Wednesday, January 10, 2007

anthology on Kavanagh


The Essential Kavanagh

Now, I could write about the man Kavanagh was, the life he lead, the achievements and disappointments he had, yet, how would that be honouring a poet? For sure, is not the soul of a proper poet revealed through their poetry? We can tell exactly the mind frame, the emotions, the phase of life and even the activity of a poet through their work. Thus, through reading the poetry of Kavanagh we know that there are three stages through, which, Kavanagh went in his life.
From cynicism to scornful and finally loving: these are the three main stages of his work. In the first stage, we are presented to a youthful Kavanagh who some what resents the world. He has a very cynical attitude to life and enjoys giving out perhaps a little too much, though he had some tricks up his sleeve and even at such a young age, he could already establish a style within his poetry. This makes his talent seem even greater than is sometimes perceived to be. The second stage of Kavanagh is the poet who is living in Dublin, yet the ‘city people’ have the preconception that he is a ‘farmer-poet’. In this stage, Kavanagh looses his cynicism, however still indulges in complaining about petty things and gains the trait of being demeaning. In the third and final stage, the great poet that was thriving to be realised throughout Kavanagh’s life, is finally seen, as we greet the ‘rebirth’ of a derisive poet.

“Inniskeen Road” is a poem, which reveals to us the one issue that gnawed at Kavanagh’s mind as a young man and that was the division that existed between him and the community of Inniskeen. The poem tells the story of a dance which is proceeding in ‘Billy Brennan’s barn’. Even from this sentence alone, we can tell the tone of the poet. The alliteration of ‘b’ creates an aggressive sound, leading to the eventual thought of anger and resentment: resentment because as we read on in the poem, we learn that Kavanagh has, in fact, not been invited to the dance. Essentially, we realise that he is sitting at his window in his study, watching ‘the bicycles go by in two and threes’, bitter that he cannot understand the ‘half-talk code of mysteries…wink-and-elbow language of delight’. Kavanagh tries to seek for someone like him, who has been left to be on his own, however finds ‘no shadow thrown that might turn out a man or woman’. Thus, he undoubtedly comprehends that he is an outsider from the town.
In the poem, Kavanagh is aggrieved somewhat of his position as a poet because he had ‘what every poet hates in spite of all the solemn talk of contemplation’. People had the preconception of a poet not being able to like common life, common conversation or common activities. It was thought that poets would only feel welcomed and entertained in deep, intelligent conversation and forewent the pleasures of the body. The comparison made in the poem to Alexander Selkirk shows that Kavanagh felt as though he were on an island. Incapable of having conversation even if he tried, bar the one he could have with himself. The poet shows to his readers of his loneliness and solitude.
This last point illustrates the importance of Kavanagh’s poetry and in return Kavanagh himself. Kavanagh was currently writing in the shadows of great poets such as Yeats and Joyce, thus to make himself renowned and not just a cliché, Kavanagh had to write about something different. In doing so, Kavanagh started a new style of poetry in Ireland, and that was to write about everyday life and emotions while the great poets tackled the more the subjects Irish and world wide philosophy. The fact that Kavanagh’s poetry was of himself and the common life made his poetry appealing in later life because they revealed a part of history as well. Kavanagh was different from the start, and even his dislike of solitude set him apart from Wordsworth who thought it necessary to be able to create art in words. Kavanagh hated his isolation from the rest of the community because he never chose it. For him it seemed to choose him and there was no way out of it.
