Nationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature (for instance, Irish or France).
February 27 – English poet Ted Hughes and American poet Sylvia Plath meet in Cambridge, England.June 16 – Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath marry at the church of St George the Martyr, Holborn, London.September 6 – American poet Richard Eberhart, having been sent by The New York Times to San Francisco to report on the poetry scene there, publishes this day an article in the New York Times Book Review titled "West Coast Rhythms" which helps call national attention to Allen Ginsberg's Howl as "the most remarkable poem of the young group" of poets who are becoming known as the spokesmen of the Beat Generation. On November 1, Howl and Other Poems, is published by City Lights Bookstore.The Lake Eden campus of Black Mountain College, the birthplace of the Black Mountain School of poetry, closes, although classes do not end until the spring of 1957, and the final issue of the Black Mountain Review is published in the fall of 1957.Quadrant magazine is founded in Australia by Richard Krygier, a Polish-Jewish refugee who had been active in social-democrat politics in Europe, and James McAuley, a Catholic poet.Northern Review, founded in 1945 from the merger of two small Canadian literary magazines, Preview and First Statement, publishes its last issue.Tamarack Review founded by Robert Weaver in CanadaListed by nation where the work was first published and again by the poet's native land, if different; substantially revised works listed separately:
Leonard Cohen, Let Us Compare Mythologies, CanadaR. A. D. Ford, A Window on the NorthLouis Dudek, The Transparent Sea. Toronto: Contact Press, 1956.Eldon Grier, PoemsIrving Layton, The Bull Calf and Other Poems. Toronto: Contact Press.Irving Layton, The Improved Binoculars: Selected Poems. Introduction by William Carlos Williams. Highlands, NC: Jonathan Williams.Irving Layton, Music on a Kazoo. Toronto: Contact Press.W.W.E. Ross, Experiment 1923-1929, Contact Press.Raymond Souster, The Selected Poems. Louis Dudek ed. Toronto: Contact Press.Raymond Souster ed. Poets 56: Ten Younger English-Canadians. Toronto: Contact Press.Wilfred Watson, Even Your Right EyeNew Zealand
Robert Chapman and Jonathan Bennett, editors, An Anthology of New Zealand Verse, Oxford University PressD'Arcy Cresswell, The Voyage of the Hurunui : a Ballad, Christchurch: Caxton PressCharles Doyle, A Splinter of GlassEinar Beer, Samadhi Poems and Autumn Rains ( Poetry in English ), Alvdal: The Brahmakul;Humayun Kabir, Mahatma & other Poems ( Poetry in English ),Kingsley Amis, A Case of Samples: Poems 1946–1956David Gascoyne, Night ThoughtsJohn Holloway, The Minute and Longer Poems, Hessle, East Yorkshire: Marvell PressChristopher Logue, Devil, Maggot and SonNorman MacCaig, Riding Lights, London: Hogarth PressEdwin Muir, One Foot in EdenE. J. Scovell, The River Steamer, and Other PoemsFredegond Shove (died 1949), PoemsJohn Ashbery, Some TreesJohn Berryman, Homage to Mistress Bradstreet, New York: Farrar, Straus & CudahyGwendolyn Brooks, Bronzeville Boys and GirlsWitter Bynner, A Book of LyricsRobert Creeley, If YouKenneth Fearing, New and Selected PoemsRobert Fitzgerald, In the Rose of Time: Poems 1931–1956Allen Ginsberg, HowlAnne Morrow Lindbergh, The Unicorn, and Other PoemsW. S. Merwin, Green with Beasts, New York: Knopf (reprinted as part of The First Four Books of Poems, 1975)Kenneth Rexroth (translator), 30 Spanish Poems of Love and Exile and (translator), 100 Poems from the ChineseEdna St. Vincent Millay, Collected PoemsMarianne Moore, Like a BulwarkGertrude Stein, Stanzas in meditation and Other Poems (1929–1933)Peter Viereck, The Persimmon TreeJohn Hall Wheelock, Poems Old and NewReed Whittemore, An American Takes a WalkRichard Wilbur, Things of This World: Poems, New York: Harcourt, BraceTennessee Williams, In the Winter of CitiesListed by language and often 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 Roman inachevéAimé Césaire, Cahier d'un retour au pays natal, definitive, revised editionPierre Jean Jouve, LyriqueHenri Michaux, Misérable miracle, about his experiences taking mescalineJules Supervielle, L'EscalierTristan Tzara, pen name of Sami Rosenstock, Le fruit permisW. Höllerer, editor, Transit, anthology, GermanRupert Hirschenauer and Albrecht Weber, editors, Wege zum Gedicht, 2 volumes (second volume, on the ballad, in 1963), Germany, scholarshipWalther Killy, Wandlungen des lyrischen BildesIn each section, listed in alphabetical order by first name:
Dinu Bhai Pant, Dadi Te MamShambhu Nath Sharma, BhadasaShuk Dev Shastri, Svacchanda Trivani, verses celebrating traditional values and patterned on Sanskrit metersTara Smail Puri, Fauji Pimsanar, a long poem on the plight of a military veteranBhatt Damodar Kesavaji, pen name "Sudhansu", Alakhtano, GujaratiDhirubhai Thaker, Arvacin Gujarati Shaityani Vikasrekha, a Gujarati-language history of that language's literature from 1850 to the post-independence periodNatvarlal Kuberdas Pandya 'Ushnas', Nepathye, longer poems based on new interpretations of mythological characters; GujaratiSuresh Joshi, Upjati, Indian, Gujarati languageC. Mahadevappa, translation from the English of Percy Bysshe Shelley's The Defence of PoetryChannaveera Kanavi, Dipadhari, with some lyrics in the navodaya style, others in the navya; poetry known as Samanvaya Kavya in Kannada poetry because it attempted to synthesize the two types of subject matter: both the beauty of nature, folk traditions, mysticism, and humanism of the one form and the stark contemporary realism of the otherYarmunja Ramachandra, Vidaya, the author's only book of poems, published posthumously after his death at age 22O. N. V. Kurup, Dahikkunna Panapatram, Malayalam, the author's earliest poems, mostly lyrics reflecting revolutionary idealismSreedhara Menon, Vittumkaikkottum, MalayalamSukumar Azhikode, Ramananum Malayala Kavitayum, critical study in Malayalam of Changampuzha's RamananFaiz Ahmad Faiz, Zindan NamaMirza Muhammad Muqimi Bijapuri, Candar badan va Mahayar, edited by Muhammad Akbaruddin Siddiqi, narrative poemsNadim, "Subuhdam Yets Chhu Paratshyon Gashi-Tarukh", the first sonnet in the Kashmiri language; published in the Urdu publication TameerHarekrushna Mahadab, Chayapathara Yatri, OriyaKunvar Narayan (also spelled in English as Kunwar Narain), Cakravyuha (has also been transliterated into English as Chakravyooh), New Delhi: Radhakrishan Prakashan, ISBN 81-7119-192-4; Hindi-languageParsram Rohra, Sargam, SindhiSankha Ghosh, Dinguli Ratguli, the author's first book of poems, BengaliMario Benedetti, Poemas de oficina ("Office Poems"), UruguayJosé Santos Chocano, Las mejores poesías de Chocano, pról. de Francisco Bendezú (Lima: Editorial Paracas), PeruJuan Gelman, Violín y otras cuestiones, ArgentinaOctavio Paz, La estación violenta, MexicoMiron Białoszewski's first book: Obroty rzeczy, PolandZbigniew Herbert's first book: Struna światła, PolandHarry Martinson, Aniara, SwedishEugenio Montale, La bufera e altro ("The Storm and Other Things"), a first edition of 1,000 copies, Venice: Neri Pozza; second, larger edition published in 1957, Milan: Arnaldo Mondadore Editore; ItalyNizar Qabbani, Poems (قصائد), Syrian poet writing in ArabicYevgeny Yevtushenko, Stantsiia Zima (Станция Зима, "Zima Station", translated as "Winter Station"), Soviet UnionAwards 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"): Randall Jarrell appointed this year.National Book Award for Poetry: W. H. Auden, The Shield of AchillesPulitzer Prize for Poetry: Elizabeth Bishop: Poems - North & SouthQueen's Gold Medal for Poetry: Edmund BlundenBollingen Prize: Conrad AikenFellowship of the Academy of American Poets: William Carlos WilliamsAdonais Prize (Spain): María C. Lacaci, Humana vozCanada: Governor General's Award, poetry or drama: A Window on the North, Robert A.D. Ford Death years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article:
April 7 – Dionisio D. Martinez, Cuban-born poet who grows up speaking Spanish, raised first in Spain, then in the United StatesMay 9 – Henri Cole, Japanese-born American poetAugust 15 – Henry Normal, born Pete Carroll, English performance poet and television comedy producerSeptember 26 – Mick Imlah (died 2009), Scottish-born poetOctober 7 – Diane Ackerman, American poet and naturalistOctober 30 – Annie Finch, American poet, librettist and theoristAlso:Bai Hua, Chinese poetJim Daniels, American poet, writer and academicForrest Gander, American poet, essayist and translatorAmy Gerstler, American poetLachlan Mackinnon, Scottish-born poet and criticAmir Or, Israeli poetBirth years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article:
January 31 – A. A. Milne, 74 (born 1882), English author of children's books and children's poetryMarch 23 – Mitsuko Shiga 四賀光子, pen name of Mitsu Ota (born 1885), Japanese, Taishō and Shōwa period tanka poet, a womanMarch 30 – Edmund Clerihew Bentley, 80 (born 1875), popular English novelist and humorist and inventor of the clerihew, an irregular form of humorous verse on biographical topicsApril 2 – Kōtarō Takamura 高村 光太郎 (born 1883), Japanese poet and sculptor; son of sculptor Takamura KōunMay 11 – Takashi Matsumoto 松本たかし (born 1906), Japanese, Shōwa period professional haiku poet in the Shippo-kai haiku circle, then, starting in 1929, in the Hototogisu group that also included Kawabata Bosha; founded a literary magazine, Fue ("Flute"), in 1946May 15 – Arthur Talmage Abernethy (born 1872), American poet, journalist, theologian, minister; North Carolina Poet Laureate 1948–53June 22 – Walter de la Mare, 83 (born 1873), English poet, short story writer and author of children's booksJuly 7 – Gottfried Benn (born 1886), German expressionist poet; buried in Dahlem Waldfriedhof, BerlinJuly 8 – Giovanni Papini, 75 (born 1881), Italian poet, essayist, journalist, literary critic, and novelistJuly 11 – Dorothy Wellesley, 70, English socialite, author, poet and literary editorAugust 31 – Percy MacKaye, 81 (born 1875), American playwright and poetSeptember 7 – Frank Oliver Call (born 1878), Canadian poet and academicNovember 21 – Aizu Yaichi (会津 八一) (born 1881), Japanese poet, calligrapher and historian (Surname: Aizu) 