Posted 27 November 2008
Austin Clarke, collected poems for a new generation of readers
Throughout much of the twentieth century, Austin Clarke created poetry of passionate, idiosyncratic modernity, rooted in place and time, universal in its resonance. His first book of poetry was published in 1917, and his last in 1971.
Challengingly elliptical or as robust and earthy as folk tradition, Clarke’s poetry dares the terrors of the damaged soul. Thomas Kinsella described his later poems as ‘wickedly glittering narratives… poetry as pure entertainment, serious and successful’.
A newly edited and corrected edition of ‘Austin Clarke – Collected Poems’ with Clarke’s original Notes restored, edited by R Dardis Clarke, was officially launched on Wednesday 26 November at Newman House, Dublin.
Pictured far right: R. Dardis Clarke, youngest of Austin Clarke's three sons at the launch of Austin Clarke Collected Poems at Newman House, Dublin
Austin Clarke was born in Manor Street on the north side of Dublin city in 1896. He was educated at Belvedere College and won a scholarship to University College Dublin, then in St Stephen’s Green, where he obtained a first class honours BA (1916) and a first class honours MA in English with a thesis on the plays of John Ford (1917).
“Clarke holds a unique position in Irish literature because his work is so deeply embedded in native tradition of the early and medieval period, his sensibility so expressive of the Catholic conscience and so directly engaged with Irish life in his later years,” said Maurice Harmon in The UCD Aesthetic, Celebrating 150 Years of UCD Writers (2005).
Pictured at the launch of Austin Clarke Collected Poems, edited by Clarke's son R. Dardis Clarke at UCD's Newman House, Dublin on 26th November 2008 were Thomas Kilroy, Seamus Heaney, Dardis Clarke and Brendan Kennelly.
“The city of Dublin from the relaxed Edwardian era, through the excitement of cultural and nationalist revolution, to the uncongenial modern period of middle-class supremacy is strongly represented in his work, continued Harmon. “Throughout his career he was a committed craftsman with the result that his technical skills are varied and exemplary. In the areas of moral analysis, psychological investigation and social engagement he has left work of outstanding achievement, marked by compassion and understanding.”
- Austin Clarke Collected Poems, edited by R. Dardis Clarke with an introduction by Christopher Ricks is publsihed by Carcanet
