March 29 (Easter Day) – Adrian Mitchell reads "To Whom It May Concern" to Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament protesters in Trafalgar Square, London.John Berryman's 77 Dream Songs, published in 1964, won the 1965 Pulitzer Prize in Poetry.Among the many books of poetry published this year, Robert Lowell's For the Union Dead is greeted with particular acclaim. The book was received with "general jubilation" from critics, according to Raymond Walters Jr., associate editor of the New York Times Book Review. "These verses [...] convinced many observers that its author was now the pre-eminent U.S. poet."The publication in the United Kingdom of The Complete Poems of D. H. Lawrence in two volumes is "a major publishing event of 1964".A surprise best-seller in the United Kingdom was John Lennon's In His Own Write, a compendium of nonsense poems, sketches and drawings by one of the Beatles.The "Shakespeare Quartercentenary", the 400th anniversary of the birth of William Shakespeare, is celebrated in lecture series, exhibitions, dramatic and musical programs and other events as well as special publications (Shakespeare issues and supplements), reprinting of standard works on the playwright and poet, and even commemorative postage stamps. The American Association of Advertising Agencies even suggests that Shakespeare quotations should be used in ads. Celebrations of various sorts occur in the United Kingdom, the United States, France, Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark, Finland and elsewhere.The 75th birthday of Anna Akhmatova, who was severely persecuted during the Stalin era, was celebrated with special observances and the publication of new collections of her verse.Russian poet Joseph Brodsky is convicted of "parasitism" in a Soviet court, which sends him into exile near the Arctic Circle.Poetry Australia literary magazine foundedListed by nation where the work was first published and again by the poet's native land, if different; substantially revised works listed separately:
Geoffrey Dutton, The Literature of AustraliaGwen Harwood, Poems, Australian poet published in the United KingdomT. Inglis Moore, and Douglas Stewart, editors, Poetry in Australia, 2 volumes, Sydney: Angus and RobertsonOodgeroo Noonuccal (Kath Walker), We Are Going: Poems, first book of verse by an Aboriginal AustralianDavid Rowbotham, All the Room, Australian poetry prize winnerR. Ward, Penguin Book of Australian Ballads, anthologyJudith Wright, Five Senses selected poems; Australian poet published in the United KingdomEarle Birney:Near False Creek Mouth. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart.Two Poems. Halifax.George Bowering, Points on the GridLeonard Cohen, Flowers for Hitler, including "The Only Tourist in Havana Turns his Thoughts Homeward"John Robert Colombo, Poesie / Poetry 64Pierre Coupey, Bring Forth the CowardsPhyllis Gotlieb, Within the Zodiac, her first workJohn Glassco, A Point of SkyIrving Layton, The Laughing RoosterDorothy Livesay, The Colour of God's Face.Gwendolyn MacEwen, The Rising FireEli Mandel, Black and Secret ManF. R. Scott, Events and Signals. Toronto: Ryerson Press.Raymond Souster, The Colour of the Times, 250 poems collected from a dozen of his previous volumes. Governor General's Award 1964.David Wevill, Birth of a Shark, a first collection; Canadian poet published in the United KingdomPoetry of Mid-Century 1940/1960, edited by Milton Wilson, included the work of 10 well-known Canadian poets:Poésie/Poetry 64, edited by John Robert Colombo and Jacques Godbout;an anthology of lesser-known poets, including:Criticism, scholarship and biography in Canada
