May 30 – Composer Benjamin Britten's War Requiem, incorporating settings of Wilfred Owen's poems, is premièred for the consecration of the new Coventry Cathedral.
September – Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath separate.
October
Beginning this month, Sylvia Plath experiences a great burst of creativity, writing most of the poems on which her reputation will rest in what will be the last few months of her life, including many which will be published in Ariel and Winter Trees.
Dame Edith Sitwell reads from her poetry at a concert at Royal Festival Hall in London given in honor of her 75th birthday.
Writers in the Soviet Union this year are allowed to publish criticism of Joseph Stalin and are given more freedom generally, although many are severely criticized for doing so. The poet Yevgeny Yevtushenko, in the poem, The Heirs of Stalin, writes that more guards should be placed at Stalin's tomb, "lest Stalin rise again, and with Stalin the past". He also condemns anti-Semitism in the Soviet Union. His poetry readings attract hundreds and thousands of enthusiastic young people, to the point where police are often summoned to preserve order and disperse the crowds long after midnight. Other young poets also go beyond the previous limits of Soviet censorship: Andrei Voznesensky, Robert Rozhdestvensky, and Bella Akhmadulina (who has divorced Yevtushenko). Aleksandr Tvardovsky, editor of the literary monthly Novy Mir, supports many of the young writers. By the end of the year, the young writers have gained power in the official writers' unions which control much of the literary culture of the Soviet Union, and some publications which had attacked them are printing their work. American poet Robert Frost visits Russian poet Anna Akhmatova in her dacha.
Michigan Quarterly Review is founded.
Listed by nation where the work was first published and again by the poet's native land, if different; substantially revised works listed separately:
R. D. Fitzgerald, Southmost Twelve, Grace Leven Prize for Poetry
Chris Wallace-Crabbe, Eight Metropolitan Poems, Adelaide: Australian Letters
Earle Birney, Ice Cod Bell or Stone. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart.
Wilson MacDonald, *Pugwash. Toronto: Pine Tree Publishing.
John Newlove, The Things which Are
Alfred Purdy, Poems for All the Annettes
James Reaney, Twelve Letters to a Small Town. Governor General's Award 1962.
A. J. M. Smith, Collected Poems
F. R. Scott, St-Denys Garneau & Anne Hebert: Translations/Traductions. Translated by F. R. Scott. Vancouver: Klanak Press.
Raymond Souster, A Local Pride. Toronto: Contact Press.
Raymond Souster, Place of Meeting
Wilfred Watson, The Sea is Also a Garden
Irving Layton, editor, Love Where the Nights Are Long
Editors of the Tamarack Review, a selection from its past issues, The First Five Years, including poetry
Biography, criticism and scholarship
John Glassco, The Journal of Hector de Saint-Denys Garneau (translation)
Canadian critics and poets, Masks of Poetry
Adil Jussawalla, Land's End ( Poetry in English ), Calcutta: Writers Workshop, India.
Lawrence Bantleman, Graffiti ( Poetry in English ), Calcutta: Writers Workshop, India.
M. P. Bhaskaran, The Dancer and the Ring ( Poetry in English ), Calcutta: Writers Workshop, India.
Dannie Abse, Poems, Golders Green, including "The Abandoned", London: Hutchinson
George Barker, The View From a Blind I
Edmund Blunden, A Hong Kong House
Ronald Bottrall, Collected Poems
Tony Connor, With Love Somehow, London: Oxford University Press
Patrick Creagh, A Row of Pharaohs
Allen Curnow, A Small Room with Large Windows (Oxford University Press), selected poems by this New Zealand poet published in the United Kingdom
C. Day-Lewis, The Gate, including "Not Proven" and "The Disabused"
T. S. Eliot, Collected Poems 1909–1962
D. J. Enright, Addictions, London: Chatto and Windus with Hogarth Press
Roy Fuller, Collected Poems 1936-1961, London: André Deutsch
Robert Graves, New Poems 1962
Thom Gunn, Fighting Terms, a revision of a collection from the 1950s including "My Sad Captains"
Thom Gunn and Ted Hughes, Selected poems by Thom Gunn and Ted Hughes, Faber
Richard Kell, Control Tower
Thomas Kinsella, Downstream, Irish poet published in the United Kingdom
Peter Levi, Water, Rock and Sand
Norman MacCaig, A Round of Applause, London: Chatto and Windus with Hogarth Press
Christopher Middleton, Torse 3
Ewart Milne, A Garland for the Green, Irish poet published in the UK
Vernon Scannell, A Sense of Danger
Dame Edith Sitwell, The Outcasts
Stevie Smith, Selected Poems
Jon Stallworthy, Out of Bounds
R. S. Thomas, The Bread of Truth
Anthony Thwaite, The Owl in the Tree
J. R. R. Tolkien, The Adventures of Tom Bombadil, and Other Verses from the 'Red Book'
Charles Tomlinson, A Peopled Landscape
Derek Walcott, In a Green Night the "most striking" first collection of poetry of 1962, according to Howard Sergeant, editor of Outposts (writing for publication in 1963). Walcott had already gained recognition with his plays.
