Life
1903-1964; b. Belfast [DIL: var. Co. Antrim]; poetry collections include A Voice in the Dark (1932); Willow Leaves, Lyrics in the Manner
of the Early Chinese Poets (1941); The Fountain of Hellas (1943),
chiefly stanzaic quatrains; contrib. poems, ‘Night’ and ‘Beyond’,
to Robert Greacen, Northern Harvest, Anthology of Ulster Writing (1944); Lost Sanctuary and Other Poems (1954), and also ed. The Flowering
Branch (1945), anthology. DIW DIL OCIL
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Works
Poetry, A Voice in the Dusk (Belfast: Quota Press 1932) Wind
From the South (Belfast: Mullan & Son 1936), 41pp.; Willow
Leaves, Lyrics in the Manner of the Early Chinese Poets (Belfast:
Mullan/Dublin: Talbot 1941), 35pp.; Nocturne[ :] Poems (Dublin: Orwell 1941), 36pp.; Two Poems (Dublin: Gayfield 1942); Sic Transit Gloria Mundi (Dublin: Three Candles [1943]); The
Fountain of Hellas, poems from the Greek anthology attempted in English
Verse [Anthologia Graeca, English Selections] (Belfast:
Derrick MacCord 1943), 72pp. [decorations by Leslie Owen Baxter]; The
Quiet Stream (Belfast: Derrick MacCord 1944), 15pp.; With No Changed
Voice (Belfast: Mullan/Dublin: Talbot 1946[chk]); Selected Poems (Belfast: Arden 1948), 124pp.; By Winding Roads (Belfast: HR
Carter 1950), 24pp.; Green Altars (([Belfast: ]Owenvarra 1951),
34pp.; Lost Sanctuary and other Poems (Belfast: Quota Press 1954); A Treasury of Irish Saints (Portlaoise: Dolmen 1964), 47pp., drawings
by Ruth Brandt; another edn. (Dublin: Dolmen/OUP 1964), 37pp.[sic]; also
ed., The Flowering Branch, an Anthology of Irish Poetry Past and Present
(Belfast: MacCord 1945).
Criticism
Terence Brown, Northern Voices.
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Commentary
Irish Saints (Dolmen 1964) imprimatur Daniel, Episc. Dunem et Connorem,
2a. Oct. 1958 Belfast; poems on St Patrick, St Bride, Columcille, St Fiacre;
St. Kevin, St Mochua, St Finbarr, and Rathlin Cradle Song, 37pp. (Dolmen);
thanks to Capuchin Annual, and The Cross; several set to
music by Dr Nelson; ded. to Dorothy Parke, in appreciation of many lovely
musical settings; the drawings in manner of woodcuts, with simple verses. Green Altars (Owenvarra Press), epigraph from Aubrey de Vere [‘This
song it is secret. Mine ear it passed/In a wind o’er the plains of
Athenry.] By Winding Roads is a celebration of the Irish counties,
some poems comic [‘In Ballysadare the wear long hair/And some of
then curl and grease it/But round about Gort they wear it short/And they
don’t give a fig who sees it’; also Blarney, Dingle, Ireland’s
Eye, Portglenone, etc.
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References
University of Ulster Library A Treasury of Irish Saints [2nd ed.]
(Portlaoise: Dolmen 1984), 47pp., drawing[s] by Ruth Brandt (prev. ed.
Brogeen Books 1964). BELF CEN holds By Winding Roads [1950]; Green Altars
(1951); Selected Poems (1948); Voice in the Dusk [sic err.] (1932); Willow
Leaves (1941); Wind from the South (1936); also, ed. The Flowering Branch,
anth. of Irish poetry Past and Present (1945)
Not included in Ormsby, ed., Poets of Northern Ireland, 1979; rev. ed. 1990).
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