January 20 – Robert Frost recites his poem "The Gift Outright" at the Inauguration of John F. Kennedy as President of the United States.
February – American poet in London Sylvia Plath suffers a miscarriage. Several of her poems, including "Parliament Hill Fields", address this event.
Keith and Rosmarie Waldrop buy a secondhand printing press and start Burning Deck magazine in the United States.
Tish literary magazine, founded in Vancouver, British Columbia. It was published intermittently until 1969. Poets associated with the magazine include Frank Davey, Fred Wah, George Bowering, and, briefly, pbNichol when he lived in Vancouver.
Kyk-over-al magazine in Guyana ceases publication
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, Ice Cod Bell on Stone
Arthur Bourinot, Poems: Paul Bunyan, Three Lincoln Poems and Other Verse
Leonard Cohen, The Spice-Box of Earth
Robert Finch
Dover Beach Revisited, a meditation on the significance of Matthew Arnold
Acis in Oxford and Other Poems
Ralph Gustafson, Rivers Among Rocks
Daryl Hine, The Devil's Picture Books
D. G. Jones, The Sun is Axeman
Irving Layton, The Swinging Flesh
Eli Mandel and Jean Guy Pilon, Poetry 62, an anthology
Gwendolyn MacEwen:
Selah. Toronto: Aleph Press.
The Drunken Clock. Toronto: Aleph Press.
D. Pacey, Creative Writing in Canada, revised edition (scholarship)
Dorothy Roberts, Twice to Flame
Ireland
Austin Clarke, Later Poems, Dublin: Dolmen Press, Ireland
Thomas Kinsella:
Downstream, Dublin: Dolmen Press
Poems and Translations, New York: Atheneum
Lila Ray, Entrance( Poetry in English ), Calcutta: Writers Workshop, India.
Harindranath Chattopadhyaya, Masks and Farewells, Bombay: Asia
Ira De, The Hunt and Other Poems ( Poetry in English ), Calcutta: Writers Workshop, India. (revised edition 1968)
Sarojini Naidu, The Feather of the Dawn, posthumously published (died in 1949), edited by her daughter, Padmaja Naidu
Trilok Chandra, A Hundred and One Flowers
James K. Baxter, Howrah Bridge and Other Poems, London: Oxford University Press, New Zealand poet published in the United Kingdom
Thomas Blackburn, A Smell of Burning
Alan Brownjohn, The Railings
Charles Causley, Johnny Alleluia
Jack Clemo, The Map of Clay
Padraic Colum, Irish Elegies
Donald Davie, New and Selected Poems, Middletown, Connecticut: Wesleyan University Press
Ian Hamilton Finlay, Glasgow Beasts, An a Burd, Edinburgh: Wild Flounder Press
Roy Fisher, City
John Fuller, Fairground Music
Robert Graves, More Poems 1961
Thom Gunn, My Sad Captains, and Other Poems, London: Faber and Faber; University of Chicago Press
Ralph Hodgson, Collected Poems
David Holbrook, Imaginings
Graham Hough, Legends and Pastorals
Elizabeth Jennings, Song for a Birth or a Death, and Other Poems
Jenny Joseph, "Warning"
Edward Lucie-Smith, A Tropical Childhood, and Other Poems, including "The Witnesses", "The Fault", and "On Looking at Stubb's Anatomy of the Horse"
Hugh MacDiarmid, pen name of Christohper Murray Grieve, The Kind of Poetry I Want
Louis MacNeice, Solstices
John Masefield, Bluebells, and Other Verse
John Montague, The Nature of Cold Weather, London: MacGibbon and Kee
Peter Porter, Once Bitten, Twice Bitten, by an Australian living in England, Northwood, Middlesex: Scorpion Press
Peter Redgrove, The Collector, London: Routledge and Kegan Paul
Siegfried Sassoon, Collected Poems
C. H. Sisson, The London Zoo
Iain Crichton Smith, Thistles and Roses
Jon Stallworthy, The Astronomy of Love
