Poetry is not Irish or any other nationality; and when writers such as Messrs. Clarke, Farren and the late F. R. Higgins pursue Irishness as a poetic end, they are merely exploiting incidental local colour.
Interpretation
Poetry transcends national boundaries, and focusing solely on national identity can undermine its essence.
In this quote, Patrick Kavanagh emphasizes that true poetry is universal and cannot be confined to a specific nationality or cultural identity. He suggests that when poets emphasize 'Irishness' as a primary goal, they may be limiting their perspective and instead drawing on superficial elements of local culture rather than exploring more profound, universal themes that poetry can address.
In practice
During a poetry reading, to illustrate the need for universality in poetry.
It is impossible to read the daily press without being diverted from reality. You are full of enthusiasm for the eternal verities - life is worth living, and then out of sinful curiosity you open a newspaper. You are disillusioned and wrecked.
As an artist, I want to interpret my feelings - not run across the street and ask what my mother thinks.
To give emphasis only to beauty makes me think of a mathematics that deals with positive numbers only.
Art should be appreciated with passion and violence, not with a tepid, depreciating elegance that fears the censoriousness of a common room.
My wedding dress is a piece of art that I'll treasure forever. It was designed and created by Zac Posen. I gave him only the tiniest bit of direction when he started, and the end product was more beautiful than anything I could have imagined.
At a certain place in Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, for example, he might feel that he is floating above the earth in a starry dome, with the dream of immortality in his heart; all the stars seem to glimmer around him, and the earth seems to sink ever deeper downwards.
The sort of man who admires Italian art while despising Italian religion is a tourist and a cad.
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