Life
1775-1802, b. b. 15 Jan., Ennis; child prodigy, and son of schoolmaster;
ran away to Dublin; stayed two years with Re. Henry Boyd, rector of Killyleigh,
Co. Offaly; first collection published by Rev. Gilbert Austin, 1798; befriended
by the Earl of Moira, Lord Kilwarden, Robert Owenson [not Lady Morgan,
as O’Donogue says] and others, including his biographer, J. Grant
Raymond; enlisted in army, serving as second lieutenant in a wagon-corps
[DNB]; persisted in dissipated life and died young in London; published
The Reform (1792), with The Rights of Justice, pamph.; collected
poems, The Harp of Erin (1807); sometimes regarded as an Irish
Chatterton, on whom he wrote a monody; there is a life by James Grant
Raymond (1806). RR DNB CAB PI DBIV DIL DIW DIB RAF FDA OCIL WJM
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Works
Poems: Consisting of Essays, Lyric, Elegiac, &c. [...] written
between the 13th and 16th year of his age (Dublin: J. Jones, 1792),
112pp.; [Rev.] Austin Gilbert [Guillimannus, Franciscus], ed., Poems
(Dublin: Chambers 1789), 31pp.; Poems, Moral, and Descriptive (London:
[J. Crowder printer] Vernor and Hood; Lackington, Allen, & Co. 1800),
xi, [1], 112pp: ill., pls.; Peace: A poem inscribed to the right honorable
Henry Addington (London: J. Hatchard 1801), 19pp.Marmaduke Myrtle
[pseud.,] The Histrionade: or, Theatric tribunal; a poem, descriptive
of the principal performers at both houses, &c. (London: R. S.
Kirby [et al.] 1802), 56pp.; Poems on Various Subjects (London:
printed for J. Hatchard [... et al.] 1802), xi,[1],206,[2]pp..
See also Samuel Whyte, ed., Poems on Various Subjects, illustrated with notes, original letters and curious incidental anecdotes [...; 1st edn. 1792] (3rd. rev. edn. 1796); John Carr, The Stranger in Ireland, or, A Tour in the Southern and Western Parts of that Country in the Year 1805; to which is now first added an appendix, containing an account of Thomas Dermody, the Irish poet [Early American Imprints [microfilm], 2nd Ser., No. 12271; 1st edn. London 1806] (NY: I. Riley & Co. 1807; rep. 1990); Thomas Ollive Mabbott, 2 articles on Dermody rep. from Notes and Queries (1939). REPRINTS, Donald H. Reiman, ed. & intro., The Histrionade; Poems on Various Subjects [rep. of 5 works, 1789-1802] (NY: Garland Publ. 1978);
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Criticism
James Grant Raymond, The Life of Thomas Dermody, interspersed
with pieces of Original Poetry Many exhibiting unexampled prematurity
of genuine poetical talent and containing a series of correspondence
... with several eminent characters by James Grant Raymond in
Two volumes [(London: Printed for William Miller, Albemarle St.; Dublin:
J. Archer & M. Mahon, 1806), Vol. 1, 346pp.; Vol. 2, 346pp. [infra]
James Hardiman, Irish Minstrelsy (1831), Introduction, ftn., p.xxiv.
Russell K. Alspach, Irish Poetry from the English Invasion to 1798 (Phil: Pennsylvania UP 1959), p.54.
Patrick Rafroidi, Irish Literature in English, The Romantic Period, 1789-1850, Vol 1 (1980), remarks that Dermody plagiarises Thomas Gray, in Poems, 1789, p.13: ‘Now sober Evening, clad in matle grey / In solemn pomp steals on to shadowy night. / The twinkling stars begin their lucid way / And bashful Cynthia shows her silver light // No noise is heard, save yonder hooting owl / that shrieks his mournful dirge in scream of woe.’ Dermody was fourteen at this writing. Other poems are "Night" (p.26f.) and "Ode to Terror" (pp.13, 29ff, p.30, 101. See also Rafroidi, op. cit. (1980), Vol. 2.
Notes
Patrick Rafroidi, Irish Literature in English: The Romantic
Period, 1789-1850 (Gerrards Cross: Colin Smythe 1980), Vol.
