Kerr's Ass Poem by Patrick Kavanagh
Kerr's Ass
We borrowed the loan of Kerr's ass
To go to Dundalk with butter,
Brought him home the evening before the market
And exile that night in Mucker.
We heeled up the cart before the door,
We took the harness inside -
The straw-stuffed straddle, the broken breeching
With bits of bull-wire tied;
The winkers that had no choke-band,
The collar and the reins . . .
In Ealing Broadway, London Town
I name their several names
Until a world comes to life -
Morning, the silent bog,
And the God of imagination waking
In a Mucker fog.
mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
This poem is a rebuke to the Irish Literary Revival movement and to Romanticism generally. Brutal realism signals that PK's peasant origins are not idyllic; his inadequate farm is not an ideal subject for poetry, just the only life he had. His example shows that rural peasants are capable of poetry, which is usually crushed by their poverty, not inspired by it. It is not wonderful that he emerged from this setting - it is amazing.
JOhnnyO - this poem does not contain a swipe - it is a swipe. All hangs on the material presented - The straw-stuffed straddle, the broken breeching / With bits of bull-wire tied; / The winkers that had no choke-band. Such brutal realism is at odds with the idealistic convention of the greats and as such stands as a refutation.
I think this review is incorrectly attributed to this poem. There are many other poems of PK's that take a swipe at Ireland litery greats but Kerr's is not one of them.
An impoverished peasant has discoverd in himself the imagination for poetry, but he achieves that inspiration in spite of his crushing poverty, not because of it. This rural scene is his material not because it is appealing or romantic but because it is all he has. There is nothing attractive or beneficial in poverty and the brutal realism of this poem is part of PK's rejection of such romanticised twaddle (notably in Ireland's Literary Revival) .
Again this review is not for Kerr's but the comment is certainly correct for Kavanagh and his poetry.
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem
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4/25/2024 11:44:31 PM # 1.0.0.1119
In the first line of the poem I mean that it is 'Kerr's big ', the title is irrelevant.