MACNEICE, LOUIS.
Louis MacNeice collection, 1926-1959

Restrictions on access

Unrestricted access.

Terms Governing Use and Reproduction

All requests subject to limitations noted in departmental policies on reproduction.

Source

Purchased from various sources.

Citation

[after identification of item(s)], Louis MacNeice collection, Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library, Emory University.

Processing

Processed by Katie Long, July 2003.

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Biographical Note

Louis MacNeice was born in Belfast, Ireland in 1907, his family later moved to Carrickfergus, County Antrim. He attended Merton College, Oxford University, 1926-1930, where he met his lifelong friend W.H. Auden. In the 1930s, MacNeice was associated with English poets, W.H. Auden, Stephen Spender, and C. Day Lewis, standing out because of his more casual, colloquial style. MacNeice is best known for his poetry such as Blind Fireworks, The Earth Compels, Autumn Journal, The Last Ditch, Plant and Phantom, Springboard, Holes in the Sky, Ten Burnt Offerings, The Other Wing, Visitations, Eight-five, Solstices, The Burning Perch, and Round the Corner, but also wrote several plays and radio scripts, as well as literary criticism. MacNeice taught at the University of Birmingham, University of London, and Cornell University, served as a feature writer and producer for the BBC, and was the Director of the British Institute, Athens, Greece. In 1957, he was received a Commander of the Order of the British Empire honor. MacNeice died of pneumonia in 1963. MacNeice's influence is still felt today in the poetry of the post-war generation Irish poets, including Michael Longley and Derek Mahon.

Scope and Content Note

The collection contains handwritten and typed letters from Louis MacNeice to various friends and colleagues and a manuscript review of George Johnston's translation of The Saga of Gisli. The correspondents include Adrian Green-Armytage who was a good friend of MacNeice's while at Merton and is also a cousin of Graham Greene. There is also a letter from MacNeice to Melville Hardiment with reference to a BBC program that MacNeice was involved in, future project with Hardiment, and consulting fees. The collection also include two manuscripts poems, "Coming from Nowhere," and "Evening in Connecticut."