Gillian Stoneham, When That April
R.S. Thomas, Tares, Welsh
Marina Tsvetayeva, The Selected Poems of Marina Tsvetayeva, translated by Elaine Feinstein, Oxford University Press, first of four editions (and a much-revised fifth edition)
John Wain, Weep Before God, including "Time Was", which won second prize in the international Borestone Mountain Poetry Awards competition, London: Macmillan
Criticism, scholarship and biography in the United Kingdom
William Empson, Milton's God
Doris Landley Moore, The Late Lord Byron
Lee Anderson, Nags Head
Helen Bevington, When Found, Make a Verse Of
Paul Blackburn, The Nets
Harold Bloom, John Hollander, editors, The Wind and the Rain
Philip Booth, The Islanders
Joseph Payne Brennan, The Wind of Time, Hawk & Whippoorwill Press August Derleth
John Ciardi, In the Stoneworks
Leonard Cohen, The Spice-Box of Earth
Donald Davidson, The Long Street
August Derleth, editor, Fire and Sleet and Candlelight
Hilda Doolittle (H.D.), Helen in Egypt, a long retelling of the tale in lyrical prose and verse of the Helen of Troy tale
Ed Dorn, The Newly Fallen, Totem Press
Alan Dugan, Poems
Abbie Houston Evans, Fact of Crystal
Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Starting from San Francisco
Arthur Freeman, Apollonian Poems
George Garrett, Abraham's Knife
Allen Ginsberg:
Empty Mirror: Early Poems, New York: Totem/Corinth
Kaddish and Other Poems, San Francisco: City Lights Books
Horace Gregory, Medusa in Gramercy Park
Thom Gunn, My Sad Captains, London: Faber and Faber; University of Chicago Press Briton
Daryl Hine, Heroics
John Hollander, The Untuning of the Sky (also see Harold Bloom/John Hollander item above)
John Holmes, The Fortune Teller
David Ignatow, Say Pardon
LeRoi Jones, Preface to a Twenty Volume Suicide Note
Carolyn Kizer, The Ungrateful Garden, Bloomington: Indiana University Press
Maxine Kumin, Halfway
Denise Levertov, The Jacob's Ladder, New York: New Directions
Philip Levine, On the Edge
Robert Lowell, Imitations
W. S. Merwin:
Translator, Some Spanish Ballads, London: Abelard (American edition: Spanish Ballads, 1961, New York: Doubleday Anchor)
Editor, West Wind: Supplement of American Poetry, London: Poetry Book Society
Pablo Neruda, Odas elementales, translated by C. Lozano and with an introduction by Fernando Alegría
Lorine Niedecker, My Friend Tree (published with help from Ian Hamilton Finlay)
John Nist, editor, Modern Brazilian Poetry
Charles Olson:
The Maximus Poems
The Distances
Hyam Plutzik, Horatio, a narrative monologue basically in blank verse
Theodore Roethke, I Am! Says the Lamb
May Sarton, Cloud, Stone, Sun, Vine
Peter Viereck, The Tree Witch
John Hall Wheelock, The Gardener
Richard Wilbur, Advice to a Prophet
James Wright and Robert Bly, translators, Twenty Poems of Georg Trakl (Austrian poet writing in German), The Sixties Press
Criticism, scholarship and biography in the United States
Roger Asselineau, The Evolution of Walt Whitman
Walter Lowenfels, editor, Walt Whitman's Civil War, Whitman's writing about the war
Edwin Haviland Miller, The Correspondence of Walt Whitman (1842–1875, in two volumes)
Archibald MacLeish, Poetry and Experience (autobiography)
James K. Baxter, Howrah Bridge and Other Poems, London: Oxford University Press, New Zealand poet published in the United Kingdom
Allen Curnow, editor, Penguin Book of New Zealand Verse,
A. D. Hope, Poems (Australia)
Kenneth Slessor, The Penguin Book of Modern Australian Verse, Melbourne, Australia, anthology
