A poem about a man trying to sell a horse: comes in at number 91 on the top 100 Irish poems list. But of course, the great Irish poet Patrick Kavanagh often uses powerful imagery to take you to the exact place or time. Just like in his other poem, a Christmas Childhood.
And of course, an outstanding poet such as Kavanagh would not just write about a horse for sale, would he? No, in fact, in this, Kavanagh is talking about a soul, a soul that gets treated like a horse. With the opening lines
My soul was an old horse
Offered for sale in twenty fairs.”
Ireland has long had a fascination with horses, and back at the time of writing, this was even more true. Kavanagh offers his soul for sale to a shopkeeper, the church and the tinkers. And all he wanted was to free the horse(soul).
The end of the poem gave me chills as he released his soul “No more haggling with the world….”
What is a Pegasus?🐎
If you don’t know, a Pegasus is a mythical winged divine horse and one of the most recognized creatures in Greek mythology. Typically portrayed as a bright white horse with giant wings.
Not much is left to say except share my notes on this powerful Irish poem by Patrick Kavanagh.
Pegasus
Now I may ride him / Every land my imagination knew.
Pegasus is an allegory. Kavanagh imagines his soul as a worn out old horse that he takes from fair to fair, trying to find a buyer. The poem gave its opening image to the title of his 1947 collection, A Soul for Sale (Macmillan, London), and it belongs to his hard years in Dublin after he left the family farm in Inniskeen, County Monaghan, in 1939 to live by his writing.
The poet offers the horse in turn to the great powers of Irish life: the Church, the State, and the traders and dealers of the market town. None of them will deal on honest terms. Each would take it only cheaply, or use it up for their own ends. It is a sharp, funny and bitter picture of an artist offered only small, safe roles in the Ireland of his day.
Then comes the turn. The poet gives up bargaining and lets the horse go free, and at that moment it grows wings. In Greek myth Pegasus is the winged horse linked with poetry and the Muses. Kavanagh’s message is that the imagination only takes flight once it stops trying to please the market.
The full poem is not published online by an authorised source. You will find it in A Soul for Sale (Macmillan, 1947) and in Patrick Kavanagh: Collected Poems, edited by Antoinette Quinn (Allen Lane, 2004; Penguin Modern Classics).
A powerful poem once again! What did you think of it? Comment below.
Brendan Connolly
Tuesday 31st of May 2022
A powerful poem. Recited by Liam Clancy it comes to life……. Look it up on YouTube
Belfast
Saturday 12th of March 2022
Hard to believe it’s 91. I would put it in the top 20 at least - but that’s taste, I suppose. The imagery in the first line of twenty fairs without a sale got me in at the beginning.
Irish Around The World
Tuesday 15th of March 2022
I agree, it's a fantastic poem. But I did not make the top 100 list. I also would have put it in the top 20