KINSELLA, THOMAS

born May 4, 1928, Dublin, Ire. Irish poet whose sensitive lyrics deal with primal aspects of the human experience. After attending University College in Dublin, Kinsella served in the Irish civil service from 1948 to 1965. He taught at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale (196570) and then at Temple University in Philadelphia. He founded his own publishing company, Peppercanister, in Dublin. His early volumes, Poems (1956) and Another September (1958; rev. ed. 1962), established him as a poet of note. Such later volumes as Downstream (1962) often focus on war and the political and social disruption of modern Ireland. Kinsella's translation of the ancient Gaelic saga The Cattle Raid of Cooley (Tin B Cuailnge) was published in 1969. New Poems 195673 (1973) and One and Other Poems (1979) skillfully extend the themes of love, death, and rejuvenation.