Thomas Kinsella facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Thomas Kinsella
Kinsella in 2009
Born	(1928-05-04)4 May 1928 Inchicore, Dublin, Irish Free State
Died	22 December 2021(2021-12-22) (aged 93) Dublin, Ireland
Occupation	poet, lecturer, translator, editor
Language	English, Irish
Education	Model School, Inchicore O'Connell School University College Dublin
Spouse	Eleanor Walsh (m. 1955–2017, her death)

Thomas Kinsella (born May 4, 1928 – died December 22, 2021) was a famous Irish poet. He also worked as a translator, editor, and publisher.

Kinsella was born near Dublin. He studied at University College Dublin before he started working for the government. In the early 1950s, he began to publish his own poems. Around the same time, he translated old Irish poems into English.

In the 1960s, he moved to the United States. There, he taught English at universities like Temple University. Kinsella kept writing and publishing his works until the 2010s.

Thomas Kinsella's Early Life and First Poems

Thomas Kinsella was born on May 4, 1928. His parents were Agnes and John Kinsella. He grew up mostly in the Kilmainham and Inchicore areas of Dublin.

He went to the Model School in Inchicore. At this school, classes were taught in the Irish language. He also attended the O'Connell Schools in Dublin. Both his father and grandfather worked at the Guinness brewery.

In 1946, he started studying science at University College Dublin. After a short time, he got a job with the Irish government. He worked in the finance department. He continued his university studies at night, changing his focus to arts and humanities.

Many of Kinsella's first poems appeared in the University College Dublin magazine National Student. This was between 1951 and 1953. His very first small book, The Starlit Eye (1952), was published by Liam Miller's Dolmen Press. His first full book of poems, Poems (1956), was also published by Dolmen Press.

Other early poetry books included Another September (1958–1962), Moralities (1960), Downstream (1962), Wormwood (1966), and the longer poem Nightwalker (1967).

Kinsella's Work as a Translator and Editor

Liam Miller suggested that Kinsella try translating old Irish texts. Kinsella then created English versions of Longes Mac Usnig and The Breastplate of St Patrick in 1954. He also translated Thirty-Three Triads in 1955.

His most important translation work was put into two books. The first was The Táin (1969). This was his version of the famous Irish epic Táin Bó Cúailnge. It included drawings by Louis le Brocquy.

Kinsella also worked with Seán Ó Tuama to edit An Duanaire: 1600–1900, Poems of the Dispossessed (1981). This book was a collection of Irish poems. It won a special award from the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature in 1982.

He also edited Austin Clarke's Selected Poems and Collected Poems (both 1974). Later, he edited The New Oxford Book of Irish Verse (1986).

Some experts believe Kinsella's translations of Táin and An Duanaire helped to make Irish literature popular again.

Later Poetry and Teaching Career

In 1965, Kinsella left his government job. He started teaching at Southern Illinois University. In 1970, he became a professor of English at Temple University. He even started Temple's Irish studies program in 1973.

In 1972, he created his own publishing company called Peppercanister Press. He used it to publish his own poems. The first book from Peppercanister was Butcher's Dozen. This was a poem that made fun of the official report about Bloody Sunday in 1972.

After 1968, Kinsella's poems, starting with Nightwalker and Other Poems, began to be influenced by American poets. These included Ezra Pound, William Carlos Williams, and Robert Lowell. His poetry also started to focus more on how the human mind works, inspired by the ideas of Carl Jung. You can see these ideas in his books Notes from the Land of the Dead (1973) and One (1974).

Later books like Her Vertical Smile (1985) and Out of Ireland (1987) mixed personal feelings with big historical events. Kinsella's poems often explored how personal experiences connect to the wider world. His books One Fond Embrace (1988) and Poems from Centre City (1990) looked at current events in Dublin. They also connected them to older Irish stories and poems.

Awards and Special Recognitions

Thomas Kinsella received the special honour of Freedom of the City of Dublin. This happened on May 24, 2007. In December 2018, he received an honorary doctorate from Trinity College Dublin. This means the university gave him a special degree to recognize his achievements.

Personal Life and Passing

Thomas Kinsella had a brother named John Kinsella, who was a composer. Thomas Kinsella passed away in Dublin on December 22, 2021. He was 93 years old. His wife, Eleanor, had passed away before him in 2017.

Thomas Kinsella's Published Works