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Brendan Kennelly Trinity College Dublin

Celebrated poet Brendan Kennelly dies aged 85

During his lifetime, Kennelly wrote over 20 books of poetry, along with plays, novels and criticism.

CELEBRATED POET AND novelist Brendan Kennelly has died aged 85.

Born in Ballylongford in Co Kerry on 17 April 1936, Kennelly wrote over 20 books of poetry, along with plays, novels and criticism.

Some of his most famous works include Cromwell (1983/87), Poetry me Arse (1995) and more recently Reservoir Voices (2009).

He was also a Professor of Modern Literature at Trinity College Dublin for 30 years until his retirement in 2005.

Paying tribute to Kennelly, President Michael D Higgins said:

“As a poet, Brendan Kennelly had forged a special place in the affections of the Irish people. He brought so much resonance, insight, and the revelation of the joy of intimacy to the performance of his poems and to gatherings in so many parts of Ireland. He did so with a special charm, wit, energy and passion.

“Delivered from the flux of transacted life, ordinary words of the everyday had their beauty revealed for audiences and, in their recovery, the public shared life being celebrated.

“Brendan’s poetry is infused with the details and texture of life, its contradictions and moments of celebration including the wry experiences of football and politics.

With more than 30 collections, he leaves a major body of work, a legacy of teaching as Professor of Modern Literature at Trinity College Dublin, and the gratitude of so many younger poets whom he encouraged with honest and helpful critical advice.

President Higgins concluded: “There are many for whom an insightful and twinkling intelligence has left us, but it will endure in the lines of the poems as he wished.

Sabina and I offer our condolences to his sister Nancy, his brothers, Sean, John, Alan and Paddy, his granddaughters and the extended family as well as his wide circle of friends, all of whom treasured his presence among them, a friendship he valued.

Provost of Trinity College Dublin Linda Doyle described Kennelly as “an inspiring teacher, a talented poet and a warm and good humoured presence on campus”.

- Additional reporting from Adam Daly

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    Mute Me
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    Nov 13th 2011, 9:39 PM

    Here lads. Someone has been injured in a seriously unpleasant attack. Is it really a place to be acting like two kids in a playground? Go do it somewhere else.

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    Mute Adrian quinn
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    Nov 13th 2011, 9:51 PM

    Fair enough.

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    Mute BustingMyAss
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    Nov 13th 2011, 9:51 PM

    Well said, sorry I lost the run of myself.

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    Mute Waffler
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    Nov 13th 2011, 9:52 PM

    i simply made a comment about how the media sensationalises violence today when in reality we are a much safer society than not so long ago. naturally the victim has my sympathy. somehow adrian feels i should be murdered for expressing an observation

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    Mute Sharon Larkin
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    Nov 13th 2011, 8:33 PM

    That’s terrible. Hope they catch the ones who did it.

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    Mute Adrian quinn
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    Nov 13th 2011, 9:26 PM

    Utter nonsense. You did not see 3 fights every night you went out. You simply did not. A complete lie. You are an idiot. You should not be let near a computer. Not just for this comment, but for every other idiotic, badly spelt, uninformed comment you have posted in the past.

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    Mute Waffler
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    Nov 13th 2011, 9:34 PM

    walk across oconnell bridge in 1990 at 2am and get back to me. and the good news is i was stabbed twice in my teens, once with a syringe, the bad news for you is i lived

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    Mute BustingMyAss
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    Nov 13th 2011, 9:43 PM

    I remember Cork in the 80′s: fights were very common and people were quite baise about it. Gang fights were common: often you’d get 2-3 van loads of scumbags descending on rival estates for a royal rumble. This all died out when XTC hit in the early 90′s. You were more likely to get a hug walking home after that!

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    Mute Shanti Om
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    Nov 13th 2011, 8:48 PM

    Sending all the best to the victim. Here’s hoping the perpetrators are caught quickly.

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    Mute BustingMyAss
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    Nov 13th 2011, 9:43 PM

    Well said Om

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    Mute Waffler
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    Nov 13th 2011, 10:35 PM

    ok this comment was removed so i’ll try again. for all those red thumbing me let me give you some perspective. when i was fifteen i was stabbed after a school football match in tolka park along with 7 of my classmates. when i was eighteen i was accosted by 3 men at a bus stop on abbey st. they made me empty my money at an atm before stabbing me with a syringe. neither incident got media coverage as they were common occurences back then. i’m glad we’ve progressed so much that these incidents are so rare that they make headlines. maybe you’ll delete this again but i’m baffled why

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    Mute M kenny
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    Nov 13th 2011, 8:48 PM

    Wtf is Ireland becoming?

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    Mute Waffler
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    Nov 13th 2011, 9:11 PM

    you are joking? the fact that this makes the news shoe how much safer we are now than 20 years ago. when i started going out in dublin i would see at least 3 fights a night between grafton st and my bus on abbey st, rarely see any street violence these days

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    Mute Adrian quinn
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    Nov 13th 2011, 10:33 PM

    Waffler I’m sorry for that silly comment earlier. You are however misinterpeting the report. The news item simply stated that a woman had been stabbed. No sensationalism. Simply a news report. You appear at times to post here just for reaction. All under a psuedonym by the way.

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    Nov 13th 2011, 8:36 PM

    we have it good today, when i was growing up this happened day in day out

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    Nov 13th 2011, 8:40 PM

    grew up where exactly waffler?

    hope the victim recovers.

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    Mute Adrian quinn
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    Nov 13th 2011, 9:08 PM

    Tool

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    Mute Adrian quinn
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    Nov 13th 2011, 9:08 PM

    Where do you live?

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    Mute Waffler
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    Nov 13th 2011, 9:08 PM

    blanchardstown in the 80s. theyd send in the army now if it was still like that

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    Mute Waffler
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    Nov 13th 2011, 9:29 PM

    wtf adrian?

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    Mute Brian M
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    Nov 13th 2011, 10:12 PM

    My comment removed!? And I cheered for you in the convention centre last Thursday night…

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    Mute Waffler
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    Nov 13th 2011, 10:15 PM

    i cant see why your comment was removed, please explain journal

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    Mute Waffler
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    Nov 13th 2011, 10:24 PM

    and wheres my last comment gone? what the hell is going on?

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