Griffin, Gerald

(1803-1840)

   Born in Limerick, where his father was a brewer, he emigrated to Pennsylvania in 1820 with his parents but returned to London in 1823. Encouraged by John Banim (see entry) he had some work published in the Literary Gazette and other periodicals. His opera The Noyades-entirely in recitative-was produced by him in 1826 at the English opera house, London. He returned to Ireland in 1827 and became a member of the Catholic society of the Christian Brothers in 1838, a body devoted to teaching, a task he fulfilled until he died of a fever. His play Gisippus- a blank verse drama of classical times - was produced at Drury Lane in 1842. Dion Boucicault based his play The Colleen Bawn: or the Brides of Garry-Owen on Griffin's The Collegians, a dark novel (1820). Some of his other publications: Tales of the Munster Festivals, 1827. Tales Illustrative of the Five Senses, 1830. Poetical Works, 1851. Some of his poems: "Eileen Aroon," "I Love My Love in the Morning," "Maiden Eyes," "Brazil, the Isle of the Blest," "Old Times," "To a Seagull," "To the Blessed Virgin Mary."

   Sources: An Anthology of Catholic Poets. Shane Leslie, ed. Macmillan, 1952. Dictionary of National Biography. Electronic Edition 1.1. Oxford University Press, 1997. Online Encyclopedia: 11th Edition of Encyclopedia. Geralld Griffin (http://encyclopedia.jrank.org/GRA_GUI/GRIFFIN_OGRIoBTA_OGREEVA_GERAL.html). The Best Loved Poems of the American People. Hazel Felleman, ed. Doubleday, 1936. The Columbia Granger's Index to Poetry. 11th ed. The Columbia Granger's World of Poetry, Columbia University Press, 2005 (http://www.columbiagrangers.org). The Oxford Book of English Verse, 1250-1918. Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch, ed. (New edition, revised and enlarged), Oxford University Press, 1939. The Oxford Companion to English Literature. 6th edition. Margaret Drabble, ed. Oxford University Press, 2000.