Nationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature (for instance, Irish or France).
Summer — In Nazi Germany, Wolfgang Willrich, a member of the SS, lampoons German expressionist poet Gottfried Benn in his book Säuberung des Kunsttempels; Heinrich Himmler, however, steps in to reprimand Willrich and defends Benn on the grounds of his pro-Nazi record since 1933 (his earlier artistic output being dismissed as irrelevant).
Iowa Writers' Workshop is founded by Paul Engle at the University of Iowa
George Hill Dillon becomes editor of Poetry Magazine, remaining in that post until 1949.
Poems of colonial American pastor Edward Taylor (d. 1729) are first discovered and published.
W. B. Yeats concludes his recordings of his own verse and his broadcast lectures on the BBC (begun in 1936).
Wilson MacDonald, Comber Cove. Toronto: S.J.R. Saunders.
E. J. Pratt, The Fable of the Goats and Other Poems, Toronto: Macmillan. Governor General's Award 1937.
Harindranath Chattopadhyaya, Strange Journey ( Poetry in English ), Madras: Shakti Karyalayam
P. R. Kaikini, This Civilization ( Poetry in English ), Bombay: New Book Co.
Iqbal Ali Shah, editor, The Coronation Book of Oriental Literature ( Poetry in English ), London: Sampson Low, Marston and Co., 404 pages; anthology; Indian poetry published in the United Kingdom
W. H. Auden, Spain
W. H. Auden and Louis MacNeice, Letters from Iceland, partly poetry
George Barker, Calamiterror
John Betjeman, Continual Dew: A little book of bourgeois verse, including "The Arrest of Oscar Wilde at the Cadogan Hotel"
Edmund Blunden, The Road to Oxiana
Walter de la Mare, This Year, Next Year, illustrations by Harold Jones, Faber
David Jones, In Parenthesis
Charles Madge, The Disappearing Castle
Edwin Muir, Journeys and Places
Enoch Powell, First Poems, Oxford: Blackwell
Isaac Rosenberg, Collected Works, foreword by Siegfried Sassoon; posthumously published
Iqbal Ali Shah, editor, The Coronation Book of Oriental Literature, London: Sampson Low, Marston and Co., 404 pages; anthology; Indian poetry in English, published in the United Kingdom
Stevie Smith, A Good Time Was Had By All
W. H. Auden, with Louis MacNeice, Letters from Iceland
R. P. Blackmur, From Jordan's Delight
Louise Bogan, the Sleeping Fury
Richard Eberhart, Reading the Spirit
Robert Hillyer, A Letter to Robert Frost and Others
Robinson Jeffers, Such Counsels You Gave to Me
Josephine Johnson, Year's End
Edna St. Vincent Millay, Conversation at Midnight
Ezra Pound, The Fifth Decad of Cantos
May Sarton, Encounter in April
Dr. Seuss, And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street, the author's first book; for children
Wallace Stevens, The Man with the Blue Guitar, and Other Poems, includes "The Man With the Blue Guitar," "A Thought Revolved," and "The Men That Are Falling", Knopf
Allen Tate, Selected Poems
Allen Curnow, Enemies: Poems 1934–36 (Caxton), New Zealand
Robin Hyde, Wednesday's Children, New Zealand
Seaforth Mackenzie, Our Earth, Sydney: Angus and Robertson; Australia
Hector de Saint-Denys Garneau, Regards et jeux dans l'espace
Jacques Audiberti, Race des hommes
Rene-Guy Cadou, Les Brancardiers de l'aube, the author's first book of poems, published when he was 17 years old
Pierre Jean Jouve, Matière celeste
Max Jacob, Morceaux choisis
Oscar Vladislas de Lubicz-Milosz, also known as O. V. de L. Milosz, Dix-sept Poèmes de Milosz
Henri Michaux, Plume, précédé de Lointain intérieur
Pierre Reverdy, Ferraille
Philippe Soupault, Poésies Complètes 1917–1973
Including all of the British colonies that later became India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal. Listed alphabetically by first name, regardless of surname:
Mallavarapu Visveswara Rao, Madukila, notable for its style, sentiments and various metrics
Rabindranath Tagore:
Khapchada, short, humorous and frivolous poems in the style of nursery rhymes
Chadar Chabi
Samar Sen, Kayekti Kabita, Indian, Bengali-language
Sudhindranath Dutta, Krandasi
Gangula Sayi Reddi, Kapu bidda, poems on the condition of farmers; Telugu
Gurram Jashuva, editor, Khanda Kavyamu or Jashuva Khandakavyalu, in seven volumes, published from this year to 1949; anthology of Telagu poetry
Peer Aziz Ullah Haqqani, Qissa-e-Mumtaz E Benazir, a large masnavi of Romantic mysticism; Telugu; posthumous
Srirangam arayanababu, Rudhirajyoti, Telugu
Vedula Satyanarayan Shastri, Dipavali, romantic lyrics, Telugu
Mehr Lal Soni Zia Fatehabadi Noor-e-Mashriq (The Light of the East) - Collection of nazms, geets and sonnets published by Jyoti Prasad Gupta, Jyoti Printing Works, Esplanade, Delhi in 1937.
