Austin Clarke (May 9, 1896–March 19, 1974) was one of the leading Irish poets of the generation after W. B. Yeats. He also wrote plays, novels and memoirs. Clarke's main contribution to Irish poetry was the rigour with which he used technical means borrowed from classical Irish language poetry when writing in English. May 9 is the 129th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (130th in leap years). ... Year 1896 (MDCCCXCVI) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display calendar). ... March 19 is the 78th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (79th in leap years). ... 1974 (MCMLXXIV) was a common year starting on Tuesday. ... A 1907 engraving of William Butler Yeats, one of Irelands best-known poets. ... William Butler Yeats (IPA: ) (13 June 1865 – 28 January 1939) was an Irish poet, dramatist, and mystic who signed his works W. B. Yeats. ... Romeo and Juliet by Ford Madox Brown A play, written by a playwright, or dramatist, is a form of literature, almost always consisting of dialog between characters, and intended for performance rather than reading. ... A novel (from French nouvelle Italian novella, new) is an extended, generally fictional narrative, typically in prose. ... As a literary genre, a memoir (from the Latin memoria, meaning memory) forms a subclass of autobiography, although it is an older form of writing. ... Irish () is a Goidelic language spoken in Ireland. ...

Effectively, this meant writing English verse based not so much on metre as on complex patterns of assonance, consonance, and half rhyme. Describing his technique to Robert Frost, Clarke said "I load myself down with chains and try to wriggle free." The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... Verse is a writing that uses meter as its primary organisational mode, as opposed to prose, which uses grammatical and discoursal units like sentences and paragraphs. ... The or meter (see spelling differences) is a measure of length. ... Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds in non-rhyming words as in, some ship in distress that cannot live. ... Consonance is a stylistic device, often used in poetry. ... Half rhyme,what about it, sprung, lose or near rhyme, and less commonly eye rhyme (a term covering a broader phenomenon), is consonance on the final consonants of the words involved. ... Robert Frost (1941) Robert Frost (March 26, 1874 – January 29, 1963) was an American poet. ...

Early career

Clarke's early poetry clearly shows the influence of Yeats. His first book, The Vengeance of Fionn was a long narrative poem retelling an Ossianic legend. It met with critical acclaim and, unusually for a first book of poetry, went to a second edition. It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Oisín. ...

Between this and the 1938 collection Night and Morning, Clarke published a number of collections, all of which, to one extent or another, can be seen as being written in the shadow of Yeats. There was, however, one significant difference; unlike the older poet, Clarke was a Catholic, and themes of guilt and repentance run through this early work. Year 1938 (MCMXXXVIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ...

Theatre years

Between 1938 and 1955, Clarke published no new lyric or narrative poetry. He was co-founder of the Lyric Theatre Company and wrote a number of verse plays for them. He also worked as a journalist and had a weekly poetry programme on RTÉ radio. It seems likely that he also experienced some kind of personal crisis during this time and this had significant consequences for his later poetry. 1955 (MCMLV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Radio Telefís Éireann[1] (RTÉ; IPA: ,  ) is the Public Service Broadcaster of the Republic of Ireland. ...

Return to poetry

Clarke returned to the publishing with the 1995 collection Ancient Lights, and was to continuing writing and publishing prolifically for the rest of his life. Although he continued to use the same Gaelic-derived technical means, this late poetry is markedly different from the earlier work. Many of the poems he now wrote were satires of the Irish church and state, while others were sensual celebrations of human sexuality, free of the guilt of the earlier poems. He also published the intensely personal Mnemosyne Lay in Dust, which is a poem sequence detailing the fictional Maurice Devanes's nervous breakdown and subsequent recovery. 1995 (MCMXCV) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Irish () is a Goidelic language spoken in Ireland. ... This article or section cites very few or no references or sources. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

Clarke also came to admire the work of more avant-garde poets as Ezra Pound and Pablo Neruda, both of whom he wrote poems about. A number of the late long poems, such as, for instance, the 1971 Tiresias, show the effects of reading these poets in their looser formal structures. A work similar to Marcel Duchamps Fountain Avant garde (written avant-garde) is a French phrase, one of many French phrases used by English speakers. ... Ezra Pound in 1913. ... Pablo Neruda (July 12, 1904 – September 23, 1973) was the pen name of the Chilean writer and communist politician Ricardo Eliecer Neftalí Reyes Basoalto. ... 1971 (MCMLXXI) was a common year starting on Friday. ... Tiresias appears to Odysseus during the sacrificing In Greek mythology, Tiresias (also transliterated as Teiresias) was a blind prophet famous for being transformed into a woman for seven years. ...

Clarke set up the Bridge Press to publish his own work, which allowed him the freedom to publish work that many mainstream Irish publishers of the time might have been reluctant to handle. His Collected Poems was published in 1974 and a Selected Poems in 1976. 1974 (MCMLXXIV) was a common year starting on Tuesday. ... 1976 (MCMLXXVI) was a leap year starting on Thursday. ...

Other writings

In addition to some twenty volumes of poetry and numerous plays, Clarke published three novels: The Bright Temptation (1932), The Singing Men at Cashel (1936), and The Sun Dances at Easter (1952). All of these were banned by the Irish Censorship Board. He also published two volumes of memoirs, Twice Round the Black Church (1962) and A Penny in the Clouds (1968) and a number of scattered critical essays and book reviews. Year 1932 (MCMXXXII) was a leap year starting on Friday (the link will take you to a full 1932 calendar). ... 1936 (MCMXXXVI) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1952 (MCMLII) was a Leap year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1962 (MCMLXII) was a common year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1962 calendar). ... 1968 (MCMLXVIII) was a leap year starting on Monday. ...

While all of these prose writings are of interest, Clarke's reputation rests firmly on his poetry.

External links

• Some poems
• Bio/bibliographical details