Thomas Kinsella

Thomas Kinsella, born in 1928, Irish poet, whose work is marked by deep symbolism, mythological allusion, and a sense of nostalgia. Kinsella was born in Dublin. In 1946 he left Dublin’s University College to work in the Irish Civil Service, where he stayed until 1965. From the mid-1960s to the mid-1970s he was a director of the Dolmen and Kuala publishing companies in Dublin. He also taught at various institutions in the United States, notably Temple University, where he was a professor of English from 1970 to 1990.

Kinsella’s early poetry is formal in structure and often deals with issues of self and issues of romantic love. Early volumes include Poems (1956), Another September (1958), and Downstream (1962). His later poetry is more frequently written in the looser styles of blank verse or free verse. It is also more outward looking, discussing issues of contemporary society, the effects of political strife and divisiveness in Ireland, and the role of tradition in Irish society. Later volumes of note include Night Walker and Other Poems (1968), Notes From the Land of the Dead and Other Poems (1972), Peppercanister Poems: 1972-1978 (1979), Her Vertical Smile (1985), Blood and Family (1988), and From Centre City (1994).

Kinsella has also translated many Gaelic-language texts, both classic and contemporary. These translations include The Tain (1970) and An Duanaire, 1600-1900: poems of the dispossessed(1981), a collaborative effort with Irish writer Sean O’Tuama. In addition, Kinsella edited and provided translations for The New Oxford Book of Irish Verse (1986).