—Closing lines of "Easter, 1916" by W. B. Yeats
Nationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature (for instance, Irish or France).
MarchGuillaume Apollinaire (Wilhelm Apollinaris de Kostrowitzky) is wounded in the head by shell fragments while serving as a lieutenant in the French infantry on the Western Front (World War I).The first poems of English children's author Enid Blyton are published, in Nash's Magazine.March 10 – Sir Hubert Parry writes the choral setting of William Blake's poem "And did those feet in ancient time" (c.1804-08) which becomes known as "Jerusalem" (first performed 28 March at the Queen's Hall, London).April 24–30 – Easter Rising in Ireland: Members of the Irish Republican Brotherhood proclaim an Irish Republic and the Irish Volunteers and Irish Citizen Army occupy the General Post Office and other buildings in Dublin before surrendering to the British Army. Of the seven leaders of the Rising (subsequently executed), Thomas MacDonagh, Patrick Pearse and Joseph Plunkett are all poets and James Connolly a balladeer. The event is the theme of W. B. Yeats' poem "Easter, 1916", first published this September.July 1First day on the Somme: Poets W. N. Hodgson, Will Streets, Gilbert Waterhouse, Henry Field, Alfred Ratcliffe, Alexander Robertson and Bernard White are among the 19,000 British soldiers killed on this day alone. The Battle of the Somme continues until October 18, during which time American poet Alan Seeger (serving with the French), English poet Edward Wyndham Tennant and short story writer 'Saki' are killed, Robert Graves is seriously wounded (believed killed), Ford Madox Hueffer suffers concussion and shellshock and A. A. Milne is invalided out, Siegfried Sassoon wins the Military Cross and Cameron Highlander Dòmhnall Ruadh Chorùna composes the Scottish Gaelic love song An Eala Bhàn ("The White Swan") in the oral literature tradition. J. R. R. Tolkien serves as a communications officer.W. B. Yeats makes his fifth and final proposal of marriage to the newly widowed Maud Gonne in France.July 14 – At the first public soiree at the Cabaret Voltaire (Zürich) in Switzerland, Hugo Ball recites the first Dada manifesto (see text).August 17 – F. W. Harvey becomes a Prisoner of War.October 6 – By some accounts, the Dada movement in art, poetry and literature coalesces by this date at the cabaret, where Ball, Emmy Hennings, Tristan Tzara, Hans Arp, Richard Huelsenbeck, Sophie Täuber and others discuss art and put on performances expressing their disgust with World War I and the interests they believe inspired it.When Wallace Stevens' job as a lawyer for a New York City insurance company is abolished as a result of mergers, he joins the home office of Hartford Accident and Indemnity Company and moves to Hartford, where he will remain the rest of his life.Bliss Carman, April Airs: A Book of New England Lyrics, Boston: Small, Maynard and Co.; Canadian poet published in the United StatesThomas O'Hagan, Songs of Heroic Days, Toronto: McClelland, Goodchild and StewartMarjorie Pickthall, The Lamp of Poor Souls and Other Poems.Duncan Campbell Scott, Lundy's Lane and Other Poems, including "The Height of Land"Frederick George Scott, In the Battle Silences: Poems Written at the Front (Toronto: Musson)Robert W. Service, Rhymes of a Red Cross Man.Laurence Binyon, The Anvil, and Other PoemsEdmund Blunden, PastoralsMary Gabrielle Collins, Branches unto the SeaElizabeth Daryush, VersesW. H. Davies:Child Lovers, and Other PoemsCollected PoemsEleanor Farjeon, Nursery Rhymes of London TownRobert Graves, Over the BrazierThomas Hardy, Selected PoemsF. W. Harvey, A Gloucestershire Lad At Home and AbroadAldous Huxley, The Burning WheelD. H. Lawrence, AmoresJoseph Lee, Ballads of Battle, Scottish poetWinifred Mary Letts, Hallow-e'en and Poems of the War (including "The Spires of Oxford")Charlotte Mew, The Farmer's BrideJessie Pope, Simple Rhymes for Stirring TimesLady Margaret Sackville, The Pageant of WarDorothy L. Sayers, Op. 1Edith Sitwell and Osbert Sitwell, Twentieth Century Harlequinade, and Other PoemsThe first Wheels poetry anthology Wheels 1916 edited by the Sitwells.Cicily Fox Smith, Fighting MenCharles Hamilton Sorley, Marlborough and Other Poems (posthumous)Muriel Stuart, Christ at Carnival and Other PoemsRabindranath