This life size sculpture of one of Ireland's most celebrated poets is located on the bank of the Grand Canal Dublin. It is inspired by his poem 'Lines written on a Seat on the Grand Canal, Dublin' which reads, 'O commemorate me where there is water, canal water preferably, so stilly greeny at the heart of summer. Brother commemorate me thus beautifully'...and indeed he was, in the exact fashion he requested.
In 1954 Kavanagh was diagnosed with lung cancer and was admitted to hospital where he had a lung removed. It was while recovering from this operation by relaxing on the banks of the Grand Canal in Dublin that Kavanagh rediscovered his poetic vision. He began to appreciate nature and his surroundings and took his inspiration from this for much of his later poetry, and a new phase of poetry followed. His love of nature was rekindled following this. He said "As a poet I was born in or about 1955, the place of my birth being the banks of the Grand Canal". After having been near death he could look at life and nature with new found wonder. Nature is glorified in a pantheistic manner in the poetry written from then on. Kavanagh had come full circle and was at peace with himself and the world.
This internal 'peace' that Kavanagh had arrived at is represented through the stance the statue adopts. Kavanagh's work reached universality through the commonplace and this statue could not illustrate that more beautifully. He has taken off his hat and nonchalantly positioned it beside him - the casual disposition of the situation does not call for anything more ceremonial. He sits, crossed legged, staring into the water mulling over the words to a new poem in his head. The free flow of thought and boundless artistic meditation that this serene setting afforded him made him come to recognize the true value of existing within a natural setting. His love and admiration for nature 'on the whole' grew from there.
The statue is befittingly of the same shade of marine jade as the 'green waters of the canal' that Kavanagh alludes to in his poetry. I am particularly fond of this aquatic colouring - aesthetically it differentiates this statue from other ashen ones in the surrounding area, emblematically it creates a correlation between this statue and Kavanagh's written work, and metaphorically it mirrors the colour of the actual, tangible water that it sits beside in the present day. This effigy is therefore doused in symbolism and deep meaning all harping back to Kavanagh's legacy and a lovely place to sit to mull over your own issues. Maybe the big guy could even help inspire a resolution. read more