Robert Greacen (1920-2008) was born of Scots and Irish stock in Derry/ Londonderry on 24th October 1920 and lived in both urban Belfast and rural Monaghan. Experiences in city and county furnished materials for later poems and reviews. At Methodist College, Belfast, he discovered his gift for writing and developed an interest in leftist politics. Later, at Trinity College Dublin, he pursued a diploma in Social Studies and fo...
Robert Greacen (1920-2008) was born of Scots and Irish stock in Derry/ Londonderry on 24th October 1920 and lived in both urban Belfast and rural Monaghan. Experiences in city and county furnished materials for later poems and reviews. At Methodist College, Belfast, he discovered his gift for writing and developed an interest in leftist politics. Later, at Trinity College Dublin, he pursued a diploma in Social Studies and found friends in artistic circles. He has had an outstanding career, with poems published in Ireland, England, Scotland, France, and the United States, and several volumes in Ireland. After his retirement from a career of teaching English as a Foreign Language in London, he was nominated for membership in Aosdána, an association of 220 living artists in Ireland. Now resident in Dublin, he was honoured by his peers on his seventieth birthday, 1990, with a commemorative volume of poems. In 1995, he was awarded the Irish Times Poetry Prize for his Collected Poems. Robert died on Sunday 13th April 2008 at the age of 87.
Robert Greacen 1920-2008
Robert Greacen died on Sunday 13th April 2008 at the age of 87. Robert was a member of Aosdána and former winner of the Irish Times Prize for Poetry. Salmon published his New & Selected Poems in 2006.
Born in Derry in 1920, he grew up in Belfast and spent much of his childhood in County Monaghan. He was educated at Methdodist College, Belfast, and later studied at Trinity College, Dublin, where he began to publish poems and essays.
He lived in London for many years, working in journalism and adult education, and co-edited the 'Faber Book of Contemporary Poetry' in 1949 with Valentin Iremonger at the request of TS Eliot, before returning to Dublin, where he lived until his death.. Robert Greacen won the Irish Times Literature Prize For Poetry for his 'Collected Poems 1944-1994' in 1995, after which he commented: "As a younger man I was a wordy spinner. My later work is less wordy, more compressed."
After his death, tributes were paid by fellow poets and academics. The poet Anthony Cronin. a Saoi (senior member) of Aosdána said: "His early poems are remarkable, particularly 'The Blackbird', which is a strange and original poem." Professor Terence Brown of Trinity College Dublin said: "We will miss the urbane, courteous intelligence that formed the basis of Robert's quiet toned, always engaging poetry."
A memorial service was held in Findlater's Church in Dublin on Saturday, 19 April, 2008.