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:
Rina Lasnier, Mémoire sans jour
Paul Marie Lapointe, Choix de poèmes
Jean-Guy Pilon:
La Mouette et le large
Recours au pays, Montréal: l'Hexagone
Andre du Bouchet, Dans la chaleur vacante
Aimé Césaire,Cadastre, Martinique author published in France; Paris: Editions du Seuil
Jean Cocteau, Le Cérémonial espagnol de Phoenix
Michel Deguy, Poemes de la presqu'ile
Max Pol Fouchet, Demeure le Secret
Eugène Guillevic, Carnac
Henri Michaux, Connaisance par les gouffres (Life Through Darkness: Exploration Through Drugs"), Paris: Gallimard
Marie Noël, Chants d'arrière-saison
Francis Ponge, Le Grand Recueil, three volumes
Raymond Queneau, Cent mille milliards de poèmes
Georges Schéhadé, Nocturnes
Léopold Sédar Senghor, Nocturnes
Jean Tardieu, Choix de poèmes
Criticism, scholarship and biography in France
André Berry, editor, Anthologie de la poésie occitane
Yves Bonnefoy, Rimbaud
Saint-John Perse, Poésie: allocution au Banquet Nobel du 10 décembre 1960, Paris: Gallimard
Clemens Hesselhaus, editor, Deutsche Lyrik der Moderne: von Nietzsche bis Yvan Goll Düsseldorf: August Bagel an anthology
Criticism, scholarship and biography in Germany
Wilhelm Emrich, Protest und Verheissung (criticism)
Walter Jens, Deutsche Literatur der Gegenwart (criticism)
J. Akavyahu, Manginot Hazot ("Midnight Music")
Anonymous poet from a Soviet Bloc country, Behilokah Halail ("As the Night Is Taken"), the poems were clandestinely smuggled into Israel and published
K. A. Bertini, Shevil Kahol ("Blue Path")
A. Broides, El ha-Shahar ha-Gonuz ("Toward the Hidden Dawn")
Yonah David, Shirim Le-lo Ahava ("Poems on Nonlove")
Israel Efros, Bain Hofim Nistarim ("Among Hidden Shores")
Hayim Guri, Shoshanat ha-Ruhot ("Rose of the Winds")
Yosef Lichtenbaum, ba-Mishor ha-Govoha ("On a High Plain")
E. Lisitzky, Kemo ha-Yom Rad ("As the Day Wanes") published in the United States
Anda Pinkerfield-Amir, Gadish ve-Omer ("Sheaf and Measure")
Gabriel Preil, Mapat Erew ("Map of Evening"), published in the United States
T. Ribner, Shirim Limzo Et ("Poems in Search of Time")
Rena Shani, Ir Zara ("Strange City")
Nathan Zakh, Shirim Shonim ("Various")
Criticism, scholarship and biography in Hebrew
B. Kurzweil, Bialik ve- Tchernichovsky — Mehkarim be-Shiratam, about aspects of the works of two important poets of the Hebrew literary renaissance
Listed in alphabetical order by first name:
Akhtarul Imam, Yaden, Urdu-language
Ayyappa Paniker, Kurukshetram (written 1952–1957), Malayalam-language
Nirendranath Chakravarti; Bengali-language:
Prothom Nayok, Kolkata: Surabhi Prokashoni
Ondhokar Baranda, Kolkata: Krittibaash Prokashoni
Kunwar Narain, Parivesh Hum Tum, Allahabad: Bharti Bahandar, Leader Press; Hindi-language
Attilio Giuliani, editor, Novissimi, an anthology-cum-manifesto of five poets which, by 1965, was "increasingly regarded as the principal event in Italian poetry in recent times"
Ruy de Moura Belo, Aquele grande rio Eufrates ("That Great River, the Euphrates")
Herberto Hélder, A Colher na Boca ("The Spoon in the Mouth")
Mário Cesariny:
Poesia
Planisfério e Outros Poemas
María Victoria Atencia, Cañada de los ingleses
Miguel Hernández, a "complete" collection of poems (posthumous)
Gerardo Diego, Glosa a Villamediana
Anthologies in Spain
Jimenez Martos, editor, Nuevos poetas españoles, mostly on the work of the "Generation of '54"
Rafael Montesinos, editor, Poesía taurina contemporánea, including verse by Miguel Hernández, Diego and García Lorca
