Nationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature (for instance, Irish or France).
January 6 – Pablo Neruda speaks out in the Senate of Chile against political repression and is forced into hiding.Summer – Composer Richard Strauss sets three short poems by Hermann Hesse to music; they become part of his valedictory Four Last Songs, his final works before his death in 1949.September 17 – The remains of Irish poet W. B. Yeats (who died at Menton, France in 1939) are re-buried at Drumcliffe, County Sligo, "Under bare Ben Bulben's head", having been moved from the original burial place, Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, on Irish Naval Service corvette LÉ Macha. His grave at Drumcliffe, with an epitaph from "Under Ben Bulben", one of his final poems ("Cast a cold Eye / On Life, on Death. / Horseman, pass by"), becomes a place of literary pilgrimageSometime this year, Jack Kerouac introduces the phrase Beat Generation to describe his friends and as a general term describing the underground, anti-conformist youth gathering in New York at this time to the novelist John Clellon HolmesDi Goldene Keyt, an Israeli literary quarterly, is foundedThe Bollingen Prize is established by Paul Mellon, funded by a $10,000 grant from the Bollingen Foundation to the Library of Congress.Listed by nation where the work was first published and again by the poet's native land, if different; substantially revised works listed separately:
Earle Birney, The Strait of Anian. Toronto: Ryerson Press.Roy Daniels, Deeper into the ForestRobert Finch, The Strength of the HillsA. M. Klein, The Rocking Chair and Other Poems. Governor General's Award 1948.Irving Layton, Now Is The Place: Stories and Poems. Montreal: First Statement Press.Douglas Le Pan, The Wounded PrinceL. A. MacKay, The Ill-Tempered LoverA. J. M. Smith, editor, The Book of Canadian Poetry, anthology (see also editions of 1943, 1957)Arthur Stringer, New York Nocturnes. Toronto: Ryerson.Bimal Chandra Bose, Gandhi-Gita ( Poetry in English ), Calcutta: Thacker, Spink and Co.Gurdial Mallik, Hound of the Heart ( Poetry in English ), Bombay: Naranda PublicationsDilip Kumar Roy, Eyes of Light ( Poetry in English ), Bombay: Nalanda PublicationsNanikram Vasanmal Thadani, He Walked Alone ( Poetry in English ), Delhi: Bharat Publishing HouseRichard Aldington, Complete PoemsEdward Andrade, He Likens Her to a SoldierSir John Betjeman, Selected PoemsLilian Bowes Lyon, Collected PoemsLawrence Durrell, On Seeming to PresumeT. S. Eliot, Notes Towards the Definition of CultureD. J. Enright, Season TicketRobert Farren, The Course of Irish Verse in English, Irish criticismW. S. Graham, The Voyages of Alfred WallisRobert Graves, The White Goddess, a "historical grammar" of poetic myth and inspirationJohn Heath-Stubbs, The Swarming of the BeesA. Norman Jeffares, W.B. Yeats: Man And Poet, United Kingdom, biography, revised in 1978Louis MacNeice, Holes in the SkyNorman Nicholson, Rock FaceVernon Scannell, Graves and ResurrectionsSydney Goodsir Smith, Under the Eildon Tree: a poem in XXIV elegiesVernon Watkins, The Lady with the UnicornW. H. Auden, "In Praise of Limestone", a poem published in Horizon in July (written in May), later published in a collection in 1951 (native English poet living in the United States)John Berryman, The DispossessedRichard Ellmann, Yeats, The Man And The Mask, United States, biographyWilliam Everson, The Residual Years, New DirectionsLangston Hughes, One-Way Ticket, Alfred A. KnopfRandall Jarrell, LossesRobinson Jeffers, The Double Axe and Other Poems, largely critical of U.S. policy, the book came with an extremely unconventional