Thomas Kinsella (4 May 1928 – 22 December 2021) was an Irish poet, translator, editor, and publisher. Born outside
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 ...
, Kinsella attended
University College Dublin
University College Dublin (), commonly referred to as UCD, is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a collegiate university, member institution of the National University of Ireland. With 38,417 students, it is Ireland's largest ...
before entering the civil service. He began publishing poetry in the early 1950s and, around the same time, translated early Irish poetry into English. In the 1960s, he moved to the United States to teach English at universities including
Temple University
Temple University (Temple or TU) is a public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related research university in Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. It was founded in 1884 by the Baptist ministe ...
. Kinsella continued to publish steadily until the 2010s.
Early life and work
Thomas Kinsella was born on 4 May 1928 in
Inchicore
Inchicore () is a suburb of Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Located approximately west of the city centre, Inchicore was originally a small village separate from Dublin. The village developed around Richmond Barracks (built 1810) and Inchi ...
to working-class but "cultured" parents John Paul Kinsella and Agnes, née Casserly. His father and grandfather both worked in
Guinness
Guinness () is a stout that originated in the brewery of Arthur Guinness at Guinness Brewery, St. James's Gate, Dublin, Ireland, in the 18th century. It is now owned by the British-based Multinational corporation, multinational alcoholic bever ...
's brewery, his father, a union organiser, in the
cooperage, later working as "a helper, a labourer, on a Guinness delivery lorry"; his grandfather ran a barge from the brewery to sea-going vessels in Dublin harbour. Kinsella spent most of his childhood in the
Kilmainham/ Inchicore area of Dublin, and was educated at the Model School, Inchicore, where classes were taught in the
Irish language
Irish (Standard Irish: ), also known as Irish Gaelic or simply Gaelic ( ), is a Celtic language of the Indo-European language family. It is a member of the Goidelic languages of the Insular Celtic sub branch of the family and is indigenous ...
, and at the
O'Connell Schools in North Richmond Street, Dublin. He entered
University College Dublin
University College Dublin (), commonly referred to as UCD, is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a collegiate university, member institution of the National University of Ireland. With 38,417 students, it is Ireland's largest ...
in 1946, initially to study science. After a few terms in college, he took a post in the
Irish civil service in the department of finance and continued his university studies at night, having switched to humanities and arts.
Many of Kinsella's early poems were published in the University College Dublin magazine ''National Student'' from 1951 to 1953. His first pamphlet, ''The Starlit Eye'' (1952), was published by Liam Miller's
Dolmen Press, as was ''Poems'' (1956), his first book-length publication. These were followed by ''Another September'' (1958–1962), ''Moralities'' (1960), ''Downstream'' (1962), ''Wormwood'' (1966), and the long poem ''Nightwalker'' (1967).
Translations and editing
At Miller's suggestion, Kinsella turned his attention to the translation of early Irish texts. He produced versions of ''Longes Mac Usnig'' and ''The Breastplate of St Patrick'' in 1954 and of ''Thirty-Three Triads'' in 1955. His most significant work in this area was collected in two volumes. The first of these was ''The Táin'' (Dolmen, 1969; Oxford University Press, 1970), a version of the ''
Táin Bó Cúailnge'' illustrated by
Louis le Brocquy.
With
Seán Ó Tuama, Kinsella co-edited ''An Duanaire: 1600–1900, Poems of the Dispossessed'' (1981), an anthology of Irish poems that critic Siobhán Holland describes as a "politicized deployment of the anthology genre". ''An Duanaire'' won a "special award" of the
Rooney Prize for Irish Literature in 1982. He also edited
Austin Clarke's ''Selected Poems'' and ''Collected Poems'' (both 1974) for Dolmen and ''The New Oxford Book of Irish Verse'' (1986).
According to critic Dillon Johnston, Kinsella's translations of ''Táin'' and ''An Duanaire'' have helped to "revitalize" the Irish literary canon.
Later poetry
In 1965, Kinsella left the civil service to teach at
Southern Illinois University
Southern Illinois University is a system of public universities in the southern region of the U.S. state of Illinois. Its headquarters is in Carbondale, Illinois.
Board of trustees
The university is governed by the nine member SIU Board of T ...
, and in 1970 he became a professor of English at
Temple University
Temple University (Temple or TU) is a public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related research university in Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. It was founded in 1884 by the Baptist ministe ...
.
In 1973, he started Temple's Irish studies programme.
In 1972, he started
Peppercanister Press to publish his own work. The first Peppercanister production was ''Butcher's Dozen'', a satirical response to the
Widgery Tribunal into the events of
Bloody Sunday. This poem drew on the ''
aisling
The , , approximately ), or vision poem, is a mythopoeic poetic genre that developed during the late 17th and 18th centuries in Irish language poetry. The word may have a number of variations in pronunciation, but the ''is'' of the first s ...
'' tradition.
Beginning around 1968 with ''Nightwalker and Other Poems'', Kinsella's work became more influenced by American
modernist poetry, particularly the poetry of
Ezra Pound
Ezra Weston Loomis Pound (30 October 1885 – 1 November 1972) was an List of poets from the United States, American poet and critic, a major figure in the early modernist poetry movement, and a Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Ita ...
,
William Carlos Williams,
and
Robert Lowell
Robert Traill Spence Lowell IV (; March 1, 1917 – September 12, 1977) was an American poet. He was born into a Boston Brahmin family that could trace its origins back to the ''Mayflower''. His family, past and present, were important subjects ...
. In addition, his poetry started to focus more on the individual psyche as seen through the work of
Carl Jung
Carl Gustav Jung ( ; ; 26 July 1875 – 6 June 1961) was a Swiss psychiatrist, psychotherapist, and psychologist who founded the school of analytical psychology. A prolific author of Carl Jung publications, over 20 books, illustrator, and corr ...
. These tendencies appeared in the poems of ''Notes from the Land of the Dead'' (1973) and ''One'' (1974).
According to critic Thomas H. Jackson, books including ''Her Vertical Smile'' (1985), ''Out of Ireland'' (1987), and ''St Catherine's Clock'' (1987) blended personal and world-historical perspectives: "address a self, and you find the world; address an aspect of the world, and you find a self". ''One Fond Embrace'' (1988) and ''Poems from Centre City'' (1990) allude to historical antecedents including
Brian Merriman and medieval curse poetry to dissect contemporary events such as architectural development in Dublin.
Awards and honours
Kinsella received the honorary
Freedom of the City of Dublin on 24 May 2007. In December 2018, he received an honorary doctorate from Trinity College Dublin.
Personal life and death
Kinsella's brother was the composer
John Kinsella (1932–2021). Thomas died in Dublin on 22 December 2021, at the age of 93. His wife Eleanor predeceased him in 2017.
Works
Poetry collections
* ''Poems'' (1956)
* ''Another September'' (Dolmen, 1958)
* ''Poems & Translations'' (New York: Atheneum, 1961)
* ''Downstream'' (1962)
* ''Tear'' (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Pym-Randall Press, 1969)
* ''Nightwalker and Other Poems'' (1968)
* ''The Good Fight'' (Peppercanister, 1973)
* ''Notes from the Land of the Dead and Other Poems'' (1973)
* ''Fifteen Dead'' (1979)
* ''One and Other Poems'' (1979)
* ''Peppercanister Poems 1972–1978'' (Winston-Salem, North Carolina: Wake Forest University Press, 1980)
* ''One Fond Embrace'' (Deerfield, Massachusetts: Deerfield Press, 1981)
* ''St Catherine's Clock'' (Dolmen, 1987)
* ''Blood and Family'' (Oxford University Press, 1988)
* ''Madonna and Other Poems'' (Peppercanister, 1991)
* ''Open Court'' (Peppercanister, 1991)
*''From Centre City'' (1994)
* ''The Pen Shop'' (Peppercanister, 1996)
* ''The Familiar'' (Peppercanister, 1999)
* ''Godhead'' (Peppercanister, 1999)
* ''Citizen of the World'' (Peppercanister, 2000)
* ''Littlebody'' (Peppercanister, 2000)
* ''Collected Poems 1956–2001'' (Manchester: Carcanet Press, 2001; Winston-Salem, North Carolina: Wake Forest University Press, 2006)
* ''Marginal Economy'' (Dublin: Dedalus Press; Manchester: Carcanet Press, 2006)
* ''Belief and Unbelief'' (Dublin: Dedalus Press; Manchester: Carcanet Press, 2007)
* ''Man of War'' (Dublin: Dedalus Press; Manchester: Carcanet Press, 2007)
* ''Selected Poems'' (Manchester: Carcanet Press, 2007)
* ''Fat Master'' (2011)
* ''Love Joy Peace'' (2011)
*
Prose collections
* ''The Dual Tradition'' (1995)
* ''Readings in Poetry'' (Dublin: Dedalus Press; Manchester: Carcanet Press, 2006)
*
Poetry and prose
* ''A Dublin Documentary'' (O'Brien Press, 2007)
Translation
* ''The Táin'', translated from the Irish epic ''
Táin Bó Cúailnge'', with illustrations by
Louis le Brocquy. Dolmen, 1969; Oxford University Press, 1970.
* ''An Duanaire - Poems of the Dispossessed, an anthology of Gaelic poems''; edited by Seán Ó Tuama. Portlaoise: Dolmen Press, 1981 .
Audio
* ''Thomas Kinsella Poems 1956–2006'' (Claddagh Records, 2007)
Citations
Sources
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External links
Thomas Kinsella papers, 1951–2016at Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library,
Emory University
Emory University is a private university, private research university in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. It was founded in 1836 as Emory College by the Methodist Episcopal Church and named in honor of Methodist bishop John Emory. Its main campu ...
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kinsella, Thomas
1928 births
2021 deaths
20th-century Irish civil servants
20th-century Irish male writers
20th-century Irish-language poets
20th-century Irish translators
21st-century Irish male writers
21st-century Irish-language poets
21st-century Irish translators
Alumni of University College Dublin
Claddagh Records artists
Irish editors
Irish expatriates in the United States
Irish male poets
Irish modernist poets
Irish translators
People educated at O'Connell School
People from Inchicore
Southern Illinois University faculty
Temple University faculty
Translators from Irish
Translators from Old Irish
Translators of Brian Merriman
Translators of the Táin Bó Cúailnge