Thomas MacGreevy (born Thomas McGreevy; 26 October 1893 – 16 March 1967) was a pivotal figure in the history of Irish literary

modernism Modernism was an early 20th-century movement in literature, visual arts, and music that emphasized experimentation, abstraction, and Subjectivity and objectivity (philosophy), subjective experience. Philosophy, politics, architecture, and soc ...

. A

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 ...

, he was also director of the

National Gallery of Ireland The National Gallery of Ireland () houses the national collection of Irish and European art. It is located in the centre of Dublin with one entrance on Merrion Square, beside Leinster House, and another on Clare Street, Dublin, Clare Street. It ...

from 1950 to 1963 and served on the first Irish Arts Council (An Chomhairle Ealaíon).

Early life

Thomas McGreevy was born in Tarbert, County Kerry, the son of a

Royal Irish Constabulary The Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC, ; simply called the Irish Constabulary 1836–67) was the police force in Ireland from 1822 until 1922, when all of the island was part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom. A sep ...

policeman and a

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...

teacher. At the age of 16, he joined the British Civil Service as a boy clerk. At the outbreak of the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

he was promoted to an intelligence post with the Admiralty. He enlisted in 1916, and saw active service at the Battle of Ypres Salient and the

Somme __NOTOC__ Somme or The Somme may refer to: Places *Somme (department), a department of France * Somme, Queensland, Australia * Canal de la Somme, a canal in France *Somme (river), a river in France Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Somme'' (book), ...

, being wounded twice. After the war he studied at

Trinity College, Dublin Trinity College Dublin (), officially titled The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, and legally incorporated as Trinity College, the University of Dublin (TCD), is the sole constituent college of the Univ ...

, in whose library his papers are now held. He then became involved in various library organisations, began publishing articles in Irish periodicals, and wrote his first poems. In 1941, he changed the spelling of his surname from McGreevy to MacGreevy.

Poet

In 1924, MacGreevy was first introduced to

James Joyce James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (born James Augusta Joyce; 2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influentia ...

in Paris. The following year he moved to London, where he met T. S. Eliot and began writing for '' The Criterion'' and other magazines. He also began publishing his poetry. In 1927, MacGreevy moved to Paris to teach English at the

École Normale Supérieure École or Ecole may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by Secondary education in France, secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing i ...

. Here he met

Samuel Beckett Samuel Barclay Beckett (; 13 April 1906 – 22 December 1989) was an Irish writer of novels, plays, short stories, and poems. Writing in both English and French, his literary and theatrical work features bleak, impersonal, and Tragicomedy, tra ...

and resumed his friendship with Joyce. His essay ''The Catholic Element in Work In Progress'' was published in 1929 in '' Our Exagmination round His Factification for Incamination of Work In Progress'', a book intended to help promote Joyce's ''

Finnegans Wake ''Finnegans Wake'' is a novel by Irish literature, Irish writer James Joyce. It was published in instalments starting in 1924, under the title "fragments from ''Work in Progress''". The final title was only revealed when the book was publishe ...

''. Along with Beckett, he was one of those who signed the ''Poetry is Vertical'' manifesto that appeared in issue 21 of '' transition''. In 1931, he produced critical studies of both Eliot and Richard Aldington. In 1934, ''Poems'' was published in London and New York City. The work shows that MacGreevy had absorbed the lessons of Imagism and of ''

The Waste Land ''The Waste Land'' is a poem by T. S. Eliot, widely regarded as one of the most important English-language poems of the 20th century and a central work of modernist poetry. Published in 1922, the 434-line poem first appeared in the United ...

'', but also demonstrates that he had brought something of his own to these influences. The book was admired by

Wallace Stevens Wallace Stevens (October 2, 1879 – August 2, 1955) was an American modernist poet. He was born in Reading, Pennsylvania, educated at Harvard and then New York Law School, and spent most of his life working as an executive for an insurance compa ...

, and the two poets became regular correspondents. Although MacGreevy continued to write poetry, this was the only collection published in his lifetime. Since his death there have been two ''Collected Poems'' issued, one in 1971 and an edited edition collecting his published and unpublished poetry published twenty years later.

Art

In 1929 MacGreevy began working at ''Formes'', a journal of the fine arts. He also published a translation of

Paul Valéry Ambroise Paul Toussaint Jules Valéry (; 30 October 1871 – 20 July 1945) was a French poet, essayist, and philosopher. In addition to his poetry and fiction (drama and dialogues), his interests included aphorisms on art, history, letters, m ...

's ''Introduction à la méthode de Léonard de Vinci'' as ''Introduction to the Method of Leonardo da Vinci''. In the mid-1930s, he moved back to London and earned his living lecturing at the

National Gallery The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of more than 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current di ...

there. From 1938 to 1940 he was the chief art critic for '' The Studio''. He published several books on art and artists, including ''Jack B. Yeats: An Appreciation and an Interpretation'' (on Jack Butler Yeats) and ''Pictures in the Irish National Gallery'' (both 1945), and ''Nicolas Poussin'' (1960) on

Nicolas Poussin Nicolas Poussin (, , ; June 1594 – 19 November 1665) was a French painter who was a leading painter of the classical French Baroque style, although he spent most of his working life in Rome. Most of his works were on religious and mythologic ...

. He was director of the

from 1950 to 1963.

Religion

MacGreevy was a lifelong Roman Catholic. His faith informed both his poetry and his professional life. On returning to Dublin during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, he wrote for both the ''Father Mathew Record'' and '' The Capuchin Annual'' and joined the editorial board of the latter.

References

*Wilson, James Matthew: ''Catholic modernism and the Irish "avant-garde" : the achievement of Brian Coffey, Denis Devlin, and Thomas MacGreevy'', Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press, 2023,

External links

The Thomas MacGreevy Archive
* Colm Tóibín, ''

London Review of Books The ''London Review of Books'' (''LRB'') is a British literary magazine published bimonthly that features articles and essays on fiction and non-fiction subjects, which are usually structured as book reviews. History The ''London Review of Book ...

'', 6 August 2009
Who to Be
(review of ''The Letters of Samuel Beckett 1929-40'' edited by Martha Dow Fehsenfeld and Lois More. Overbeck) * Schreibman, Susan, ed. ''The Life and Work of Thomas MacGreevy: A Critical Reappraisal''. Bloomsbury, 2013. {{DEFAULTSORT:Macgreevy, Thomas 1893 births 1967 deaths Academic staff of the École Normale Supérieure Irish modernist poets Writers from County Kerry 20th-century Irish poets British Army personnel of World War I 20th-century British civil servants Museum people from Dublin (city) People from Tarbert, County Kerry Irish male poets Military personnel from County Kerry