Patrick Kavanagh

Patrick Kavanagh (21 October 1904 – 30 November 1967) was an Irish poet and novelist. Regarded as one of the foremost poets of the 20th century, his best known works include the novel Tarry Flynn and the poems Raglan Road and The Great Hunger. His work can best be categorised as accounts of Irish life and achieved a universal appeal through reference to commonplace. Patrick Kavanagh was born in the rural townland of Inniskeen, County Monaghan in 1904. He was the fourth of ten children. His father, James, was a shoemaker and small farmer, the illegitimate son of a schoolteacher called Keaveney which the local priest changed to Kavanagh. The teacher had to leave the area following the scandal and never taught in a national school again....