- Thomas MacGreevy
:"This article is about the poet, also spelled 'McGreevy'. For the Canadian politician, see
Thomas McGreevy ."Thomas MacGreevy (
October 26 ,1893 -March 16 ,1967 ) was a pivotal figure in the history of Irish literary modernism. Apoet , he was also director of theNational Gallery of Ireland from 1950 to 1963 and served on the first Irish Arts Council (An Chomhairle Ealaíon).McGreevy versus MacGreevy
The family name was 'McGreevy', and his early work was published with this spelling. In the mid-30s, he changed it to the more Irish 'MacGreevy', and all his later work was published with this spelling. Most scholarly reference uses the latter spelling exclusively, but both spellings are found.
Early life
MacGreevy was born in
County Kerry , the son of a policeman and a primary school teacher. At age 16, he joined theBritish Civil Service as a boy clerk. At the outbreak of the First World War, he was promoted to an intelligence post with theAdmiralty . He enlisted in 1917, and saw active service at theYpres Salient and theSomme , being wounded twice.After the war, MacGreevy studied at
Trinity College, Dublin . He then became involved in various library organisations, and began publishing articles in Irish periodicals and wrote his first poems.MacGreevy as Poet
In 1924, MacGreevy was first introduced to
James Joyce inParis . The following year he moved toLondon , where he metT. S. Eliot and began writing for "The Criterion " and other magazines. He also began publishing his poetry.In 1927, MacGreevy moved to Paris to teach English at the
École Normale Supérieure . Here he metSamuel Beckett and resumed his friendship with Joyce. His essay "The Catholic Element in Work In Progress" was published in 1929 in "Our Exagmination round His Factification for Incamination of Work In Progress ", a book intended to help promote Joyce's "Finnegans Wake ". Along with Beckett, he was one of those who signed the "Poetry is Vertical" manifesto which appeared in issue 21 of "transition".In 1934, "Poems" was published in London and
New York . The work shows that MacGreevy had absorbed the lessons of Imagism and of "The Waste Land ", but also demonstrates that he had brought something of his own to these influences. The book was admired byWallace Stevens and the two poets became regular correspondents.Unfortunately, although MacGreevy continued to write poetry, this was the only collection published in his lifetime. Since his death there have been two "Collected Poems" issued, one in 1971 and the second twenty years later.
MacGreevy as Critic
As already noted, MacGreevy published regular articles in London. These were mainly reviews of books,
opera , andballet . In addition to these, and the essay on "Finnegans Wake", he also wrote two book-length studies of other writers, "T.S. Eliot: A Study" and "Richard Aldington: An Englishman" (both 1931).MacGreevy and Art
In 1929 MacGreevy began working on "Formes", a journal of the fine arts. He also published a translation of
Paul Valéry 's "Introduction à la méthode de Léonard de Vinci" as "Introduction to the Method of Leonardo da Vinci". In the mid 1930s, he moved back to London and earned his living lecturing at the National Gallery there. From 1938 to 1940 he was the chief art critic for "The Studio". He published several books on art and artists, including "Jack B. Yeats: An Appreciation and an Interpretation" and "Pictures in the Irish National Gallery" (both 1945), and "Nicolas Poussin" (1960). He was director of theNational Gallery of Ireland from 1950 to 1963.MacGreevy and Catholicism
MacGreevy was a life-long Catholic and his
religion informed both his poetry and his professional life. On returning to Dublin duringWorld War II , he wrote for both the "Father Mathew Record" and "The Capuchin Annual" and joined the editorial board of the latter. In this role, he contrived to bring something of the European Catholic intellectual tradition into a more conservative Irish environment.External links
* [http://www.macgreevy.org/home.jsp The Thomas MacGreevy Archive]
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