Poets Brendan Kennelly and Seamus Heaney compare the poetry of Kavanagh's earlier and later life.
Kennelly notes that Kavanagh's later poetry moves away from satire but shows a man who has survived and gone deeper within himself to see the good within people.
Heaney explains why it is not necessary to make value judgements between the work of Kavanagh in his thirties and the poet's work written when in his fifties as it's a "wonderfully developing thing".
...What the later poetry is, is the story of a soul...
(Brendan Kennelly)
Kennelly describes how if a poet reaches old age, there occurs a simplicity or a distillation of the confusion of the poets earlier life. For Kennelly, Kavanagh's work develops through stages, from anger and embitterment in his earlier work, to an element of optimism in his later work.
Title: |
Gentle Tiger |
Clip Duration: |
00:02:37 |
Material Type: |
Video |
Clip Title: |
The Development of the Poet |
Information: |
'Gentle Tiger' marks the twentieth anniversary of the death of poet and novelist, Patrick Kavanagh. 'Gentle Tiger' is a documentary in which his widow Katherine, brother Peter, neighbours and friends put their memories of Patrick Kavanagh on record. Poets George Barker, Séamus Heaney and Paul Durcan, Professors Denis Donoghue and Brendan Kennelly are among the contributors. The documentary includes photographs and documents from the Kavanagh Archive in UCD, archive material from Adrian Cronin's film of Patrick Kavanagh, and footage taken by John Ryan, on Bloomsday 1954. 'Gentle Tiger' was produced by Tom McCardle and was broadcast on 30 November 1987. |
Local Keywords: |
Patrick Kavanagh, Poet, Poetry, Gentle Tiger, Brendan Kennelly, Seamus Heaney |
Coverage: |
Ireland |
Topic: |
Arts and Culture |
Contributor(s): |
Brendan Kennelly, Seamus Heaney |
Publisher: |
RTÉ |
First Broadcast Channel: |
RTÉ |
Broadcast Date: |
30/11/1987 |
Production Year: |
1987 |
Country of Production: |
Ireland |
Original Identifier: |
P538/00087 |
IPR Restrictions: |
Rights Reserved - Free Access |
Rights, Terms and Conditions: |
Copyright RTÉ. This material may not be replicated in any form or manner without the prior express permission of RTÉ. Any form of reproduction in print, television, video, multimedia, web site or other electronic media or any form of dissemination for commercial or non-commercial use must be licensed by the RTÉ Archives. If you wish to licence video or audio clips, still images or text, or would like further guidance please contact us. RTÉ Archives are committed to respecting the copyright of others and have attempted to source and credit the copyright owners of all material used here. RTÉ would like to hear from any copyright owners who are not properly identified here so that the necessary corrections can be made. If you feel your copyright has not been respected please contact us. |
Item Type: |
part/extract |
Colour: |
Colour |
Sound: |
Mono |
Aspect Ratio: |
4:3 |
Language: |
English (eng) |
Original Language: |
English (eng) |
