Thomas Walsh

Thomas Walsh (1875–1928) was a poet, literary critic, translator, and scholar of Latin American and Spanish literature.

Early life and education Walsh was born in Brooklyn, New York, on October 14, 1875, to Michael Kavanagh Walsh and Catherine Farrell Walsh. He lived with his brothers Frank M. Walsh and Edward Maris Walsh, and sisters Lorna Walsh and Lydia Walsh, in the family's Brooklyn home.

Walsh was educated at Columbia University, Georgetown, Notre Dame, and Marquette University, from which institutions he received degrees in law, philosophy, and literature. He was the occasion's poet laureate. During his lifetime, Walsh published four books of poetry: The Prison Ships and Other Poems (1909), The Pilgrim Kings: Greco, Goya and Other Poems of Spain (1915), Gardens Overseas and Other Poems (1918), and Don Folquet and Other Poems (1920).

Walsh was an editor of the Catholic Encyclopedia and an anthology of translated Spanish poetry, the Hispanic Anthology (1920). According to John Bunker, "it is beyond question that his versions of many of the Spanish and Spanish-American poets introduced them to their first North American audience."

Death Walsh died suddenly of heart disease on the morning of October 29, 1928, on the steps of his home. A posthumous collection of his poems, Selected Poems of Thomas Walsh, was published in 1930. The volume "embodies about one-half of his entire poetic product" and includes a memoir of Walsh written by friend and fellow writer John Bunker and "appreciations" of Walsh by his friends Edward L. Keyes and Michael Williams. In his memoir, Bunker writes, "it is no exaggeration to say that he was one of the most noteworthy of our modern American ambassadors of culture."

Awards and honors Throughout his career, Walsh received many awards and honors for his work. He was given honorary memberships in the Royal Academy of Letters of Seville ("a distinction he shared with only one other American" ), the Academy of Colombia, and the Hispanic Society of America. He also received the Grand Cross of Isabella Catolica, and the Honorary Medal of the Society of the Army of the Potomac.

Works The Prison Ships and Other Poems (1909) The Pilgrim Kings: Greco, Goya and Other Poems of Spain (1915) Gardens Overseas and Other Poems (1918) Don Folquet and Other Poems (1920) Hispanic Anthology (1920) The Catholic Anthology: The World's Great Catholic Poetry (1927)