On Raglan Road By Patrick Kavanagh: Meaning, Story And Song

The Raglan Road poem, or On Raglan Road as it is more commonly known, is one of the most well-known Irish poems.

By the ever-so-descriptive Patrick Kavanagh. His Irish poems appear more on the top 100 list than any other poet. His poems are jam-packed with imagery that takes you right to that moment, just like in his poems Spraying the Potatoes or a Christmas Childhood.

Every week I am getting closer and closer to finishing my top 100 Irish poems list. I hope if you have been reading the blog since the start or from right now that you have been enjoying these poems. If you don’t know, I share a poem from this top 100 Irish poem list by the Irish Times every week. This week I have selected number 5, titled “On Raglan Road”.

So what is the ‘On Raglan Road’ poem analysis? What is the story behind Raglan Road?

Raglan road sign in Dublin

You might be curious about just what the Raglan Road means. Or what is the Raglan road about? Well, it is named after Raglan Road in Ballsbridge, Dublin. In the poem, the speaker recalls, while walking on a “quiet street,” a love affair that he had with a much younger woman. Although he knew he’d risk being hurt if he initiated a relationship, he did so anyway.

Kavanagh was 40, and the lady was a 22-year-old medical student. The relationship was short and intense, and years later, she told an RTE documentary that the age gap between them was too great to overcome.

The Raglan Road lyrics meanings have echoed throughout Irish history and song. The poem has been imprinted into Irish history through song. Most famously by The Dubliners frontman Luke Kelly who came together with Kavanagh to turn this into a ballad that has been sung by hundreds of famous artists, from Sinead O’Connor to Van Morrison. It is believed and reported that Luke Kelly of the Dubliners was responsible for putting the lyrics to music after meeting Kavanagh in a pub called Baileys in Dublin in the 1960s. You can also watch Luke Kelly singing this iconic song in the video below, from 1979.

So now you know just exactly why Raglan road is so famous.

So let’s take a closer look at the incredible poem On Raglan Road, by Patrick Kavanagh

On Raglan Road Poem

On Raglan Road is Kavanagh’s poem about falling for someone he knew he could not keep. The woman was Hilda Moriarty, a young medical student from Kerry he got to know in Dublin in 1944, when they both lived on Raglan Road. He was almost twenty years older, and the romance never really had a chance.

The poem follows the affair through the streets of Dublin. From the start the poet knows he is walking into trouble, and he goes ahead anyway. He offers her the best he has, his art and his poems, but it is not enough to hold her. Looking back, he blames himself for courting a real woman as if she were a figure from a poem, and he accepts that the dreamer always comes back down to earth.

Kavanagh wrote the words to fit the old air The Dawning of the Day. The poem first appeared in The Irish Press in 1946 under the title Dark Haired Miriam Ran Away. It became famous after Luke Kelly of The Dubliners took it up, and in 2019 an RTÉ poll named it Ireland’s favourite folk song.

Read the full poem: it is published in Patrick Kavanagh’s Collected Poems, edited by Antoinette Quinn (Penguin Modern Classics).

Did you enjoy this famous Irish poem?

The poem certainly is timeless, and I never get tired of hearing or reading it. Comment below and let us know your thoughts on the poem/song On Raglan Road.

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