Raymond Souster founds the League of Canadian Poets
Philip Hobsbaum, who had founded The Belfast Group in Belfast, Northern Ireland, in 1963, departs for Glasgow, and the Belfast Group meetings lapsed for a while, but then was reconstituted in 1968 by Michael Allen, Arthur Terry, and Seamus Heaney. At one time or another, the grouping also includes Michael Longley, James Simmons, Paul Muldoon, Ciaran Carson, Stewart Parker, Bernard MacLaverty and the critic Edna Longley. Meetings will be held at Seamus and Marie Heaney's house on Ashley Avenue. The Belfast Group will last until 1972.
Russian poet Joseph Brodsky returns to Leningrad from the exile near the Arctic Circle where he had been sent when a Soviet court in 1964 convicted him of "parasitism".
Starting this year and continuing for a decade, Bulgarian censors prevent publication of works by Konstantin Pavlov, poet and screenwriter who was defiant against his country's communist regime; his popularity didn't wane, as Bulgarians clandestinely copied and read his poems.
Ted Hughes and Daniel Weissbort found Modern Poetry in Translation (MPT), a British journal focusing on the art of translating poetry. Later defunct, the magazine was relaunched in 2004 under editors David and Helen Constantine.
The journal L'éphémère founded in France; poets associated with it include Yves Bonnefoy, Jacques Dupin and André du Bouchet; it ceased publication in 1973
Listed by nation where the work was first published (and again by the poet's native land, if different); substantially revised works listed separately:
Margaret Avison, The Dumbfounding
Earle Birney, Selected Poems
Arthur Bourinot, Watcher of Men: selected poems (1947–66)
George Bowering, The Silver Wire
Leonard Cohen, The Parasites of Heaven
John Robert Colombo, Miraculous Montages
Robert Finch, Silverthorn Bush and Other Poems.
Lakshni Gill, During Rain I Plant Chrysanthemums
Ralph Gustafson, Sift in an Hourglass
George Johnston, Home Free
Gwendolyn MacEwen, A Breakfast for Barbarians
Richard Outram, Exultante Jubilee
Joe Rosenblatt, The LSD Leacock. Toronto: Coach House Press.
F. R. Scott, Selected Poems. Toronto: Oxford University Press.
A. J. M. Smith, and F. R. Scott, editors, The Oxford Book of Canadian Verse, second edition (see also, first edition 1958)
Raymond Souster, ed. New Wave Canada, anthology of seven young writers
Miriam Waddington, The Glass Trumpet
Nissim Ezekiel, Collected Poems ( Poetry in English ),
Arvind Krishna Mehrotra, Bharatmata: A Prayer ( Poetry in English ), an experimental work published by the author's own publishing house; Bombay: Ezra-Fakir Press
Dom Moraes, Beldam & Others ( Poetry in English )
Gieve Patel, Poems ( Poetry in English ), Mumbai: Nissim Ezekiel .
G. S. Sharat Chandra, Bharata Natyam Dancer and Other Poems ( Poetry in English ), Calcutta: Writers Workshop, India .
Leela Dharmaraj, Slum Silhouette and Other Poems ( Poetry in English ), Calcutta: Writers Workshop, India .
R. P. N. Sinha, editor, A Book of English Verse on Indian Soil, New Delhi: Orient Longmans
Ireland
Austin Clarke, Mnemosyne Lay in Dust, Dublin: Dolmen Press
Seamus Heaney, Death of a Naturalist, Faber & Faber, Northern Ireland poet published in the United Kingdom
Thomas Kinsella, Wormwood, Dublin: Dolmen Press; book widely available in the United Kingdom
Louis MacNeice, The Collected Poems of Louis MacNeice, edited by E. R. Dodds, including "Mayfly", "Snow", "Autumn Journal XVI", "Meeting Point", "Autobiography", "the Libertine", "Western Landscape", "Autumn Sequel XX", "The Once-in-Passing", "House on a Cliff", "Soap Suds", "The Suicide" and "Star-gazer", Faber and Faber, Irish poet published in the United Kingdom,
John Montague, All Legendary Obstacles, Dublin: Dolmen Press
W. H. Auden, English poet published in the United States:
About the House, first published in the United States, 1965
Collected Shorter Poems 1927–57
Karen Gershon, Selected Poems
Gavin Bantock, Christ
George Barker, Dreams of a Summer Night
John Betjeman, High and Low
Basil Bunting, Briggflatts
Angela Carter, Unicorn
Lawrence Durrell, The Ikons, and Other Poems
Tom Earley, A Welshman in Bloomsbury
Gavin Ewart, Pleasures of the Flesh
Elaine Feinstein, In a Green Eye, Goliard Press
Robert Graves, Collected Poems
J. C. Hall, The Burning Hare
