Nationality: Irish (born in Inniskeen, Co. Monaghan) Fact:
In an Irish Times survey in 2000 to find ‘the nation’s favourite poems’, ten of Kavanagh’s poems were in the first fifty.
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This poem has some examples of both assonance and alliteration. Watch out for them as you read and underline them in pencil.
Inniskeen Road: July Evening by Patrick Kavanagh
The bicycles go by in twos and threes – There’s a dance in Billy Brennan’s barn tonight, And there’s the half-talk code of mysteries And the wink-and-elbow language of delight. Half-past eight and there is not a spot Upon a mile of road, no shadow thrown That might turn out a man or woman, not A footfall tapping secrecies of stone.
I have what every poet hates in spite Of all the solemn talk of contemplation. Oh, Alexander Selkirk knew the plight Of being king and government and nation. A road, a mile of kingdom, I am king Of banks and stones and every blooming thing.
Alexander Selkirk:
A seventeenth- century Scottish sailor who spent more than four years as a castaway on an island. Robinson Crusoe is believed to be based on Selkirk’s adventure.
