Links to nations or nationalities point to articles with information on that nation's poetry or literature. For example, United Kingdom links to English poetry and Indian links to Indian poetry.
January 19 - Starting this year, and continuing to at least 2009, an anonymous black-clad person, who enters popular lore as the Poe Toaster, appears in Baltimore at the Westminster Hall and Burying Ground tomb of American poet Edgar Allan Poe early on the morning of Poe's birthday. The man toasts Poe with Cognac and leaves three red roses at the grave (along with the remainder of the Cognac).February 19 - Ezra Pound is awarded the first Bollingen Prize in poetry by the Bollingen Foundation and Yale University provoking a storm of criticism because of his pro-Fascist activities before and during World War II.March - Pablo Neruda flees Chile over the Lilpela Pass through the Andes to Argentina on horseback carrying a manuscript of his Canto General.April 14 - Roy Campbell punches Stephen Spender on the nose at a poetry reading in London.Indonesian poet Chairil Anwar writes his last poem, "Cemara Menderai Sampai Jauh" ("Fir Trees Are Sown Off Into the Distance"), prior to his death aged 26 on April 28.Greek Communist poet Yannis Ritsos, incarcerated during the Communist–centrist/rightist struggle in the Greek Civil War, writes poems which will ultimately see publication twenty-six years later, in the 1975 book, Petrinos khronos.George Hill Dillon, editor of the journal Poetry since 1937, relinquishes his post.First issue of Caribbean Quarterly, the flagship journal on culture edited at the University of the West Indies, spotlights Caribbean poetry.Listed by nation where the work was first published and again by the poet's native land, if different; substantially revised works listed separately:
Raymond Knister, Collected Poems ed. Dorothy Livesay.James Reaney, The Red Heart. Governor General's Award 1949.Sri Aurobindo, Chitrangada ( Poetry in English ), Bombay: Sri Aurobindo Circle,New Zealand
Allen Curnow:The Axe, a verse play with a Pacific setting (Caxton)At Dead Low Water and Sonnets (Caxton)Basil Dowling, CanterburyDannie Abse, After Every Green ThingEdward Andrade, Poems and SongsRoy Campbell, Collected Poems, Volume 1 (Volume 2 1957, Volume 3 (consisting of translations) 1960)C. Day-Lewis, Collected Poems, published in March, although the book states "1948" (see also Collected Poems 1954)William Empson, Collected Poems of William EmpsonRoy Fuller, Epitaphs and OccasionsRobert Garioch Sutherland, writing under the name "Robert Garioch", Chuckles on the CairnW. S. Graham, The White ThresholdGeoffrey Grigson, editor, Poetry of the Present, anthologyChristopher Hassall, The Slow Night, and Other Poems 1940–8James Kirkup, editor, Leeds University Poetry, including work by Kirkup, Wilfred Rowland Childe, Derrick Metcalfe, and Kenneth Muir (Hull: Lotus Press)Louis MacNeice, Collected Poems 1925–48Edwin Muir, The LabyrinthKathleen Raine, The Pythoness, and Other PoemsJames Reeves, The Imprisoned SeaEdith Sitwell, The Canticle of the Rose: Poems 1917–1949Stephen Spender, The Edge of BeingW. B. Yeats (d. 1939), Poems, "The Definitive Edition", Irish poet published in the United KingdomConrad Aiken:The Divine PilgrimSkylight OneJoseph Payne Brennan, Heart of Earth (Decker Press)Gwendolyn Brooks, Annie AllenJohn Ciardi, Live Another DayHilda Doolittle, writing under the pen name "H. D.", By Avon RiverKenneth Fearing, Stranger at Coney IslandRobert Frost, Complete PoemsLangston Hughes, One-Way TicketKenneth Patchen:Red Wine & Yellow HairTo Say If You Love SomeoneEzra Pound, Selected PoemsKenneth Rexroth:The Signature of All ThingsThe Art of Worldly Wisdom", Prairie City, Illinois: Decker PressLouis Simpson, The ArrivistesDonald A. Stauffer, The Golden Nightingale: Essays on Some Principles of Poetry in the Lyrics of William Butler Yeats, New York: Macmillan, United States criticismPeter Viereck, The Poet in the Machine AgeWilliam Carlos Williams:Paterson, Book IIISelected PoemsJudith Wright, Woman to Man, AustralianW. B. Yeats (d. 1939), Poems, "The Definitive Edition", Irish poet published in the United KingdomAimé Césaire, Corps perduPaul Éluard, pen name of Paul-Eugène Grindel, ''Une leçon de moraleEugene Guilleveic, GagnerPierre Jean Jouve, DiadèmeHenri Michaux, Poesie pour pouvoir, Paris: DrouinPierre Reverdy, Main d'oeuvre: 1913–1949Claude Roy, Le Poète mineurJules Supervielle, Oublieuse MémoireTristan Tzara, pen name of Sami Rosenstock, PhasesIn each section, listed in alphabetical order by first name:
C. V. Karandikar, also known as Vinda Karandikar, Svedaganga, India, Marathi-languageManmohan, Yugayugance Sahapravasi, Indian, Marathi-language (later translated into Hindi under the title Marsal ki Salami)K. B. Nikumb, Ujjvala, Indian, Marathi-languageSarachchandra Muktibodh, Navi Malavat Indian, Marathi-languageShrikrishna Powale, Jala Mati, Indian, Marathi-languageChittadhar Hridaya, Sugata Saurabha, a Buddhist epic, written in Nepal Bhasa, mostly in prison 1941-46, published in IndiaMasood Husain, Urdu zaban aur adab, a history, written in Urdu of that language and its literatureNilakantha Shastri, translator, Sri Rama Carita, translation into Sanskrit of the Tamil-language Kamba RamayanaPritam Singh Safir, Rakt Bundam, Indian, Punjabi-languageS. Lalita, translator, Valarmati, translation into Tamil from the Indian poetry in English of Rabindranath Tagore's The Crescent MoonSitaramaiah Kuruganti, Navyandhra Sahitya Vidhulu, a four-volume history in Telugu of that language's literatureUmar Alisha, translator, Umar Khayyam, translation into Telugu from the Persian of Omar Khayyam's RubaiyatsListed by nation where the work was first published and again by the poet's native land, if different; substantially revised works listed separately:
Alfonso Calderón, Primer Consejo a los Arcangeles del Viento ("First Advice to the Archangels of the Wind"), Spanish-language, ChileHaim Gouri, Pirhei Esh ("Flowers of Fire, Years of Fire"), Israeli writing in HebrewEric Knudsen, Blomsten og sværdet ("The Flower and the Sword"), DenmarkAlexander Mezhirov, Новые встречи ("New Encounters"), including "Communists, Ahead!", RussiaMáirtín Ó Direáin, Rogha Dánta, Irish poet writing in IrishCarlos de Oliveira, Descida aos InfernosNizar Qabbani, Samba, Syrian poet writing in ArabicAwards and honors
Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress (later the post would be called "Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress"): Elizabeth Bishop appointed this year.Pulitzer Prize for poetry: Peter Viereck, Terror and DecorumBollingen Prize: Ezra PoundCanada: Governor General's Award, poetry or drama: The Red Heart, James Reaney Death years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article:
January 6 – Carolyn D. Wright, writing as C. D. Wright, American poetJanuary 25 – Tom Paulin, Northern Irish poet and critic of film, music and literatureJanuary 27 – Bruce Weigl, American poet and academicFebruary – Agha Shahid Ali (died 2001), Indian-born English-language poetFebruary 6Victor Hernández Cruz, Puerto Rico-born American poetEliot Weinberger, American essayist and principal translator of Octavio Paz into EnglishMarch 14 – Lynn Emanuel, American poetApril 1 – Gil Scott-Heron (died 2011), African-American poet, jazz/soul musician and authorApril 13 – Marilyn Bowering, Canadian poet and novelistApril 25 – James Fenton, English journalist, poet, critic and academicMay 6 – Olga Broumas, Greek-born English-language poet in the United StatesMay 13 – Christopher Reid, Hong Kong-born English poet, essayist, cartoonist, writer and exponent of Martian poetryJune 21:John Agard, playwright, poet and children's writer from Guyana, who moves to England in 1977Jane Urquhart, Canadian poet and authorJuly 1 – Denis Johnson, American writerJuly 5 – Pier Giorgio di Cicco, Italian-Canadian poetAugust 1 – Jim Carroll (died 2009), American poet, author and punk musicianAugust 2 – Bei Dao (北島, literally "Northern Island"), pseudonym of Zhao Zhenkai, Chinese poet, the most notable representative of the Misty Poets, a group of Chinese poets who will react against the restrictions of the Cultural RevolutionAugust 6 – Mary di Michele, Italian-born Canadian poet and writerNovember 21 – Liam Rector (died 2007), American poet, essayist and academicAlso:David Bottoms, American poetCathy Smith Bowers, American poet and teacher; North Carolina Poet Laureate, 2010–2012Alice Major, Scottish-born Canadian poetBarbara Ras, American poetDavid St. John, American poet and academicBirth years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article:
March 2 – Sarojini Naidu (born 1879), Indian writing Indian poetry in EnglishApril 28 – Chairil Anwar (born 1922), Indonesian poetMay 5 – Hideo Nagata 長田秀雄 (born 1885), Showa period Japanese poet, playwright and screenwriter (surname: Nagata)May 6 – Maurice Maeterlinck, Belgian poet, playwright and Nobel LaureateJune 15 – Ulloor S. Parameswara Iyer, also known simply as "Ulloor" (born 1877), Indian, Malayalam-language poet, scholar and government official who published a five-volume history of Malayalam literatureJuly 18 – Alice Corbin Henderson (born 1881), American poetJuly 25 – Lilian Bowes Lyon (born 1895), English poetSeptember 9 – Fredegond Shove (born 1889), English poetDecember 28 – Hervey Allen (born 1889), American novelist and poet 