Northrop Frye, Fables of Identity, 16 essays on "various works and authors in the central tradition of English mythopoeic poetry"Roy Daniells, Milton, Mannerism and BaroqueMonika Varma, Dragonflies Draw Flame ( Poetry in English ), Calcutta: Writers Workshop , India.Lawrence Bantleman, Man's Fall and Woman's Fall out (according to another source the last word in the title is "Fallout"), , Calcutta: Writers Workshop , India.M. R. Bhagavan, Poems ( Poetry in English ), Calcutta: Writers Workshop , India.Mohinder Monga, Through the Night, Raptly ( Poetry in English ), Calcutta: Writers Workshop , India.Leslie de Noronha, Poems ( Poetry in English ), Calcutta: Writers Workshop , India.G. V. Subbaramayya, Lover's Fulfilment and Other Poems, Tenali: Rishi PublicationsViresh Chander Dutt, The Voice of Ancient India, Calcutta: Kalyan Chander DuttA. K. Ramanujan, translator, Fifteen Tamil Love Poems, translated from the original Tamil; , Calcutta: Writers Workshop , IndiapNew Zealand
Fleur Adcock, Eye of the Hurricane, Wellington: Reed (New Zealand poet who moved to England in 1963)Charles Brasch: Ambulando: Poems, Christchurch: Caxton PressAlistair Campbell, Wild Honey, London: Oxford University PressSamuel Beckett, translator from the original French, "Comment C'est 1961, How It Is, Irish poet published in the United KingdomSir John Betjeman, Ring of BellsThomas Blackburn, A Breathing SpaceDonald Davie, Events and Wisdoms, London: Routledge and Kegan Paul (Middletown, Connecticut: Wesleyan University Press, 1965)Patric Dickinson, This Cold UniverseKeith Douglas, Selected Poems (posthumous), edited by Ted HughesLawrence Durrell, Selected Poems: 1953–1963, edited by Alan RossGavin Ewart, LondonersIan Hamilton Finlay, Telegrams from My Windmill, Edinburgh: Wild Hawthorn PressZulfikar Ghose, The Loss of India by a Pakistani, published in the United KingdomRobert Graves, Man Does, Woman IsIan Hamilton, Pretending Not to SleepTony Harrison, EarthworksGwen Harwood, Poems, Australian poet published in the United KingdomPhilip Hobsbaum, The Place's FaultElizabeth Jennings, RecoveriesPatrick Kavanagh, Collected Poems, London: MacGibbon and KeePhilip Larkin, The Whitsun Weddings, London: Faber and FaberD. H. Lawrence, The Complete Poems in two volumes (posthumous), edited by Vivian de Sola Pinto and F. Warren Roberts, with poems in chronological order and an introduction by Pinto.John Lennon, In His Own Write, containing nonsensical poems, sketches and drawings; a best seller by the member of the BeatlesC. S. Lewis, PoemsDouglas Livingstone, Sjambok by a Rhodesian poetEdward Lucie-Smith, Confessions and HistoriesJohn Masefield, Old Raiger, and Other VerseAdrian Mitchell, PoemsPeter Porter, Poems Ancient & Modern, Lowestoft, Suffolk: Scorpion PressPeter Redgrove, At the White MonumentNathaniel Tarn, Old Savage/Young CityR.S. Thomas:The Bread of Truth"Words and the Poet" (lecture)David Wevill, Birth of a Shark, a first collection; Canadian poet published in the United KingdomJudith Wright, Five Senses selected poems; Australian poet published in the United KingdomCriticism, scholarship, and biography in the United Kingdom
Poetry of the Thirties, a Penguin Books anthology; including the last published appearance during the lifetime of W. H. Auden of his, "September 1, 1939", a poem which he was famous for, but which he hated; the poem appeared in the edition with a note about this and four other early poems: "Mr. W. H. Auden considers these five poems to be trash which he is ashamed to have written."G. Hartmann, Wordsworth's Poetry, 1787-1814Conrad Aiken, A Seizure of LimericksA. R. Ammons, Expressions of Sea LevelTed Berrigan, The Sonnets Holt, Rinehart & WinstonWendell Berry, The Broken GroundJohn