writer who brought what had been a sub-culture to literary consciousness and at the struggle in his life and work for poetic "irresponsibility", that freedom from the burden of repectable subject matter and gravity of manner which he deliberately set out to achieve.