March 25 – Copies of Allen Ginsberg's Howl and Other Poems (first published 1 November 1956) printed in England are seized by United States Customs Service officials in San Francisco on the grounds of obscenity. On October 3, in People v. Ferlinghetti, a subsequent prosecution of publisher Lawrence Ferlinghetti in the city, the work is ruled not to be obscene. The trial brings significant attention to the participants and other poets of the Beat Generation.
Ginsberg surprises the literary world by abandoning San Francisco. After a spell in Morocco, he and Peter Orlovsky move to Paris, France, at the suggestion of Gregory Corso, who introduces them to a shabby lodging house above a bar at 9 rue Gît-le-Coeur kept by Mme Rachou, where they are soon joined by William S. Burroughs and others, including young painters, writers and black jazz musicians. The building becomes known as the "Beat Hotel". The writers' time here is a productive, creative period for many of them. Here, Ginsberg finishes his poem "Kaddish", Corso composes "Bomb" and "Marriage", and Burroughs (with Ginsberg and Corso's help) puts together the novel Naked Lunch from previous writings. Corso returns to New York in 1958; the "hotel" closes in 1963; and Ginsberg and Orlovsky leave for travels to India in 1967.
Autumn – Black Mountain Review literary magazine folds.
Shi'r ("Poetry") magazine is founded in Beirut by Syrian-born poets Yusuf al-Khal and 'Adunis'. The journal is a showcase for experimental Arabic poetry as well as translations of poetry from European languages.
Listed by nation where the work was first published and again by the poet's native land, if different; substantially revised works listed separately:
Harry Ammos, Churchill and Other Poems
Dick Diespecker, Windows West
Joan Finnegan, through The Glass, Darkly
Northrop Frye, Anatomy of Criticism: Four Essays, literary theory (Princeton University Press)
Eldon Grier, The Ring of Ice
Daryl Hine, The Carnal and the Crane
D. G. Jones, Frost on the Sun
Gordon Leclaire, Carpenter's Apprentice
Dorothy Livesay, Selected Poems, 1926-1956
Goodridge Macdonald, Recent Poems
Jay Macpherson, The Boatman
Marjorie Pickthall, The Selected Poems of Marjorie Pickthall, Lorne Pierce ed. (Toronto: McClelland & Stewart)
James Reaney, A Suit of Nettles
F. R. Scott, Events and Signals. Toronto: Ryerson Press.
A. J. M. Smith ed.:
The Book of Canadian Poetry, third revised edition (anthology)
The Blasted Pine
Sri Aurobindo, posthumously published (died 1950):
Ilion ( Poetry in English ), Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Ashram
More Poems ( Poetry in English ), Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Ashram
Nissim Ezekiel, A Time to Change and Other Poems ( Poetry in English )
Dom Moraes, A Beginning ( Poetry in English )
Manjeri Sundaraman, The Neem is a Lady and Other Poems ( Poetry in English ), Madras: Dhanus Pub.
New Zealand
James K. Baxter:
The Iron Breadboard: Studies in New Zealand Writing , a parody, imitating 17 New Zealand poets, which was greeted with acrimony by some fellow poets
James K. Baxter, Charles Doyle, Louis Johnson and Kendrick Smithyman, The Night Shift: Poems on Aspects of Love, Wellington: Capricorn Press
Charles Brasch: The Estate, and Other Poems, Christchurch: Caxton Press
Allen Curnow, Poems 1949–57
Louis Johnson, New Worlds for Old
W. H. Oliver, Fire Without Phoenix: Poems 1946–1954, Christchurch: Caxton Press
Dannie Abse, Tenants of the House, London: Hutchinson
W. H. Auden, The Old Man's Road, English native in the United States
George Barker, Collected Poems 1930–1955
Edmund Blunden, Poems of Many Years
Norman Cameron, collected works (posthumous)
Charles Causley, Union Street
Austin Clarke, Too Great a Vine (see also Ancient Lights 1955 in poetry, The Horse-Eaters 1960)
Donald Davie, A Winter Talent, and Other Poems, London: Routledge and Kegan Paul
C. Day-Lewis, Pegasus, and Other Poems
Kenneth Fearing, New and Selected Poems
Roy Fuller, Brutus's Orchard
Thom Gunn, The Sense of Movement, London: Faber and Faber; University of Chicago Press
Donald Hall, Robert Pack and Louis Simpson, New Poets of England and America, anthology (Meridian Books)
Ted Hughes, The Hawk in the Rain, including "The Thought Fox", London: Faber and Faber; New York: Harper
James Kirkup:
The Descent into the Cave, and Other Poems
The Prodigal Son
Louis MacNeice, Visitations
Norman MacCaig, The Sinai Sort, London: Hogarth Press
Edith Sitwell, collected works
Anthony Thwaite, Home Truths
Terence Tiller, Reading a Medal
C. A. Trypanis, The Stones of Troy
Criticism, scholarship and biography in the United Kingdom
T. S. Eliot, On Poetry and Poets
W. H. Auden, The Old Man's Road, English native in the United States
Philip Booth, Letter from a Distant Land
Hilda Doolittle (H.D.), Selected Poems of H.D.
