F. R. Higgins - Oil on Canvas by Sean O'Sullivan
(courtesy of the Abbey Theatre, Dublin)
(courtesy of the Abbey Theatre, Dublin)
Frederick Robert Higgins (1896-1941) was a poet and a managing director of the Abbey Theatre in Dublin. He was a contemporary of W.B. Yeats.
His five collections of poems are:
- Salt Air (1924);
- Island Blood (1925);
- The Dark Breed (1927);
- Arable Holdings (1933); and
- The Gap of Brightness (1940).
The Gap of Brightness was reviewed in the Irish Times by the distinguished literary critic Desmond MacCarthy in July 1940, the year before F.R. Higgins died. He wrote:-
"This slender volume has impressed me
more than any recent verse that I have come
across. The spirit of Mr. Higgins keeps
close to experience, yet it is gallant, wistful,
extravagant and free, while his pencraft -
I must repeat this - is a joy to those who
love words that fit the thing."