THOMAS KINSELLA
Thomas Kinsella was born on 4th May 1928 in Inchicore, Dublin, the eldest child
of John Kinsella and Agnes Casserly. Schooled through Irish at the Model School,
Inchicore, and the O'Connells Schools, Kinsella entered University College
Dublin on scholarship to study science. He subsequently took a position in the
Civil Service, continuing his studies (now in languages) part-time. Living in
Baggot Street, Kinsella met the composer Seán Ó Riada and publisher Liam Miller,
and was active in the intellectual milieu of 1950s Dublin.
Kinsella began publishing poetry in the UCD magazine, the National Student, and
in Poetry Ireland. His first collection, Poems (1956), came out with Miller's
Dolmen Press, followed by Another September (1958); Moralities (1960);
Downstream (1962); Wormwood (1966); and Nightwalker (1967). Kinsella quickly won
recognition with awards from the Poetry Book Society (1958, 1962), the Guinness
Poetry Award (1958) and the Denis Devlin Memorial Award (1967). Central to his
poetry is Kinsella's relationship with Eleanor Walsh of Enniscorthy, Co. Wexford,
whom he courted while she was in hospital recovering from TB, and married in
1955. His early poetry is noted for an Audenesque lyricism. It explores the
power of the creative imagination to understand the nature of human
relationships, personal and public alienation, and how the individual's
potential for destruction is mitigated by the force of love.
On Miller's suggestion, Kinsella began translating old Irish literature into
English, including Longes Mac Unsnig; The Breastplate of St Patrick (both 1954);
and Thirty-Three Triads (1955). 1963 saw Kinsella in Harvard studying Old Irish
preparatory to his work translating the epic narrative The Táin, published by
Dolmen (1969) and Oxford (1970) with exceptional brush drawings by the Irish
artist Louis le Brocquy. In 1965 Kinsella left his position as assistant
principal officer in the Department of Finance to become writer in residence at
Southern Illinois University, moving in 1970 to Temple University as a professor
of English. A member of the Irish Academy of Letters from 1965, he was awarded
three Guggenheim fellowships (1968, 1971, 1978) and divided his time between the
USA and Ireland.
Kinsella's strong interest in publication is evidenced through his directorships
of the Dolmen Press and the revived Cuala Press. In 1972 he founded his own
press, the Peppercanister Press, named after the familiar appellation of St
Stephen's Church in Mount St, Dublin, which was visible from the poet's Percy
Place home. From 1972 Kinsella's poetry as initially published by Peppercanister,
before it was collected in editions by Oxford University Press or Wake Forest
Press. The Dolmen Press printed and distributed the Peppercanister editions,
this responsibility passing in 1988 to John Deane's Dedalus Press. <
Thomas Kinsella was born on 4th May 1928 in Inchicore, Dublin, the eldest child
of John Kinsella and Agnes Casserly. Schooled through Irish at the Model School,
Inchicore, and the O'Connells Schools, Kinsella entered University College
Dublin on scholarship to study science. He subsequently took a position in the
Civil Service, continuing his studies (now in languages) part-time. Living in
Baggot Street, Kinsella met the composer Seán Ó Riada and publisher Liam Miller,
and was active in the intellectual milieu of 1950s Dublin.
Kinsella began publishing poetry in the UCD magazine, the National Student, and
in Poetry Ireland. His first collection, Poems (1956), came out with Miller's
Dolmen Press, followed by Another September (1958); Moralities (1960);
Downstream (1962); Wormwood (1966); and Nightwalker (1967). Kinsella quickly won
recognition with awards from the Poetry Book Society (1958, 1962), the Guinness
Poetry Award (1958) and the Denis Devlin Memorial Award (1967). Central to his
poetry is Kinsella's relationship with Eleanor Walsh of Enniscorthy, Co. Wexford,
whom he courted while she was in hospital recovering from TB, and married in
1955. His early poetry is noted for an Audenesque lyricism. It explores the
power of the creative imagination to understand the nature of human
relationships, personal and public alienation, and how the individual's
potential for destruction is mitigated by the force of love.
On Miller's suggestion, Kinsella began translating old Irish literature into
English, including Longes Mac Unsnig; The Breastplate of St Patrick (both 1954);
and Thirty-Three Triads (1955). 1963 saw Kinsella in Harvard studying Old Irish
preparatory to his work translating the epic narrative The Táin, published by
Dolmen (1969) and Oxford (1970) with exceptional brush drawings by the Irish
artist Louis le Brocquy. In 1965 Kinsella left his position as assistant
principal officer in the Department of Finance to become writer in residence at
Southern Illinois University, moving in 1970 to Temple University as a professor
of English. A member of the Irish Academy of Letters from 1965, he was awarded
three Guggenheim fellowships (1968, 1971, 1978) and divided his time between the
USA and Ireland.
Kinsella's strong interest in publication is evidenced through his directorships
of the Dolmen Press and the revived Cuala Press. In 1972 he founded his own
press, the Peppercanister Press, named after the familiar appellation of St
Stephen's Church in Mount St, Dublin, which was visible from the poet's Percy
Place home. From 1972 Kinsella's poetry as initially published by Peppercanister,
before it was collected in editions by Oxford University Press or Wake Forest
Press. The Dolmen Press printed and distributed the Peppercanister editions,
this responsibility passing in 1988 to John Deane's Dedalus Press. <