Richard Eberhart, Great Praises
Robert Fitzgerald, In the Rose of Time
George Garrett, The Reverend Ghost
Donald Hall, Robert Pack and Louis Simpson, New Poets of England and America, anthology (Meridian Books)
Robert E. Howard, Always Comes Evening
Daryl Hine, The Carnal and the Crane
Denise Levertov, Here and Now, City Lights Books
William Meredith, The Open Sea and Other Poems
W. S. Merwin, Green with Beasts
Marianne Moore, Like a Bulwark
Howard Moss, A Swimmer in the Air
Ogden Nash, You Can't Get There from Here
Frank O'Hara, Meditations in an Emergency, Grove Press
Kenneth Patchen, Hurrah for Anything
Marie Ponsot, True Minds
Kenneth Rexroth, In Defense of the Earth
Kenneth Rexroth and Lawrence Ferlinghetti, LP record, Poetry Readings in the Cellar (with the Cellar Jazz Quintet): Kenneth Rexroth & Lawrence Ferlinghetti Fantasy #7002 LP (Spoken Word)
Muriel Rukeyser, One Life
May Sarton, In Time Like Air
Stevie Smith, Not Waving but Drowning
William Jay Smith, Poems 1947–1957
Wallace Stevens, Opus Posthumous, edited by Samuel French Morse; includes Owl's Clover (poems first published in 1936) and essays, including "The Irrational Element in Poetry," "The Whole Man: Perspectives," "Horizons," "Preface to Time of Year," "John Crowe Ransom: Tennessean," and "Adagia", Knopf (posthumous)
Robert Penn Warren, Promises: Poems 1954-1956
Richard Wilbur, Poems 1943–1956
James Wright, The Green Wall
Criticism, scholarship and biography in the United States
Annotated Index to the Cantos of Ezra Pound, the first guide to Pound's Cantos
William Carlos Williams, The Selected Letters of William Carlos Williams, edited by John C. Thirwall
William Butler Yeats, Variorum Edition of the Poems of W.B. Yeats, edited by Peter Allt and Russell K. Alspach, New York: Macmillan (posthumous)
D. Stewart and N. Keesing, editors, Old Bush Songs and Rhymes of Colonial Times, anthology (Australia)
Listed 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:
Claude Fournier, Le Ciel fermé
Pierre Trotier, Poèmes de Russie
Reginald Boisvert, Le Temps de vivre
Maurice Beaulieu, À glaise fendre
Jean-Guy Pilon, L'homme et le jour, Montréal: l'Hexagone
Rina Lasnier, Présence de l'absence
Alain Bosquet, Premier Testament
Frances de Dalmatie, Anamorphose
Jean Follain, Tout instant
Fernand Gregh, Le mal du monde
Philippe Jaccottet, La Promenade sous les arbres* 1957 * Pierre Jean Jouve, Mélodrame
Alphonse Métérié, Ephémères
Henri Michaux, Linfini turbulent, about his experiences taking mescaline
Pierre Oster, Solitude de la lumière
Saint-John Perse, pen name of Marie-René Alexis Saint-Léger, Amers ("Seamarks"), Paris: Gallimard
Tristan Tzara, pen name of Sami Rosenstock, Frère bois
Tchicaya U Tam'si, Feu de brousse
Peter Gan, Schachbrett
Doris Mühringer, Gedichte I
Margot Scharpenberg, Gefährliche Uebung
Benno von Weise, editor, Die deutsche Lyrik: Form und Geschichte. Interpretationen ("German poetry: Form and history. Interpretations"), two volumes, Düsseldorf (criticism)
N. Alterman, Ir ha-Yona ("City of the Dove")
Moses ibn Ezra, Shirai ha-Kodesh le-Moshe Ibn Ezra ("The Sacred Poems of Moses Ibn Ezra"), edited by Simon Bernstein, the first comprehensive collection
Ephraim Lisitzky, Negohot ma-Arafel ("Light through the Mist")