2, lists Poems (Dublin: Chambers 1789), 31pp; Poems consisting
of Essays, Lyric, Elegiac, &c, by T.D., written between the 13th
and 16th year of his age (Dublin: J Jones 1792), 112pp, small; Poems,
Moral, and Descriptive, by Thomas Dermondy (London: Vernon & Hood
[et al.] 1800), xi, 112pp, ill, ded. to Countess of Moira [inc. the poem
‘Retrospect’, 34 pp; the epistolary poem ‘The Pursuit of
Patronage’, 30pp, and others]; The Histrionade, or Theatric Tribute,
poem descriptive of the princ. performers at both houses ... by Marmaduke
Myrtle, Esq. (London: ES Kirby [et al.] 1802), 56pp; also unpublished
poems in J[ames] G[rant] Raymond, The Life of Thomas Dermody (London
W. Miller; Dublin: J. Archer and M. Mahon, 1806), 2 vols; The Harp
of Erin, poetical works of the late Thomas Dermody, 2 vols. (London:
R Phillips 1807), ed. James Grant Raymond. Bibl., Rafroidi cites titles
M. Ó Aodha, ‘The Child Poet from Clare,’ in Plays
and Places (1961); Padraic Colum ‘The Child of Sorrow’,
in The Dublin Magazine (Autumn 1965); Thomas Burke, Vagabond
Minstrel ... (1936) 345p. See also Irish Book Lover, 6.
COPAC (Manchester) lists James G. Raymond, ed., The Harp of Erin, Containing the Poetical Works of the late Thomas Dermody, 2 vols., (London: Richard Phillips 1807); Marmaduke Myrtle [pseud.,] The Histrionade: or, Theatric tribunal; a poem, descriptive of the principal performers at both houses, &c. (London: R. S. Kirby [et al.] 1802), 56pp.; Peace: A poem inscribed to the right honorable Henry Addington (London: J. Hatchard 1801), 19pp.; Poems, Consisting of Essays, Lyric, Elegiac, &c., by Thomas Dermody[,] written between the 13th and 16th year of his age (Dublin: J. Jones, 1792), 112pp.; Austin Gilbert [Guillimannus, Franciscus], ed., Poems (Dublin: Chambers 1789), 31pp.; Poems, Moral, and Descriptive (London: Vernor and Hood; Lackington, Allen, & Co. [J. Crowder printer] 1800), xi, [1], 112pp: ill., pls.; Poems on Various Subjects (London: printed for J. Hatchard [... et al.] 1802), xi,[1],206,[2]pp.; Poems, consisting of essays, lyric, elegiac, etc.; . Also incl. in Samuel Whyte, ed., Poems on Various Subjects, illustrated with notes, original letters and curious incidental anecdotes [...; 1st edn. 1792] (3rd. rev. edn. 1796); Poems, moral and descriptive; The histrionade; Poems on various subjects, intro. by Donald H. Reiman [rep. of 5 works, 1789-1802] (NY: Garland Publ. 1978); James Grant Raymond, The Life of Thomas Dermody (1806); John Carr, The stranger in Ireland, or, A tour in the southern and western parts of that country in the year 1805; to which is now first added an appendix, containing an account of Thomas Dermody, the Irish poet [Early American Imprints [microfilm], 2nd Ser., No. 12271] (NY: I. Riley & Co. 1807; rep. 1990); Thomas Ollive Mabbott, 2 articles on Dermody rep. from Notes and Queries (1939)
Booksellers, CATHACH BOOKS (Cat. 12) listed as The Life of T.D. with original poetry and correspondence with several Eminent Characters. by James Grant Raymond, 2 vols. London 1806). ERIC STEVENS (1992) lists The Harp of Erin, containing the poetical works of the late Thomas Dermody, Richard Phillips 1807 [1st ed.; the only collected ed.] 2vols, 8vo, xvi, 287, 310pp. (£95).
Ulster Libraries, BELFAST CENTRAL LIBRARY holds J. G. Raimond [sic], Life of Dermody, 2 vols. (1806).
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Princess Grace Irish Library (Monaco)