William Allingham
| William Allingham | |
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| Born | 19 March 1824 Ballyshannon, County Donegal, Ireland |
| Died | 18 November 1889 (aged 65) Hampstead, London |
| Nationality | Irish |
| Occupation | poet, scholar |
William Allingham (19 March 1824 – 18 November 1889) was an Irish poet, diarist and editor. He wrote several volumes of lyric verse, and his poem 'The Faeries' was much anthologized; but he is better known for his posthumously published Diary,[1] in which he records his lively encounters with Tennyson, Carlyle and other writers and artists. His wife, Helen Allingham, was a well-known water-colorist.
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Biography [edit]
William Allingham was born on 19 March 1824 in the little port of Ballyshannon, County Donegal, Ireland, and was the son of the manager of a local bank who was of English descent. His younger brothers and sisters were Catherine (b. 1826), John (b. 1827), Jane (b. 1829), Edward (b. 1831; who lived only a few months) and a still-born brother (b. 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.[2]
He obtained a post in the custom-house of his native town, and held several similar posts in Ireland and England until 1870. During this period were published his Poems (1850; which included his well-known poem, 'The Fairies') and Day and Night Songs (1855; illustrated by Dante Gabriel Rossetti and others). (Rossetti's Letters to Allingham (1854-1870), edited by Dr. Birkbeck Hill, would be published in 1897.) Lawrence Bloomfield in Ireland, his most ambitious, though not his most successful work, a narrative poem illustrative of Irish social questions, appeared in 1864. He also edited The Ballad Book for the Golden Treasury series in 1864, and Fifty Modern Poems in 1865.
In 1870 Allingham retired from the customs service, and became sub-editor of Fraser's Magazine.
In 1874 on 22 August Allingham married the illustrator, Helen Paterson, who was twenty-four years younger than he; and in the same year he became editor of Fraser's Magazine, in succession to James Froude. His wife gave up her work as an illustrator and would became well known under her married name as a water-colour painter. At first the couple lived in London, at Trafalgar Square, Chelsea, near Allingham's friend, Thomas Carlyle, and it was there that they had their first two children - Gerald Carlyle (b. 1875 November) and Eva Margaret (b. 1877 February). In 1877 appeared Allingham's Songs, Poems and Ballads. In 1881, after the death of Carlyle, the Allinghams moved to Sandhills near Witley in Surrey, where their third child, Henry William, was born in 1882. At this period Allingham published Evil May Day (1883), Blackberries (1884) and Irish Songs and Poems (1887).
In 1888, because of William's declining health, they moved back to the capital, to the heights of Hampstead village. But in 1889, on 18 November, William 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's Varieties in Prose was published in 1893. William Allingham A Diary, edited by Mrs Helen Allingham and D. Radford, was published in 1907. It contains Allingham's reminiscences of Alfred Tennyson, Thomas Carlyle and other writers and artists.
Working on an unostentatious scale, Allingham produced much lyrical and descriptive poetry, and the best of his pieces are thoroughly national in spirit and local colouring. His verse is clear, fresh, and graceful. His best-known poem remains his early work, "The Faeries".[3]
Influence of Allingham &c. [edit]
The Ulster poet John Hewitt felt Allingham's influence keenly, and his attempts to revive his reputation included editing and writing an introduction to The Poems of William Allingham (Oxford University Press/ Dolmen Press, 1967).
We daren't go a-hunting/For fear of little men... was quoted by the character of The Tinker near the beginning of the movie Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, as well as in Mike Mignola's comic book short story Hellboy: The Corpse, plus the 1973 horror film Don't Look in the Basement. Several lines of the poem are quoted by Henry Flyte, a character in issue #65 of the Supergirl comic book, August 2011.
This same poem was quoted in Andre Norton’s 1990 science fiction novel Dare To Go A-Hunting (ISBN 0-812-54712-87).
Up the Airy Mountain is the title of a short story by Debra Doyle and James D. Macdonald.
The working title of Terry Pratchett's The Wee Free Men was "For Fear Of Little Men".
The Allingham Arms Hotel in Bundoran, Co. Donegal is named after him.[4]
Further reading [edit]
- M. McClure, 'Biographical Note: the Allinghams of Ballyshannon', in Donegal Annual; 52 (2000), p. 87-89
- M. S. Lasner, 'William Allingham. Some Uncollected Authors LVI Part 1 (2)', in Book Collector; 39 (1991 summer, autumn), p. 174-204 and 321-349
- S. A. Husni, William Allingham An Annotated Bibliography (1989)
- A. Warner, 'William Allingham Bibliographical Survey', in Irish Book Lore; 2 (1976), p. 303-307
- P. M. England, 'The Poetry of William Allingham' [M.A. thesis, Birmingham University] (1976)
- A. Warner, William Allingham (1975)
- H. Shields, 'William Allingham and folk song', in Hermathena; 117 (1974), p. 23-36
- A. Warner, William Allingham An Introduction (1971)
- W.I.P. McDonough, 'The Life and Work of William Allingham' [Ph.D. thesis, Trinity College, Dublin] (1952)
- P.S. O'Hegarty, 'A Bibliography of William Allingham', in Dublin Magazine (1945 Jan-Mar and July–September)
- J. L. Donaghy, 'William Allingham', in Dublin Magazine; 20:2 (1945), p. 34-38
- H. Knopf, 'William Allingham und seine Dichtung im Lichte der irischen Freheitsbewegung' [Dissertation] (1928. Biel)
- Letters to William Allingham, ed. H. Allingham (1911)
- William Allingham, William Allingham A Diary, ed. H. Allingham and D. Radford (1907)
- D. G. Rossetti, The Letters of Dante Gabriel Rossetti to William Allingham 1854-1870, ed. G.B.N. Hill (1897)
References [edit]
- ^ William Allingham A Diary Edited by H. Allingham and D. Radford (1907 and reprints)
- ^ William Allingham A Diary Edited by H. Allingham and D. Radford (1907)
- ^ The Fairies, multimedia eBook.
- ^ http://www.allinghamarmshotel.ie/
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
External links [edit]
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Wikisource has original works written by or about: |
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Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: William Allingham |
- Works by William Allingham at Project Gutenberg
- Archival material relating to William Allingham listed at the UK National Archives
- William Allingham at University of Toronto Libraries
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