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 pilgrimage
Sometime 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 Holmes
Di Goldene Keyt, an Israeli literary quarterly, is founded
The 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 Forest
Robert Finch, The Strength of the Hills
A. 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 Prince
L. A. MacKay, The Ill-Tempered Lover
A. 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 Publications
Dilip Kumar Roy, Eyes of Light ( Poetry in English ), Bombay: Nalanda Publications
Nanikram Vasanmal Thadani, He Walked Alone ( Poetry in English ), Delhi: Bharat Publishing House
Richard Aldington, Complete Poems
Edward Andrade, He Likens Her to a Soldier
Sir John Betjeman, Selected Poems
Lilian Bowes Lyon, Collected Poems
Lawrence Durrell, On Seeming to Presume
T. S. Eliot, Notes Towards the Definition of Culture
D. J. Enright, Season Ticket
Robert Farren, The Course of Irish Verse in English, Irish criticism
W. S. Graham, The Voyages of Alfred Wallis
Robert Graves, The White Goddess, a "historical grammar" of poetic myth and inspiration
John Heath-Stubbs, The Swarming of the Bees
A. Norman Jeffares, W.B. Yeats: Man And Poet, United Kingdom, biography, revised in 1978
Louis MacNeice, Holes in the Sky
Norman Nicholson, Rock Face
Vernon Scannell, Graves and Resurrections
Sydney Goodsir Smith, Under the Eildon Tree: a poem in XXIV elegies
Vernon Watkins, The Lady with the Unicorn
W. 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 Dispossessed
Richard Ellmann, Yeats, The Man And The Mask, United States, biography
William Everson, The Residual Years, New Directions
Langston Hughes, One-Way Ticket, Alfred A. Knopf
Randall Jarrell, Losses
Robinson 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' work
Archibald MacLeish, Actfive and Other Poems
William Meredith, Ships and Other Figures
Ezra Pound:
The Pisan Cantos
The Cantos of Ezra Pound
Theodore Roethke, The Lost Son and Other Poems
Muriel Rukeyser, The Green Wave
May Sarton, The Lion and the Rose
Wallace Stevens, A Primitive Like an Orb, Publisher: Gotham Book Mart
Winfield Townley Scott, Mr. Whittier
Mark Van Doren, New Poems
Peter Viereck, Terror and Decorum
William Carlos Williams:
Paterson, Book II
Clouds, Aigeltinger, Russia
James K. Baxter, Blow, Wind of Fruitfulness, New Zealand
V. N. Bhusan, The Far Ascent, Bombay: Padma Pub.; India, Indian poetry in English
Charles Brasch: Disputed Ground: Poems 1939-45, Christchurch: Caxton Press, New Zealand
Robert Farren, The Course of Irish Verse in English, Irish criticism published in the United Kingdom
Derek Walcott, 25 Poems
Listed 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-Coeur
André Breton, Poemes
Aimé Césaire, Soleil cou coupé; Paris: K
René Char, Fureur et mystere
Paul Éluard, Corps mémorable
Henri Michaux, La Vie dans les plis ("Life in the Folds")
Saint-John Perse, Anabase, revised edition (first edition 1924)
Jacques Prévert, Histoires
Francis Ponge, Proêmes
Raymond Queneau:
L'Instant fatal
Saint-Glinglin
Georges Schéhadé, Hosties noires
In each section, listed in alphabetical order by first name:
Sukanta Bhattacharya, Chharpatra, posthumous
Jibanananda Das, Satti Tarar Timur
Mangalacharan Chattopadhyay, Telangana-O-Anyanya Kabita
Premendra Mitra, Pherari Phauj
Subhas Mukhopadhyay, Agnikon
Gangadhara Chittala, Kalada Kare, lyrics on the theme of "time"
M. Gopalakrishna Adiga, Kattuvevu, his first collection of lyrics
S. G. Kulakarni, editor, Kannada kavya Bhandara, anthology of navodaya poets, including B. M. Shreekantayya, K. V. Puttappa, D. R. Bendre and D. V. Gundappa
Amrita Pritan, Lamian Vatan, Punjabi language
Ananta Patnaik, Tarpana Kare Aji, poems on Gandhi, Oriya
Asi, pen name of Abdul Bari, Rubaiyati Asi, Urdu
Buddhidhari Singha, Amar Bapu, Maithili
