Rudolf Patrick (Rudi) Holzapfel (11 December 1938 in

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– 6 February 2005 in

Bonn The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ru ...

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) was an Irish poet and teacher.

Early life

His father, Rudolf Melander Holzapfel (1900–1982), was a Shakespeare scholar, expert on Old Master paintings, and

art dealer An art dealer is a person or company that buys and sells works of art, or acts as the intermediary between the buyers and sellers of art. An art dealer in contemporary art typically seeks out various artists to represent, and builds relationsh ...

. His mother, Mona Trew Holzapfel (1914–1998), was an original member of the renowned Bluebell Girls at the

Folies Bergère The Folies Bergère () is a cabaret music hall, located in Paris, France. Located at 32 Rue Richer in the 9th Arrondissement, the Folies Bergère was built as an opera house by the architect Plumeret. It opened on 2 May 1869 as the Folies Trév ...

. The Parisian dance troupe, founded in 1932 by the Dublin born Margaret Kelly (1910–2004), continues to perform elaborate shows at the Lido de Paris. The family relocated to America, living in

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

between 1946 and 1956, where Rudi Holzapfel graduated from Santa Barbara Catholic High School.

Education

From 1956 to 1970, Holzapfel worked various jobs in England and Ireland, and studied - attaining a M. Litt. with his thesis "Irish Literary Periodicals from 1900 to the Present Day" (1964) - at

Trinity College Trinity College may refer to: Australia * Trinity Anglican College, an Anglican coeducational primary and secondary school in , New South Wales * Trinity Catholic College, Auburn, a coeducational school in the inner-western suburbs of Sydney, New ...

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...

, where he edited '' Icarus''. It was during these years that Holzapfel began to identify with

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

and the cause of

Irish nationalism Irish nationalism is a nationalist political movement which, in its broadest sense, asserts that the people of Ireland should govern Ireland as a sovereign state. Since the mid-19th century, Irish nationalism has largely taken the form of c ...

; he has said he would like to be considered ''a true inheritor of the spiritual legacy of the Gaelic Bards''. He began a lifelong study and appreciation of

James Clarence Mangan James Clarence Mangan, born James Mangan ( ga, Séamus Ó Mangáin; 1 May 1803, Dublin – 20 June 1849), was an Irish poet. He freely translated works from German, Turkish, Persian, Arabic, and Irish, with his translations of Goethe gaining sp ...

(1803–1849), who he describes as ''the greatest Irish poet before Yeats''. In 1969, Holzapfel published ''James Clarence Mangan: A Checklist of Printed and Other Sources'' (Dublin: Scepter).

Career

From 1970 to the late 1980s, Holzapfel lived in

, teaching English and Literature, especially at the Emil-Fischer-Gymnasium in

Euskirchen Euskirchen (; Ripuarian: ''Öskerche'') is a town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, capital of the district Euskirchen. While Euskirchen resembles a modern shopping town, it also has a history dating back over 700 years, having been granted to ...

. Holzapfel has published more than twenty-five books of

poetry Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings i ...

, some under his own imprint, Sunburst Press (Blackrock, County Dublin). An early book of poetry, ''Cast a Cold Eye'', was written with

Brendan Kennelly Timothy Brendan Kennelly (17 April 1936 – 17 October 2021), usually known as Brendan Kennelly, was an Irish poet and novelist. He was Professor of Modern Literature at Trinity College Dublin until 2005. Following his retirement he was a Pr ...

(Dolmen Press, 1959). Holzapfel has published with other Irish authors, including Oliver Snoddy and John Farrell, and his work has been anthologized in the Penguin Book of Irish Verse and Modern Irish Poets. With a circle of other Mangan scholars, including Jacques Chuto,

Peter Van de Kamp Piet van de Kamp (December 26, 1901 in Kampen (Overijssel), KampenLaurence W. Fredrick, Peter van de Kamp (1901–1995)', Publications of the Astronomical Socitiey of the Pacific 108:556–559, July 1996 – May 18, 1995 in Amsterdam), known a ...

, Peter MacMahon, and Ellen Shannon-Mangan, Holzapfel has edited selections of Mangan's prose and poems for the

Irish Academic Press Irish Academic Press is an independent Irish publishing house that was established in 1974, with a focus on Irish history, politics, literature and the arts. History Irish Academic Press was founded by Frank Cass in 1974 and, following his deat ...

. Rudi Holzapfel died in Bonn, Germany, on 6 February 2005. His grave is to be found at the Poppelsdorfer Friedhof. His final book of Sonnets, ''A Tiger Says His Prayers'', was published posthumously in 2006.

Works

* Cast a Cold Eye, 1959, with

* Romances y "rooan hurkey" 1960, Sunburst Press * The Rain, the Moon, 1961, with

* The Dark About Our Loves, 1962, with

* Poems: Green Townlands (Leeds), 1963, with

* Transubstantiations, 1963 * The Leprechaun y "R. Patrick Ward" 1963 * Why Hitler is in Heaven (satirical ballad), 1964 * Nollaig by Rudi Holzappel icand Oliver Snoddy, 1964 * Translations From The English, 1965, The Museum Bookshop, Dublin * The Rebel Bloom, Leeds, 1967 * For Love of Ireland (Broadsheet with 9 poems), he author Leeds, 1967 * No Road beyond Vallombrosa, 1968 * Parasites Lost, (Rudi Patrick Sebastian Holzapfel and John Joseph Conleth Farrell), 1970, Privately Printed, Cork * Soledades, n.d.,

974 Year 974 ( CMLXXIV) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * Battle of Danevirke: Emperor Otto II defeats the rebel forces of King Harald I, who ha ...

Sunburst Press * Whom a Dream Hath Possessed, 1975, Sunburst Press * A Smile Dies, 1978, Sunburst Press * Repeat after me ith Hermann Brunken 1980, Woodway Press, Euskirchen * Poems Written Swiftly, 1982, Sunburst Press * Buckshot (Aphorisms), 1983 * Turning and Manipulation, 1986, Sunburst Press * Ask Silence Why, 1961-1982, selected poems edited by Ellen Shannon-Mangan, Dublin, 1987, Beaver Row Press * The Light of Loss, December 1987, Sunburst Press * And Other Poems, 1987, Pioneer Printing, New York * White Alligators, 1991, Sunburst Press * For Ronnie, 1993 (single leaf - to be read at the graveside) * An Cheapach, 1993, Sunburst Press * Dark Harvest, 1997, Sunburst Press * Sonnets, 2001, Sunburst Press * The Thieves of Dream, 2003, Sunburst Press * A Tiger Says His Prayers, 2006, Sunburst Press

References

* Rudi Holzapfel A Bibliographical Checklist, foreword by Alraune Graefin Boesewicht, 1971, Triest.

External links

* http://www.lib.udel.edu/ud/spec/findaids/holzapf.htm {{DEFAULTSORT:Holzapfel, Rudi Irish poets 1938 births 2005 deaths 20th-century poets