Seamus Heaney, Death of a Naturalist, Faber & Faber, Northern Ireland poet published in the United Kingdom
Philip Hobsbaum, In Retreat
Christopher Isherwood, Exhumations, stories, articles and poetry; an English writer living in and published in the United States
Elizabeth Jennings, The Mind Has Mountains
Thomas Kinsella, Wormwood, Irish poet published in the United Kingdom
Philip Larkin, The North Ship
Richard Logue, Logue's ABC
Norman MacCaig, Surroundings
Louis MacNeice, The Collected Poems of Louis MacNeice, edited by E. R. Dodds, including "Mayfly", "Snow", "Autumn Journal XVI", "Meeting Point", "Autobiography", "the Libertine", "Western Landscape", "Autumn Sequel XX", "The Once-in-Passing", "House on a Cliff", "Soap Suds", "The Suicide" and "Star-gazer", Faber and Faber, Irish poet published in the United Kingdom,
Ruth Pitter, Still by Choice
Sir Herbert Read, Collected Poems, Horizon Press
Peter Redgrove, The Force and Other Poems, London: Routledge and Kegan Paul
Jon Silkin, New and Selected Poems
Stevie Smith, The Frog Prince, and Other Poems
Gillian Smyth, The Nitrogen Dreams of a Wide Girl
Gary Snyder, A Range of Poems, London: Fulcrum Press, American
R.S. Thomas, Pietà, Welsh
Anthony Thwaite and John Hollander publish the first anthology of double dactyls, Jiggery Pokery
Charles Tomlinson, American Scenes, and Other Poems, London: Macmillan
David Wevill, A Christ of the Ice Floes
A.R. Ammons, Northfield Poems
John Ashbery, Rivers and Mountains
Ted Berrigan, Some Things
Paul Blackburn,
16 Sloppy Haiku and a Lyric for Robert Reardon
Sing Song
translator, Poem of the Cid
Gwendolyn Brooks, We Real Cool
Robert Creeley, Poems 1950-1965
Robert Duncan, The Years as Catches
Randall Jarrell (died 1965), The Lost World (published posthumously)
Josephine Jacobsen, The Animal Inside
LeRoi Jones, Black Art
Stanley Kunitz, The Testing Tree
James Merrill, Nights and Days
W. S. Merwin, Collected Poems, New York: Atheneum
Sylvia Plath, Ariel, New York: Harper & Row (London: Faber and Faber 1965) American poet in the United Kingdom
A. K. Ramanujan, The Striders (Indian poet living in the United States)
Kenneth Rexroth, Collected Shorter Poems
Adrienne Rich, Necessities of Life, W. W. Norton & Company
Theodore Roethke, Roethke: Collected Poems
Anne Sexton, Live or Die
Louis Simpson, Selected Poems (West Indian poet living in the United States)
Gary Snyder, A Range of Poems, London: Fulcrum Press
William Stafford, The Rescued Year
Robert Penn Warren, Selected Poems, New and Old: 1923-1966
Louis Zukofsky, All: the collected short poems 1956–1964, W. W. Norton & Company
Wallace Stevens, Letters of Wallace Stevens (posthumous), edited by Holly Stevens (his daughter)
James K. Baxter, Pig Island Letters (New Zealand)
Louise Bennett, Jamaica Labrish, Jamaica
John Pepper Clark, A Reed in the Tide (Nigeria)
Keith Harrison, Points in a Journey (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:
Benny Anderson (poet), Portrætgalleri
Thorkild Bjørnvig, Vibrationer
Poul Borum, Dagslys
Jørgen Gustava Brandt, Der er æg i mit skæg (prose sketches and poetry)
Knud Holst, Samexistens
Henrik Nordbrandt, Digte ("Poems")
Bundgård Povlsen, Døgndrift
Finland
Paavo Haavikko, Puut, kaikki heidän vihreytensä, ("The Trees, All Their Greenness")
Eeva-Liisa Manner, Kirjoitettu kivi ("The Inscribed Stone"), poems and translations from contemporary Spanish poets
Pentti Saarikoski, Ääneen ("Out Loud")
Roger Brien:
Prométhée
Le Jour se lève
Roland Giguère, L'Age de la parole
Marie Laberge, D'un Cri à l'autre
Rina Lasnier, L'Arbre blanc
Suzanne Paradis, Le Visage offensé
Jean Royer, À patience d'aimer, Québec: Éditions-de-l'Aile
Gemma Tremblay, Cratères sous la niege
Louis Aragon:
Elégie a Pablo Neruda
Les Poetes
L. Brauquier, a book of poetry
P. Chabaneix, a book of poetry
René Char:
Recherche de la base et du sommet, Retour amont ("The Return Upland" or "The Return Upstream")
Retour Amont
Michel Déguy:
Actes
Ouï-dire
Pierre Emmanuel, Ligne de faîte
Andre Frenaud, Les Rois Mages, revised edition (first edition, 1943)
Pierre Emmanuel, pen name of Noël Mathieu, Ligne de faîte
Gérard Genette, Figures I, one of three volumes of a work of critical scholarship in poetics – general theory of literary form and analysis of individual works — the Figures volumes are concerned with the problems of poetic discourse and narrative in Stendhal, Flaubert and Proust and in Baroque poetry (see also Figures II 1969, Figures III 1972)