Berryman, 77 Dream Songs, New York: Farrar, Straus & GirouxJoseph Payne Brennan, Nightmare NeedJohn Ciardi, Person to PersonPeter Davison, The Breaking of the DayJames Dickey:HelmetsTwo Poems of the AirEd Dorn:Hands Up!, Totem PressFrom Gloucester Out, Matrix PressHorace Gregory, Collected PoemsDonald Hall, A Roof of Tiger Lilies, New York: VikingRobert Duncan, Roots and BranchesRichard Eberhart, The QyuarryJean Garrigue, Country Without MapsDonald Hall, A Roof of Tiger LiliesLeRoi Jones, The Dead Lecturer, New York: Grove PressGalway Kinnell, Flower Herding on Mount Monadnock, Boston: Houghton MifflinDenise Levertov, O Taste and See, New York: New DirectionsRobert Lowell, For the Union Dead New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (for more information, see "Events" section, above)William Meredith, The Wreck of the Thresher and Other PoemsVladimir Nabokov, translator, Eugene Onegin by Aleksandr PushkinFrank O'Hara, Lunch PoemsElder Olson, Collected PoemsEzra Pound, editor, Confucius to Cummings: An Anthology of PoetryTheodore Roethke (both posthumous):The Far Field, Garden City, New York: DoubledaySequence, Sometimes MetaphysicalKenneth Rexroth:Natural Numbers(translator), 100 Poems from the JapaneseTheodore Roethke, The Far Field, published posthumously (died 1963)M. L. Rosenthal, Blue Boy on SkatesE. N. Sargent, The African BoyAnne Sexton, Selected PoemsKarl Shapiro, The Bourgeois Poet, New York: Random HouseJack Spicer, LanguageMark Strand, Sleeping With One Eye OpenRobert Sward, Kissing the Dancer and Other PoemsMark Van Doren, Collected and New PoemsDonald Wandrei, Poems for MidnightCriticism, scholarship, and biography in the United States
Phyllis Grosskurth, John Addington Symonds: A Biography (Canadian scholar publishing in the United States), winner of the 1964 Governor General's Awards in CanadaHugh Kenner, editor, Seventeenth Century Poetry: The Schools of Donne & Jonson, Canadian writing and published in the United StatesVladimir Nabokov, Notes on Prosody, Russian native writing and published in the United StatesKofi Awoonor, Rediscovery and Other Poems, Ghanaian poet published in GhanaSamuel Beckett, translator from the original French, Comment C'est 1961, How It Is, Irish poet published in the United KingdomDenis Devlin, Collected Poems, including "Renewal by Her Element" (see also Collected Poems 1989), IrelandZulfikar Ghose, The Loss of India Pakistani poet, published in the United KingdomEoghan Ó Tuairisc, IrelandThe Weekend of Dermot and GraceLux Aeterna, including Hiroshima MassListed by nation where the work was first published and again by the poet's native land, if different; substantially revised works listed separately:
Inger Christensen, GraessKlaus Rifbjerg, PortraetKnud Holst, TransJørgen Sonne, KreseMarie-Claire Blais, Existences, Québec: Éditions GarneauJacques Brault, MémoirePaul Chamberland, L'Afficheur hurleGilbert Choquette, L'Honneur de vivreCécile Cloutier, Cuivre et soiesPaul-Marie Lapointe, Pour les âmesFernand Oullette, Le Soliel sous la mortLouis Aragon, near simultaneous publication of four works:Series of discussions with F. Crémieux on the philosophical and literary ideas of the poetIl ne m'est Paris que d'Elsa, a collection of poemsa "lengthy and ambitious historical poem"Le Voyage en HollandeRené Char:Commune PresenceLes MatinauxMichel Deguy, BiefsJean Follain, Appareil de la terreRoger Giroux, L'arbre temps, winner of the Prix Max Jacob, the author's sole published book during his lifetimeEdmond Jabès, Le Livre de YukelA. Marissel, La Nouvelle parabole, winner of the first Louise Labé PrizePierre Oster, La Grande AnnéeMarcelin Pleynet, Paysages en deux suivis de Les Lignes