Harivans Rai Bacchan, Sut Ki Mala, 111 eleven poems on Gandhi and his ideology, Hindi
Khumanthem Ibohal Singh, Nacome Lei ("Bouquet"), Manipuri
Maheswar Neog, Sri Sri Sankaradeva, Assamese
Mahjoor, 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; Kashmiri
N. V. Krishna Varier, Ninta Kavitakal, long poems in Malayalam
Nayaya vijaya Muni, Visva Vibhuti Svargaroha, a poem on Gandhi's death, Sanskrit
Sumitranandan Pant, Visva Vibhuti Svargaroha, Hindi-language poems written in homage to Gandhi, Rabindranath Tagore and Sri Aurobindo
Upendranath Jha, Sannyasi, a Kanda Kavya in blank verse, Maithili
García Baena, Mientras cantan los pájaros ("While Birds Sing"), Spain
Aimé Césaire,Soleil cou coupé, Martinique author published in France
Bohumil Hrabal, Ztracená ulička ("A Lost Alley"), Czechoslovakia
Olga Kirsch, Mure van die Hart, Afrikaans, South Africa
Paul la Cour, Fragmenter af en Dagbog ("Fragments of a Diary"), Denmark
Alexander Mezhirov, Kommunisty, vpered!, "Communists, Ahead!" poem reprinted in his second collection, New Encounters, and in many volumes, anthologies and samplers; Russia, Soviet Union
Eugenio Montale, La fiera letteraria poetry criticism; Italy
Nizar Qabbani, Childhood of a Breast, Syrian poet writing in Arabic
Ole Wivel, I Fiskens Tegn ("In the Sign of the Fish"), Denmark
Awards and honors
Nobel Prize in Literature: T. S. Eliot
Consultant 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 Anxiety
Fellowship of the Academy of American Poets: Percy MacKaye
Canada: 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 academic
January 31 – Albert Goldbarth, American poet
February 16 – Jeff Guess, Australian poet
March 5 – Leslie Marmon Silko, Native American writer, a figure in the "Native American Renaissance"
March 28 – Iman Budhi Santosa, Indonesian writer
April 6 – Anna Couani, Australian poet and teacher
May 24 – Lorna Crozier, Canadian poet
May 29 – David Waltner-Toews, Canadian poet, writer and veterinary epidemiologist
June 11 – David Lehman, American poet and series editor for The Best American Poetry book series
June 29 – John Ash, English-born poet and writer
July 7 – Stephen Ratcliffe, American poet and publisher
August 1 – Frank Stanford (died 1978), American poet
August 20 – Heather McHugh, American poet
September 9 – Sherod Santos, American poet and academic
October 3 – Barrett Watten, American poet
October 6 – Zakes Mda (Zanemvula Kizito Gatyeni Mda), South African novelist, poet and playwright
October 7 – Diane Ackerman, American author, poet and naturalist
October 9 – Ciaran Carson, Northern Irish poet and novelist
October 18 – Ntozake Shange (pronounced En-toe-ZAHK-kay SHONG-gay) née Paulette Williams, African American playwright, performance artist, writer and poet
November 29 – George Szirtes, Hungarian-born English poet and translator
Also:
Ali Al Shargawi (علي الشرقاوي), Bahraini poet
R. S. Gwynn, American poet and anthologist associated with New Formalism
Qassim Haddad, Bahraini free verse political poet
Brian Henderson, Canadian poet and writer
Bob Holman, American poet
Lawrence Joseph, American poet, writer, essayist, critic, lawyer and law professor
Yitzhak Laor (יצחק לאור), Israeli poet, author and journalist
Denise Riley, English poet
Years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article:
January 2 – Vicente Huidobro (born 1893), Chilean poet
February 1 – Jatindramohan Bagchi (born 1878), Bengali poet
May 22 – Claude McKay (born 1889), Jamaican-born American writer, humanist, Communist and part of the Harlem Renaissance
March 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 translator
August 25 – Gordon Bottomley (born 1874), English poet, known for his verse dramas
August 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 diversion
December 13 – Michael Roberts, 46 (born 1902), English poet, writer, critic and broadcaster and teacher
