John Todhunter

The son of a merchant, he was educated at the Quaker Schools at Mountmellick and York. While a student at Trinity College Medical School, Dublin, Todhunter was clinical clerk to the famous William Stokes; and also won the Vice-chancellor's Prize in English Literature three times. He received the M.B. degree in 1867, and the M.D. degree in 1871, between which accomplishments he became Professor of English Literature at Alexandra College, Dublin. He did further medical study in Europe and was appointed Visiting Physician to Cork Street Fever Hospital; but after the publication and favorable reception of his essay A Theory of the Beautiful in 1872, and because of poor health, he gave up the practice of medicine to concentrate entirely on the writing of essays, poetry, and plays, and translating. He travelled abroad, finally settling in London, where he was involved in the founding of the Irish Literary Society.
Todhunter died at Chiswick, London, 25 October 1916.





His works include:

Laurella and Other Poems (London 1876)

Alcestis: A Dramatic Poem (London 1878)

The True Tragedy of Rienzi; Tribune of Rome (London: Kegan Paul 1881)

Forest Songs & Other Poems (London: Kegan Paul 1881)

Helena in Troas (London: Kegan Paul 1886)

The Banshee and Other Poems (London: Kegan Paul 1888)

How Dreams Come True (1890) [PI only]

A Sicilian Idyll (London: Elkin Mathews 1891)

The Poison Flower ( (London 1891)

The Legend of Stauffenberg (1890)

The Irish Bardic Tales (London: J. M. Dent 1896)

Sounds and Sweet Airs (London 1904)

The Life of Patrick Sarsfield, Earl of Lucan (London: Unwin; Dublin: Sealy, Bryers, & Walker 1901)









Bibliography source: Dictionary of Irish Writers