Sir, – Now that Patrick Kavanagh’s famous song On Raglan Road has been chosen as “Ireland’s Favourite Folk Song”, perhaps it is not too much to expect that singers quote the lines correctly, keeping to Kavanagh’s original verse. In Kavanagh’s poem, he writes, “I saw the danger, yet I walked along the enchanted way”.
Repeatedly, singers of this song have sung, “I saw the danger, and I walked along the enchanted way”. Substituting the conjunction “and” for “yet” may appear a trivial error but it changes the sense of the poem in that “yet” implies that the poet knew the risks involved in his pursuit but chose to continue nevertheless.
I trust that we can expect future interpreters of this beautiful song to note the correct line. – Yours, etc,
DECLAN COLLINGE,
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Templeogue,
Dublin 6W.