Clarke, Austin (Vol. 6) - Clarke, Austin 1896–1974
Clarke, Austin 1896–1974
Clarke was an Irish poet, verse playwright, novelist, and critic. Although he lived for many years in England, his work was inspired almost exclusively by Irish history and mythology. Thomas Kinsella has written that the principal characteristic of Clarke's work is "the mixed influence of Yeats, a pre-occupation with the Catholic Church in Ireland, and a humanitarian rage." Clarke was regarded by some as Ireland's greatest poet after Yeats. (See also Contemporary Authors, Vols. 29-32; obituary, Vols. 49-52.)
Though Clarke began his career under the influence of the Celtic renaissance, he always combined romanticism with harsh wit and realism. His major books between the Collected Poems of 1935, now long out of print, and Mnemosyne Lay in Dust are, like the latter, the work of his old age. Later Poems (1961) and Flight to Africa (1963) contain a good deal of satire of an unusual sort. It is...
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