Vernon Watkins, Affinities
T. H. White, Verses
Al Alvarez, editor, The New Poetry an anthology that provoked controversy with its omissions and inclusions
James Reeves, editor, Georgian Poetry
Brother Antoninus, The Hazards of Holiness, 1957-1960
John Ashbery, The Tennis Court Oath
Robert Bly, Silence in the Snowy Fields, Middletown, Connecticut: Wesleyan University Press
Kay Boyle, Collected Poems
Gregory Corso, Long Live Man
Robert Creeley, For Love: Poems 1950-1960, collected lyrics from his seven previous volumes, New York: Scribner's
James Dickey, Drowning With Others
William Everson (also known as Brother Antoninus), The Hazards of Holiness, Garden City, New York: Doubleday
William Faulkner, Prose and Poetry, fiction, nonfiction, verse
Ian Hamilton Finlay, The Dancers Inherit the Party, Ventura California an dWorcester, England: Migrant Press* Robert Creeley, For Love: Poems 1950-1960, New York: Scribner's British poet
Robert Frost, In the Clearing, his first collection of new poems in 15 years
Paul Goodman, The Lordly Hudson: Collected Poems, New York: Macmillan
Robert Hayden, A Ballad of Remembrance
John Hollander, Movie-Going and Other Poems
Richard Howard, Quantities
Weldon Kees, Collected Poems, published posthumously
Hugh Kenner, editor, T. S. Eliot: A Collection of Critical Essays (Prentice-Hall), Canadian writing and published in the United States; criticism
Kenneth Koch, Thank You and Other Poems
Denise Levertov, The Jacob's Ladder
Hugh MacDiarmid, Collected Poems, New York: Macmillan, Briton publishing in the United States
Norman Mailer, Deaths for the Ladies
James Merrill, Water Street
W. S. Merwin, The Life of Lazarillo de Tormes
Christopher Middleton, torse 3, New York: Harcourt, Brace
Ogden Nash, Everyone But Thee and Me, light verse
Howard Nemerov, The Next Room of the Dream, University of Chicago Press
Sylvia Plath, The Colossus and Other Poems
Charles Reznikoff, By the Waters of Manhattan: Selected Verse
David Ross, Three Ages of Lake Light, his first book of poems
Muriel Rukeyser, Waterlily Fire: Poems 1935-1962,
James Schevill, Private Dooms and Public Destinations: Poems 1945-1962, Denver: Alan Swallow
Winfield Townley Scott, Collected Poems
Anne Sexton, All My Pretty Ones, including "The Truth the Dead Know", Boston: Houghton Mifflin
Edith Shiffert, In Open Woods, her first book of poems
William Stafford, Traveling Through the Dark, New York: Harper & Row
Diane Wakoski, Coins and Coffins
Theodore Weiss, Gunsight, New York University Press
Reed Whittemore, The Boy from Iowa
William Carlos Williams, Pictures from Brueghel and Other Poems
Criticism, scholarship and biography in the United States
Karl Shapiro, Prose Keys to Modern Poetry
Eavan Boland, 23 Poems, Ireland
Ewart Milne, A Garland for the Green, Irish poet published in the UK
Kendrick Smithyman, Inheritance, New Zealand
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:
Gérard Bessette, Poèmes temporels
Gilles Hénault, Sémaphore
Yves Bonnefoy, Anti-Platon, France
André du Bouchet, Dans la chaleur vacante
René Char, La Parole en archipel
Jean Cocteau, La Requiem
Jean-Paul de Dadelsen, Jonas, published posthumously (died 1957)
Pierre Emmanuel, Evangéliaire
André Frénaud, Il n'y a pas de paradis
Jean Follain, Poèmes et Pros choisis, displaying some similarities to haiku
Jean Grosjean, Apocalypse
Pierre Jean Jouve, Moires
Stéphane Mallarmé, Pour un tombeau d'Anatole, an abandoned and previously unpublished work, consisting of notes and drafts of an elegy the poet expected to write on his dead son (posthumous); edited by J. P. Richard
