I had the pleasure of visiting the recently-renovated Patrick Kavanagh Centre, in the village of Inniskeen, Co Monaghan, this week.
I confess that apart from studying Kavanagh’s poems as part of the Leaving Cert curriculum, many, many years ago, I knew very little about Patrick Kavanagh. And the depressing ‘Stony Grey Soil’ wouldn’t have inspired me to delve much deeper. So I was totally unprepared for what a wonderful revelation it was.
On entering the converted church building that houses the centre, you are immediately immersed in a very special world. Kavanagh’s words are spoken aloud and surround you as you make your way through the exhibition. You can simply meander around or follow his life in a chronological fashion from birth to death.
This is a very modern, interactive exhibition. Glass ‘memory boxes’ house artifacts from Kavanagh’s life and times, while accompanying touch-screens invite you to learn more about the man, his life, his family, his writing, his journey from a country child, to impoverished artist in Dublin, and right through to his illness, death and funeral. Indeed, you can visit his grave, in the graveyard just steps away from the Centre.
When you’ve seen all you can, you finally sit in the little cinema that makes up the centre of the space, and you are immersed in breath-taking Monaghan and Dublin scenery, while the words of Kavanagh are spoken aloud. I defy anyone to be left cold by this. Somewhat to my surprise, I found myself being filled with a definite pride in the oft-overlooked county of Monaghan: its scenery, simplicity and even humility clearly defining and inspiring Kavanagh to put pen to paper.
I left the Patrick Kavanagh Centre with an even greater sense of pride in my own Monaghan heritage. I was struck by the parallel between Kavanagh and my own father, who also left his humble rural Monaghan home to follow his potential. Kavanagh’s story is typical of so many people who grew up in rural Ireland a generation ago – or even in much more recent times.
I would highly recommend a visit to Inniskeen. Don’t rush away afterwards. Have a wander around the cemetary. Take a break in the lovely Raglan Road cafe just below the centre, and acknowledge whatever emotions your visit will have brought to the surface.
A visit to the Patrick Kavanagh Centre will educate you in more than just the life and work of the man himself. For anyone with links to County Monaghan, it will give you a wonderful insight, to perhaps better understand our dour, straight-talking personalities, our strength of character, our doggedness.
I was more taken with Kavanagh’s poetry than I had expected. For the time of year that’s in it and in celebration of Kavanagh’s own birth month, I’ll leave you with one of the poems spoken during the film: October.
