Thomas MacGreevy (born McGreevy) (October 26, 1893 - March 16, 1967) was a pivotal figure in the history of Irish literary modernism. A poet, he was also director of the National Gallery of Ireland from 1950 to 1963 and served on the first Irish Arts Council (An Chomhairle Ealaíon).
MacGreevy was born in County Kerry, the son of a policeman and a primary school teacher. At age 16, he joined the British Civil Service as a boy clerk. At the outbrea...
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Thomas MacGreevy (born McGreevy) (October 26, 1893 - March 16, 1967) was a pivotal figure in the history of Irish literary modernism. A poet, he was also director of the National Gallery of Ireland from 1950 to 1963 and served on the first Irish Arts Council (An Chomhairle Ealaíon).
MacGreevy was born in County Kerry, the son of a policeman and a primary school teacher. At age 16, he joined the British Civil Service as a boy clerk. At the outbreak of the First World War, he was promoted to an intelligence post with the Admiralty. He enlisted in 1917, and saw active service at the Ypres Salient and the Somme, being wounded twice.
After the war, MacGreevy studied at Trinity College, Dublin. He then became involved in various library organisations, and began publishing articles in Irish periodicals and wrote his first poems.
In 1924, MacGreevy was first introduced to James Joyce in Paris. The following year he moved to London, where he met T. S. Eliot and began writing for The Criterion...
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