note from Random House that the views expressed by Jeffers were not those of the publisher; several influential literary critics disapproved of the book, with particularly scathing pieces penned by Yvor Winters and Kenneth Rexroth, who had previously commented favorably on Jeffers' workArchibald MacLeish, Actfive and Other PoemsWilliam Meredith, Ships and Other FiguresEzra Pound:The Pisan CantosThe Cantos of Ezra PoundTheodore Roethke, The Lost Son and Other PoemsMuriel Rukeyser, The Green WaveMay Sarton, The Lion and the RoseWallace Stevens, A Primitive Like an Orb, Publisher: Gotham Book MartWinfield Townley Scott, Mr. WhittierMark Van Doren, New PoemsPeter Viereck, Terror and DecorumWilliam Carlos Williams:Paterson, Book IIClouds, Aigeltinger, RussiaJames K. Baxter, Blow, Wind of Fruitfulness, New ZealandV. N. Bhusan, The Far Ascent, Bombay: Padma Pub.; India, Indian poetry in EnglishCharles Brasch: Disputed Ground: Poems 1939-45, Christchurch: Caxton Press, New ZealandRobert Farren, The Course of Irish Verse in English, Irish criticism published in the United KingdomDerek Walcott, 25 PoemsListed by nation where the work was first published and again by the poet's native land, if different; substantially revised works listed separately:
Louis Aragon, Le Nouveau Creve-CoeurAndré Breton, PoemesAimé Césaire, Soleil cou coupé; Paris: KRené Char, Fureur et mysterePaul Éluard, Corps mémorableHenri Michaux, La Vie dans les plis ("Life in the Folds")Saint-John Perse, Anabase, revised edition (first edition 1924)Jacques Prévert, HistoiresFrancis Ponge, ProêmesRaymond Queneau:L'Instant fatalSaint-GlinglinGeorges Schéhadé, Hosties noiresIn each section, listed in alphabetical order by first name:
Sukanta Bhattacharya, Chharpatra, posthumousJibanananda Das, Satti Tarar TimurMangalacharan Chattopadhyay, Telangana-O-Anyanya KabitaPremendra Mitra, Pherari PhaujSubhas Mukhopadhyay, AgnikonGangadhara Chittala, Kalada Kare, lyrics on the theme of "time"M. Gopalakrishna Adiga, Kattuvevu, his first collection of lyricsS. G. Kulakarni, editor, Kannada kavya Bhandara, anthology of navodaya poets, including B. M. Shreekantayya, K. V. Puttappa, D. R. Bendre and D. V. GundappaAmrita Pritan, Lamian Vatan, Punjabi languageAnanta Patnaik, Tarpana Kare Aji, poems on Gandhi, OriyaAsi, pen name of Abdul Bari, Rubaiyati Asi, UrduBuddhidhari Singha, Amar Bapu, MaithiliHarivans Rai Bacchan, Sut Ki Mala, 111 eleven poems on Gandhi and his ideology, HindiKhumanthem Ibohal Singh, Nacome Lei ("Bouquet"), ManipuriMaheswar Neog, Sri Sri Sankaradeva, AssameseMahjoor, Vava Subahuki, a political poem on the indignation of Kashmiris at delays in the United Nations Security Council concerning pleas to counter Pakistan's actions regarding that area; KashmiriN. V. Krishna Varier, Ninta Kavitakal, long poems in MalayalamNayaya vijaya Muni, Visva Vibhuti Svargaroha, a poem on Gandhi's death, SanskritSumitranandan Pant, Visva Vibhuti Svargaroha, Hindi-language poems written in homage to Gandhi, Rabindranath Tagore and Sri AurobindoUpendranath Jha, Sannyasi, a Kanda Kavya in blank verse, MaithiliGarcía Baena, Mientras cantan los pájaros ("While Birds Sing"), SpainAimé Césaire,Soleil cou coupé, Martinique author published in FranceBohumil Hrabal, Ztracená ulička ("A Lost Alley"), CzechoslovakiaOlga Kirsch, Mure van die Hart, Afrikaans, South AfricaPaul la Cour, Fragmenter af en Dagbog ("Fragments of a Diary"), DenmarkAlexander Mezhirov, Kommunisty, vpered!, "Communists, Ahead!" poem reprinted in his second collection, New Encounters, and in many volumes, anthologies and samplers; Russia, Soviet UnionEugenio Montale, La fiera letteraria poetry criticism; ItalyNizar Qabbani, Childhood of a Breast, Syrian poet writing in ArabicOle Wivel, I Fiskens Tegn ("In the Sign of the Fish"), DenmarkAwards and honors
