Patrick Kavanagh & Inniskeen Road: July Evening

Irish poet Patrick Kavanagh (1904 – 1967) wrote a poem set in rural Ireland, which captures beautifully the tranquillity of a summer’s evening. It’s my choice of poem for this month.

The bicycles go by in twos and threes –
There’s a dance in Billy Brennan’s barn to-night,
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

There’s a dance planned at a local barn and the poet shows the excitement and camaraderie of the occasion in the first four lines. However, in the next lines, there’s an absence of people and a sense of solitude. The reference to Alexander Selkirk (1676 – 1721), who was marooned on a desert island for years and who was reputedly a model for Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe, suggests great solitariness.

It’s a poem that can be read in different ways. Is the poet content to be alone, in control of his environment and even enjoying a sense of power? He is able to find poetic beauty in the ordinary – the stones, banks and plants growing by the road – and feels himself to be ‘king’ of this environment.

Or is he suffering from a sense of isolation, having watched people cycling past in pairs, while he is alone? Is he an outsider, looking on a world that he is unable to interpret? Is he struggling to find balance in his world between “king and government and nation”? Even the dances others are enjoying are a mystery to him, or “a footfall tapping secrecies of stone”.

The sonnet is written in a colloquial style – there’s nothing flowery or consciously ‘poetic’ in the language or tone.

Kavanagh’s poem has been commemorated in the town of Inniskeen, County Monaghan. There’s an excellent Patrick Kavanagh Centre to visit and in the street is a memorial of two bicycles from the era, along with a printed version of the poem.

You can enjoy this version of the poem, read by Art Agnew (with a lovely Irish accent, which of course is essential for this poem):

Or another nice version, read by Lisa McGee:

Have you enjoyed this poem? I’d love to know what you think, let me know by leaving a comment.