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William Allingham

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William Allingham
Born(1824-03-19)19 March 1824
Ballyshannon,County Donegal,Ireland
Died18 November 1889(1889-11-18)(aged 65)
Hampstead,London
NationalityIrish[a]
Occupation(s)poet, scholar
Spouse
​
​
(m.1874⁠–⁠1889)​

William Allingham(19 March 1824 – 18 November 1889) was anIrishpoet, diarist and editor. He wrote several volumes of lyric verse, and his poem "The Faeries" was much anthologised. But he is better known for his posthumously publishedDiary,[1]in which he records his lively encounters with Tennyson, Carlyle and other writers and artists. His wife,Helen Allingham,was a well-knownwatercolouristand illustrator.[2]

Biography[edit]

William Allingham was born on 19 March 1824 inBallyshannon,a small town in the south ofCounty DonegalinUlsterin the north ofIreland,which is now in the Republic of Ireland. He was the son of William Allingham, the manager of a local bank who was of English descent.[3]His younger brothers and sisters were Catherine (born 1826), John (born 1827), Jane (born 1829), Edward (born 1831, and lived only a few months) and a still-born brother (born 1833). During his childhood his parents moved twice within the town, where the boy enjoyed the country sights and gardens, learned to paint and listened to his mother's piano-playing. When he was nine, his mother died.[4]

Early broadsheet version of Allingham's "Adieu to Ballyshannon"

He was educated at theRoyal Belfast Academical Institutionuntil the age of 14,[5]when he obtained a post in thecustom-houseof his native town, and held several similar posts in Ireland and England until 1870.[6]During this period were published hisPoems(1850; which included his well-known poem, "The Fairies" ) andDay and Night Songs(1855; illustrated byDante Gabriel Rossettiand others).Rossetti'sLetters to Allingham(1854–1870), edited byBirkbeck Hill,were published in 1897.Laurence Bloomfield in Ireland,his most ambitious, though not his most successful work, a narrative poem illustrative of Irish social questions, appeared in 1864.[6]He also editedThe Ballad Bookfor theGolden Treasuryseries in 1864, andFifty Modern Poemsin 1865.[citation needed]

In April 1870 Allingham retired from the customs service, moved to London and became sub-editor ofFraser's Magazine,eventually becoming editor in succession toJames Froudein June 1874, a post he would hold till 1879.[2]On 22 August 1874 he married the illustrator,Helen Paterson,who was twenty-four years younger than he. His wife gave up her work as an illustrator and would become well known under her married name as a water-colour painter.[6]At first the couple lived in London, at 12 Trafalgar Square, Chelsea, near Allingham's friend,Thomas Carlyle,and it was there that they had their first two children: Gerald Carlyle (born November 1875) and Eva Margaret (born February 1877). In 1877 appeared Allingham'sSongs, Poems and Ballads.In 1881, after the death of Carlyle, the Allinghams moved to Sandhills nearWitleyin Surrey, where their third child, Henry William, was born in 1882. At this period Allingham publishedEvil May Day(1883),Blackberries(1884) andIrish Songs and Poems(1887).

John George Adairwas known for the evictions of forty-seven families in Derryveagh, County Donegal, Ireland, in 1861. Overnight, 244 men, women and children were evicted from their homes and left to wander the roads seeking shelter. This terrible event earned him the title "Black Jack Adair".[7]It triggered William Allingham to write the poemThe Eviction.[8][9][10]

In 1888, because of Allingham's declining health, they moved back to the capital, to the heights ofHampsteadvillage. But on 18 November 1889, he died at Hampstead. According to his wishes he was cremated. His ashes are interred at St. Anne's church in his native Ballyshannon.

Posthumously, Allingham'sVarieties in Prosewere published in 1893.William Allingham. A Diary,edited by Helen Allingham and Dollie Radford, was published in 1907. It contains Allingham's reminiscences ofAlfred Tennyson,Thomas Carlyleand other writers and artists.

