SOURCE: “Donald Davie: The Irish Years,” in The Southern Review, Vol. 20, No. 1, January, 1984, pp. 29-40.

In the following essay, Quinlan explores autobiographical aspects of Davie's Irish poems.

Donald Davie was an English don at Trinity College, Dublin, from 1950 until 1957. It was during these years that he published the books on which a substantial part of his reputation both as poet and critic still rests: Purity of Diction in English Verse (1952), Brides of Reason (1955), Articulate Energy (1955), A Winter Talent & Other Poems (1957). And it was in Ireland also that he formed many of his opinions as to what the ideal relationship between the artist and his society should be. In fact, in some instances, Ireland seems to be the hidden criterion by which Davie judges his own country's cultural short-comings. Again, “in Ireland or the United States” is a phrase that recurs in Davie's writings, suggesting that he sees some...