Nationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature (for instance, Irish or France).
January – English literary magazine Horizon is first published in London by Cyril Connolly, Peter Watson and Stephen Spender
July 26 – Release of the movie adaptation of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice with English poet and writer Aldous Huxley as a screenwriter
English poet Basil Bunting joins the Royal Air Force and is eventually sent to Iran as an intelligence officer and translator
American poet Louis Zukofsky finishes the first half of A
Listed by nation where the work was first published and again by the poet's native land, if different; works listed again if substantially revised:
Mohendra Nath Dutt, Kurukshetra ( Poetry in English ), an epic; Calcutta: P. M. Mukherji
P. R. Kaikini, The Recruit ( Poetry in English ), Bombay: New Book Co.
Manjeri Sundaraman, Catguts ( Poetry in English ), Madras: Hurley Press
A. M. Klein, Hath Not a Jew.
E. J. Pratt, Brebeuf and his Brethren, Toronto: Macmillan, 1940. Detroit: Basilian Press, 1942. Governor General's Award 1940.
W. H. Auden English poet living at this time in the United States:
Another Time, including "September 1, 1939"
Some Poems
John Betjeman, Old Lights for New Chancels
R. N. Currey, Tiresias
Cecil Day-Lewis:
translation, The Georgics of Virgil (see also his translations of The Aeneid of Virgil 1952 and The Eclogues of Virgil 1963)
Poems in Wartime
T. S. Eliot:
The Waste Land, and Other Poems, The Waste Land first published in 1923
East Coker, published in The New English Weekly, Easter Number; published in book form in June; republished in Four Quartets 1944
William Empson, The Gathering Storm
Roy Fuller, Poems
Robert Garioch, pen name of Robert Garioch Sutherland and Sorley MacLean, also known as Somhairle MacGill-Eain, 17 Poems for 6d. in Gaelic, Lowland Scots and English
Rayner Heppenstall, Blind Men's Flowers are Green
Hugh MacDiarmid, editor, The Golden Treasury of Scottish Poetry
Louis MacNeice, The Last Ditch, including "The Coming of War" sequence, Northern Ireland poet published in Ireland
Alice Meynell (died 1922), The Poems of Alice Meynell, complete edition
R. F. Patterson, Mein Rant: a summary in light verse of "Mein Kampf"
William Plomer, Selected Poems
Stephen Spender, Selected Poems
Dylan Thomas, Portrait of the Artist as a Young Dog
Henry Treece, 38 Poems
W. B. Yeats, Last Poems and Plays, published posthumously
Conrad Aiken, And in the Human Heart
W. H. Auden English poet living at this time in the United States:
Another Time, including the famous "September 1, 1939"
Some Poems
Leonard Bacon, Sunderland Capture
Stephen Vincent Benét, Nightmare at Noon
Witter Bynner, Against the Cold
John Ciardi, Homeward to America
E. E. Cummings, 50 Poems
Richard Eberhart, Song and Idea
Kenneth Fearing, Collected Poems
Robert Hayden, Heart-Shape in the Dust
Phyllis McGinley, A Pocketful of Wry
Edna St. Vincent Millay, Make Bright the Arrows
Ogden Nash, The Face is Familiar
Ezra Pound, Cantos LII–LXXI
Frederic Prokosch, Death at Sea
Kenneth Rexroth, In What Hour
Elizabeth Madox Roberts, Song in the Meadow
E. H. McCormick, Letters and Art in New Zealand, scholarship
Ewart Milne, Letter from Ireland, Irish poet published in Ireland
Listed by nation where the work was first published and again by the poet's native land, if different; works listed again if substantially revised:
Louis Aragon, Le Crève-cœur
Paul Éluard, pen name of Eugène Grindel, Le Livre ouvert, published from this year to 1941; France
Pierre Reverdy, Plein Verre, France
Odysseus Elytis's first book, Orientations
Giorgos Seferis:
Τετράδιο Γυμνασμάτων ("Exercise Book")
Ημερολόγιο Καταστρώματος Ι ("Deck Diary I")
Including all of the British colonies that later became India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal. Listed alphabetically by first name, regardless of surname:
Premendra Mitra, Samrat
Rabindranath Tagore:
Nabajatak, with themes and images from urban and industrial life (such as radios, railways and airplanes), a sharp contrast to the rural and natural themes of traditional Bengali poetry
Rogsayyay, written during his illness and with many images of sickness and worry, but without despondancy (see also Arogya 1941, called a "companion volume" with a contrasting mood)
Sanai, poems with a nostalgic tone
Chelebela, autobiography concerning the author's childhood
Samar Sen, Grahan o Anyana Kabita, Indian, Bengali-language
Subhash Mukhopadhyay, Padatik, poems reflecting Marxist ideology and politics in general, with a combination of lyricism and sloganeering; the consonance and speech-like rhythm of these poems became popular and influential in Bengali poetry
V. K. Gokak, also known as "Vinayaka", Samudra Gitagalu, poems about the potency and loveliness of the sea; the poems experiment with new diction and meters, including free verse
Narendra Sharma, Palas Van, mostly sensuous poems of love and beauty
Ramadhari Singh Dinakar, Rasavanti
Ayodhya Singh Upadhyay, also known as "Hariandha", Vaidehi Vanavas, based on Sita's exile
B. R. Bendre, also known as Ambikatanaya Datta, Sahitya Samsodhana, literary criticism on some older works of Kannada literature
Muliya Timmappayya, Navanita Ramayana, the Ramayana in ragale meter
