Pearse Hutchinson (William Patrick Henry Pearse Hutchinson) Biography

Irish poet, born in Glasgow of Irish parents; he grew up in Dublin, where he was educated at University College. In 1951 he became a translator with the International Labour Organization, and was a drama critic for Irish radio and television from 1957 to 1968. His first collection of poetry, Tongue Without Hands (1963), was followed by a volume of poems in Irish entitled Faoistin Bhacach (1969; lit. ‘imperfect confession’). There followed Expansions (1969), Watching the Morning Grow (1973), The Frost Is All Over (1975), Climbing the Light (1985), and The Soul that Kissed the Body (1990), a selection of his verse in Irish accompanied by his own translations. Hutchinson's early poetry was predominantly written in strict forms and was notable for its vivid reflections on his Irish background and his experiences of Spain, where he lived in the 1950s. Social preoccupations are treated in his later work, in which more relaxed and expressive verse forms are developed. His sustained critique of modern Ireland is most intense in the satires of Climbing the Light. Among his other works are the translations of Galaico-Portuguese love poetry in Friend Songs (1970).