Tagore, Fruit Gathering, lyrics translated by the author into English from the original Bengali (Indian poetry in English)Edward Wyndham Tennant, Worple Flit and other poems (posthumous)Edward Thomas, Six Poems, his first published poetry (under the pen name 'Edward Eastaway')Aelfrida Tillyard, The Garden and the FireKatharine Tynan, The Holy WarGilbert Waterhouse, Rail-Head and other poems (posthumous)Evelyn Waugh, The World to Come: A Poem in Three Cantos (written at age 12; privately printed)Anna Wickham, The Man With A HammerAlfred Williams, War Sonnets and SongsW. B. Yeats, Irish poet published in the United Kingdom:"Easter, 1916"Responsibilities and Other PoemsReveries Over Childhood and YouthSome Imagist Poets second anthologyConrad Aiken:Turns and MoviesThe Jig of ForslinJames Branch Cabell, From the Hidden WayFlorence Earle Coates (1850–1927), Poems (collected edition in two volumes)J. W. Cunliffe, editor, Poems of the Great WarHilda Doolittle (also known as "H.D."), Sea GardenJohn Gould Fletcher, Goblins and PagodasRobert Frost, Mountain Interval, including "The Road Not Taken" and "Out, Out—"Edgar A. Guest, A Heap o' Livin'Robinson Jeffers, CaliforniansSarah Orne Jewett, Verses, published posthumously (died 1909)Alfred Kreymborg, MushroomsAmy Lowell, Men, Women and GhostsEdgar Lee Masters:Songs and SatiresThe Great ValleyEmanuel Morgan and Anne Knish, both pen names, Spectra: A Book of Poetic ExperimentsJames Oppenheim, War and LaughterJosephine Preston Peabody, Harvest MoonEzra Pound, LustraEdward Arlington Robinson, The Man Against the SkyCarl Sandburg, Chicago Poems, Holt, Rinehart and Winston; including "Chicago"Alan Seeger, PoemsC. J. Dennis, The Moods of Ginger Mick, AustraliaW. Walter Gill, Juan-y-Pherick’s Journey and Other Poems, Isle of ManN. C. Rai, An Indian Tale, a tale of rural life; Calcutta; India, Indian poetry in EnglishRabindranath Tagore, Fruit Gathering lyrics translated by the author into English from the original Bengali; India, Indian poetry in EnglishW. B. Yeats, Irish poet published in the United Kingdom:"Easter, 1916"Responsibilities and Other PoemsReveries Over Childhood and YouthJean Cocteau, Discours du Grand Sommeil, a poem written after experience as a Red Cross ambulance driver at the Belgian front in World War IFrancis Jammes, Cinq prières pour le temps de la guerre, Paris: Librairie de l'Art catholiquePierre Reverdy, La Lucarne ovaleIncluding all of the British colonies that later became India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal. Listed alphabetically by first name, regardless of surname:
B. Tirumal, Angala jarmani-yuddha vivaranam, Sanskrit-language epic poem on World War I (India)Kavikondala Venkata Rao, Vividha Kusumavali, Telugu-language (India), a collection of khandikasLalchand Amardinomal Jagatiani, Sunharo Sacal, Sindhi-language essays of criticism and biography on the life and work of Sachal Sarmast, a Sindhi poet (India)Lekhnath Ponday, Rtuvicar, Nepali-languageRabindranath Thakur, Balaka, Bengali-language (India)Rayaprolu Subba Rao, editor, Andhravali, a Telugu-language anthology (India)José María Eguren, La canción de las figuras, PeruAlbert Ehrenstein, Der Mensch schreit and Nicht da nicht dort, GermanyYvan Goll, Requiem pour les morts de l’Europe, German poet in Switzerland writing in FrenchJoseph Lenoir-Rolland, Poèmes épars, lyrics; French language; CanadaAntonio Machado, Campos de Castilla (revised edition), SpainVladimir Mayakovsky, The Backbone Flute (Fleyta pozvonochnik) and War and the World (Voina i mir), Russian1914–1916: Eine Anthologie, GermanyMartinus Nijhoff, De wandelaar, NetherlandsSergei Yesenin, Radunitsa (Радуница, "Ritual for the Dead"), his first book of poetry, RussianDeath years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article:
