Carcanet Press - New Selected Poems

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In his foreword to this book, Derek Mahon notes that P.J. Kavanagh’s poems ‘elude the obvious categories. He has never been one of a “school”’. A poet of rural England, yet of Irish ancestry, Kavanagh ‘has always stood slightly apart’. He championed the poems of Ivor Gurney and shares with Gurney not only a personal landscape (that of Gloucestershire) but a poetic commitment to the actual and specific, to nature writing at its most rootedly precise. His is, in Mahon’s words, ‘a unique personal record’: ‘a lifetime’s dedication has produced its rich results’.

Foreword by Derek Mahon

from One and One (1959)

Dedication Poem

Djakarta

Yeats’s Tower

Intimations of Unreality

Merton Garden

Beggar at the Villa d’Este

from On the Way to the Depot (1967)

Saint Tropez

The Spring

August by the River

Westwell, Oxfordshire

On the Way to the Depot

Afternoon in Sneem

The Temperance Billiards Rooms

In the Rubber Dinghy

Perfection Isn’t Like a Perfect Story

Not Being a Man of Action

Satire I

Goldie sapiens

May

No One

from About Time (1970)

One: Son and Father

Seven: from ‘Albert Poems’

Nine: ‘Domesticities’

Ten: Father and Son

from Edward Thomas in Heaven (1974)

Occasional Birds

Sometimes

Commuter

For Bruno

Eclogue

All I Want

Real Sky

A Box of Sons

November the First

Child’s Walk

Driving Back

Opened and Fastened

Picture a Father

And Light Fading

The Clapham Elephants

Edward Thomas in Heaven

Consolations

from Life Before Death (1979)

Dome

A Hard Setting

While the Sun Shines

Where You Watching Are

A Single Tree

Don’t Forget the Keeper, Sir

A Great Gale, 1976

Breakfast in Italy

Ivor Gurney

The Dead

Simile

Gardening

Beyond Decoration

The Moon in Charge

Sun Overcast

Elder

Dandelion

Pilgrims

Borris House, Co. Carlow

For C.E.K.

Spring Arrival

Thank-You Letter

Praying

Seal

Illness

Memory

from Presences (1987)

Birth of Middle Age

Walmer Castle

A Small World

Late Acknowledgement

Farmworker

Ars est celare artem

Politics

Birthday Visit

Prayer in Middle Age

Constitutional

Nature Poet

1. Voices

2. The Attempt

3. One Sentence, and Another

4. Companions

5. A Clean Sensation

from An Enchantment (1991)

A ghost replies

The old notebook

Autumn

Memorial service

No more songs

January evening

Blackbird in Fulham

They lift their heads

Minimal prayer suggestion

Natural history

Hope

Falklands, 1982

Whitsun

Resistance

ITMA

In the middle of the wood

The belt

Quieter than Clichy

Inishmaine

Severn aisling

Message

from Something About (2004)

Slow as grass

The new man

November

Angels

Tug o’ war

A gottle o’ Guinness

Mood indigo, tune Irish

After Westwell

‘Constancy to an ideal object’

Ascension window at Fairford

Whitsun

Vox pop

Small voice

Seasonals

1. ‘Summer…’

2. ‘Combine-harvesters…’

3. ‘Rain…’

4. ‘Later, pale-faced hogweed…’

What I didn’t say to Thomas

Two syllabics

1. Christmas walk

2. Test Match Special

For Kate

Three score and ten

Gold

Dawns

London Bridge

Job

Something about

Index of Titles

Index of First Lines

P.J. Kavanagh was born in England in 1931, and worked as a lecturer, actor and broadcaster, as well as a writer. His Collected Poems were published in 1992, the year in which he was given the Cholmondeley Award for poetry. His memoir The Perfect Stranger won the Richard Hillary Prize in ... read more

Praise for P.J. Kavanagh 'To hear the truth so devastatingly and yet so joyfully encountered is rare in an age where autobiography has been flattened by the massed weight of political and public reminiscence. This autobiography, from its beginning to its bitter end, is a celebration of joy: joy in youth, in woman, in male camaraderie, in the struggle of art, in married love.'
Times Literary Supplement 'There is plenty of quietly glittering intellect in these poems... he has an eye for rural things, birds, plants, weather; all are subdued to the colour of his own mind, its knowledge of loss, its recurrent perception of the world as a place to which it belongs and does not belong... this collection amply demonstrates Kavanagh's distinguished place among contemporary poets.'
Frank Kermode 'There is plenty of quietly glittering intellect in these poems... he has an eye for rural things, birds, plants, weather; all are subdued to the colour of his own mind, its knowledge of loss, its recurrent perception of the world as a place to which it belongs and does not belong... this collection amply demonstrates Kavanagh's distinguished place among contemporary poets.'
Frank Kermode