S. V. Parameshwara Bhatt, Ragini, 28 love poems
Muhiuddin Qadri Zor, Ruh-i tanqid, introduction to principles of Western literary criticism
Nasiruddin Hashmi, Khavatin-i Dakan Ki Urdu Khidmat, literary history on women Urdu writers from Deccan
Syed Mohammad Hasnain, Jauhar-i-Iqbal, literary criticism in Urdu on the poetry of Sir Muhammad Iqbal's Urdu poetry
Ahad Zargar, Tarana-e-Ahad Zargar, Sufistic ghazals and vatsans; Kashmiri
Dimbeshwar Neog, Asamiya Sahityar Buranjit Bhumuki, a comprehensive review of early Assamese literature; criticism
K. V. Jaganathan, Tamilkkavyankal, literary history of Tamil epics, compared to the traditions of Sanskrit poetry and world literature
Kavi Nhanalal, Kuruksetra, final part of a 12-canto, Gujarati epic about the war of the Mahabharat, written in poetic prose, interspersed with songs (first canto published 1926)
Maiyilai Seeni Venkataswamy, Pauttamum Tamilum, literary history on the influence of Buddhism on Tamil culture and literature
N. M. Sant and Indira Sant, a poet and couple publishing together; N. M. Sant's poems show influences from Madhav Julian, Indira Sant's reflect folklore; Marathi
Prahlad Parekh, Bari Bahar, called a "milestone in the history of Gujarati poetry of the post-Gandhian era" by Indian academic Siser Kumar Das
Sankarambadi Sundarachari, Ma Telugu talliki malle pudanda, popular "prayer song" in Andhra, originally written for a film that was never completed, a record of the song was published, and its popularity led the government of Andhra Pradesh to declare it a prayer song to be sung along with Vandemataram
Gerardo Diego, Angeles de Compostela ("Angels of Compostela"), 42 sonnets on diverse topics; Spain
Federico García Lorca, Poeta en Nueva York ("A Poet in New York") published posthumously this year (written in 1930;first translation into English in 1988)
Dionisio Ridruejo, Poesía en armas ("Poetry in Arms"); Spain
César Vallejo, España, aparta de mí este cáliz ("Spain, Take This Cup from Me"), Peruvian poet posthumously published (he died in 1938) in Mexico after the first attempt at publication was interrupted during the Spanish Civil War and all copies were lost. That edition was printed by soldiers of the Army of the East, on paper they themselves had made.
José Varallanos, Elegia en el mundo, Peruvian
Awards and honors
Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: Mark Van Doren: Collected Poems
King's Gold Medal for Poetry: Michael Thwaites
Governor General's Award, poetry or drama: Brébeuf and his Brethren, E. J. Pratt
Death years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article:
January 30 – Sterling D. Plumpp, African-American
April 16 – Rolf Dieter Brinkmann (died 1975), German
April 25 – Peter Wild (died 2009), American poet and historian, professor at the University of Arizona in Tucson
May 7 – Angela Carter, née Stalker (died 1992), English novelist and poet
May 24 – Joseph Brodsky, born Iosif Aleksandrovich Brodsky (died 1996), Russian-born American poet and essayist, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature (1987) and Poet Laureate of the United States (1991–1992)
June 13 – David Budbill (died 2016), American poet and playwright
September 2 – Harry Northup, American poet and actor
September 8 – Jack Prelutsky, American poet noted for children's poems
September 10 – John Curl, American poet, memoirist, translator, author, activist and historian
October 15 – Fanny Howe, American poet, novelist and short story writer and recipient of the 2009 Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize
October 20 – Robert Pinsky, American poet and Poet Laureate of the United States (1997–2000)
November 1 – William Heyen, American poet, editor and literary critic
November 5 – Dmitri Prigov (died 2007), Russian poet
November 19 – Peter Cooley, American poet and academic
December 14 – Carolyn Rodgers (died 2010), American poet, leading participant of the Black Arts Movement of the 1960s and 1970s and founder of one of the country's oldest and largest black-owned book publishers
Also:
Martha Collins, American
Amal Abul-Qassem Donqol (died 1983), Egyptian Arabic poet
Michael Jackson, New Zealand anthropologist and poet
Paul Mariani, American poet and academic
Pattiann Rogers, American
Andrew Waterman, English poet and academic
Birth years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article:
January 5 – Humbert Wolfe (born 1885), British poet and epigrammist
March 4 – Hamlin Garland (born 1860), American novelist, poet, essayist and short story writer
March 7 – Edwin Markham (born 1852), American poet
March 23 – Minakami Takitarō 水上滝太郎 pen name of Abe Shōzō (born 1887), Shōwa period Japanese poet, novelist, literary critic and essayist (surname: Minakami)
August 21 – Ernest Thayer (born 1863), American writer and poet who wrote "Casey at the Bat"
September 26 – W. H. Davies (born 1871), Welsh-born poet and writer who spent most of his life as a tramp in the United States and United Kingdom, but became known as one of the most popular poets of his time
October 11 – Taneda Santōka 種田 山頭火 pen name of Taneda Shōichi 種田 正 (born 1882), Japanese author and haiku poet (surname: Taneda)
Ella Higginson (born 1861), American poet