Eugène Guillevic, Avec
Robert Marteau, Travaux sur la terre
A. Miatlev, Thanathème
Eugenio Montale, Ossi di seppia, Le ocassioni, and La bufera e altro, translated by Patrice Angelini into French from the original Italian; Paris: Gallimard
Jean-Claude Renard, La Terre du sacré, received the 1966 Prix Sainte-Beuve
A. Richaud, Je ne suis pas mort
P. Seghers, Dialogue
J. Tortel, Les Villes ouvertes
Dominique Tron, Stéréophonies
Boris Vian, a book of poetry
R. Goffin, a book of poetry in the publishing series "Poètes d'Aujourd'hui", French language, published in Belgium
Günter Eich, Anlässe und Steingärten
Beda Allemann, editor, Ars poetica: Texte von Dichtern des 20. Jahrhunderts zur Poetik, 51 essays, Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, (criticism)
Walter Naumann, Traum und Tradition in der deutschen Lyrik, Stuttgart: W. Kohlhammer (criticism)
Translations
Oswald de Andrade (Brazil), translations of his:
Livro de Ensaios
Gálaxias
Wolf Biermann, Die Drahtharfe
Volker Braun, Vorläufiges
Reuven Ben-Yosef, Shehafim Mamtinim ("Waiting Gulls") American-born poet
David Fogel, collected poems, with an introduction by D. Pagis
S. Halkin, Maavar Yabok ("Crossing Jabbok")
C. Schirmann, a book of poetry: a compilation of new poems from the Genizah
Shin Shalom, a book of his complete works
N. Zach, Kol ha-Halav veha-Devash ("All the Milk and Honey")
Listed in alphabetical order by first name:
Gita Parikh, Purvi; Gujarati-language
Hari Daryani, Mauj Kai Mehran, Sindhi-language
Udaya Narayana Singh, Kavayo Vadanti, Calcutta: Mithila Darshan; Maithili-language
Alfonso Gatto, La storia delle vittime (winner of the Premio Viareggio prize)
Dacia Maraini, Crudeltà all'aria aperta
Eugenio Montale, Xenia, poems in memory of Mosca, first published in a private edition of 50; Italy
Antonio Porta, I rapporti
Giovanni Raboni, Le case della Vetra
Sergio Salvi, Le croci di Cartesio
Roberto Sanesi, Rapporto informativo
Maria Luisa Spaziani, Utilità della memoria
Georg Johannesen, Nye dikt
Sigmund Skard, Haustraun
Einar Skjæraasen, Bumerke (posthumous)
Ragnvald Skrede, Grunnmalm
Stein Mehren, Tids Alder
Jan Erik Vold, Hekt
Oswald de Andrade, Complete Works, a new edition (posthumous)
Manuel Bandiera, Estrêla da Vida Inteira, an anthology of his poems, commemorating his 80th birthday
João Cabral de Melo Neto, A Educação pela Pedra
Mário Faustino, Poesía
Ferreira Gullar, Luta Corporal e Outros Poemas
Mário da Silva Brito, Poemário da Silva Brito
Ruy de Moura Belo, Boca bilíngüe ("Multiple Meanings")
Pavel Antokolski, two volumes of poems to celebrate his 70th birthday
David Kugoltinov, a book of poems translated from Kalmuk published in the "Soviet Poetry Library" series
Robert Rozhdestvenski, The Radius of Action, including "Letter to the Thirtieth Century"
José López Bermùdez, Canto a Morelos (Mexico)
Rubén Bonifaz Nuño, Siete de espadas (Mexico)
Octavio Paz, "Vrindaban" and "Madurai" two poems on a Hindu theme by the Mexican ambassador to India
José Emilio Pacheco, El reposo del fuego (Mexico)
Ramón López Velarde, Suave Patria (Mexico)
Jaime Gil de Biedma:
En favor de Venus, a collection
Moralidades, a larger collection published in Mexico
Carlos Barral, Figuración y fuga
Alfonso Canales, Aminadab
Gloria Fuertes, Ni tiro, veneno, ni navaja
Justo Jorge Padrón, Escrito en el agua
Dionisio Ridruejo, Cuaderno Catalán
Joaquín Caro Romero, El tiempo en el espejo
José Santos Chocano, Antología, pról. y notas de Julio Ortega, Lima: Editorial Universitaria, Peru
Israel Emiot, a collection of poems
Yankev Glatshteyn, A Jew from Lublin
Gabriel Preil, a collection of poems
Khava Rosenfarb, a collection of poems
Meyer Shtiker, a collection of poems
Moisei Teif (Moshe Teif), a collection of poems
Leyb Vaserman, a collection of poems
Betti Alver, Tähetund ("Starry Hour"), Estonia
Nizar Qabbani, Drawing with Words, Syrian poet writing in Arabic
Giorgos Seferis, Τρία Κρυφά Ποιήματα ("Three Hidden Poems"), Greece
Wisława Szymborska, 101 wierszy ("101 Poems"), Poland
Awards and honors
Nobel Prize for Literature: Nelly Sachs, a German poet, writing in German but living in Sweden and a Swedish subject, shared the prize with novelist and short story writer Shmuel Yosef Agnon of Israel.