de la proseJean-Pierre Richard, Onze Etudes sur la poésie moderne, criticismDenis Roche, Les Idées centésimales de Miss ElanizeJ. L. Bédouin, editor, La Poésie surréalisteG. E. Clancier, editor, Panorama critique de Chénier á BaudelaireErich Fried, WarngedichteHans Magnus Enzensberger, BlindenschriftWalter Höllerer, Der andere GastGünter Eich, Zu den AktenYaakov Cahan, the collected worksEsther Rab, Shirai-Leah Goldberg, Im ha-Laila Hazeh ("On This Night")Daliah Rivikovich, Horef Kasheh ("Hard Winter")Dan Pagis, Shehut Mauhereth ("Belated Lingering")David Avidan, Masheu Bishvil Mishehu ("Something for Someone")Amir Gilboa, Kehulim Vaadumin ("The Blues and the Reds")Eldad Andan, Lo Bishmahot kalot ("Not with Joys Lightly")B. Mordecai, Nefilim ba-Aretz ("Giants on Earth")Aaron Zeitlin, Min ha-Adam Vomaila ("From Man and Higher"), comprising two dramatic poems by this American publishing in IsraelChaim Brandwein, be-Tzel ha-Argaman ("In the Shadow of the Purple"), a first book of poems by this American publishing in IsraelAbraham Regelson, Hakukot Otiotaich ("Engraved Are Thy Letters"), by an American poet living in IsraelBartolo Cattafi, L'osso, l'animaCorrado Costa, Pseudobaudelaire avant-garde poetryEugenio Miccini, Sonetto minore avant-garde poetryElio Pagliarani, La lezione di fisica avant-garde poetryPier Paulo Pasolini, Poesia in forma di rosaLamberto Pignotti, La nozione dell'uomo avant-garde poetryAntonio Porta, Aprire avant-garde poetryEdoardo Sanguineti, Triperuno avant-garde poetryCesare Vivaldi, Dettagli avant-garde poetryGruppo '63 (published this spring), an anthology of poems, critical essays, and passages from plays and novels by writers who had rebelled in recent years against standard conventions in literature.Ernst Orvil, KontaktAstrid Hjertenaes Andersen, Frokost 'i det grønneHarald Sverdrup, Sang til solenBella Akhmadulina, "published an extensive sheaf of nonpolitical, impressionistic verse", according to Harrison E. SalisburyAlexander Mezhirov, Прощание со снегом ("Farewell to the Snow"), Russia, Soviet UnionAndrei Voznesensky, "a number of poems, including several devoted to Lenin", according to Harrison E. SalisburyLupe Cotrim Garaude, O poeta e o mundo, her fourth collectionJorge Carrera Andrade, Floresta de los Guacamayos (Ecuador), published in Nicaragua while he was ambassador to the United StatesJorge Luis Borges, El otro, el mismo (Argentina)Gonzalo Rojas, Contra la muerte (Chile)Pablo Neruda, Memorial de Isla Negra (Chile), the first of his 5-volume poetic memoirRoque Vallejos, Los arcángeles ebrios (Paraguay)Sarah Bollo (Uruguay):Diana transfiguradaTierra y CieloAnthologies
Instituto Torcuato Di Tella, Poesía argentina (sic), including selections from 10 Argentinian poets, most born in the 1920s or laterOscar Echeverri Mejía and Alfonso Bonilla-Naar, editors, 21 años de poesía colombiana (sic), with poems from the more prominent Colombian poets in the two decades from 1942 to 1963Criticism, scholarship, and biography in Latin America
Raúl Silva Castro, Pablo Neruda, an analysis of his poetryJorge Carrera Andrade, Interpretación de Rubén Darío (Nicaragua)Luis Alberto Cabrales, Rubén Darío, breve biografía (Nicaragua)Rubén Darío periodista, a collection of his journalism compiled by the Nicaragua Ministry of Public EducationJorge Guillén, TrébolesJosé García Nieto, La hora undécimaGerardo Diego, La suerte o la muerteFernando Quiñones, En vida, winner of the Leopoldo Panero Prize by the Instituto de Cultura HispánicaCriticism, scholarship and biography in Spain
