Nationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature (for instance, Irish or France).
August 12 — Night of the Murdered Poets, the execution of thirteen Soviet Jews in the Lubyanka Prison in Moscow, Soviet Union, including several poets.
November — The Group British poetry movement of the 1950s and 1960s began at Downing College, Cambridge University, Philip Hobsbaum along with two friends — Tony Davis and Neil Morris — dissatisfied with the way poetry was read aloud in the university, decided to place a notice in the undergraduate newspaper Varsity for people interested in forming a poetry discussion group. Five others, including Peter Redgrove came along to the first meeting. This poetry discussion group met once a week during term. The group was later moved to London.
E. E. Cummings is appointed to a Charles Eliot Norton Professorship at Harvard.
Contact, a mimeographed poetry magazine, founded by Ramond Souster (ceases publication in 1954; Contact Press, an important publisher of Canadian poetry, also founded (closes in 1967).
Lines Review, a Scottish poetry magazine, is founded by Callum Macdonald in Edinburgh.
Listed by nation where the work was first published and again by the poet's native land, if different; substantially revised works listed separately:
Alfred Bailey, Border River
Earle Birney, Trial of a City and Other Verse. Toronto: Ryerson.
Louis Dudek, Raymond Souster and Irving Layton. Cerberus. Toronto: Contact Press, 1952.
Louis Dudek, The Searching Image. Toronto: Ryerson Press, 1952.
Louis Dudek, Twenty-Four Poems. Toronto: Contact Press, 1952.
Wilson MacDonald, The Lyric Year. Toronto: Ryerson.
Jay Macpherson, Nineteen Poems
E. J. Pratt, Towards the Last Spike, Toronto: Macmillan. Governor General's Award 1952.
Sri Aurobindo, Last Poems ( Poetry in English ), mostly philosophical, mystical poetry; Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Ashram, posthumously published (died 1950), posthumously published (died 1950)
Dilip Kumar Roy, Sri Aurobindo Came to Me, Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Ashram
Themis, Poems ( Poetry in English ), 74 mystical lyrics, from the Aurobindoean school; Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Ashram
G. V. Subbaramayya, Songs and Sonnets ( Poetry in English ), Nellore: Viveka Publishers
Nissim Ezekiel, A Time to Change( Poetry in English ),
New Zealand
James K. Baxter, Louis Johnson and Anton Vogt, Poems Unpleasant, Christchurch: Pegasus Press
A. R. D. Fairburn:
Three Poems
Strange Rendezvous
Keith Sinclair, Songs for a Summer and Other Poems
Robert Thompson, editor, 13 New Zealand Poets
A. Alvarez, Poems
W. H. Auden, Nones, published February 22 in the United Kingdom (first published in February 1951 in the United States)
William Buchan, 3rd Baron Tweedsmuir, Personal Poems
C. Day-Lewis, translation, The Aenid of Virgil (see also The Georgics of Virgil 1940, The Eclogues of Virgil 1963)
Patric Dickinson, The Sailing Race, and Other Poems
Lawrence Durrell, A Key To Modern Poetry
Nissim Ezekiel, Time To Change, Indian living at this time in the United Kingdom
Gabriel Fielding, The Frog Prince and Other Poems
Michael Hamburger, translator into English from the German original of Austrian Georg Trakl's Decline: 12 Poems, Guido Morris / Latin Press,
David Jones, The Anathemata
Thomas Kinsella, The Starlit Eye
Louis MacNeice, Ten Burnt Offerings
Edwin Muir, Collected Poems 1921-51
James Reeves, The Password, and Other Poems
Sir Osbert Sitwell, Wrack at Tidesend, published on May 16, a sequel to England Reclaimed of 1927 (see also On the Continent 1958)
Dylan Thomas:
Collected Poems 1934-1952
In Country Sleep, including the poem "Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night"
R.S. Thomas, An Acre of Land
R. P. Blackmur, Language as Gesture, criticism
Robert Creeley, Le Fou, American published in Europe