January 10 – William Buchan, 3rd Baron Tweedsmuir, also known as "William Tweedsmuir" (died 2008), an English peer and author of novels, short stories, memoirs and verseFebruary 1 – Venibhai Purohit (died 1980), Indian, Gujarati-languageFebruary 4 – Gavin Ewart (died 1995), EnglishFebruary 10 – Thomas Blackburn (died 1977), EnglishMarch 7 – Balmukund Dave (died 1993), Indian, Gujarati-language poetMarch 11 – Jack Clemo (died 1994), English poet of CornwallMay 9 – Helen Haenke (died 1978), Australian poet and playwrightJune 14 – John Ciardi (died 1986), American poet, translator and etymologistJune 15 – Hari Daryani, "Dilgir" (died 2004), Indian, Sindhi-language poetJuly 6 – Harold Norse (died 2009), American poet and memoirist; writes seminal memoir of the Beat poets in ParisAugust 1 – Val Vallis (died 2009), AustralianAugust 29 – Rhydwen Williams (died 1997), Welsh poet, novelist and minister of religionSeptember 8 – Philip O'Connor (died 1998), English writer and surrealist poetSeptember 13 – John Malcolm Brinnin (died 1998), American poet and literary criticSeptember 24 – W. J. Gruffydd (Elerydd) (died 2011), WelshSeptember 25 – Paul Roche (died 2007), English poet, translator and academic associated with the Bloomsbury GroupOctober 10 – Samar Sen, সমর সেন (died 1987), Bengali poet and journalistOctober 16 – David Gascoyne (died 2001), English author and poetNovember 23 – P. K. Page (died 2010), CanadianDecember 14 – Harold Stewart (died 1995), AustralianDecember 21 – Maurice Chappaz (died 2009), Swiss, French-language poet, travel writer, translator and authorAlso:Ghulam Nabi Aziz (died 1965), Indian, Kashmiri-language poet, nephew of Abdul Ahad AzadJnanindra Barma (died 1990), Indian, Oriya-language poetGhulam Nabi Dilsoz (died 1941), Indian, Kashmiri-language poetMargaret Irvin, AustralianSheikh Davud Kavi, Indian, Telugu-language poet, scholar and translatorSankeevani Marathi, Indian, Marathi-languageDina Nath Kaul Nadim (died 1987), Indian, Kashmiri-language poetFelix Paul Noronha, Indian, Marathi-language poet in the Konkani dialectLal Chand Prarthi (died 1982), Indian, Dogri-language Pahadi poet and editorTom Rawling (died 1996), English poet and anglerPinakin Thakore, Indian, Gujarati-language poetPritam Singh Safir (died 1999), Indian, Punjabi-language poetRaghunath Vishnu Pandit (died 1990), Indian, Konkani language poet also writing in Marathi, modernist poet, novelist, short-story writer and essayistTakis Varvitsiotis (died 2011), Greek poetNote "Killed in World War I" subsection, below. Birth years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article:
February 7 – William Little (born 1839), English-born AustralianFebruary 12 – John Townsend Trowbridge (born 1827), American poet and authorMarch 11 – Duncan MacGregor Crerar (born 1836), ScottishApril 26 – Mário de Sá-Carneiro (born 1890), Portuguese-born poet and novelist, suicideJuly 1? – Arabella Eugenia Smith (born 1844), AmericanAugust 27 – Petar Kočić (born 1877), Bosnian SerbOctober 7 – James Whitcomb Riley (born 1849), AmericanOctober 21 – Olindo Guerrini (born 1845), ItalianOctober 25 – John Todhunter (born 1839), Irish poet and playwrightNovember 27 – Emile Verhaeren (born 1855), Belgian French language Symbolist poetDecember 9 – Natsume Sōseki 夏目 漱石 (commonly referred to as "Sōseki"), pen name of Natsume Kinnosuke 夏目金之助 (born 1867), Japanese Meiji Era novelist, haiku poet, composer of Chinese-style poetry, writer of fairy tales and a scholar of English literature; from 1984–2004, his portrait will feature on the 1000 yen noteAlso:Sacchindananda Tribhuban Deb (born 1872), Indian Oriya-language poet, patron of Oriya literature and ruler of Bamanda, a feudal state in Sambalpur DistrictAsad Pare, Indian, Kashmiri-language, SufiJanuary 24 – H. Rex Freston (born 1891), English poetJanuary 27 – C. Morton Horne (born 1885), Irish-born musical comedy performer, writer and war poetMay 31 – Gorch Fock (born 1880), German poet and novelistJuly 1 – First day on the Somme:W. N. Hodgson (born 1893), English war poetWill Streets (born 1886), English war poetGilbert Waterhouse (born 1883), English architect and war poet, second lieutenant in 2nd Bn Essex RegimentJuly 4 – Alan Seeger (born 1888), American poet who joined the French Foreign Legion in 1914 and died in battle, cheering on his fellow soldiers after being hit; uncle of American folk singer Pete SeegerSeptember 9 – Tom Kettle (born 1880), Irish writer and politicianSeptember 22 – Edward Wyndham Tennant (born 1897), English war poetNovember 14 – H. H. Munro ("Saki"; born 1870), English poet, short story writer, novelist and playwrightDecember 3 – Geoffrey Bache Smith (born 1894), English poetAwards and honors
Nobel Prize for Literature: Carl Gustaf Verner von Heidenstam, Swedish poet and novelist 