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tributes
'One of our greatest poets': Tributes paid after death of Thomas Kinsella
Kinsella was granted the Honorary Freedom of the City of Dublin in 2007.
5.28pm, 22 Dec 2021
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PRESIDENT MICHAEL D Higgins has led tributes to Irish poet Thomas Kinsella, who has died aged 93.
Born in Inchicore in 1928, Kinsella was best known for works such as the Táin, Butcher’s Dozen, Mirror in February and Another September, as well as his translation of Táin Bó Cúailnge.
In a statement this evening, President Higgins said;
“All those with a love of Irish poetry and culture will be saddened to have learned today of the death of Thomas Kinsella, one of Ireland’s finest poets. His reputation at home and abroad was one of being of a school that sought an excellence that did not know borders.
In addition to his rich contribution to the school syllabus for generations of students, where he once held a rare distinction as being a living poet on the syllabus, Thomas Kinsella’s work retained a fierce urgency and relevance for readers throughout life. Not least his work tackling the gap between the aspirations of what Irish society should be and that which he saw before him.
“That ethical pursuit was attempted through rigorously honed lines.”
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I am greatly saddened to learn of the passing of Thomas Kinsella, one of Ireland’s most celebrated poets. Over the course of a long life, he offered a true poet’s perspective on all aspects of the human condition. May he rest in peace. pic.twitter.com/FAum9rwoIh
Dublin’s Lord Mayor Alison Gilliland today expressed her deep sadness on hearing of his death.
“I was very sorry to hear of the death of Thomas Kinsella and I would like to extend my sympathies to his daughters Sarah and Mary, his son John, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and his many friends and colleagues,” she said.
Kinsella was granted the Honorary Freedom of the City of Dublin on 24 May 2007 and the Lord Mayor said his pride in his home city had shone through his work.
On receiving the Freedom of Dublin, he said:
Dublin gave many important things their first shape and content for me. I learned to look at the world through the rich reality of the inner city – a living history, with shades of Swift and Robert Emmett in my neighbourhood as I grew up; with the stories of my own two families to be learned: coming and settling in inner Dublin from Wicklow and Westmeath; and the stories of a number of close friends, some with ancient Irish names – one from the far West, a native speaker of Irish; others descended from Norman and post Cromwellian invaders. All reasonably contented together; happy to be where they were.
The Dublin flags on the Mansion House and City Hall will fly at half-mast to mark his passing.
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Found my copy of Soundings last night to read Mirror in February: “Now plainly in the mirror of my soul I read that I have looked my last on youth and a little more; for they are not made whole that reach the age of Christ.” RIP.
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