Archibald Macleish, Collected Poems, 1917–1952, winner of the Pulitzer Prize
W. S. Merwin, A Mask for Janus, New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press; awarded the Yale Younger Poets Prize, 1952 (reprinted as part of The First Four Books of Poems, 1975)
Frank O'Hara, A City in Winter and Other Poems
Kenneth Rexroth, The Dragon and the Unicorn, a verse journal of his European travels
Wallace Stevens, Selected Poems, Fortune Press
Jesse Stuart, Kentucky Is my Land
New World Writing the first of an annual paperback anthology of prose, drama and poetry; continues to 1959 in poetry
Peter Viereck, The First Morning
Yvor Winter, Collected Poems
R. Berndt, editor, Djanggawul, anthology of Australian poetry
Seaforth Mackenzie, editor Australian Poetry, 1951-2, Sydney: Angus and Robertson; Australia
Rene-Guy Cadou, Helene ou le regne vegetal, Volume 1, published posthumously (died 1951)
Jean Cayrol, Les Mots sont aussi des demeures 1952
Jean Cocteau, Le Chiffre sept
Pierre Emmanuel, pen name of Noël Mathieu, Babel
Jean Grosjean, Le Livre du juste
Benjamin Péret, Air mexicain
Raymond Queneau, Si tu t'imagines
Francis Ponge, La Rage de lexpression
Georges Schéhadé, Les Poésies
In each section, listed in alphabetical order by first name:
Haradayalu Singh, Ravan, poem written in Braja Bhasa; with characters from classical epic poems and presenting Ravana in a sympathetic light; 17 chapters
Narmada Prasad Khare, Svar-Pathey
Ramadhari Singh Dinakar, Rasmi Rathi, epic poem about Karna, a character in the Mahabharata
D. V. Gundappa, translator, Umarana Osage, translated from the English of Edward Fitzgerald's translation of The Rubaiyatt of Omar Khayyam
M. Gopalakrishna Adiga, Nadedu Banna Dari, poems showing the transition in Indian poetry from the more idealistic Navodaya tradition to Navya poetry which is more pessimistic and uses imagery to provide structure; Kannada
Pejavara Sadashiva Rao, Varuna, written before 1950, but differing distinctly from navodaya poetry; using original rhythm and with subject matter from the experiences of an alienated individual; including "Natyotsava", considered by some critics as the earliest navya poem in the Kannada language; published posthumously (the author died at age 26 in Italy)
Amrita Pritam, Sarghi Vela, romantic and progressive poems; Punjabi
Bahinabai, Bahinabaici Kavita, Marathi
Birendra Chattopadhyay, Ranur Janya, Bengali
Chandranath Mishra, Yugacakra, humorous and satirical poems by "a major poet of Maithili", according to Indian academic Sisir Kumar Das (see also Unata pal 1972, a revised and expanded edition)
Faiz Ahmad Faiz, Dast-e-Saba, Urdu
Mehr Lal Soni Zia Fatehabadi, Nai Subah (The New Morn), collection of poems published by Adaaraa Seemab,Daryaganj, Delhi in 1952. Urdu
Gangaprasad Upadhyay, Arodaya mahakavya, epic poem on Swami Dayananda; Sanskrit
Jnanindra Barma Eka Ratri, Uttara Kranti, Ratnarakha, Oriya
Mir Shaban Dar, Qissa-e-Bahram Shah, popular romantic poem in masnavi form, modeled on a Persian poem; Kashmiri
Parsram Rohra, Sitar, Sindhi
Pinakin Thakore, Alap, Gujarati
Pir Atiquallah, Pirnama, comic narrative poem in masnavi form on the "Ways of the Pir"; shows the influence of Maqbool; Kashmiri
Rayaprolu Subba Rao, Rupanavanitamu, poems honoring womanhood and spiritual love; Telugu
Sreedhara Menon, Onappattukar, Malayalam
Paul Celan, Poppy and Memory (German: Mohn und Gedächtnis), Romanian-born poet writing in German
Gabriela Mistral, Los sonetos de la muerte y otros poemas elegíacos, Santiago, Chile: Philobiblion
Sean O Riordain, Eireaball Spideoige, including "Adhlacadh Mo Mhathar", "Malairt", "Cnoc Melleri" and "Siollabadh", Gaelic-language, Ireland
Wisława Szymborska: Dlatego żyjemy ("That's Why We Are Alive"), Poland
Awards 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"): William Carlos Williams appointed this year (but did not serve).
