James Wills

James Wills ( born January 1, 1790 in Willsgrove County Roscommon, † November 1868 in Attanagh, County Laois ) was an Irish poet, writer and biographer. His main work is the Compendium of Irish Biography.

Life

James Wills was the younger son of a landowner from County Roscommon in Ireland. He attended from 1809 Trinity College in Dublin and studied law at the Middle Temple in London. On behalf of the Church, but without pastoral job ( sinecure ), Wills was sent in 1849 in the town Kilmacow, near Waterford. His literary career began with contributions to Blackwood 's Magazine, and other periodicals. From 1822 to 1838 Wills lived in Dublin and worked as an editor and author for the Dublin University Magazine, also for the Dublin Penny Journal. He also supported the Reverend Caesar Otway build the Irish Quarterly Review. As a poet, he published in 1831 The Disembodied and other Poems, a collection of poems, as a theologian in 1835, The Philosophy of Unbelief, with whom he attracted much attention. He proved his skills in the field of metaphysical analysis with the Spontaneous Association of Ideas, the Wills at the Royal Irish Academy was reading. His last publication was The Idolatress (1868 ). All his works show a strong personality. His poems are lively and show dramatic qualities, a talent which he passed on to his son William apparently Gorman Wills (1828-1891), who was a noted painter and playwright. Wills died at the age of 78 years in November 1868 in Attanagh and was buried at the local cemetery.

Main work

James Wills important work is a compendium of 513 Irish biographies, Lives of Illustrious and Distinguished Irishmen. It was published from 1839 to 1845 in twelve parts and six volumes and is still of fundamental importance. Beginning in the period before the Christianization of Ireland with Ollamh Fodla delivers this work in chronological order, a picture of life, the deeds or the literary work by anyone who may be called due to his birth, his CV or circumstances other than Irish. The biographies are assigned to categories, depending on whether the person called a political, a church, a literary or a scientific career as their own. These categories are in turn assigned its historical epochs, each epoch is preceded by an analytical introduction.

Works

• The Disembodied (1831 )
• The Philosophy of Unbelief (1835 )
• Moral and Religious Epistles (1848 )
• Lives of Illustrious and Distinguished Irishmen ( 6 volumes, 1839-1845 )
• The Idolatress (1868 )