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New Selected Poems P.J. Kavanagh 10% off eBook (EPUB) 10% off Paperback Categories: 20th Century, 21st Century, British Imprint: Carcanet Poetry Publisher: Carcanet Press Available as: Paperback (167 pages) (Pub. May 2014) 9781847772527 £12.95 £11.65 eBook (EPUB) Needs ADE! (Pub. May 2014) 9781847775412 £12.95 £11.65 To use the EPUB version, you will need to have Adobe Digital Editions (ADE) installed on your device. You can find out more at https://www.adobe.com/uk/solutions/ebook/digital-editions.html. Please do not purchase this version if you do not have and are not prepared to install, Adobe Digital Editions. Description Author Contents Reviews In his foreword to this book, Derek Mahon notes that P.J. Kavanagh’s poems ‘elude the obvious categories. He has never been one of a “school”’. A poet of rural England, yet of Irish ancestry, Kavanagh ‘has always stood slightly apart’. He championed the poems of Ivor Gurney and shares with Gurney not only a personal landscape (that of Gloucestershire) but a poetic commitment to the actual and specific, to nature writing at its most rootedly precise. His is, in Mahon’s words, ‘a unique personal record’: ‘a lifetime’s dedication has produced its rich results’. Foreword by Derek Mahon *from One and One* (1959) Dedication Poem Djakarta Yeats’s Tower Intimations of Unreality Merton Garden Beggar at the Villa d’Este from On the Way to the Depot (1967)** Saint Tropez The Spring August by the River Westwell, Oxfordshire On the Way to the Depot Afternoon in Sneem The Temperance Billiards Rooms In the Rubber Dinghy Perfection Isn’t Like a Perfect Story Not Being a Man of Action Satire I Goldie sapiens May No One *from About Time* (1970)** One: Son and Father Seven: from ‘Albert Poems’ Nine: ‘Domesticities’ Ten: Father and Son *from Edward Thomas in Heaven* (1974) Occasional Birds Sometimes Commuter For Bruno Eclogue All I Want Real Sky A Box of Sons November the First Child’s Walk Driving Back Opened and Fastened Picture a Father And Light Fading The Clapham Elephants Edward Thomas in Heaven Consolations from Life Before Death (1979) Dome A Hard Setting While the Sun Shines Where You Watching Are A Single Tree Don’t Forget the Keeper, Sir A Great Gale, 1976 Breakfast in Italy Ivor Gurney The Dead Simile Gardening Beyond Decoration The Moon in Charge Sun Overcast Elder Dandelion Pilgrims Borris House, Co. Carlow For C.E.K. Spring Arrival Thank-You Letter Praying Seal Illness Memory from Presences (1987)** Birth of Middle Age Walmer Castle A Small World Late Acknowledgement Farmworker Ars est celare artem Politics Birthday Visit Prayer in Middle Age Constitutional Nature Poet 1. Voices 2. The Attempt 3. One Sentence, and Another 4. Companions 5. A Clean Sensation *from An Enchantment* (1991) A ghost replies The old notebook Autumn Memorial service No more songs January evening Blackbird in Fulham They lift their heads Minimal prayer suggestion Natural history Hope Falklands, 1982 Whitsun Resistance ITMA In the middle of the wood The belt Quieter than Clichy Inishmaine Severn aisling Message from Something About (2004)** Slow as grass The new man November Angels Tug o’ war A gottle o’ Guinness Mood indigo, tune Irish After Westwell ‘Constancy to an ideal object’ Ascension window at Fairford Whitsun Vox pop Small voice Seasonals 1. ‘Summer…’ 2. ‘Combine-harvesters…’ 3. ‘Rain…’ 4. ‘Later, pale-faced hogweed…’ What I didn’t say to Thomas Two syllabics 1. Christmas walk 2. Test Match Special For Kate Three score and ten Gold Dawns London Bridge Job Something about Index of Titles Index of First Lines P.J. Kavanagh was born in England in 1931, and worked as a lecturer, actor and broadcaster, as well as a writer. His Collected Poems were published in 1992, the year in which he was given the Cholmondeley Award for poetry. His memoir The Perfect Stranger won the Richard Hillary Prize in ... read more Praise for P.J. Kavanagh 'To hear the truth so devastatingly and yet so joyfully encountered is rare in an age where autobiography has been flattened by the massed weight of political and public reminiscence. This autobiography, from its beginning to its bitter end, is a celebration of joy: joy in youth, in woman, in male camaraderie, in the struggle of art, in married love.' Times Literary Supplement 'There is plenty of quietly glittering intellect in these poems... he has an eye for rural things, birds, plants, weather; all are subdued to the colour of his own mind, its knowledge of loss, its recurrent perception of the world as a place to which it belongs and does not belong... this collection amply demonstrates Kavanagh's distinguished place among contemporary poets.' Frank Kermode 'There is plenty of quietly glittering intellect in these poems... he has an eye for rural things, birds, plants, weather; all are subdued to the colour of his own mind, its knowledge of loss, its recurrent perception of the world as a place to which it belongs and does not belong... this collection amply demonstrates Kavanagh's distinguished place among contemporary poets.' Frank Kermode You might also be interested in: The Gypsy and the Poet David Morley Leaf Graffiti Lucy Burnett	Share this... Quick Links Carcanet Poetry Carcanet Classics Carcanet Fiction Carcanet Film Lives and Letters PN Review Video Carcanet Celebrates 50 Years! The Carcanet Blog We've Moved! read more Books of the Year read more One Little Room: Peter McDonald read more Collected Poems: Mimi Khalvati read more Invisible Dog: Fabio Morbito, translated by Richard Gwyn read more Dante's Purgatorio: Philip Terry read more
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