Bollingen Prize: Marianne Moore
Frost Medal: Carl Sandburg
National Book Award for Poetry: Marianne Moore, Collected Poems
Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: Marianne Moore, Collected Poems
King's Gold Medal for Poetry: Andrew Young
Fellowship of the Academy of American Poets: Padraic Colum
Canada: Governor General's Award, poetry or drama: Towards the Last Spike, E. J. Pratt
Death years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article:
January 2 – Jimmy Santiago Baca, American poet and writer
January 10 – Dorianne Laux, American poet
January 11 – Carla Harryman, American poet and playwright
January 17 – Barry Dempster, Canadian poet and novelist
January 20 – Roo Borson, pen name of Ruth Elizabeth Borson, American native living in Canada
January 24 – Alice Fulton, American poet, author and MacArthur Foundation fellow
February 24
Maxine Chernoff, American novelist, poet and editor
Judith Ortiz Cofer, Puerto Rican American author of poetry, short stories, autobiography, essays and young adult novels
March 12 – Naomi Shihab Nye, American poet and songwriter born to a Palestinian father and American mother
April 12 – Gary Soto, Mexican-American poet and author
June 20 – Vikram Seth, Indian poet, novelist, travel writer, librettist, children's writer, biographer and memoirist
June 5 – Mark Jarman, American poet and critic often identified with the "New Narrative" branch of the New Formalism
August 5 – D. C. Reid, Canadian poet, novelist and short story writer
August 24 – Linton Kwesi Johnson, Jamaican-born musician and poet
August 28 – Rita Dove, African American poet and author and Poet Laureate of the United States
September 18 – Alberto Ríos, American poet and writer
September 21 – Jock Scot, born John Leslie (died 2016), Scottish performance poet
October 26 – Andrew Motion, English poet, novelist, biographer and Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom
November 7 – Malca Litovitz, Canadian poet, author and educator
December 19 – Sean O'Brien, English poet
December 20 – Sky Gilbert, Canadian poet, writer, actor, academic and drag performer
Also:
Harry Clifton, Irish
Menna Elfyn, Welsh
Jan Horner, Canadian
Carole Langille, Canadian
Myron Lysenko, Australian
Robert Minhinnick, Welsh poet and writer
Maurice Scully, Irish poet and editor.
Carolyn Smart, English–Canadian poet and educator
Elizabeth Spires, American poet and academic
Susan Stewart, American poet, academic and literary critic
thalia, Greek-born Australian
Birth years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article:
January 22 – Roger Vitrac, 52 (born 1899), French Surrealist poet and dramatist
February 3 – Kambara Ariake 蒲原有明, pen name of Kambara Hayao (born 1876), Taishō and Showa period Japanese poet and novelist
March 1 – Masao Kume 久米正雄, writing under the pen name "Santei" (born 1891), late Taishō period and early Showa period Japanese playwright, novelist and haiku poet
July 8 – August Alle (born 1890), Estonian writer and poet
August 1 – Arthur Shearly Cripps (born 1869), English Anglican missionary, short story writer and poet
August 22 – E. J. Brady (born 1869), Australian
September 26 – George Santayana (born 1863), Spanish-American philosopher, essayist, poet and novelist
November 16 – Charles Maurras, 84 (born 1868), French author, poet and critic
November 18 – Paul Éluard, 56 (born 1895), French poet; broke with Surrealism on becoming a Stalinist (heart attack)
November 21 – Henriette Roland Holst (born 1869), Dutch poet and socialist
November 23 – Aaro Hellaakoski (born 1893), Finnish poet
December 27 – Patrick Joseph Hartigan, writing under the pen name "Joseph O'Brien" (born 1878), Australian
Also:
Wendy Jenkins, Australian