Assessment and influence[edit]

Working on an un-ostentatious scale, Allingham produced much lyrical and descriptive poetry, and the best of his pieces are thoroughly national in spirit and local colouring.[6]His verse is clear, fresh, and graceful. His best-known poem remains his early work, "The Faeries".[11]

Allingham had a substantial influence onW. B. Yeats;[3]while theUlsterpoetJohn Hewittfelt Allingham's impact keenly, and attempted to revive his reputation by editing, and writing an introduction to,The Poems of William Allingham(Oxford University Press & Dolmen Press, 1967). Allingham's wide-ranging anthology of poetry,Nightingale Valley(1862) was the inspiration for the 1923 collectionCome Hitherby Walter de la Mare.[12]

Later influences[edit]

The Allingham Arms Hotel inBundoran,County Donegalis named after him.[13]

We daren't go a-hunting / For fear of little men […]was quoted by the character of The Tinker near the beginning of the movieWilly Wonka & the Chocolate Factory,as well as inMike Mignola's comic book short storyHellboy: The Corpse,plus the 1973 horror filmDon't Look in the Basement.The linesUp the airy mountain / Down the rushy glen […]form part of the characterMagrat's internal monologue in theDiscworldnovelLords and Ladies.Several lines of the poem are quoted by Henry Flyte, a character in issue No. 65 of theSupergirlcomic book, August 2011. This same poem was quoted in Andre Norton's 1990 science fiction novelDare to Go A-Hunting(ISBN0-812-54712-8).

Up the Airy Mountainis the title of a short story byDebra DoyleandJames D. Macdonald;while the working title ofTerry Pratchett'sThe Wee Free Menwas "For Fear of Little Men".

See also[edit]

Bibliography[edit]

  • William Allingham; Helen Allingham and Dollie Radford (eds.):William Allingham. A Diary(London: Macmillan, 1907).

Further reading[edit]

  • H. Allingham (ed.)Letters to William Allingham(London: Longmans, Green & Co., 1911).
  • J. Lyle Donaghy: "William Allingham", in:Dublin Magazine20:2 (1945), p. 34–38.
  • Patricia Mary England:The Poetry of William Allingham[M.A. thesis, Birmingham University] (1976).
  • George Birkbeck Hill (ed.):The Letters of Dante Gabriel Rossetti to William Allingham, 1854–1870(London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1897).
  • Samira Aghacy Husni:William Allingham. An Annotated Bibliography(Beirut: Lebanese Establishment for Publishing & Printing Services, 1989).
  • Hans Knopf:William Allingham und seine Dichtung im Lichte der irischen Freiheitsbewegung(Bern, 1928).
  • Mark Samuels Lasner: "William Allingham. Some Uncollected Authors LVI, Part 1 (2)", in:Book Collector39 (Summer–Autumn 1991), p. 174–204 and 321–349.
  • Malcolm McClure: "Biographical Note: The Allinghams of Ballyshannon", in:Donegal Annual52 (2000), p. 87–89.
  • William Irwin Patrick McDonough:The Life and Work of William Allingham[PhD thesis, Trinity College, Dublin] (1952).
  • Hugh Shields: "William Allingham and Folk Song", in:Hermathena117 (1974), p. 23–36.
  • Patrick S. O'Hegarty: "A Bibliography of William Allingham", in:Dublin Magazine(January–March and July–September 1945).
  • Alan Warner:William Allingham. An Introduction(1971).
  • A. Warner:William Allingham(1975).
  • A. Warner: "William Allingham. Bibliographical Survey", in:Irish Book Lore2 (1976), p. 303–307.

Notes[edit]

  1. ^Ireland was within theUnited Kingdom of Great Britain and Irelandthroughout his lifespan.

References[edit]

  1. ^William Allingham. A Diary;edited by H. Allingham and D. Radford (1907 and reprints).
  2. ^abI. Ousby (ed.):The Cambridge Guide to Literature in English(1995), p. 18.
  3. ^abD. Daiches (ed.):The Penguin Companion to Literature 1(1971), p. 19.
  4. ^H. Allingham and D. Radford (eds.):William Allingham. A Diary(1907).
  5. ^Robb, John (1913).The Book of the Royal Belfast Academical Institution.Belfast: McCaw, Stevenson & Orr. p. 170.
  6. ^abcdOne or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain:Chisholm, Hugh,ed. (1911). "Allingham, William".Encyclopædia Britannica.Vol. 1 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 696.
  7. ^"Derryveagh Evictions – 'Black Jack Adair".Ireland Calling.Retrieved27 December2020.
  8. ^"The Eviction Poem by William Allingham".internetpoem.com.
  9. ^"Part 19 of Poems by William Allingham".celt.ucc.ie.
  10. ^"John George Adair".irishevents4u.com.Retrieved27 December2020.
  11. ^The Fairies,multimedia eBook.
  12. ^T. Whistler:Imagination of the Heart(1993), p. 322.
  13. ^"Allingham Arms Hotel | Bundoran".Allinghamarmshotel.ie. 21 November 2013.Retrieved1 April2014.

External links[edit]

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