See 1966 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards.
Prix des Critiques: René Char, for his work as a whole
Grand Prix de Poésie de l'Académie Française: Pierre Jean Jouve
Cholmondeley Award: Ted Walker, Stevie Smith
Eric Gregory Award: Robin Fulton, Seamus Heaney, Hugo Williams
Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress (later the post would be called "Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress"): James Dickey appointed this year.
National Book Award for Poetry: James Dickey, Buckdancer's Choice
Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: Richard Eberhart, Selected Poems
Fellowship of the Academy of American Poets: Archibald MacLeish and John Berryman
Premio de la Crítica (a nonmonetary award by a jury of journalist-critics): Claudio Rodriguez, Alianza y condena
Premio Adonais for verse: Vincente García Hernández, Los pájaros
Nordic Council's literature prize: Gunnar Ekelöf, Diwan över fursten av Engion (Sweden)
April 8 – Todd Swift, Canadian-born British poet
April 26 – Natasha Trethewey, American Poet Laureate
June 12 – Michael Redhill, American-born Canadian poet
August 10 – Christian Bök, Canadian experimental poet
October 7 – Sherman Alexie, Native American poet and author
October 19 – Dimitris Lyacos, Greek poet and playwright
December 20 – Joseph Woods, Irish poet
Also:
Maurice Manning, American poet
Constance Merritt, American poet
Daljit Nagra, English poet
Alice Oswald, English poet
Volker Sielaff, German poet
Christian Wiman, American poet
Woeser (also written: Öser; full name: Tsering Woeser; Tibetan: ཚེ་རིང་འོད་ཟེར་; Wylie: tshe-ring 'od-zer; simplified Chinese: 唯色; pinyin: Wéisè), Tibetan poet and essayist
Yi Sha, Chinese poet
Birth years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article:
January 22 – Jun Kawada 川田 順 (born 1882), Japanese, Showa period tanka poet and entrepreneur
January 23 – Berton Braley, 83
March 5 — Anna Akhmatova, 76, Russian poet
March 17 – Einar Skjæraasen, Norway
April 5 – Marcel Noppeney (born 1877), Luxembourg French-language poet
May 14 – Georgia Douglas Johnson, 86, of a stroke
June 1 – Inge Müller (born 1925), East German
June 7 – Jean Arp, 78, French sculptor, painter and poet, leader in Dadaism
June 10 – Henry Treese, 55
June 27 – Arthur David Waley, 76, noted translator of Chinese poetry and an English Orientalist and Sinologist
July 11 – Delmore Schwartz, 52, American, of a heart attack
July 25 – Frank O'Hara, 40, American poet and key member of the New York School of poetry.
August – Tristan Klingsor, pseudonym of Léon Leclère (born August 8, 1874), French poet, painter and musician; part of the Fantaisiste group of French poets
August 14:
Raymond Duncan, 91, American dancer, artist, poet, craftsman and philosopher
Alfred Kreymborg, 82, American poet, novelist, playwright, literary editor and anthologist
August 26 – W.W.E. Ross (born 1894), Canadian poet.
August 29 – Melvin Tolson, 68, American Modernist poet, educator, columnist, and politician
September 25 – Mina Loy, 73, British-born American artist, poet, Futurist and actor
September 28 – André Breton, 70, French poet, essayist and theorist; the leading exponent of Surrealism in literature
Also:
John Cournos (born 1881), Russian-American Imagist poet, but better known for his novels, short stories, essays, criticism and translations of Russian literature; wrote under the pen name "John Courtney"
Jun Tanaka 田中純 (born 1890), Japanese, Showa period poet
Arnold Wall (born 1869), New Zealand
