Wordsworthian Solitude in Patrick Kavanagh’s Inniskeen Road: July Evening: Rejection and Acceptance

Abstract

This paper explores Wordsworthian solitude in Patrick Kavanagh’s poem Inniskeen Road: July Evening. The significance of the study lies in revealing the Romantic component of Kavanagh’s poetry. The main question of the research is to show how the poet gradually moves from rejection into acceptance of the Romantic tradition, represented by solitude, as adopted and developed by the leading figures of Romanticism such as Wordsworth, Coleridge, and others. To achieve this, the researcher employs the analytical approach through which she presents a detailed thematic and technical analysis of Kavanagh’s Inniskeen Road: July Evening, indicating how the poem reveals Wordsworthian solitude. Based on the thematic and technical analysis of the poem, the study shows that Kavanagh rejects the Romantic idea of solitude throughout the poem but comes in the final stanza to have a different attitude. He eventually finds poetic inspiration, relief, and satisfaction in Wordsworthian solitude and finally accepts it, admiring its inspiring power and healing effect. Kavanagh’s adoption of the Romantic tradition, reflected by Inniskeen Road: July Evening, opens a new insight for him to re-communicate with nature and enjoy the bliss of solitude offered by the natural world.