Brendan Kennelly

Timothy Brendan Kennelly (17 April 1936 – 17 October 2021), usually known as Brendan Kennelly, was an Irish poet and novelist. He was one of eight children of Tim Kennelly and Bridie (Ahern). His father worked as a publican and garage proprietor; his mother was a nurse. Kennelly was educated at the inter-denominational St. Ita's College, Tarbert, County Kerry. He was then awarded a scholarship to study English and French at Trinity College Dublin. There he was editor of Icarus and captained the Trinity Gaelic Football Club. He graduated from Trinity in 1961 with first-class honours, before obtaining a Doctor of Philosophy there in 1967. He also studied at Leeds University for one year under the tutelage of Norman Jeffares. He became a fellow of Trinity College Dublin in 1967, and a senior fellow in 1989.

Poetry Kennelly's poetry can be scabrous, down-to-earth, and colloquial. He avoided intellectual pretension and literary posturing, and his attitude to poetic language could be summed up in the title of one of his epic poems, "Poetry my Arse". A Small Light (1979), and The House That Jack Didn't Build (1982). and "Dublines," with Katie Donovan (1995). He also authored two novels, "The Crooked Cross" (1963) and "The Florentines" (1967),

Kennelly was an Irish language speaker, and translated Irish poems in "A Drinking Cup" (1970) and "Mary" (Dublin 1987).

Style Language was important in Kennelly's work – in particular the vernacular of the small and isolated communities in North Kerry where he grew up, and of the Dublin streets and pubs where he became both roamer and raconteur for many years. His language is also grounded in the Irish-language poetic tradition, oral and written, which can be both satirical and salacious in its approach to human follies. He commented on his use of language: "Poetry is an attempt to cut through the effects of deadening familiarity … to reveal that inner sparkle." Together, they had one child, Kristen “Doodle” Kennelly. They lived in Sandymount in Dublin before getting divorced, which Kennelly attributed to his overindulgence in alcohol. He ultimately became teetotal in about 1985.

Kennelly died at the age of 85 years on 17 October 2021, at a care home in Listowel, County Kerry where he lived in the two years prior to his death.

Awards and honours 1967 Æ Memorial Prize 1988 Critics Special Harvey's Award 1996 IMPAC International Dublin Literary Award 2010 Irish PEN Award

List of works Cast a Cold Eye (1959) with Rudi Holzapfel The Rain, the Moon (1961) with Rudi Holzapfel The Dark About Our Loves (1962) Rudi Holzapfel Green Townlands (1963) Rudi Holzapfel Let Fall No Burning Leaf (1963) The Crooked Cross (1963) novel; My Dark Fathers (1964) Up and at It (1965) Collection One: Getting Up Early (1966) Good Souls to Survive (1967) The Florentines (1967) novel Dream of a Black Fox (1968) Selected Poems (1969) A Drinking Cup, Poems from the Irish (1970) The Penguin Book of Irish Verse (1970, 1981) editor Bread (1971) Love Cry (1972) Salvation, The Stranger (1972) The Voices (1973) Shelley in Dublin (1974) A Kind of Trust (1975) New and Selected Poems (1976) The Boats Are Home (Gallery Press, 1980) Moloney Up and at It (Mercier Press, 1984) Cromwell (Beaver Row Press, 1983; Bloodaxe Books, 1987) Mary, from the Irish of Muireadach Albanach Ó Dálaigh (Aisling Press, 1987) Landmarks of Irish Drama (Methuen, 1988) Love of Ireland: Poems from the Irish (Mercier Press, 1989) [anthology] A Time for Voices: Selected Poems 1960–1990 (Bloodaxe Books, 1990) Euripides' Medea (Bloodaxe Books, 1991) The Book of Judas (Bloodaxe Books, 1991) Breathing Spaces: Early Poems (Bloodaxe Books, 1992) Euripides' The Trojan Women (Bloodaxe Books, 1993) Journey into Joy: Selected Prose, ed. Åke Persson (Bloodaxe Books, 1994) Between Innocence and Peace: Favourite Poems of Ireland (Mercier Press, 1994) [anthology] Poetry My Arse (Bloodaxe Books, 1995) Dublines, with Katie Donovan (Bloodaxe Books, 1996) [anthology] Sophocles' Antigone: a new version (Bloodaxe Books, 1996) Lorca: Blood Wedding (Bloodaxe Books, 1996) The Man Made of Rain (Bloodaxe Books, 1998) The Singing Tree (Abbey Press, 1998) Begin (Bloodaxe Books, 1999) Glimpses (Bloodaxe Books, 2001) The Little Book of Judas (Bloodaxe Books, 2002) Martial Art (Bloodaxe Books, 2003) [versions of Martial] Familiar Strangers: New & Selected Poems (Bloodaxe Books, 2004) Now (Bloodaxe Books, 2006) When Then Is Now: Three Greek Tragedies (Bloodaxe Books, 2006) [versions of Sophocles' Antigone and Euripides''' Medea and The Trojan Women] Reservoir Voices (Bloodaxe Books, 2009) The Essential Brendan Kennelly: Selected Poems (Bloodaxe Books, UK & Ireland, 2011, Wake Forest University Press, USA, 2011) Guff'' (Bloodaxe Books, 2013)