In 1939 Patrick Kavanagh came to Dublin to work full-time as a writer. A daunting task at any time, in 1940s Dublin this was almost impossible.
Kavanagh observed that âpoetry is a luxury trade⦠a man has no business adventuring into it unless he has buckets of moneyâ. Despite many war-time shortages, jealousy and petty snobbery were in plentiful supply. The big raw-boned Monaghan man striding Dublinâs streets drew sneers from city slickers. (On observing a man driving a manure cart, one wag said acidly: âI see Paddy Kavanagh is moving houseâ).
Nonetheless, by the early 1950s Kavanagh was a well-known literary figure, having produced critically-acclaimed â if controversial â work such as The Green Fool and Tarry Flynn, and a long poem, The Great Hunger, which depicted the loneliness, depression and sexual frustration of the small farmer.