Richard Weber (born 2 September 1932 in

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

– 15 April 2020) was an Irish

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

Early life

He was educated at

Synge Street CBS Synge Street CBS (colloquially Synger) is a boys' non-fee-paying state school, under the auspices of the Edmund Rice Schools Trust, located in the Dublin 8 area of Dublin, Ireland. The school was founded in 1864 by Canon ...

and at the National College of Art in Dublin.

Career

He was librarian in the

National College of Art and Design The National College of Art and Design (NCAD) is Ireland's oldest art institution, offering the largest range of art and design degrees at undergraduate and postgraduate level in the country. Originating as a drawing school in 1746, many of t ...

in Dublin and occasionally Lecturer in English there. He further held a variety of jobs, including that of lamplighter in London (1959), bookseller's assistant (London 1959, Dublin 1961), assistant editor ''

The Bookseller ''The Bookseller'' is a British magazine reporting news on the publishing industry. Philip Jones is editor-in-chief of the weekly print edition of the magazine and the website. The magazine is home to the ''Bookseller''/Diagram Prize for Oddes ...

'', London (1961), librarian at the

Chester Beatty Library The Chester Beatty Library, now known as the Chester Beatty, is a museum and library in Dublin. It was established in Ireland in 1953, to house the collections of mining magnate, Sir Alfred Chester Beatty. The present museum, on the grounds of ...

in Dublin (1961 - 1965). He was poet-in-residence at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst in 1967; from 1967 to 1970 he was a visiting lecturer at

Mount Holyoke College Mount Holyoke College is a Private college, private Women's colleges in the United States, women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in South Hadley, Massachusetts, United States. It is the oldest member of the h ...

in Massachusetts. Weber has been advisory editor for ''

Icarus In Greek mythology, Icarus (; , ) was the son of the master craftsman Daedalus, the architect of the labyrinth of Crete. After Theseus, king of Athens and enemy of King Minos, escaped from the labyrinth, Minos suspected that Icarus and Daedalu ...

'', Journal of Trinity College Dublin and poetry editor for ''

Poetry Ireland Review ''Poetry Ireland Review'' is a journal of Irish poetry published three times a year by Poetry Ireland, the national Irish poetry organisation. ''Poetry Ireland Review'' publishes the work of both emerging and established Irish and internation ...

''. He has contributed to many Irish, English, and American journals. His major collections are ''Lady & Gentleman'' and ''Stephen's Green Revisited''.

Personal life

Richard Weber was married, with a daughter, a son, and three grandchildren.

Bibliography

Poetry Collections: * ''O'Reilly: Poems''. By Richard Weber. Dublin: Dolmen Press, 1957. (Dolmen chapbook; 8). p.: ill * ''Song for St. Stephen's Day'' / Richard Weber; drawings by William Carron. Dublin: Dolmen Press, 1957. 1 sheet::ill.(Dolmen Press ballad sheets; 3) * ''The Time Being: A Poem in Three Parts: Autumn to Winter, Winter to Spring, Spring to Summer.'' By Richard Weber. Dublin: Dolmen Press, 1957. 18 p. * ''Lady & Gentleman: Poems''. By Richard Weber. Dublin: Dolmen Press, 1963. 24 p. * ''Stephen's Green Revisited''. By Richard Weber. Dublin: Dolmen Press, 1968. 64 p. * ''Stephen's Green Revisited''. By Richard Weber. Chester Springs, Pennsylvania, 1968. 1st American edition. * ''A Few Small Ones''. By Richard Weber. Ballyknockan, County Wicklow: Ballyknockan Press, 1971. 46 p. Poems in anthologies, newspapers: * T''he Tree.'' ''The Irish Times'', Dublin, Saturday 3 March 1956, page 8. * ''Six Irish poets: Austin Clarke, Richard Kell, Thomas Kinsella, John Montague, Richard Murphy, Richard Weber'', edited by Robin Skelton. New York, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1962. 134 p. * ''A Visit to Bridge House'', in: ''A Tribute to Austin Clarke on his Seventieth Birthday 9 May 1966'', edited by John Montague and Liam Miller. Dublin: Dolmen Press, pp. 16–17. A poem that recalls the author's visit to Clarke's home. * ''A Visit to Bridge House'', in: John Montague, ed., ''

Faber Book of Irish Verse The ''Faber Book of Irish Verse'' was a poetry anthology edited by John Montague and first published in 1974 by Faber and Faber. Recognised as an important collection, it has been described as 'the only general anthology of Irish verse in the p ...

.'' 1974. * Poem in: ''Choice: an anthology of Irish poetry selected by the poets themselves with a comment on their choice'', edited by

Desmond Egan Desmond Egan (born 15 July 1936 in Athlone, County Westmeath) is an Irish poet. He has published 24 Collections of poetry and published translations of Sophocles' Philoctetes and Euripides' Medea. His own work has been translated into Albanian, ...

, Michael Hartnett. Goldsmith Press, 1979. 129 p. (Weber: ''"This poem was written on my return to Wicklow after three years of living and teaching in the U.S.A."'') * ''Hommage (Beckett)''. ''The Irish Times'', Dublin, Saturday 19 April 1986, page 13. * ''Elizabeth in Italy'', in: ''A Book of Love Poetry'', edited by Jon Stallworth. 1986. * ''A Visit to Bridge House'', in: ''Poetry Ireland Review'', XXII & XXIII, Summer 1988. * Last lines of the poem ''A Primer For Schoolchildren'', in: ''Tausend Tode schreiben'', edited by Christiane Frohmann. Berlin, 2015. Other publications: * Richard Weber: ''Austin Clarke: The Arch- Poet of Dublin'', in: ''Massachusetts Review'', 11, 2 (1970), 298-301

Reviews

* Austin Clarke: ''Verse Ancient and Modern.'' Review of ''Lady and Gentleman'', by Richard Weber, and ''The Penguin Book of Religious Verse'', ed. R. S. Thomas. ''The Irish Press'', 11 May 1963, p. 6 * Benedict Kiely: ''A Chapter of Irish Writing''. ''The New York Times'', September 8, 1968. * ''Library Journal'', New Providence, New Jersey: Bowker, vol. 94, 1969. * ''Irish Poetry of Faith and Doubt:The Cold Heaven'', ed. John F. Deane, Wolfhound Press, 1990. * ''Poetry in Contemporary Irish Literature'', edited by Michael Kenneally. Rowman & Littlefield, 1995. 460 p. (Studies in Contemporary Irish Literature, 2)

References

* ''The Writers Directory'', ed. Thomson Gale. St. James Press, 1981 * ''Poetry in Contemporary Irish Literature'', edited by Michael Kenneally. Rowman & Littlefield, 1995. 460 p. (Studies in Contemporary Irish Literature, 2)

External links

books.google.ie
{{DEFAULTSORT:Weber, Richard Irish poets 1932 births 2020 deaths Writers from Dublin (city) People educated at Synge Street CBS Mount Holyoke College faculty