James Stephens (poet)

This article is about the 20th-century Irish poet. For the 19th-century Australian poet, see James Brunton Stephens.

James Stephens (1882-1950). Courtesy Wikipedia.

James Stephens (9 February 1882 - 26 December 1950) was an Irish poet and novelist.

Life

Youth and education

James' mother worked in the home of the Collins family of Dublin and was adopted by them. His father died when Stephens was 2. His mother remarried and placed him in an orphanage – he never saw her again.

James was brought up in a Protestant orphanage, the Meath Protestant Industrial School for Boys.

He attended school with his adopted brothers Thomas and Richard (Tom and Dick). They competed and won several athletic competitions despite James' slight stature (he stood 4'10" in his socks). He was known affectionately as 'Tiny Tim'.

He was much enthralled by tales of military valor of his adoptive family and would have been a soldier except for his height.

Adult life

James Stephens. Courtesy TCT.

By the early 1900s James was increasingly inclined to socialism and the Irish language (he could speak and write Irish), and by 1912 he was a dedicated Irish Republican. He was a close friend of Thomas MacDonagh, who was then editor of the Irish Review, manager of the Irish Theatre and deputy headmaster in St Enda's, (the radical bilingual school run by Patrick Pearse.

Stephens's growing nationalism brought a schism with his adopted family, but probably won him his job as registrar in the National Gallery of Ireland, where he worked between 1915 and 1925.

Stephens began his career as a poet under the tutelage of "Æ" (George William Russell). His earliest published work was a collection of poems, Insurrections, published in 1909. His last book, Kings and the Moon (1938), was also a volume of verse.

In the 1930s, Stephens had some acquaintance with James Joyce, who found that they shared a birth year (and, Joyce mistakenly believed, a birthday). Joyce, who was concerned with his ability to finish what would later become Finnegans Wake, proposed that Stephens assist him, with the authorship credited to JJ & S (James Joyce & Stephens, also a pun for the popular Irish whiskey made by John Jameson & Sons). The plan, however, never came to fruition, as Joyce was able to complete the work on his own.

In the last decade of his life, Stephens found a new audience through a series of broadcasts on the BBC.

