Brendan Kennelly Biography – Brendan Kennelly Wiki
Brendan Kennelly was an Irish poet and novelist. He was a Professor of Modern Literature at Trinity College, Dublin until 2005. After his retirement, he was titled “Professor Emeritus” by Trinity College. His 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 epic poem, “The Book of Judas”, published in 1991, topped the Irish best-seller list.
He was a prolific and fluent writer, there are more than fifty volumes 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 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 also authored two novels, “The Crooked Cross” (1963) and “The Florentines” (1967), and three plays in a Greek Trilogy, Antigone, Medea, and The Trojan Women. Kennelly was an Irish language (Gaelic) speaker and translated Irish poems in “A Drinking Cup” (1970) and “Mary” (Dublin 1987). A selection of his collected translations was published as “Love of Ireland: Poems from the Irish” (1989).
Language is important in Kennelly’s work – in particular the vernacular of the small and isolated communities in North Kerry where he was brought 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.
Regarding the oral tradition, Kennelly was a great reciter of verse with tremendous command and the rare ability to recall extended poems by memory, both his own work and others, and recite them on call verbatim.
Kennelly commented on his own use of language: “Poetry is an attempt to cut through the effects of deadening familiarity and repeated, mechanical usage in order to unleash that profound vitality, to reveal that inner sparkle. In the beginning, was the Word. In the end, will be the Word … language is a human miracle always in danger of drowning in a sea of familiarity.”
He went to study 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 Ph.D. thesis there. He also studied at Leeds University.
Brendan Kennelly Age
He was born on April 17, 1936, in Ballylongford, County Kerry, and died on October 17, 2021, in Listowel, County Kerry. He was 85 years.
Brendan Kennelly Wife
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 remained friends and Peggy is now remarried. Peggy is a published poet and Professor of English at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. On April 18th, 2021, Doodle died suddenly at her home in Blackrock.
Brendan Kennelly Daughter
He was father to one daughter, the late Doodle Kennelly, and also grandfather to Doodle’s three daughters: Meg, Hannah, and Grace.
Brendan Kennelly Parents
He was born in Ballylongford, Co Kerry, in 1936, the son of Tim Kennelly, publican and garage proprietor, and his wife, Bridie Ahern, a nurse. He is survived by his brothers, Alan, Paddy, and Kevin, by his sisters, Mary Kenny and Nancy McAuliffe, and his three grandchildren.
Brendan Kennelly Death
He died at age 85 on October 17, 2021. Family members confirmed his death on Sunday evening, October 17, 2021, at Aras Mhuire nursing home, Listowel, in his native Co Kerry.
Paying tribute to Kennelly, President Michael D Higgins said:
“As a poet, Brendan Kennelly had forged a special place in the affections of the Irish people. He brought so much resonance, insight, and the revelation of the joy of intimacy to the performance of his poems and to gatherings in so many parts of Ireland. He did so with a special charm, wit, energy, and passion…”
His funeral took place on October 20, 2021, in Kerry. He was buried alongside his parents Tim and Bridie at Lislaughtin Abbey following requiem mass at the Church of Michael the Archangel in Ballylongford.
Brendan Kennelly Cause of Death
Kennelly died at age 85 on October 17, 2021. The cause of his death has not been disclosed.