Though this poem is a product from the first stage in Kavanagh’s writing, we immediately see a different style to the ‘essential Kavanagh’ upon the publishing of ‘Shancoduff’ in 1937. This poem was written after Kavanagh and his family purchased a farm in 1925. The different element that strikes the reader in this poem is the fact that it is a ‘love’ poem to the land and farm. However, there is a sure lack of assuredness, which is present in his later works such as ‘The Hospital’ in 1956. Again, in this poem, Kavanagh is attacking the preconception people seem to have of poet’s being poor, yet here Kavanagh proves himself as more observant to beauty than the local people. This is demonstrated by the fact that, to the local people ‘the cattle-drovers’ the farm seems to be ‘hungry hills that the water-hen and snipe must have forsaken’ and consider Kavanagh poor for having such pitiable land in his possession. However, the poet is adamant to these comments ‘I hear this and is my heart not badly shaken?’ because Kavanagh can see the immense splendour, which exists in the hills. In the poem, the poet personifies the hills, giving them character and proving perhaps that they are better than the simple ‘cattle-drover’. Of this Kavanagh is proud, which is shown by his constant referral to the hills as ‘my black hills’. The hills are happy within themselves, as they do not concern themselves with things that are of no interest to them ‘Lot’s wife would not be salt if she had been incurious as my black hills’. They entertain themselves with themselves and see no bother in being worried about what is happening behind their backs, as they have turned it against the sun ‘hills have never seen the rising sun’.
The poet had a deep love for his land because he describes his plight up ‘the Matterhorn with a sheaf of hay for three perishing calves’ showing his dedication to his farm and the extent to which he is willing to go to look after it and all it holds.
I believe this poem rather holds a part of the poet himself. ‘Inniskeen Road’ presented the loneliness of the poet as a young man; however, this poem reveals the poets personality. While people are still stereotypical, Kavanagh has learned to live with it, and in return has turned his back on society. He no longer cares if he is invited to a barn dance or sits seeking out the night for a lonesome soul like his own. He has now discovered that none of it really matters. All that matters is what he sees and what or whom he loves. Nevertheless, there is still a waver in the poet’s manner, for he is still unsure of himself. Though Kavanagh declares he does not care what the cattle-drovers think, the fact that he mentions their opinions shows that it plays in his mind, and still does, somewhat affect him. However, this was not to last long.
The second phase of Kavanagh’s poetry is one that I do not particularly like. From the poem "’On Raglan Road’ we see a side of Kavanagh that the poet could have done without. Kavanagh shows himself to be a very demeaning and bitter person, even though the poem is based on the rejection begotten from a girl named Hilda Moriarty in 1944. Kavanagh goes on through the to portray the relationship between the two lovers. However, the poet had a great pessimism to him when he entered into the relationship. This showing Kavanagh’s perspective of women at this age was not fantastical. In fact, he believed women to ‘weave a snare’: to be of ‘danger’; to lead an ‘enchanted way’. Negativity seeps from the lines of the poem in the first two stanzas as Kavanagh thinks that he will ‘one day rue’ the girl as well as trying to portray himself as self-sacrificial due to daring to walk the ‘enchanted way’ even though he ‘saw the danger’.
Kavanagh tries desperately to explain himself in the third stanza, to prove for some reason that he was the one who put the most of himself into the relationship and did everything, yet he was rejected. He proclaims that he ‘loved too much’ and clarifies that he ‘gave her gifts’. Gift which he perceived to be of a great magnificence because they were ‘gifts of the mind I gave her the secret sign that’s known to the artists who have known the true gods of sound and stone and word and tint’. According to Kavanagh, he gave his dark haired beauty the very secret of all artists, he exposed their talent and hidden code. For once, he spoke the ‘code of mysteries’, yet she rebuked him. He has proven that he gave her everything he had in his power, yet this is where he goes wrong because he gave her gifts of power; gifts of pride. The true disappointment in the poem comes at the end, when Kavanagh demeans the entire situation by being bitter and degrading the woman. He places himself on a high pedestal by referring to himself as an ‘angel’ who tried to woo ‘a creature made of clay’, thus, in fact, placing himself higher than the girl. He also states that ‘when an angel woos the clay he’d lose his wings at the dawn of day’ meaning that had Kavanagh continued with Hilda, he would have lowered himself in status and perhaps even morals. He is bitter and is spitting with rage. He believed to have put his entire being into their relationship yet he was rebuked.