Timeline of Stephens's Life

1880 (9 February). Possible date of birth of James Stephens in Dublin.
1882 (2 February). Date of birth used by Stephens.
1886-96 Attended Meath Protestant Industrial School for Boys.
1896 Employed as a clerk by a Dublin solicitor, Mr Wallace.
1901 On a gymnastic team which won the Irish Shield. Employed by Reddington & Sainsbury, solicitors.
1906 Employed as a clerk-typist in the office of T. T.Mecredy & Son, solicitors.
1907 Began regular contributions to Sinn Féin. Birth of stepdaughter, Iris, on 14 June; shortly thereafter announced that he had a wife, "Cynthia" (Millicent Josephine Gardiner Kavanagh, 22 May 1882-18 December 1960). Discovered by George W. Russell (Æ).
1909 Insurrections. Acted in the Theatre of Ireland's two productions of Seumas O'Kelly's The Shuiler's Child. Birth of son, James Naoise, on 26 October.
1910 Acted in the Theatre of Ireland production of Gerald h Macnamara's The SPurious Sovereign. Associated with David Houston, Thomas MacDonagh, and Padraic he was Colum in founding and editing the Irish Review (published March 1911-November 1914).
1911 Acted in Pádraic Ó Conaire's Bairbre Ruadh. The Marriage of Julia Elizabeth produced by the Theatre of Ireland.
1912 The Charwoman's Daughter, The Hill of Vision, Crock of Gold.
1912 "In the Poppy Field," "In the Cool of the Evening," "The Lonely God" (all from The Hill of Vision) are included by Edward Marsh in Georgian Poetry.
1913 Here Are Ladies, Five New Poems. Received a commission from The Nation (London) to write a series of short stories. Moved to Paris. Another production of The Marriage of Julia Elizabeth at the Hardwicke Street Theatre. Crock of Gold awarded the Polignac Prize.
1914 The Demi-Gods.
1915 Songs from the Clay, The Adventures of Seumas Beg/The Rocky Road to Dublin. Elected Unestablished Registrar of the National Gallery of Ireland.
1915 "The Rivals," "The Goatpaths," "The Snare," "In Woods and Meadows," "Deirdre" (all from Songs from the Clay) are included by Edward Marsh in Georgian Poetry.
1916 Green Branches, The Insurrection in Dublin.
1917 "The Fifteen Acres," "Check, Westland Row," "The Turn of the Road," "A Visit from Abroad" (all from The Adventures of Seumas Beg) are included by Edward Marsh in Georgian Poetry.
1918-24 Appointed Registrar of the National Gallery of Ireland
1918 Reincarnations.
1919 Married "Cynthia" (then a widow) in London on 14 May.
1920 Irish Fairy Tales. The Wooing of Julia Elizabeth (identical to The Marriage of Julia Elizabeth) produced at the Abbey Theatre by the Dublin Drama League. One of a series of operations for gastric ulcers.
1922 Arthur Griffith: journalist and Statesman.
1923 Deirdre.
1924 Little Things, In the Land of Youth. Deirdre presented the medal for fiction at the Aonach Tailteann festival. Resigned from the National Gallery.
1925 A Poetry Recital, Danny Murphy, Christmas in Freelands. On lecture tour in America. Returned to London; shortly thereafter settled in the Kingsbury suburb of London. To America for another lecture tour.
1926 Collected Poems.
1927 Friendship with James Joyce commenced. Joyce suggested that Stephens complete Finnegans Wake if Joyce was unable to do so; this proposal made more formally in 1929.
1928 Etched in Moonlight, On Prose and Verse. First BBC broadcast. Lecturer at the Third International Book Fair in Florence.
1929 Julia Elizabeth: A Comedy, in one act, The Optimist, The Outcast. In Romania; met Queen Marie. Trip to America; stay with W. T. H. Howe.
1930 Theme and Variations. Trip to America; stay with Howe.
1931 How St. Patrick Saves the Irish, Strict Joy. Trip to America; stay with Howe.
1932 Trip to America; stay with Howe. A founder member of the Irish Academy of Letters.
1933-35 Yearly lecture tours to America; visits with Howe.
1937 Began regular series of BBC broadcasts. Accidental death of son, James Naoise, on 24 December.
1938 Kings and the Moon.
1940 Moved to Woodside Chapel in Gloucestershire.
1942 Awarded British Civil List Pension.
1945 Returned to London.
1947 Awarded honorary D. Litt. degree from Dublin University (Trinity College).
1950 Final BBC broadcast. Death at Eversleigh on 26 December.

Writing

Stephens wrote many retellings of Irish myths and fairy tales. His retellings are marked by a rare combination of humor and lyricism (Deirdre and Irish Fairy Tales are often singled out for praise).

He also wrote several original novels (Crock of Gold, Etched in Moonlight, Demi-Gods) loosely based on Irish fairy tales. Crock of Gold, in particular, achieved enduring popularity and was frequently reprinted throughout the author's lifetime.

Recognition

His poems "The Watcher" and "The Rivals" were included in the Oxford Book of English Verse, 1250-1918.

Publications

James Stephens (1882-1950), The Hill of Vision, 1912. Courtesy [Internet Archive].

Poetry

• Insurrections. Dublin: Maunsel, 1909; New York: Macmillan, 1909.
• The Lonely God, and other poems. New York: Macmilan, 1909.
• The Hill of Vision. Dublin: Maunsel, 1912; New York: Macmillan, 1912.
• Five New Poems. London : Printed by A.T. Stevens for Flying Fame, 1913.
• Songs from the Clay. London & New York: Macmillan, 1915.
• Green Branches. Dublin & London: Maunsel, 1916; New York: Macmillan, 1916.
• Reincarnations. London & New York: Macmillan, 1918.
• A Poetry Recital. London & New York: Macmillan, 1925.
• Collected Poems. London & New York: Macmillan, 1926.
• Strict Joy: Poems. London & New York: Macmillan 1931.
• Kings and the Moon. London & New York: Macmillan, 1938.
• A Singing Wind: Selected poems (edited by Quail Hawkins; illustrated by Harold Goodwin). New York: Macmillan, 1968.
• Poems (edited by Shirley Stevens Mulligan, with introduction by A.N. Jeffares). Gerrards Cross, UK: Colin Smythe, 2006.

