Rudolf Patrick (Rudi) Holzapfel (11 December 1938 in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. ...

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– 6 February 2005 in

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) was an Irish poet and teacher.

Early life

His father, Rudolf Melander Holzapfel (1900–1982), was a Shakespeare scholar, expert on Old Master paintings, and art dealer. His mother, Mona Trew Holzapfel (1914–1998), was an original member of the renowned Bluebell Girls at the Folies Bergère. The Parisian dance troupe, founded in 1932 by the Dublin born Margaret Kelly (1910–2004), continues to perform elaborate shows at the Lido de Paris. The family relocated to America, living in

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between 1946 and 1956, where Rudi Holzapfel graduated from Santa Barbara Catholic High School.

Education

From 1956 to 1970, Holzapfel worked various jobs in England and Ireland, and studied - attaining a M. Litt. with his thesis "Irish Literary Periodicals from 1900 to the Present Day" (1964) - at Trinity College,

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...

, where he edited '' Icarus''. It was during these years that Holzapfel began to identify with

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

and the cause of

Irish nationalism Irish nationalism is a nationalist political movement which, in its broadest sense, asserts that the people of Ireland should govern Ireland as a sovereign state. Since the mid-19th century, Irish nationalism has largely taken the form of cu ...

; he has said he would like to be considered ''a true inheritor of the spiritual legacy of the Gaelic Bards''. He began a lifelong study and appreciation of James Clarence Mangan (1803–1849), who he describes as ''the greatest Irish poet before Yeats''. In 1969, Holzapfel published ''James Clarence Mangan: A Checklist of Printed and Other Sources'' (Dublin: Scepter).

Career

From 1970 to the late 1980s, Holzapfel lived in

, teaching English and Literature, especially at the Emil-Fischer-Gymnasium in

Euskirchen Euskirchen (; Ripuarian: ''Öskerche'') is a town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, capital of the district Euskirchen. While Euskirchen resembles a modern shopping town, it also has a history dating back over 700 years, having been granted to ...

. Holzapfel has published more than twenty-five books of

poetry Poetry (derived from the Greek '' poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings ...

, some under his own imprint, Sunburst Press (Blackrock, County Dublin). An early book of poetry, ''Cast a Cold Eye'', was written with

Brendan Kennelly Timothy Brendan Kennelly (17 April 1936 – 17 October 2021), usually known as Brendan Kennelly, was an Irish poet and novelist. He was Professor of Modern Literature at Trinity College Dublin until 2005. Following his retirement he was a P ...

(Dolmen Press, 1959). Holzapfel has published with other Irish authors, including

Oliver Snoddy Oliver may refer to: Arts, entertainment and literature Books * ''Oliver the Western Engine'', volume 24 in ''The Railway Series'' by Rev. W. Awdry * ''Oliver Twist'', a novel by Charles Dickens Fictional characters * Ariadne Oliver, ...

and John Farrell, and his work has been anthologized in the Penguin Book of Irish Verse and Modern Irish Poets. With a circle of other Mangan scholars, including

Jacques Chuto Ancient and noble French family names, Jacques, Jacq, or James are believed to originate from the Middle Ages in the historic northwest Brittany region in France, and have since spread around the world over the centuries. To date, there are over ...

, Peter Van de Kamp,

Peter MacMahon Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a sur ...

, and

Ellen Shannon-Mangan Ellen is a female given name, a diminutive of Elizabeth, Eleanor, Elena and Helen. Ellen was the 609th most popular name in the U.S. and the 17th in Sweden in 2004. People named Ellen include: *Ellen Adarna (born 1988), Filipino actress *Ellen A ...

, Holzapfel has edited selections of Mangan's prose and poems for the

Irish Academic Press Irish Academic Press is an independent Irish publishing house that was established in 1974, with a focus on Irish history, politics, literature and the arts. History Irish Academic Press was founded by Frank Cass in 1974 and, following his deat ...

. Rudi Holzapfel died in Bonn, Germany, on 6 February 2005. His grave is to be found at the Poppelsdorfer Friedhof. His final book of Sonnets, ''A Tiger Says His Prayers'', was published posthumously in 2006.

Works

* Cast a Cold Eye, 1959, with

* Romances y "rooan hurkey" 1960, Sunburst Press * The Rain, the Moon, 1961, with

* The Dark About Our Loves, 1962, with

* Poems: Green Townlands (Leeds), 1963, with

* Transubstantiations, 1963 * The Leprechaun y "R. Patrick Ward" 1963 * Why Hitler is in Heaven (satirical ballad), 1964 * Nollaig by Rudi Holzappel icand Oliver Snoddy, 1964 * Translations From The English, 1965, The Museum Bookshop, Dublin * The Rebel Bloom, Leeds, 1967 * For Love of Ireland (Broadsheet with 9 poems),

he author He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' in ...

Leeds, 1967 * No Road beyond Vallombrosa, 1968 * Parasites Lost, (Rudi Patrick Sebastian Holzapfel and John Joseph Conleth Farrell), 1970, Privately Printed, Cork * Soledades, n.d., 974 Sunburst Press * Whom a Dream Hath Possessed, 1975, Sunburst Press * A Smile Dies, 1978, Sunburst Press * Repeat after me ith Hermann Brunken 1980, Woodway Press, Euskirchen * Poems Written Swiftly, 1982, Sunburst Press * Buckshot (Aphorisms), 1983 * Turning and Manipulation, 1986, Sunburst Press * Ask Silence Why, 1961-1982, selected poems edited by Ellen Shannon-Mangan, Dublin, 1987, Beaver Row Press * The Light of Loss, December 1987, Sunburst Press * And Other Poems, 1987, Pioneer Printing, New York * White Alligators, 1991, Sunburst Press * For Ronnie, 1993 (single leaf - to be read at the graveside) * An Cheapach, 1993, Sunburst Press * Dark Harvest, 1997, Sunburst Press * Sonnets, 2001, Sunburst Press * The Thieves of Dream, 2003, Sunburst Press * A Tiger Says His Prayers, 2006, Sunburst Press

References

* Rudi Holzapfel A Bibliographical Checklist, foreword by Alraune Graefin Boesewicht, 1971, Triest.

External links

* http://www.lib.udel.edu/ud/spec/findaids/holzapf.htm {{DEFAULTSORT:Holzapfel, Rudi Irish poets 1938 births 2005 deaths 20th-century poets