Patrick Kavanagh statue along the Grand Canal in DublinPatrick Kavanagh (Irish: Pádraig Caomhánach) (21 October 1904 - 30 November 1967) was an Irish poet. He was born in Inniskeen,County Monaghan, the son of a shoemaker and small farmer. He himself worked at both trades at various times of his life. The most controversial of his works, "The Great Hunger," sparked a wave of controversy due to its overt and scything attack on the sexual and religious oppression of the Catholic Church on rural Ireland. He popularized Irish rural life in two separate works, "The Green Fool", and "Tarry Flynn." When the Irish Times compiled a list of favourite Irish poems in 2000, ten of his poems were in the top fifty, and Kavanagh was rated the second favourite poet behind W. B. Yeats. "On Raglan Road," perhaps Kavanagh's most popular poem, was also intended to serve as lyrics to the traditional Irish air, "The Dawning of the Day" (Fáinne Geal an Lae), composed by Thomas Connellan in the 17th Century. As such it has been performed by Van Morrison, Luke Kelly, Mark Knopfler, Billy Bragg, Sinéad O'Connor, Joan Osborne and many other singers. The first stanza is: "On Raglan Road on an autumn day I met her first and knew That her dark hair would weave a snare that I might one day rue; I saw the danger, yet I walked along the enchanted way, And I said, let grief be a fallen leaf at the dawning of the day." - "On Raglan Road"
raglan road
On Raglan Road on an autumn day I met her first and knew
That her dark hair would weave a snare...[read poem]
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That her dark hair would weave a snare...
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