Devlin, Denis

(1908-1959)

   Born in Greenock, Scotland, of Irish parents, he was educated at Belvedere College, Dublin, and University College, Dublin (UCD), where he read modern languages. From 1926 to 1927 he was at a seminarian for the Roman Catholic priesthood at Clonliffe College, Dublin. He abandoned the priesthood and read literature at Munich University from 1930 to 1933 and studied at Sorbonne, Paris, then returned to UCD to complete his M.A. thesis on Montaigne. He entered the Irish diplomatic service in 1935 and served in Italy, New York, Washington, London, and Turkey. Since his death, there have been two Collected Poems published; the first in 1964, edited by Coffey, and the second in 1989 edited by J.C.C. Mays. Some of his publications: First Poems, 1930. Intercessions, 1937. Lough Derg and Other Poems, 1946. Exile, 1949. The Heavenly Foreigner, 1950. Memoirs of a Turcoman Diplomat, 1959. Some of his poems: "Ank'hor Vat," "Ascension," "Encounter," "Liffey Bridge," "Regrets," "The Colours of Love," "The Passion of Christ," "Welcome My World," "Where the Light," "Wishes for Her."

   Sources: An Anthology of Irish Verse: The Poetry of Ireland from Mythological Times to the Present. Padraic Colum, ed. Liveright, 1948. Contemporary Irish Poetry: An Anthology. Anthony Bradley, ed. University of California Press. New and rev. ed., 1988. Biography of Denis Devlin (http://www.irishwriters-online.com/denisdevlin.html). University College Dublin Archives, Denis Devlin (http://www.ucd.ie/archives/html/collections/devlin-dennis.html). The Columbia Granger's Index to Poetry. 11th ed. The Columbia Granger's World of Poetry, Columbia University Press, 2005 (http://www.columbiagrangers.org). Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia).