One of the most popular Irish poets of the twentieth century, Patrick Kavanagh was a self-taught poet and writer who grew up and worked for many years on a farm. His literature reflects his love of the County Monaghan landscape of which he wrote: “O Monaghan hills when is writ your story, A carbon-copy will unfold my being.”
Fans of Kavanagh’s work will also enjoy following the Kavanagh Trail, which starts from the Centre and passes through Inniskeen village, down lanes and over the fields that Kavanagh knew so well.
A key stopping point is the Kavanagh homestead, which was the inspiration for his novel Tarry Flynn and his poems The Great Hunger and A Christmas Childhood, which evokes a magical Christmas when he was six years old.
The trail also passes the fields that inspired Spraying the Potatoes, Billy Brennan’s barn, which was immortalised in Inniskeen Road, and the village’s eleventh-century round tower.
Another of Kavanagh’s poems, On Raglan Road, was set to music by Ireland’s traditional music superstars, The Dubliners, becoming one of the island’s best loved songs and recorded by many international artists including Ed Sheeran, Van Morrison and Billy Joel.
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