Gabriel Celaya, Exploración de la poesíaJosé Francisco Cirré, La poesía de José Moreno VillaBooks published for the centenary year of Miguel de Unamuno (died 1936), an essayist, novelist, poet, playwright and philosopher:Manuel García Blanco, América y UnamunoJulio César Chaves, Unamuno y AméricaJulio García Morejón, Unamuno y PortugalSebastián de la Nuez, Unamuno en CanariasRicardo Gullón, Autobiografías de UnamunoMordkhay gebirtig, a new edition of the poet's worksItskhok Katzenelson, a new edition of the poet's worksAbraham Sutzkever, a two-volume edition of the poet's worksJoseph Rubinstein, Khurbn Polyn ("Polish Jewry: a Lament")Binem Heler, a book of poemsYankev Zonshayn, a book of poemsP. Tsibulski, a book of poemsI. Papiernikov, a book of poemsI. Manik, a book of poemsI. Goykhberg, a book of poemsRosa Gutman, a book of poemsAleph Katz, a book of poemsBreyten Breytenbach, Die ysterkoei moet sweet ("The Iron Cow Must Sweat"), South African in AfrikaansErnst Enno, Väike luuleraamat, EstoniaLars Forstell, Röster (Sweden)Ismail Kadare, Përse mendohen këto male ("What Are These Mountains Musing On?"), AlbaniaEeva Liisa Manner, Niin vaihtuivat vuoden ajat (Finland)Sean O Riordain, Brosna, including "Claustrophobia", "Reo" and "Fiabhras", Gaelic-language, IrelandRituraj, Main Angiras, Alwar: Kavita Prakashan; India, Hindi-languageHijam Anganhal Singh, Khamba Thoibi Sherireng, abdidged form of the popular Khamba Thoibi folk ballad, sung on festive occasions and about the last incarnation of Khamba and Thoibi; one of the first epics in modern Meitei poetry; written in 1940 but first published this year; IndiaArvo Turtiainen, Runoja 1934-1964 (Finland)Grace Leven Prize for Poetry: David Rowbotham, All the Room1964 Governor General's Awards:No poetry award for English this yearPoetry award (French): Gratien Lapointe, Ode au Saint-LaurentEric Gregory Award: Robert Nye, Ken Smith, Jean Symons, Ted WalkerQueen's Gold Medal for Poetry: R. S. ThomasConsultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress (later the post would be called "Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress"): Reed Whittemore appointed this year.National Book Award for Poetry: John Crowe Ransom, Selected PoemsPulitzer Prize for Poetry: Louis Simpson: At The End Of The Open RoadFellowship of the Academy of American Poets: Elizabeth BishopPresidential Medal of Freedom awarded by President Lyndon Johnson to 30 people, including Carl SandburgDanish Academy's literature prize: Erik Knudsen, a poet and playwrightCritics' Prize for Poetry (Spain): María Elvira LacaciLeopoldo Panero Prize, given by the Instituto de Cultura Hispánica (Spain): Fernando Quiñones, for En vidaFebruary 18 – David Biespiel, American poet, editor and criticMay 7 – Kathy Shaidle, Canadian author, columnist and poetJuly 11 – Craig Charles, English actor, presenter and performance poetAlso:Rafael Campo, gay Cuban-American poet, doctor and authorCatherine Graham, English poetBeth Gylys, American poet and professorBirth years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article:
January 22 – Zora Cross (born 1890), Australian poetMarch 12 – Abbas Al Akkad عباس محمود العقاد (born 1889), Egyptian, Arabic-language writer and poet, a founder of the Divan school of poetryApril 5 – Tatsuji Miyoshi 三好達治 (born 1900), Japanese, Showa period literary critic, editor and poetApril 26 – E. J. Pratt, 81 (born 1882), Canadian poetMay 5 – Nagata Mikihiko 長田幹彦 (born 1887), Japanese, Showa period poet, playwright and screenwriterJune 7 – Takamure Itsue 高群逸枝 (born 1894), Japanese poet, writer, feminist, anarchist, ethnologist and historianSeptember 18 – Clive Bell, 83 (born 1881), English criticOctober 10 – Oscar Williams, 64 (born 1900), American poet and anthologistDecember 9 – Dame Edith Sitwell, 77 (born 1887), English poet and critic, heart attack 