Anupa Sharma, Siddharth, a Hindi epic in 18 chapters on the story of Gautama Buddha
D. R. Bendre, also known as Ambikatanaya Datta, Sakhigita, the title poem is autobiographical; Kannada
Devandas Kishinani, 'Purab Sandes, Indian, Sindhi-language
Ghulam Mohammad Hanafi, Jang-e Amir Hamza, a Jangnama, based on an episode in the movement to spread Islam; Kashmiri
Hijam Anganhal Simha, Singel Indu, a long narrative Manipuri poem
Manjewshwara Govinda Pai, Golgotha, long narrative poem on the final days of Jesus Christ, Kannada
Riddhinath Jha, Pravasi Mithiles, verses praising the Maharaja of Darbhanga; Maithili
Siyaramsharan Gupta, Bapu, on Gandhi and his ideology, Hindi
Xavier Abril, Descubrimiento del alba
José Santos Chocano, Poemas de amor doliente, Peru
Manuel Moreno Jimeno, Así bajaron los perros
Luis Fabio Xammar, Waino
Miguel Hernández, Viento del pueblo; Spain
Amir Hamzah, Nyanyi Sunyi, Dutch East Indies
Awards and honors
Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry: W. H. Auden
Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress (the post which was later called "Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress"): Joseph Auslander appointed this year (he would serve until 1941)
Fellowship of the Academy of American Poets: Edwin Markham
Governor General's Award, poetry or drama: The Fable of the Goats, E. J. Pratt
Death years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article:
January 1:
John Fuller, English poet and author
Dilwar Khan (died 2013), Bengali poet
April 10 – Bella Akhmadulina (died 2010), Russian poet
April 23 – Coleman Barks, American poet who, although he neither speaks nor reads Persian, is nonetheless renowned as a translator of Rumi and other mystic poets of Persia
April 30 – Tony Harrison, English poet and playwright
May 11 – Michael Heller, American poet
May 21 – Glen Sorestad, Canadian poet
June 8 – Gillian Clarke, native Welsh, English-language poet, playwright, editor, broadcaster, lecturer and translator (from Welsh)
June 10 – Susan Howe, American poet and critic closely associated with the Language poets
July 10 – Kurt Bartsch, German poet
July 29 – Eleanor Wilner, American poet and editor
August 3
Marvin Bell, American poet
Diane Wakoski, American poet associated with the "deep image" poets and the Beats
September 14 – Douglas Oliver (died 2000), British poet
October 11 – R. H. W. Dillard, American poet, author, critic and translator
November 4 – W. Dabney Stuart, American poet
November 9 – Roger McGough, British poet
November 11 – Alicia Ostriker, American poet and academic
November 19 – Meg Campbell (died 2007), New Zealand poet and wife of Alistair Campbell
December 1 – Eugene B. Redmond, African American poet
December 31 – Nicolas Born (died 1979), German poet
Also:
Parijat, पारिजात, Bishnu Kumari Waiba (died 1993), Nepalese novelist and poet
John Riley (died 1978), English poet associated with the British Poetry Revival
Death years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article:
March 8 – Albert Verwey (born 1865), Dutch poet
June 22 – Jean-Joseph Rabearivelo (born 1901?), Malagasy poet writing in French; suicide
July 18 – Julian Bell (born 1908), English poet, and a member of a family whose notable members include his parents, Clive and Vanessa Bell; his aunt, Virginia Woolf; his younger brother, writer Quentin Bell; and his half-sister, writer and painter Angelica Garnett; killed in the Spanish Civil War
September 8 – Anna Hempstead Branch (born 1875), American poet
October 22 – Chūya Nakahara 中原 中也 (born 1907), early Shōwa period Japanese poet (surname: Nakahara)
December 26 – Ivor Gurney (born 1890), English composer and poet; tuberculosis while suffering delusional insanity
December 29 – Don Marquis (born 1878), American poet, artist, newspaper columnist, humorist, playwright and author best known for creating the characters "Archy" and "Mehitabel"
August 11 – Edith Wharton (born 1862), American novelist, short story writer, designer and poet
Also – Constance Woodrow (born 1899), English-born Canadian poet
