Padraic Fallon Biography

Irish poet and playwright, born in Athenry, County Galway. He was a customs official, principally in Wexford, for forty years. Although his poems in anthologies and his writing for radio gained him a reputation as one of the most noteworthy Irish poets in the years following the death of W. B. Yeats, no independent collection of his verse appeared until Poems (1974). His only other publication was a gathering of his short stories, Lighting up Time (1938). Fallon insisted that his numerous dramatic works, chiefly written for Irish radio, were integral to his achievement as a poet: they include The Vision of MacConglinne, Steeple Jerkin, and The Hags of Clough. His plays, which remain unpublished, were highly acclaimed and later productions were broadcast by the BBC and German and Dutch radio. The history, landscapes, and folklore of Galway inform much of his writing, which has the innate rhythmical and tonal musicality of poetry deriving something of its identity from Gaelic traditions. Although his writing frequently displays metaphysical concerns, it generally maintains a tone of conversational straightforwardness and grounds its imagery firmly in perceived actuality. Collected Poems (1990) is edited by Brian Fallon, who also edited Poems and Versions (1983), which contains Fallon's verse translations of French poetry.