Coffey, Brian, 1905-

The Irish poet Brian Coffey was born in Dublin in 1905. After secondary education at Clongowes Wood College and in France, he studied science at University College Dublin from 1924-1930. In 1930 Coffey published a collection of poems with the poet Denis Devlin followed by Three Poems in 1933. Throughout the decade he lived in Paris where he was associated with the Joyce circle. During this period he published his poetry in Criterion and Ireland Today. A third collection, Third Person, appeared in 1938. During the war years, Coffey taught school in London. He completed his own doctorate in 1947, and from 1947-1952 he held a teaching position in St. Louis, Missouri, which would later serve as the impetus for his Missouri Sequence. After Denis Devlin's death in 1959, Coffey served as literary executor to the estate and prepared a collected edition of Devlin's poems and the posthumous collection The Heavenly Foreigner. He also prepared a translation of Mallarm'̌s Coup de dš in 1965. The following year Coffey, in collaboration with John Parsons, published Monster. Coffey's Selected Poems appeared in 1971 followed by Advent (1975), The Big Laugh (1980), The Death of Hektor (1980), and Chanterelles (1985). Brian Coffey died in 1995.

From the description of Brian Coffey collection, [ca. 1933-1976]. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 122517412

...