Brendan Kennelly
| Brendan Kennelly | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1936 (age 80–81) Ballylongford, County Kerry |
| Occupation | Writer, professor, translator |
| Alma mater |
Trinity College, Dublin Leeds University |
| Subject | Oliver Cromwell, Greek mythology |
| Notable works | "Poetry My Arse" "Book of Judas" "Cromwell" "Begin" "Poem from a three year old" |
| Notable awards |
Irish PEN Award 2010 |
| Spouse | Divorced from Margaret O'Brien, Poet and Professor of English at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. |
| Children | Daughter, Doodle Kennelly |
Brendan Kennelly (born 1936) is an Irish poet and novelist. Now retired from teaching, he was Professor of Modern Literature at Trinity College, Dublin until 2005. Since his retirement he has been titled "Professor Emeritus" by Trinity College. He is father to one daughter, Doodle Kennelly and is also grandfather to Doodle's three daughters: Meg, Hannah and Grace.
Kennelly was born in Ballylongford, County Kerry, on 17 April 1936 and was educated at the inter-denominational St. Ita's College, Tarbert, County Kerry, and at Trinity College, where he edited Icarus. Kennelly graduated from Trinity and wrote his PhD thesis there. He also studied at Leeds University. Brendan was married to Margaret (Peggy) O’Brien for 18 years, Peggy was Brendan’s colleague in the English Department at Trinity College. They lived together in Sandymount, Dublin, with daughter Doodle for 12 years before separating. Brendan and Peggy remain friends and Peggy is now remarried. Peggy is a published poet and Professor of English at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
Kennelly's poetry can be scabrous, down-to-earth and colloquial. He avoids 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". Another long (400-page) epic poem, "The Book of Judas", published in 1991, topped the Irish best-seller list.
A prolific and fluent writer, he has more than twenty books of poetry to his credit, including My Dark Fathers (1964), Collection One: Getting Up Early (1966), Good Souls to Survive (1967), Dream of a Black Fox (1968), Love Cry (1972), The Voices (1973), Shelley in Dublin (1974), A Kind of Trust (1975), Islandman (1977), A Small Light (1979) and The House That Jack Didn't Build (1982).
Kennelly has edited several other anthologies, including “Between Innocence and Peace: Favourite Poems of Ireland” (1993), “Ireland's Women: Writings Past and Present, with Katie Donovan and A. Norman Jeffares” (1994), and “Dublines,” with Katie Donovan (1995).
He has also written two novels, “The Crooked Cross” (1963) and “The Florentines” (1967), and three plays in a Greek Trilogy, Antigone, Medea and The Trojan Women.
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