Yaakov Schteinberg, Kol Kitvai Yaakov Schteinberg ("Complete Works")
A. Zeitlin, Ben ha-Esh ve-Hayesha ("Between Fire and Redemption")
Listed in alphabetical order by first name:
Felix Paul Noronha, Motyam Har written in the Konkani dialect of the Marathi language
Sarachchandra Muktibodh, Yatrik, Marathi
Subhas Mukhopadhyay, Phul Phutuk, Bengali
Mário Cesariny de Vasconcelos, Pena Capital
Carlos Drummond de Andrade, Fala,amendoeira and Ciclo
Gabriela Mistral, Recados: Contando a Chile, Santiago, Chile: Editorial del Pacífico
Pablo Neruda:
Viajes
Nuevas odas elementales
Nellie Campobello, Tres poemas, Mexico
Rosario Castellanos, Poemas (1953–1955)
Jacinto Cordero Espinosa, Despojamiento
Amado Nervo:
complete poetic works, publisher: Aguilar
Pensamientos, publisher: Barcelona
Octavio Paz, Piedra de sol, Mexico
César Vallejo, collected poems, posthumously published; Peru
V. Aleixandre, Mis poemas mejores (1956)
Gabriel Celaya, De claro en claro
R. Montesino, La soledad y los días
R. Pombo, Poesías completas
María C. Lacaci, Humana voz (winner of the 1956 Adonaïs Prize)
J. Guillén, "Lugar de Lázaro" (fragment of Clamor)
J.R. Jiménez:
Libros en poesía
Tercera antología poética
Spanish anthologies
R. Menendez Pidal, editor, Espana y su historia
J.M. Blecua, Floresta lírica espanola
Yankev Glatshteyn, Fun mayn gantser mi ("Of All My Labor, Selected Poems, 1919-1956")
A. Leyeles, Baym fus fun barg ("At the Foot of the Mountain")
Khos Kliger, Peyzazhn fun Yisroel ("Israel Landscapes")
Eugenio Montale, La bufera e altro ("The Storm and Other Things"), a second, larger edition (original edition of 1,000 copies published in 1956), Milan: Arnaldo Mondadore Editore; Italy
Máirtín Ó Direáin, Ó Mórna agus Dánta Eile, Irish
Pier Paolo Pasolini, Le ceneri di Gramsci, Italy
Wisława Szymborska, Wołanie do Yeti ("Calling Out to Yeti"), Poland
Governor General's Awards: Robert A.D. Ford, A Window on the North
President's Medal for a single poem: Jay Macpherson, The Fisherman — A Book of Riddles
Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry: Siegfried Sassoon
Guinness Poetry Awards: Vernon Watkins, The Tributary Seasons; Cecil Day-Lewis, Moods of Love; Roy Fuller, Seven Mythological Sonnets
National Book Award for Poetry: Richard Wilbur, Things of this World
Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: Things of This World by Richard Wilbur
Bollingen Prize: Allen Tate
Fellowship of the Academy of American Poets: Conrad Aiken
Robert Frost Fellowship in Poetry: May Swenson
Yale Series of Younger Poets Award: James Wright for The Green Wall
Levinson Prize: Thom Gunn
Oscar Blumenthal Prize: William Carlos Williams
Eunice Tietjens Prize: James Wright
Bess Hokin Prize: Philip Booth
Union League Civic and Arts Foundation prize: Ann Ridler
Vachel Lindsay Prize: V.R. Lang
Harriet Monroe Memorial Prize: John Ciardi
Alexander Droutzkoy Memorial award: Mark Van Doren
Walt Whitman Award: Fredson Bowers
Reynolds Lyric Award: Frances Minturn Howard and David Ross
Edna St. Vincent Millay Memorial Award: Richard Wilbur
William Rose Benet Memorial Award]]: Babette Deutsch
Ridgely Torrence Memorial Award: John Hall Wheelock
Poetry Chap-Book Award: Grover Smith, Jr.
