Matthew Sweeney
Matthew Sweeney | |
|---|---|
| Born | 6 October 1952 Lifford, County Donegal, Ireland |
| Died | 5 August 2018 (aged 65) Cork University Hospital, Ireland |
| Resting place | Clonmany New Cemetery, County Donegal |
| Occupation | Poet |
| Alma mater | University College Dublin Polytechnic of North London University of Freiburg |
| Genre | Poetry |
| Literary movement | "Alternative Realism" "Imagistic Narrative" |
| Notable works | Horse Music |
| Spouse | Rosemary Barber |
| Partner | Mary Noonan |
| Children | Nico (daughter) Malvin (son) |
Matthew Gerard Sweeney (6 October 1952 – 5 August 2018) was an Irish poet. His work has been translated into Dutch, Italian, Hebrew, Japanese, Latvian, Mexican Spanish, Romanian, Slovakian and German.
According to the poet Gerard Smyth: "I always sensed that in the first instance [Sweeney] regarded himself as a European rather than an Irish poet – and rightly so: like the German Georg Trakl whom he admired he apprehended the world in a way that challenged our perceptions and commanded our attention." Sweeney's work has been considered "barely touched by the mainstream of English writing" and more so by the German writers Kleist, Büchner, Kafka, Grass and Böll, as well as the aforementioned Trakl. According to Poetry International Web, Sweeney would be among the top five most famous Irish poets on the international scene.