Katharine Tynan

Katharine Tynan (1861-1931). Courtesy Wikimedia Commons.

Katharine Tynan (23 January 1861 - 2 April 1931) was an Irish poet and novelist.

Life

Tynan was born into a large farming family in Clondalkin, co. Dublin, and educated at a convent school in Drogheda. Her poems were first published in 1878. Tynan went on to play a major part in Dublin literary circles, until she married and moved to England.

For a while, Tynan was a close associate of William Butler Yeats (who may have proposed marriage and been rejected, around 1885), and later a correspondent of Francis Ledwidge.

She met and became friendly with the poet Gerard Manley Hopkins in 1886.

She is said to have written over 100 novels; there were some unsurprising comments about a lack of self-criticism in her output. Her Collected Poems appeared in 1930. She also wrote five autobiographical volumes.

After her marriage in 1898 to the writer and barrister Henry Albert Hinkson (1865-1919) she usually wrote under the name Katharine Tynan Hinkson. At the time of World War I the couple lived at Claremorris, co. Mayo, where her husband was a magistrate from 1914 until 1919. One of their 3 children, Pamela Hinkson (1900–1982), also became known as a writer.

Katharine Tynan died in 1931 in Kensal Green, London.

Recognition

Her poem "Sheep and Lambs" was included in the Oxford Book of English Verse, 1250-1900.

Publications

Main article: Katharine Tynan bibliography

Poetry

• Louise de la Vallière, and other poems. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, 1885.
• Shamrocks. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, 1887.
• Ballads and Lyrics. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner, 1891.
• Cuckoo Songs. London: Elkin Mathews & John Lane / Boston: Copeland & Day, 1894.
• A Lover's Breast-Knot. London: Elkin Matthews, 1896.
• The Wind in the Trees: A book of country verse. London: Grant Richards, 1898.
• Poems. London: Lawrence & Bullen, 1901.
• Innocencies: A book of verse. London: A.H. Bullen / Dublin: Maunsel, 1905.
• The Rhymed Life of St Patrick (illustrated by Lyndsay Symington). London: Burns & Oates, 1907.
• A Little Book of XXIV Carols. Portland, ME: Mosher, 1907.
• Experiences. London: A.H. Bullen, 1908.
• Twenty-One Poems by Katharine Tynan (selected by W.B. Yeats). Dundrum, Ireland: Dun Emer Press, 1907; Portland, ME: Thomas B. Mosher, 1908.
  • Shannon, Ireland: Irish University Press, 1971.
• Lauds. London: Cedar Press, 1909.
• New Poems. London: Sidgwick & Jackson, 1911.
• Irish Poems. London: Sidgwick & Jackson, 1913.
• The Flower of Peace: A collection of devotional poetry. London: Burns & Oates, 1914; New York: C. Scribner's Sons, 1915.
• Flower of Youth: Poems in war-time London: Sidgwick & Jackson, 1915.
• The Holy War. London: Sidgwick & Jackson, 1916.
• Late Songs. London: Sidgwick & Jackson, 1917.
• Herb o'Grace: Poems in war-time. London: Sidgwick & Jackson, 1918. w
• Evensong. Oxford: B. Blackwell, 1922.
• Twilight Songs. Oxford, UK: Blackwell, 1927; New York: D. Appleton, 1927. w
• Collected Poems. London: Macmillan, 1930.
• The Poems of Katharine Tynan (edited by Monk Gibbon). Dublin: Figgis, 1963.

Plays

• Miracle Plays: Our Lord's coming and childhood. London: John Lane / Chicago: Stone & Kimball, 1895.

Short fiction

• An Isle in the Water. London: Adam & Charles Black, 1895.
• The Land of Mist and Mountain. London: Unwin, 1895.
• The Handsome Quaker, and other stories. London: A.H. Bullen, 1902.
• The Yellow Domino, and other stories. London: F.V. White, 1906.

Edited

• Irish Love-Songs. London: 1892
• The Cabinet of Irish Literature. (revision & expansion of edition by Charles Read). (4 volumes), London: Gresham, 1902-1903. Volume 1, Volume 2, Volume 3, Volume 4.
• The Wild Harp: A selection from Irish poetry (illustrated by C.M. Watts). London: Sidgwick & Jackson, 1913.

Letters

• Letters 1884-1885 Geoffrey Barrow, 1973.

Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.

See also

Sheep and Lambs by Katharine Tynan Hinkson

• List of Irish poets

References

• Patrick Braybrook, Some Catholic Novelists: Their art and outlook. 1931.
• W.B.Yeats: Letters to Katharine Tynan (1953) (edited by Roger McHugh). 1953.
• Marilyn Gaddis Rose, Katharine Tynan. Bucknell University Press, 1974.
• Ann Connerton Fallon, Katharine Tynan. Twayne Publishers, 1979.

External links

Poems

• Katharine Tynan 1859-1931 at the Poetry Foundation
• Poem of the Week: "Easter" at The Guardian
• Katharine Tynan in the Oxford Book of English Mystical Verse: "The Beloved," "The Flying Wheel"
• Tynan Hinkson in A Victorian Anthology, 1837-1895: "Sheep and Lambs," "De Produndis," "Singing Stars," "The Sad Mother," "The Dead Coach"
• 7 poems by Tynan: "April," "Slow Spring," "The Pastoral Pilgrim," "The Weeping Babe," "Love at Easter," "Easter," "Sheep and Lambs"
• Tynan, Katharine Hinkson (1861-1931) (5 poems) at Representative Poetry Online
• Katherine Tynan Hinkson at Poetry Nook (36 poem)
• Twenty-One Poems by Katharine Tynan, selected by W.B. Yeats
• Katharine Tynan at PoemHunter (160 poems)
• Katharine Tynan at AllPoetry (164 poems)

Audio / video

• Katharine Tynan poems at YouTube

Books

• Works by Katharine Tynan at Project Gutenberg
• Katharine Tynan at the Online Books Page
• Katharine Tynan at Amazon.com

About

• Katharine Tynan at Irish Culture and Customs
• Katharine Tynan (1861-1931) at Ricorso.net
• Critical and Biographical Essay in Women Poets of the Nineteenth Century
• Katharine Tynan's Literature for Children, and the Construction of Irish Identity, Catholic University of America (.PDF)

Etc.

• Archival material relating to Katharine Tynan listed at the UK National Register of Archives
• Katharine Tynan Hinkson Papers, 1885-1929 at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, Special Collections Research Center