Nationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature (for instance, Irish or France).
August 18 - English poet and artist William Blake marries Catherine Boucher at St Mary's Church, Battersea. In the same year, he meets his future patron, John Flaxman.
William Cowper
The Diverting History of John Gilpin, published anonymously in the Public Advertiser on November 14 (published with The Task 1785)
Verses Supposed to be Written by Alexander Selkirk
Poems (see also Poems 1815)
John Freeth, Modern Songs, on Various Subjects
William Hayley, An Essay on Epic Poetry in Five Epistles to Mason
William Mason:
An Archaeological Epistle to Jeremiah Milles ... Editor of a Superb Edition of the Poems of Thomas Rowley, attributed to Mason; written in the Rowleian dialect (see Thomas Chatterton's Poems, Supposed to Have Been Written ... by Thomas Rowley 1777)
King Stephen's Watch
Hannah More, Sacred Dramas, Chiefly intended for Young Persons, published anonymously, went through 24 editions by 1829
Edward Rushton, The Dismember'd Empire, published anonymously; attribution uncertain
John Scott, The Poetical Works of John Scott
John Walters, Translated Specimens of Welsh Poetry
Joseph Warton, Essay on the Genius and Writings of Pope, Volume 2 (Volume 1 published in 1756), criticism
Helen Maria Williams, Edwin and Eltruda
John Wolcot writing under the pen name "Peter Pindar", Lyric Odes, to the Royal Academicians (see also More Lyric Odes 1783)
Jacques Delille, Les Jardins ("The Gardens"), France
John Trumbull, M'Fingal: A Modern Epic Poem in Four Cantos, a satirical poem about American Tories during the American Revolution, is published in completed form (first two cantos published in 1778), United States
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Die Fischerin (Singspiel, including "Der Erlkönig"), Germany
Death years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article:
January 30 - Ann Taylor (died 1866), English poet and literary critic
September 19 - Richard Lower (died 1865), English dialect poet
Irayimman Thampi (died 1856), Indian Carnatic music composer and poet
Birth years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article:
April 12 - Metastasio (born 1698), Italian poet and librettist
August 27 - Henriette Louise von Hayn (born 1724), German hymn writer
