The Poems of Joseph Mary Plunkett (1916)

The Poems of Joseph Mary Plunkett was published posthumously. The poet’s sister Geraldine Plunkett, who acted as editor, also contributed a Foreward, dated 30th June 1916. The Foreward is omitted here, along with an essay by the poet, “Obscurity and Poetry”, which had been appended.

The volume comprises two sections of poems. The first section, Occulta, was to have been the poet’s next book: “He arranged it himself in the order in which it now stands, wherein the sequence of thought is unbroken”. The second section, Earlier and Later Poems, incorporates selections from Plunkett’s first book of poetry, The Circle and the Sword (1911), that Geraldine Plunkett thought worthy of inclusion, and poems written after those in Occulta.

All the poems are presented together first, then each section separately. Either way, the poems are indexed three times: as published, by title, and by first line. I have added an index of the most famous of Plunkett’s poems, and of my own other favorites. I have also added an additional poem not published in The Poems of Joseph Mary Plunkett.

Poems

Occulta

Earlier and Later Poems

The Most Famous and the Favorites

Additional Poem