Nobel Prize in Literature: T. S. EliotConsultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress (later the post would be called "Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress"): Léonie Adams appointed this year.Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: W. H. Auden, The Age of AnxietyFellowship of the Academy of American Poets: Percy MacKayeCanada: Governor General's Award, poetry or drama: The Rocking Chair and Other Poems, A. M. Klein North Carolina Poet Laureate: Arthur Talmage Abernethy (the first one to hold the office)Years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article:
January 22 – Timothy Steele, American poet and academicJanuary 31 – Albert Goldbarth, American poetFebruary 16 – Jeff Guess, Australian poetMarch 5 – Leslie Marmon Silko, Native American writer, a figure in the "Native American Renaissance"March 28 – Iman Budhi Santosa, Indonesian writerApril 6 – Anna Couani, Australian poet and teacherMay 24 – Lorna Crozier, Canadian poetMay 29 – David Waltner-Toews, Canadian poet, writer and veterinary epidemiologistJune 11 – David Lehman, American poet and series editor for The Best American Poetry book seriesJune 29 – John Ash, English-born poet and writerJuly 7 – Stephen Ratcliffe, American poet and publisherAugust 1 – Frank Stanford (died 1978), American poetAugust 20 – Heather McHugh, American poetSeptember 9 – Sherod Santos, American poet and academicOctober 3 – Barrett Watten, American poetOctober 6 – Zakes Mda (Zanemvula Kizito Gatyeni Mda), South African novelist, poet and playwrightOctober 7 – Diane Ackerman, American author, poet and naturalistOctober 9 – Ciaran Carson, Northern Irish poet and novelistOctober 18 – Ntozake Shange (pronounced En-toe-ZAHK-kay SHONG-gay) née Paulette Williams, African American playwright, performance artist, writer and poetNovember 29 – George Szirtes, Hungarian-born English poet and translatorAlso:Ali Al Shargawi (علي الشرقاوي), Bahraini poetR. S. Gwynn, American poet and anthologist associated with New FormalismQassim Haddad, Bahraini free verse political poetBrian Henderson, Canadian poet and writerBob Holman, American poetLawrence Joseph, American poet, writer, essayist, critic, lawyer and law professorYitzhak Laor (יצחק לאור), Israeli poet, author and journalistDenise Riley, English poetYears link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article:
January 2 – Vicente Huidobro (born 1893), Chilean poetFebruary 1 – Jatindramohan Bagchi (born 1878), Bengali poetMay 22 – Claude McKay (born 1889), Jamaican-born American writer, humanist, Communist and part of the Harlem RenaissanceMarch 14 – Senge Motomaro 千家元麿 (born 1888), Taishō and Showa period Japanese poet (surname: Senge)June 17 – Changampuzha Krishna Pillai (born 1911), Indian, Malayalam-language poet and translatorAugust 25 – Gordon Bottomley (born 1874), English poet, known for his verse dramasAugust 31 – Andrei Zhdanov, 52 (born 1896), Soviet government official and persecutor of poets, writers and artists; until the late 1950s, Zhdanovism, defined cultural production in the Soviet Union; reducing permissible culture to a straightforward, scientific chart, where a given symbol corresponded to a simple moral value; Zhdanov and his associates further sought to eliminate foreign influence from Soviet art, proclaiming that "incorrect art" was an ideological diversionDecember 13 – Michael Roberts, 46 (born 1902), English poet, writer, critic and broadcaster and teacher 