Leaving Cert & Junior Cert exam Q&A › Subjects › Leaving Cert English › English poetry sample answers
Tagged: english poetry
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November 29, 2010 at 10:02 pm #11954
Does anyone have sample answers on Yeats, Frost, Dickinson or Hopkins…really stuck!!!
Any help would be really appreciated!!
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November 30, 2010 at 6:33 pm #67083
Jon Ryan
ParticipantHi Raf,
I have sample answers for these and all other poets, and all sections of the Leaving Cert English course. Below is a sample:
In your opinion, is Kavanagh successful in achieving his desire to transform the ordinary world into something extraordinary?
Support your answer with suitable reference to the poems on your course.
Patrick Kavanagh was concerned with transforming the ordinary world into something extraordinary, which is achieved constantly in his poetry, as he finds unique and diverse ways to look upon the ordinary worlds he inhabits, which vary from viewing it from a childish perspective to a religious viewpoint, seen in such poems as EPIC, SHANCODUFF, ADVENT, LINES WRITTEN ON A SEAT ON THE GRAND CANAL DUBLIN, A CHRISTMAS CHILDHOOD, CANAL BANK WALK, INISKEEN ROAD and RAGLAN ROAD.
Kavanaghâs life began in rural Ireland, a simple world with little wonder â the norm was a poor physical landscape, with the most pressing matter concerning who owned its various parts. However Kavanagh transforms this meager world into one that can be looked upon with affection and some pride, with an ironic affection for the local milieu, instead focusing on how the world is of worth, rather than only viewing its various defects.
This is seen in EPIC. Despite the admittance that the pressing issues of his rural surroundings are the likes of âwho owned/ That half a rood of rockâ Kavanagh is not dismissive or rejecting of his world. Rather he is proud of his local milieu and declares that âI have lived in important place, times/ When great events were decidedâ, realizing that Homer made his epics from such simple matters of his world, that âGods make their own importanceâ and hence that his world is of some importance. More of the same is seen in SHANCODUFF. Kavanagh here reveals the extremely poor state of the land of rural Ireland. He admits that this cannot be repaired, due to the incorrect aspect â his hills do not face or receive enough sunlight as they face north and thus Kavanagh admits âMy black hills have never seen the sun risingâ. However this does not deter Kavanaghâs affection of them, and rather than worry about their limited potential, he defiantly calls them âmy Alpsâ.â The poor physical landscape of Kavanaghâs world is focused on elsewhere, in ADVENT, introduced with the mention of âa black slanting Ulster hillâ. Kavanagh lists various elements of this landscape, with their various defects, but for Kavanagh they are of worth. The âdreeping hedgesâ are not to be neglected for their lack of growth, but rather are notable for their âheart-breaking strangenessâ. Even the âblack slanting Ulster hillâ is not remembered for the lack of sunlight it receives, but rather its âspirit-shocking/ Wonderâ.
The rural world inhabited by Kavanagh was one in which religion played a heightened role in life, and religion helps Kavanagh transform the ordinary in his poetry also. As mentioned, Kavanaghâs rural Ireland was a depressing world, with its physical landscape and various issues limited, but Kavanagh manages to see hope for those living in this world, through a religious viewpoint.
In ADVENT there is the suggestion that âpenanceâ will recreate and retrieve âthe newness that was in every stale thingâ for the individuals of rural Ireland. Kavanagh reveals that if we survive only on âthe dry black bread and the sugarless teaâ then the world will not appear so monotonous, for âafter Christmas weâll have no need to go searching/ For the difference that sets an old phrase burning -/ Weâll hear it in the whispered argument of a churningâ. Elsewhere, in A CHRISTMAS CHILDHOOD, it is suggested that religion can achieve the same effect, providing some break from the monotony of rural Irish life â here the nativity here creates wonder for the boy-Kavanagh with such wondrous scenes as when his mother âMade the music of milking;/ The light of her stable-lamp was a star/ And the frost of Bethlehem made it twinkle.â Kavanagh makes a direct link with the comment that âMass-going feet/ Crunched the wafer-ice on the pot-holes,/ Somebody wistfully the bellows wheelâ, a relatively ordinary incident which is described in terms of affection. Throughout his life Kavanagh does not forget religionâs power of transformation â even in CANAL BANK WALK, in urban settings, it is suggested once more that religion can provide a challenge to the repetitive nature of life. The poem alludes to baptism and Kavanagh believes that the waters of the canal provide him with a rebirth so that he can âGrow with nature again as before I grewâ. He declares they are âPouring redemption for meâ and asks the world of the canal to âenrapture me, encapture me in a web/ Of fabulous grass and eternal voices by a beech,/ Feed the gaping need of my senses, give me ad libâ. It is suggested that this is necessary for the soul, as it âneeds to be honoured with a new dress woven/ From green and blue things and arguments that cannot be proven.â
Email me at ryjolc@gmail.com for the rest of this answer, and other notes/ answers.
John
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