Therefore, we can see the second phase of writing was bitter, as this was also the time that Kavanagh was residing in Dublin. He was being seen as a ‘farmer poet’ who was poor, similar to the belief in Shancoduff. It seems, no matter where the poet lives, he will always be perceived with the same state of mind, with the same presumptions and the same attitude. Kavanagh was failing with society: money and with love. Perhaps, then, we can understand the bitterness in his works.
My favourite phase in Kavanagh’s writing is that of the third and final stage. This stage is more commonly referred to as Kavanagh’s ‘rebirth’ as a poet due to the sonnets after the 1950s being the opposite to the previous years. This dramatic change came after Kavanagh got lung cancer and had to have a lung removed. The near death experience made Kavanagh realise that life is too precious to be taken for granted and it made him see the uncomplicated love of the world. The most palpable poem for this statement is the poem ‘The Hospital’. Throughout his works, Kavanagh has made himself known for rendering the ordinary and the ‘banal’ important and fantastic. This talent presents itself again in ‘The Hospital’.
Here, Kavanagh writes about the Hospital while recovering after the surgery. The first true element, which suggests change in the poet’s style, is the fact that he calls the hospital ‘an art lover’s woe’. The importance of this is that Kavanagh once thought himself a great artist, as is seen in ‘Raglan Road’, yet, now he is describing ‘ the functional ward of a chest hospital: square cubicles in a row, plain concrete, wash basin’ with which he ‘fell in love with’. This reveals to us that the poet has opened his eyes, and even perhaps his heart, to love. In addition, he has done so to the extent of finding love in a common place such as the hospital ‘ the common and banal her heat can know’.
It is in this hospital that Kavanagh learned an important lesson, which he should have learned as a child, yet, now that he was fifty one years of age, he finally learned the most important lesson. He learned that ‘nothing whatever is by love debarred’. Love touches everything, affects everything, sees everything but most importantly of all, love excludes no one.
Kavanagh has suddenly gotten back his enthusiasm for life. He is a child again, looking upon the world with innocent eyes filled with wonder and awe at the ordinary things. He sees life as an ‘inexhaustible adventure’ which he has yet to discover. Moreover, to show his new found love, the poet names the common things such as ‘the Rialto Bridge, the main gate that was bent by a heavy lorry, the seat at the back of a shed that was a suntrap’ because he believes it is ‘the love-act’ to name these things. Kavanagh is showing he is grateful for the new perspective on life on naming the local places. All of a sudden, Kavanagh has a deep desire to ‘record love’s mystery without claptrap’ and to ‘snatch out of time the passionate transitories’. Kavanagh is desperate to return the world the proper idea of love instead of the melodramatic clichés of modern life. Love is not some burning lust or sighted infatuation, it is indeed the familiar and habitual that is love. By naming the local places, Kavanagh is creating a bond between him and them, showing to the world that they were of such importance to him and that they lie in his heart.
Overall, we can see the drastic change, which overcame the poet. The effect of this being that his poetry became more appealing to his readers due to Kavanagh having created his own philosophy. He made people think more about the beauty in ordinary things rather than the abstract and impossible. As a man, Kavanagh found the part of life he seemed to have missed as a boy. He found love. Not the love of a woman, but a love that goes deeper than that: the love of life and the world.

I believe that there is no better way for me to explain ‘The Essential Kavanagh’ other than what I have written here. Kavanagh was an excellent poet who had a talent for turning the overt and unsighted into beautiful art. His techniques as an artist are widely recognised and admired by all. In reality, we can clearly see the phases of life that Kavanagh went through, and for such a bitter start, I am quiet glad there was a happy ending, even though it didn’t last long. At least Kavanagh got a taste of the beauty of life. In a way, he got a taste of what it was like to be his own subject. Plain to the common eye, yet he finally found the love within himself. He finally found the innocence and wonder he had been searching for all his life, which makes it the perfect ending.

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