Four Fridays: September 22, 29, and October 6, 13 from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. ET Online
Lecture and Discussion. This live class will be recorded and available for later viewing.
Patrick Kavanagh is one of the three greatest Irish poets; he was the main link between W. B. Yeats and Seamus Heaney, but his poems are more accessible. He celebrated and criticized his life as a farmer in County Monaghan and as a struggling writer in Dublin.
Kavanagh’s longer sequences include “The Great Hunger” and “Lough Derg.” “On Raglan Road” is one of the most popular of Irish love songs. His ballads include “If Ever You Go to Dublin Town.” His witty satires include “Who Killed James Joyce?” His prayers include “Advent”, and his curses include “Stony Gray Soil.” His mystic works include “Innocence” (“But I knew that love's doorway to life / Is the same doorway everywhere”) and “October.” His belief in his own experiences can be seen in “Epic” (“Gods make their own importance”). His sense of resurrection can be felt in sonnets like “Canal Bank Walk” and “The Hospital” (“For we must record love’s mystery without claptrap, / Snatch out of time the passionate transitory”).
This class will explore some of Kavanagh’s best poems, along with recordings and visuals. Recommended poems will be assigned before class sessions.
Four Fridays: September 22, 29, and October 6, 13 from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. ET Online
Required Text:
Selected Poems: Patrick Kavanagh, edited with an introduction by Paul Muldoon. (9781943667024) There are no advance readings required for this class.
Christopher Griffin is from Yeats country in County Galway. He studied at Trinity College and University College in Dublin. He taught courses in Irish literature at George Washington University for eight years and at Politics and Prose for 30 years. He was a study leader on 20 Smithsonian Journeys and lectured for Smithsonian Associates. His favorite presentations have included the Yeats Summer School in Sligo and the Lady Gregory Yeats Autumn Gathering at Coole and Ballylee in Galway.
REFUND POLICY: Please note that we can issue class refunds up until seven (7) days before the first class session.