Play

• Julia Elizabeth: A comedy, in one act. New York: Crosby Gaige, 1929.

Novels

• The Charwoman's Daughter. London: Macmillan, 1912.
  • published in U.S. as Mary, Mary. Boston: Small, Maynard, 1912; New York: Boni & Liveright, 1912.
• The Crock of Gold. London & New York: Macmillan, 1912.
• The Demi-Gods. London & New York: Macmillan, 1914.
• Hunger (as "James Esse"). Dublin: Candle Press, 1918.
• Deirdre. London & New York: Macmillan, 1923.
• In the Land of Youth. London & New York: Macmillan, 1924.
• Etched in Moonlight. London & New York: Macmillan, 1928.
• Theme and Variations. New York: Fountain Press, 1930.

Short fiction

• Here Are Ladies. London & New York: Macmillan, 1913.
• Desire, and other stories (edited by Augustine Martin). Dublin: Poolbeg Press, 1981.

Non-fiction

• The Insurrection in Dublin. Dublin & London: Maunsel, 1916; New York: Macmillan, 1916.
• Arthur Griffiths: Journalist and statesman. Dublin: Wilson, Hartnell, 1924.
• On Prose and Verse. New York: Bowling Green, 1928.
• English Poets: Romantic, Victorian, and later (with Edwin Long Beck; Royall Henderson Snow). New York & Cincinnati, OH: American Book Co., 1934.
• Victorian and Later English Poets. New York & Cincinnati, OH: American Book Co., 1934.

Juvenile

• The Adventures of Seumas Beg / The Rocky Road to Dublin (verse). London & New York: Macmillan, 1915.
• Irish Fairy Tales (illustrated by Arthur Rackham). London & New York: Macmillan, 1920.

Collected editions

• A Selection (edited by Lloyd Frankenberg, with introduction by Padraic Colum). London: Macmillan, 1962;
  • published in U.S. as A James Stephens Reader. New York: Macmillan, 1962. w
• James, Seumas, and Jacques: Unpublished writings of James Stephens (edited by Lloyd Frankenberg). London & New York: Macmillan, 1964. *Uncollected Prose (edited by Patricia McFale). London: Macmillan, 1983; New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1983.

Letters

• Letters (edited by Richard J. Finneran). London & New York: Macmillan, 1974.

James Stephens - Poems - 78 rpm - County Mayo - Fifteen Acres - HMV 109 - Irish Poetry

Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.

See also

• List of Irish poets

External links

Poems

• "The Shell"
• "The Spring in Ireland: 1916"
• James Stephens in the Oxford Book of English Verse, 1250-1918: "The Watcher," "The Rivals."
• James Stephens in the Oxford Book of English Mystical Verse: "The Seeker," "The Fullness of Time," "The Breath of Life"
• James Stephens 1880-1950 at the Poetry Foundation
• Stephens in Poetry: A magazine of verse, 1912-1922: "The Waste Places," "Hawks," "The Liar," "Dark Wings"
• Stephens in The New Poetry: An anthology: "What Tomas An Buile said in a Pub," "Bessie Bobtail," "Hate," "The Waste Places," "Hawks," "Dark Wings"
• James Stephens at PoemHunter (40 poems)
• James Stephens at Poetry Nook (212 poems)

Books

• Works by James Stephens at Project Gutenberg

Audio / video

• James Stephens at YouTube

Books

• James Stephens at Amazon.com

About

• James Stephens in the Encyclopædia Britannica
• James Stephens in the Gale Encyclopedia of Biography
• James Stephens (?1880-1950) at Ricorso.net
• "James Stephens and the 1916 Rising" at Ireland's Own