I think my favourite line in that Dublin poem of mine I posted the other day is the one about this statue on the banks of the Grand Canal - "And Kavanagh on his bench.... waiting patiently for the next poem, as if for a bus". (I am currently the top Google return for "Kavanagh on his bench" - I wonder if that will bring me any new readers?)
I believe the idea for this statue was inspired by one of Kavanagh's own poems, written for another commemorative bench by the canal.
Lines Written on a Seat on the Grand Canal, Dublin
'Erected to the memory of Mrs. Dermot O'Brien'
O commemorate me where there is water,
Canal water, preferably, so stilly
Greeny at the heart of summer. Brother,
Commemorate me thus beautifully
Where by a lock niagarously roars
The falls for those who sit in the tremendous silence
Of mid-July. No one will speak in prose
Who finds his way to these Parnassian islands.
A swan goes by head low with many apologies,
Fantastic light looks through the eyes of bridges -
And look! a barge comes bringing from Athy
And other far-flung towns mythologies.
O commemorate me with no hero-courageous
Tomb - just a canal-bank seat for the passer-by.
Patrick Kavanagh (1904-1967)
4 comments:
I notice here I wrote "patiently" rather than "resignedly". Ever since I first wrote this poem, I haven't been able to make up my mind which is better@
reading this, i could be there. or back at my canals in Georgetown - along which are some of my favorite spots - and memories of many lazy sunfilled afternoons.
any thoughts on "A swan goes by head low with many apologies,"?
No, that's an elusive phrase, isn't it?
I suppose the link between posture and emotion is drawn by false analogy to the human condition: we hang our heads with guilt or shame, we are 'weighed down' by our troubles; the swan merely lowers its head in flight for aerodynamic reasons. Is this simply a whimsical musing on the private life of the swan? Or a fantasy that the swan should/does apologise for briefly disturbing the tranquility of the scene? Perhaps.
I am more tempted, though, to see it as partly, possible, a case of projection - that the fleeting identification of the swan's appearance with an apologetic demeanour reminds him of his own emotional state, a need to make apologies to someone.
Did you check out the other Kavanagh poem I posted over on Froogville today yet? I like that one better.
Post a Comment