Carcanet Press - Something About

Description
Author
Reviews

P.J. Kavanagh's poems are the fruit of lifelong observation of the natural world and of human foibles, and the insights to which such meditative alertness leads. His poems are a wry and optimistic celebration of seasons and enduring friendships, the small pleasures of cricket commentaries, a blackbird's song - above all, of growth towards simplicity and wisdom, the sudden visitations of happiness that transfigure the commonplace.

From reviews of P.J. Kavanagh's Collected Poems

'There is plenty of quietly glittering intellect in these poems... he has an eye for rural things, birds, plants, weather; all are subdued to the colour of his own mind, its knowledge of loss, its recurrent perception of the world as a place to which it belongs and does not belong... this collection amply demonstrates Kavanagh's distinguished place among contemporary poets.'
Frank Kermode

P.J. KAVANAGH was born in England in 1931, and has worked as a lecturer, actor and broadcaster, as well as a writer. His Collected Poems were published in 1992, the year in which he was given the Cholmondeley Award for poetry. His memoir The Perfect Stranger won the Richard Hillary Prize ... read more

Praise for P.J. Kavanagh 'There is plenty of quietly glittering intellect in these poems... he has an eye for rural things, birds, plants, weather; all are subdued to the colour of his own mind, its knowledge of loss, its recurrent perception of the world as a place to which it belongs and does not belong... this collection amply demonstrates Kavanagh's distinguished place among contemporary poets.' Frank Kermode on Collected Poems '[P.J. Kavanagh possesses] that quality of sheer readability... ' Vernon Scannell Though in many ways an obvious successor to Edward Thomas... PJKavanagh has also much in common with Louis MacNeice, an essentially private and autobiographical poet... Kavanagh displays the same talent for a conversational tone, and shares MacNeice's fondness for rhyme, his love of echoes... he employs traditional forms while allowing himself a relaxed freedom regarding line-length and metre (not to be mistaken for a lack of craft). The parallels should not be overstressed, however; Kavanagh is decidedly his own man with his own interestsand concerns. For one thing, religion takes the place of politics for him, though his attitude to belief reveals something of that critical fastidiousness MacNeice maintained towards the political orthodoxies of his day... Simon Rae [on Presences]

Simon Darragh, The London Magazine , April/May 2005
...There read more

Jim Burns, Ambit , May 2005
There are some lines in the first poem in this book that struck home and made me conscious of my own situation (getting older) and the way in which I often think I see someone from the past who, in fact, turns out to be another person:
Was it the blouse-and-skirt combination, the cut Of the fair hair of the near-silhouette Against the shining sea, that made me peer and stare? read more

Sally Festing, Magma 31, Spring 2005
P.J. read more

Reviewed in the Spectator by Lloyd Evans
[...] read more

Quote of the Day If it were not for Carcanet, my library would be unbearably impoverished. Louis de Bernieres Home Authors Titles Paperback Hardback Limited Edition Journal CD eBook Imprints Aspects of Portugal Audio Books Carcanet Fiction Carcanet Film Carcanet Poetry Comma Press FyfieldBooks Lintott Press Lives and Letters Northern House OxfordPoets PN Review Sheep Meadow Press Information About Us Academic Enquiries Authors For Events Catalogue Contact Us Copyright and Permissions Join Our Mailing List Opportunities at Carcanet Press Enquiries PN Review Shopping Guide Stocklist Submission Guidelines Trade Information Resources Audio Interviews Gallery Reviews Video
Book Search Search > advanced search Subscribe to our mailing list Submit
Something About P.J. Kavanagh RRP: GBP£ 7.95 Discount: 10% You Save: GBP£ 0.79 Price: GBP£ 7.16 Available Paperback ISBN: 978 1 857546 46 0 Imprint: Carcanet Poetry Published: October 2004 216 x 135 x 4 mm 64 pages Publisher: Carcanet Press Description Author Reviews P.J. Kavanagh's poems are the fruit of lifelong observation of the natural world and of human foibles, and the insights to which such meditative alertness leads. His poems are a wry and optimistic celebration of seasons and enduring friendships, the small pleasures of cricket commentaries, a blackbird's song - above all, of growth towards simplicity and wisdom, the sudden visitations of happiness that transfigure the commonplace. From reviews of P.J. Kavanagh's Collected Poems 'There is plenty of quietly glittering intellect in these poems... he has an eye for rural things, birds, plants, weather; all are subdued to the colour of his own mind, its knowledge of loss, its recurrent perception of the world as a place to which it belongs and does not belong... this collection amply demonstrates Kavanagh's distinguished place among contemporary poets.' Frank Kermode P.J. KAVANAGH was born in England in 1931, and has worked as a lecturer, actor and broadcaster, as well as a writer. His Collected Poems were published in 1992, the year in which he was given the Cholmondeley Award for poetry. His memoir The Perfect Stranger won the Richard Hillary Prize ... read more Praise for P.J. Kavanagh 'There is plenty of quietly glittering intellect in these poems... he has an eye for rural things, birds, plants, weather; all are subdued to the colour of his own mind, its knowledge of loss, its recurrent perception of the world as a place to which it belongs and does not belong... this collection amply demonstrates Kavanagh's distinguished place among contemporary poets.' Frank Kermode on Collected Poems '[P.J. Kavanagh possesses] that quality of sheer readability... ' Vernon Scannell Though in many ways an obvious successor to Edward Thomas... PJKavanagh has also much in common with Louis MacNeice, an essentially private and autobiographical poet... Kavanagh displays the same talent for a conversational tone, and shares MacNeice's fondness for rhyme, his love of echoes... he employs traditional forms while allowing himself a relaxed freedom regarding line-length and metre (not to be mistaken for a lack of craft). The parallels should not be overstressed, however; Kavanagh is decidedly his own man with his own interestsand concerns. For one thing, religion takes the place of politics for him, though his attitude to belief reveals something of that critical fastidiousness MacNeice maintained towards the political orthodoxies of his day... Simon Rae [on Presences] Simon Darragh, The London Magazine , April/May 2005 ...There read more Jim Burns, Ambit , May 2005 There are some lines in the first poem in this book that struck home and made me conscious of my own situation (getting older) and the way in which I often think I see someone from the past who, in fact, turns out to be another person: Was it the blouse-and-skirt combination, the cut Of the fair hair of the near-silhouette Against the shining sea, that made me peer and stare? read more Sally Festing, Magma 31, Spring 2005 P.J. read more Reviewed in the Spectator by Lloyd Evans [...] read more	Share this... Quick Links Aspects of Portugal Audio Books Carcanet Fiction Carcanet Film Carcanet Poetry Comma Press FyfieldBooks Lintott Press Lives and Letters OxfordPoets PN Review Sheep Meadow Press The Carcanet Blog Let's Gimbal! read more Carcanet New Poetry Showcase: The Audience Writes Back read more John Gallas: A Little Andaluciad read more Carcanet Poetry Showcase: 30th April read more The Manchester Writing Competition 2013 read more Six Sixty-Six: Infinity by Gabriel Josipovici read more
We thank the Arts Council England for their support and assistance in this interactive Project.
Privacy Statement Sitemap RSS Feeds Home Authors Titles Imprints Information Resources This website ©2000-2013 Carcanet Press Ltd