Monk Gibbon

William Monk Gibbon(1896 – 29 November 1987) was an Irish poet and prolific writer, known as "The Grand Old Man of Irish Letters". His collection of over twenty volumes of poetry, autobiography, travel and criticism are kept atQueen's University Belfast.The Monk Gibbon fonds are kept at the University Archives,Queen's University at Kingston.The material consists of correspondence, drafts of his books, poems, photographs and news clippings. Correspondents includeW. B. Yeats,other members of the Yeats family,George William Russell(A.E.), George Moore, John Eglinton and Padraic Colum. He also wrote many published novels, and has been characterised as "self-regarding and prickly".

Family

Monk Gibbon was the son of the Rev. Canon William Monk Gibbon (1864–1935), aChurch of Irelandclergyman, and from 1900 vicar ofSt. Nahi's Church,Dundrum.His mother, Isabella Agnes Meredith, was a daughter of William Rice Meredith ofDublin,the brother ofJohn Walsingham Cooke Meredith.Monk was a nephew of The Rt. Hon.Richard Edmund Meredithand a first cousin ofCarew Arthur Meredith.Monk's uncle, John, inherited the Gibbon estates ofSleedagh House,County Wexford,andThe ParksinNeston,Cheshire,which came to them via the Monk family for whom he was named.Jonah Gibbonis the great-grandson of the great William Monk Gibbon and continues to share his great grandfather's passion for poetry.

Career

He was educated atSt. Columba's College, DublinandKeble College, Oxford,but after only one term he volunteered for the army, serving as an officer inFranceduring theFirst World Waruntil invalided out in 1915. He became an avidpacifistafter his experiences of war, and leftIrelandto teach English inSwitzerland.He also taught in England before returning to Ireland, not retiring until he was in his 80s.

As a British officer on leave in Ireland, he was involved in theEaster Risingof 1916. His bookInglorious Soldiergives a first-hand, and one of the most detailed, accounts of the shooting of thepacifistFrancis Sheehy-Skeffington.His papers present lively and intimate accounts of the famous Irish writers whom he knew personally, such asWilliam Butler Yeats,George Moore (novelist),Edith Anna SomervilleandKatharine Tynan.

At his father's church,Lily Yeats,sister ofW. B. Yeats,was a parishioner.[1].There was also a family relationship: Gibbon and the Yeats family were cousins. There was no love lost between the poets Gibbon and Yeats, however; and the biography Gibbon wrote was rather hostile. Yeats in return said of Gibbon: "Monk Gibbon is one of the three people in Dublin whom I dislike... Because he is argumentative!" In 1963, Gibbon collaborated in the editing and publication ofMichael Farrell's posthumous novelThy Tears Might Cease.

Private life

In 1928, he married Mabel Dingwall, daughter of Walter Molyneux Dingwall ofBonchurchand Mabel Sophia Spender, a daughter of Edward Spender ofBath, Somerset.They were the parents of six children. Mrs Gibbon's father, Edward Spender, was a strong supporter of theWomen's Suffragemovement in which his sister, the novelistEmily Spenderplayed a leading role as a member of the executive committee of the Central Committee of the National Society forWomen's Suffrage.Edward Spender was a cousin of the diaristHenry Crabb Robinson,and a brother-in-law of the novelistLillian Spenderand the liberal politicianWilliam Saunders,with whom he founded theCentral News Agency (London).Mrs Gibbon's mother was a first cousin ofJohn Alfred Spender,uncle of the poet SirStephen Spender.

The Gibbons' home, Tara Hall, at Sandycove,County Dublin,was a literary centre and afternoon tea parties there often ran into the night. Frequent visitors there included Irish writers such asPadraic Colum,Ulick O'Connorand Austin Clarke. Gibbon always wrote in bed and often wandered down to the sea front in his pyjamas to collect driftwood. He was a keen cyclist all his life and could still be found riding his bicycle around Sandycove in his late 80s.

Works

• The Tremulous String(1926) limited edition 250 hand printed copies
• The Branch of Hawthorn Tree(1927) limited edition 460 copies, with color illustrations byCharles Picart Le Doux
• The Seals(1935) autobiography
• The Living Torch(1937) poems by AE, editor
• Mount Ida(1948)
• This Insubstantial Pageant(1951)
• "Austria" (1953)
• The Masterpiece and the Man: Yeats as I Knew Him(1959) biography
• The Climate of Love(1961)
• Inglorious Soldier(1968) memoir
• The Brahms Waltz(1970)
• The Velvet Bow(1972)
• The Pupil(1981)

External links

• Writer In Profile"Monk Gibbon"RTÉ interview by Niall Sheridan broadcast 19 January 1971