Robert Marteau, Royaumes
Henri Michaux, Vents et poussières, Paris: Flinker
Saint-John Perse:
Hommage à Rabindranath Tagore, Liège: Editions Dynamo
L'ordre des oiseaux, Paris: Sociéte d'Editions d'art; republished as Oiseaux, Paris: Sociéte d'Editions d'art
Valéry Larbaud; ou, L'Honneur littéraire, Liège: Editions Dynamo
Marcelin Pleynet, Provisoires Amants des nègres
Francis Ponge, Le Grand Recueil in three volumes
Jean Claude Renard:
Incantation du temps
Incantation des eaux
Michel Sager, XXI poèmes nocturnes
Criticism and scholarship
J. P. Richard, L'Univers imaginaire de Mallarmé
G. Benn, Lyrik des expressionistischen Jahrzehnts, anthology
Marie Luise Kaschnitz, Dein Schweigen-meine Stimmen
Hilde Domin, Rückkehr der Schiffe
Wilhelm Lehmann, Abschiedslust, Gedichte aus den Jahren 1957-1961, 37 poems
Hans Magnus Enzensberger, Viele schöne Kinderreime, 777 poems for children
Anonymous author from the Soviet Union, Zion Halo Tishali, poems originally written in Russian and clandestinely sent to Israel, edited and translated by A. Shlonsky and M. Sharett
Avigdor Hameiri, Belivnat ha-Sapir ("Clear-cut Sapphire"), collected poems
Levi Ben-Amittai, Matana Mimidbar ("Gift of the Desert")
Yitzahak Ogen, Shirim ("Poems")
P. Elad-Lander, Ke'raiah ha-Sadeh ("As the Fragrance of the Field")
A. Halfi, Mul Kohavim ve-Afar ("Against Stars and the Dust")
A. Meyrowitz, Avnai Bait ("Stones of a House")
D. Avidan, Shirai Lahatz ("Poems of Pressure")
Uri Bernstein, Beoto ha-Heder Beoto ha-Or ("In the Same Room, In the Same Light")
T. Carmi, Nehash ha-Nehoshet ("Brass Serpent")
J. Lichtenbaum, Shiratenu ("Our Poetry"), a two-volume anthology of Hebrew poetry from the end of the 18th century
J. J. Schwartz, Kentucky, the only volume of Hebrew poetry published in the United States, according to The Britannica Book of the Year 1963 (covering events of 1962)
Listed in alphabetical order by first name:
Barnardino Evaristo Mendes, also known as B. E. Mendes, Goenchem Git, Konkani
Gulzar, Jaanam, New Delhi: Vanagi Publications; Urdu
Maheswar Neog, Asamiya Sahityar Ruprekha, Assamese-language
Ratnadhwaj Josi, Hamro Kavya Paramparama Usaiko Lagi ("Our Poetic Tradition"), criticism, Nepali
A. Gatto, Carlomagno nella grotta
Eugenio Montale, Satura, published in a private edition, Verona: Oficina Bodoni
Cesare Pavese, Poesie edite e inedite, edited by Italo Calvino, Turin: Einaudi (posthumous)
Maria Luisa Spaziani, Il gong
P. Volponi, Memoriale
Héctor Rojas Herazo, Mascando las tinieblas en el odio (Colombia)
Alberto Hidalgo, Historia peruana verdadera
José Martí, Versos (Cuban), posthumous; with an introduction by Eugenio Florit
Pablo Neruda, a bilingual anthology of his selected verse; with an introduction by Louis Monguió
Rubén Bonifaz Nuño, Fuego de pobres (Mexico)
Carlos Pellicer, Material poético (Mexico)
Jorge Guillén, Lenguaje y poesía
A collaboration of 50 poets and 14 illustrators, Versos para Antonio Machado (published in France)
Eliyohu Bokher, Bovo-bukh ("Buovo d'Antona") (posthumous) a 16th-century epic poem translated into modern Yiddish by Moyshe Knaphes
Yaykev Glatshteyn, Di freyd fun yidishn vort ("The Joy of the Yiddish World)
N. I. Gotlib, a book of poetry
Chaim Grade, Der mench fun fayer ("The Man of Fire")
Rokhl Korn, a book of poetry
Kadye Molodovsky, editor, Lider fun khurbn ("Poems of the Catastrophe"), an anthology in which emphasized the theme of the Holocaust