Emily S. Hamblen Memorial Award: Trianon Press of Paris for a work on William Blake
Arthur Davison Ficke Memorial Award: Margaret Haley Carpenter, Leah Bodine Drake, Frances Minturn Howard, Ulrich Troubetzkoy
Leonora Speyer Memorial Award: Lois Smith Hiers
Annual Award: Joyce Horner
Borestone Mountain Poetry Award: Eric Barker
Fastenrath Prize (Spain) for the best poetry published in the past four years: J. García Nieto, La red
Death years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article:
January 13 – Claudia Emerson (died 2014), American winner of the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry
March 23 – Ananda Devi, Mauritian francophone fiction writer and poet
April 16 – Essex Hemphill (died 1995), gay African-American poet and activist
April 23 – Bruce Meyer, Canadian poet and educator
August – Martín Espada, American poet and professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where he teaches creative writing and Latino poetry.
August 19 – Li-Young Lee, American poet born in Jakarta, Indonesia to Chinese parents
October 17 – Uwe Kolbe, German
October 21 – Attila the Stockbroker (John Baine), English punk and performance poet
November 8 – Afua Cooper, Jamaican-born Canadian dub poet, sociologist and historian (migrates to Canada in 1980)
November 12 – Malcolm Guite, Nigerian-born English poet, singer-songwriter, Anglican priest and academic
December 12 – Brenda Marie Osbey, American
Also:
Cyrus Cassells, American
Michael Hofmann, German-English poet and translator from German
Valerio Magrelli, Italian
Anthony Molino, American poet, translator, anthropologist and psychoanalyst
Sayed Hasmat Jalal, Bengali poet, short-story writer and journalist
Alan Riach, Scottish poet and academic
Haris Vlavianos, Greek
Birth years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article:
January 10 – Gabriela Mistral (Lucila Godoy Alcayaga), 67 (born 1889), Chilean poet, diplomat, educator and feminist, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1945)
January 13
A. E. Coppard (born 1878), English short story writer and poet
Saishū Onoe 尾上柴舟 (born 1876), Japanese tanka poet and calligrapher
February 13 – F. W. Harvey, 68 (born 1888), English rural poet and soldier
April 22 – Roy Campbell, 56 (born 1901), South African poet and satirist
March 11 – Jinzai Kiyoshi 神西清 (born 1903), Japanese, Showa period novelist, translator, literary critic, poet and playwright
March 25 – A. R. D. Fairburn (born 1904), New Zealand poet
March 28 – Christopher Morley, 66 (born 1890), American journalist, novelist and poet
June 15 – Skipwith Cannell (born 1887), American poet associated with the Imagist group (pronounce his last name with the stress on the second syllable)
August 13 – Joseph Warren Beach (born 1880), American author, book critic and educator
September 20 – Merrill Moore, 54 (born 1903), American psychiatrist and poet
September 22 – Oliver St. John Gogarty, 79 (born 1878), Irish poet, writer, physician and ear surgeon, one of the most prominent Dublin wits, political figure of the Irish Free State, best known as the inspiration for Buck Mulligan in James Joyce's novel Ulysses, of a heart attack
September 26 – Charles Badger Clark (born 1883), American poet
October 23 – Mihai Codreanu (born 1876), Romanian
October 26 – Nikos Kazantzakis (born 1883), Greek
December 25 – Stanley Vestal (born 1877), American writer, poet and historian
