He also commented that, although he had grown up in a poor district, "the real poverty was lack of enlightenment [and] I am afraid this fog of unknowing affected me dreadfully.

[10] It is notable for its realistic portrayal of Irish country life, free of the romantic sentiment often seen at the time in rural poems, a trait he abhorred.

[7] Published by Macmillan in its series on new poets,[9] the book expressed a commitment to colloquial speech and the unvarnished lives of real people, which made him unpopular with the literary establishment.

[11] The book, which recounted Kavanagh's rural childhood and his attempts to become a writer, received international recognition and good reviews.

On Grafton Street in November we tripped lightly along the ledge Of the deep ravine where can be seen the worth of passion's pledge, Synthetic sighs and fish-dim eyes, and all death’s loud display- O I loved too much and by such and such is happiness thrown away.

The Republic, which was neutral during the war, shared a border with Northern Ireland (which, as part of the United Kingdom was involved on the Allied side).

[9][15] During this time he met John Betjeman who was based in Dublin during the Emergency nominally as a press attaché but also working for British intelligence.

[16] Betjeman, impressed by Kavanagh's wide range of social contacts, his ability to get invited to events, and his political ambiguity, tried to recruit him as a British spy.

[14] Written from the viewpoint of a single peasant against the historical background of famine and emotional despair, the poem is often held by critics to be Kavanagh's finest work.

Richard Murphy in The New York Times Book Review described it as "a great work" and Robin Skelton in Poetry praised it as "a vision of mythic intensity".

[9] Kavanagh worked as a part-time journalist, writing a gossip column in the Irish Press under the pseudonym Piers Plowman from 1942 to 1944 and acted as film critic for the same publication from 1945 to 1949.

In late 1946 Kavanagh moved to Belfast, where he worked as a journalist and as a barman in a number of public houses in the Falls Road area.

Eventually becoming a dishevelled figure, he moved among the bars of Dublin, drinking whiskey and displaying his predilection for turning on benefactors and friends.

[19] In 1949 Kavanagh began to write a monthly "Diary" for Envoy, a literary publication founded by John Ryan, who became a lifelong friend and benefactor.

Envoy's offices were at 39 Grafton Street, but most of the journal's business was conducted in a nearby pub, McDaid's, which Kavanagh subsequently adopted as his local.

Through Envoy he came into contact with a circle of young artists and intellectuals including Anthony Cronin, Patrick Swift, John Jordan and the sculptor Desmond MacNamara, whose bust of Kavanagh is in the Irish National Writers Museum.

[21] Kavanagh had made numerous enemies in his film and literary criticism and had written diatribes against the Civil Service, the Arts Council, the Irish Language movement so there were many possible authors of the piece.

However, the magazine hired former (and future) Taoiseach and Attorney General (1926–1932) John A. Costello as their barrister, who won the case when it came to trial.

[26] He gave lectures at University College Dublin and in the United States,[7] represented Ireland at literary symposiums, and became a judge of the Guinness Poetry Awards.

It was at this time that Martin Green produced Kavanagh's Collected Poems (1964) with prompting from Patrick Swift and Anthony Cronin".

[6][7] Kavanagh fell ill at the first performance of Tarry Flynn by the Abbey Theatre company in Dundalk Town Hall and died a few days later, on 30 November 1967, in Dublin.

Heaney noted: "Kavanagh is a truly representative modern figure in that his subversiveness was turned upon himself: dissatisfaction, both spiritual and artistic, is what inspired his growth.... His instruction and example helped us to see an essential difference between what he called the parochial and provincial mentalities".

When he became aware that the Kavanagh quote had been cut from the final broadcast, Crowe became aggressive with the BBC producer responsible, Malcolm Gerrie.

Kavanagh's poem "On Raglan Road", set to the traditional air "Fáinne Geal an Lae", composed by Thomas Connellan in the 17th century, has been performed by numerous artists as diverse as , Luke Kelly, Mark Knopfler, Billy Bragg, Sinéad O'Connor, Joan Osborne Van Morrison and many others.

This statue is featured in the short film Yu Ming Is Ainm Dom, about a Chinese man who learns Irish in order to live in Ireland.

[35] The archive is housed in a special collections room in UCD's library, and the hand press is on loan to the Patrick Kavanagh Centre, Inniskeen.