Shloyme Shenhud, a book of poetry
A. N. Shtensl, a book of poetry
I. J. Shvarts, a book of poetry
I. Taubes, a book of poetry
Meyer Ziml Tkach, a book of poetry
Shneyer Vaserman, a book of poetry
Avrom Zak, a book of poetry
Reyzl Zhykhlinsky, a book of poetry
Bella Akhmadulina, Struna ("The String"), Soviet Union
Ruy de Moura Belo, O problema da habitação—alguns aspectos ("The Quandary of Living: Some Aspects'", Portugal
Inger Christensen, Lys: digte ("Light"), Denmark
Wisława Szymborska: Sól ("Salt"), Poland
Eric Gregory Award: Donald Thomas, James Simmons, Brian Johnson, Jenny Joseph
Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry: Christopher Fry
Bollingen Prize: John Hall Wheelock and Richard Eberhart
National Book Award for Poetry: Alan Dugan, Poems
Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: Alan Dugan: Poems
Fellowship of the Academy of American Poets: John Crowe Ransom
Yale Series of Younger Poets Competition: Jack Gilbert: Monolithos
Grand Prix National des Lettres (France): Pierre Jean Jouve
Grand prix de littérature de l'Académie française (France): Luc Estang, for his work as a whole
Australia: Grace Leven Prize for Poetry, Southmost Twelve, R. D. Fitzgerald
Canada: Governor General's Award, poetry or drama: Twelve Letters to a Small Town and The Winter Sun and Other Plays, James Reaney
Canada: Governor General's Award, Poésie et théâtre: Les insolites et les violons de l'automne, Jacques Languirand
May 13 – Kathleen Jamie, Scottish poet and essayist
May 21 – Stacy Doris (died 2012), American poet writing in English and French
May 30 – Elizabeth Alexander, American poet
June 25 – Phill Jupitus, born Phillip Swan, English comedian and performance poet
October 9 – Durs Grünbein, German poet
August 25 – Taslima Nasrin, Bangladeshi-born poet, writer, physician and feminist
August 27 – Sjón, born Sigurjón Birgir Sigurðsson, Icelandic poet, lyricist and novelist
December 6 – Julia Kasdorf, American poet
December 31 – Machi Tawara 俵万智, Japanese writer, translator and poet
March 13 – Seyhan Erözçelik, Turkish poet (died 2011)
Also:
Paul Beatty, African-American poet and author
Glyn Maxwell, British poet and author
Jean Sprackland, English poet and essayist
Virgil Suárez, Cuban American poet and novelist
Birth years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article:
January 20 – Robinson Jeffers, 85 (born 1887), American poet and playwright
March 18 – George Sylvester Viereck, 77 (born 1884), American poet and novelist, as well as a pro-German propagandist during both World War I and World War II
May 26 – Wilfrid Wilson Gibson, 83 (born 1878), English poet
June 2 – Vita Sackville-West, 70 (born 1892), English novelist and poet
June 8 – William Stanley Braithwaite (born 1878), American poet
June 22 – John Holmes, 58, American educator and poet
July 27 – Richard Aldington, 70, English writer and poet
August 9 – Hermann Hesse, 95, Swiss novelist and poet in German
August 18 – Rosemary Carr Benét, 65(?), poet and widow of Stephen Vincent Benét
August 29 – Alan Mulgan (born 1881), New Zealand poet
September 2 – Natalia Negru, 79 (born 1882), Romanian poet
September 3 – E. E. Cummings, 67 (born 1894), American poet, of a stroke;
October 3 – Dakotsu Iida 飯田 蛇笏, commonly referred to as "Dakotsu", pen names of Takeji Iida 飯田 武治 (born 1885), Japanese haiku poet; trained under Takahama Kyoshi
November 3 – Ralph Hodgson, 91 (born 1871), English poet
December 3 – Dame Mary Gilmore, 97, Australian socialist, poet and journalist
