Richard Barakat ’81

Recalling his year as a Junior Year Abroad student at Trinity College, Dublin, in 1979–80, Richard Barakat notes that, “although Vassar was the superior school, immersing myself in the vibrant life of this great literary capital enriched my studies as an English major and I returned to Vassar with a deeper understanding of the historical, cultural, and linguistic foundations of modern literature, in particular modern poetry, which was my field of study, and the works of Yeats, Eliot, and Pound, which were my special interest.”

Thus it is no wonder that Richard writes “I chose to pursue my literary vocation in Europe rather than in America because I was inspired by European Classicism and the example of Eliot and Pound. I chose to live in Ireland because of my love for it and the esteem in which writers are held here, and its continuing importance as a leader in literature and scholarship.”

Richard has played a part in this continuing leadership, publishing four books of poetry, Anno Domini, Olympiad, Lovers, and The Heroic Age and teaching 17th and 18th-century poetry at Trinity for several years before moving into IT (information technology), another kind of poetry wherein he works at present.