Roque Dalton, La ventana en rel rostro (El Salvador)
Hernando Domínguez de Camargo, Obras de Hernando Domínguez de Camargo (posthumous)
Octavio Paz, Libertad bajo palabra collected poems previously published from 1935 to 1958 in a volume using the title of an earlier book of his
Carlos A. Velazco, El corazón de silencio
Anthologies in Latin America
Anuario del cuento mexicano (Mexico)
Antonio Cisneros, Destierro, the author's first volume of poetry; Peru
Ginés de Albareda and F. Garfias, editors, Antología de la poesía hispanoamericana, Volume 8, devoted to Chilean poetry
Y Fridman, Di legende fun Neyakh Grin ("The Legend of Noah Green")
L. Fuks, editor, Schemuelbuch, a scholarly edition of this old Yiddish epic
Avrom Lev, a book of poetry
Leyb Olitsky, a book of poetry
Y Papernikov, a book of poetry
Rikude Potash, a book of poetry
Arye Shamri, Funken fun tikun ("Sparks of Salvation")
Avrom Sutzkever, Di gaystike erd ("The Spiritual Soil")
Efrayim Oyerbakh, Di vayse shtot ("The White City")
I. L. Kalushiner, a book of poetry
Yisroel Emiot, In nigun ayngehert ("Listening to the Melody")
David Sfard, A zegl in vint ("A Sail in the Wind") (Poland)
Dritëro Agolli, Hapat e mija në asfalt ("My steps on the pavement"), Albania
Simin Behbahani, Marmar ("Marble"), Persia
Syed Shamsul Haque, Ekoda Ek Rajje ("Once upon a time in a kingdom"), Bengali published in East Pakistan
Alexander Mezhirov, Ветровое стекло ("Windshield" or "Windscreen"), Russia, Soviet Union
Nizar Qabbani, My Beloved, Syrian poet writing in Arabic
Klaus Rifbjerg, Camouflage, Denmark
Eric Gregory Award: Adrian Mitchell, Geoffrey Hill
Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress (later the post would be called "Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress"): Louis Untermeyer appointed this year.
Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: Phyllis McGinley: Times Three: Selected Verse From Three Decades
Bollingen Prize: Yvor Winters
National Book Award for Poetry: Randall Jarrell, The Woman at the Washington Zoo
Fellowship of the Academy of American Poets: Horace Gregory
Lenin Prize (Soviet Union): Alexander Tvardovsky for Za Dalyu dal ... ("Space Beyond Space")
Canada: Governor General's Award, poetry or drama: Acis in Oxford, Robert Finch
Death years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article:
May 2 – Lisa Bellear (died 2006), Australian indigenous poet
May 17 – Han Dong 韩东, Chinese poet and novelist
August 14 – Steven Heighton, Canadian novelist and poet
September 13 – Tom Holt, English historical and comic novelist and poet
November 9 – Jackie Kay, Scottish poet and novelist
December 20 – Sion Sono 園 子温, Japanese controversial avant-garde poet and filmmaker
Also:
Ifor ap Glyn, Welsh-language poet
Gitaujali Badruddin
Chen Kehua, Chinese poet and ophthalmologist in Taiwan
Denise Duhamel, American
Maggie Helwig, English-born Canadian novelist, poet and Anglican priest
Swadesh Roy, Bengali journalist, essayist, poet, novelist and short-story writer
Birth years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article:
April 30 – Jessie Redmon Fauset, 79 (born 1885), American novelist and poet
June 26 – Kenneth Fearing, 58 (born 1902), American poet and writer
September 27 – Hilda Doolittle, aka "H.D.", 75 (born 1886), American poet, novelist and memoirist, of a heart attack
December 24 – Robert Hillyer, 66 (born 1895), American poet
