Nationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature (for instance, Irish or France).
March 1 – Dylan Thomas posthumously honoured by a floor plaque in Poets' Corner, Westminster AbbeySeptember – The New Criterion founded in New York CityFinal edition of This magazine published in CanadaListed by nation where the work was first published and again by the poet's native land, if different; substantially revised works listed separately:
M. Duwell, editor, A Possible Contemporary Poetry (scholarship)Chris Mansell, Head, Heart & Stone (Fling Publishers)Les Murray:EquanimitiesThe Vernacular Republic: Poems 1961-1981, Angus & Robertson; Edinburgh, Canongate; New York, Persea Books, 1982 and (enlarged and revised edition) Angus & Robertson, 1988A. Paolucci and L. Dobrez, editors, Review of National Literatures: Australia (scholarship)Margaret Atwood, The New Oxford Book of Canadian Verse in English (anthology)Margaret Avison, Winter Sun /The Dumbfounding: Poems 1940-66Dionne Brand, Primitive OffensiveDon Domanski, War in an Empty HouseRobert Finch, Twelve for Christmas.Diane Keating, No Birds or FlowersIrving Layton, A Wild Peculiar Joy: Selected Poems, 1945-82 Toronto: McClelland and Stewart.Gwendolyn MacEwen:The Fire Eaters.The T. E. Lawrence PoemsEarth-Light: Selected Poetry 1963-1982. Toronto: General Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7736-1117-7Elizabeth Smart, Eleven PoemsMichael Ondaatje, Running in the Family, memoir, New York: W. W. Norton, ISBN 0-393-01637-4, ISBN 0-7710-6884-0Wilfred Watson, Mass on Cowback.Phyllis Webb, The Vision Tree: Selected PoemsKeki Daruwalla, The Keeper of the Dead ( Poetry in English ), winner of the Central Sahitya Academy Award in 1984; Delhi: Oxford University PressNissim Ezekiel, Latter-Day Psalms ( Poetry in English ),Arvind Krishna Mehrotra, Distance in Statute Miles ( Poetry in English ),Suniti Namjoshi, The Authentic Lie ( Poetry in English ), Fredericton, New Brunswick: Fiddlehead, ISBN 0-86492-010-5Ireland
Dermot Bolger, No Waiting AmericaHarry Clifton, Comparative Lives, Oldcastle: The Gallery Press, ISBN 978-0-904011-33-3Pearse Hutchinson, Selected Poems, including "Malaga" and "Gaeltacht", Oldcastle: The Gallery PressPaul Muldoon, Out of Siberia, Northern Ireland native published in the United KingdomSeamus Heaney: Poems and a Memoir, Limited Editions Club, Northern Ireland native living at this time in the United StatesDerek Mahon:The Hunt by Night, including "Courtyards in Delft", "Rathlin", and "Tractatus", Oxford University Press, Irish poet published in the United KingdomTranslator, The Chimeras, Gallery Press, translation from the French of Les Chimères by NervalJohn Montague, Selected Poems, including "A Drink of Milk", "Family Conference", and "The Cave of Night"New Zealand
Fleur Adcock (New Zealand poet who moved to England in 1963), editor, Oxford Book of Contemporary New Zealand Poetry, Auckland: Oxford University PressAllen Curnow, You Will Know When You Get There: Poems 1979–81W. Ihimaera and D. S. Long, Into the World of Light: An Anthology of Maori WritingBill Manhire, Good Looks, New ZealandCilla McQueen, Homing In, winner of the New Zealand Book Award for Poetry and the 1983 Jessie MacKay AwardW. H. Oliver, Poor Richard: Poems, Wellington: Port Nicholson Press, New ZealandPeter Ackroyd, The Great Fire of LondonJames Berry, Lucy's Letters and LovingSir John Betjeman, Uncollected PoemsPatric Dickinson, A Rift in TimeCarol Ann Duffy, Fifth Last Song, HeadlandDouglas Dunn, Europa's LoverGavin Ewart, More Little Ones (see All My Little Ones, 1978)U. A. Fanthorpe, Standing ToJames Fenton, The Memory of War: Poems 1968-1982, Salamander Press,Geoffrey Grigson:Collected Poems, 1963–1980The Cornish Dancer, and Other PoemsThom Gunn, The Passages of JoySeamus Heaney: Poems and a Memoir, Limited Editions Club, Northern Ireland native living at this time in the United StatesSeamus Heaney and Ted Hughes, editors, The Rattle Bag, Faber, anthologyJohn Heath-Stubbs, Naming the BeastsAlan Hollinghurst, Confidential Chats with BoyTed Hughes, Selected Poems 1957–1981Kathleen Jamie, Black SpidersRoger McGough, Waving at TrainsDerek Mahon, The Hunt By Night. Oxford University PressPaul Muldoon, Out of Siberia, Northern Ireland native published in the United KingdomNerval, The Chimeras, a version of Les Chimères, translated from French by Derek Mahon, Gallery PressNorman Nicholson, Selected Poems 1940–82Tom Rawling, Ghosts At My BackJeremy Reed, A Man AfraidE. J. Scovell, The Space BetweenMuriel Spark, Going Up to Sotheby's and Other PoemsA.R. Ammons, Worldly HopesLouise Simone Bennett, Selected PoemsHayden Carruth, The Sleeping BeautyNicholas Christopher, On Tour with RitaRobert Creeley:EchoesThe Collected Poems, 1945–1975James Dickey, PuellaHilda Doolittle ("H.D."), Notes on Thought and Vision (posthumous), written in 1919Jack Gilbert, MonolithosAllen Ginsberg, Plutonian Ode: Poems 1977–1980Seamus Heaney: Poems and a Memoir, Limited Editions Club, Northern Ireland native living at this time in the United StatesJane Hirshfield, AlayaPhyllis Janowitz, Visiting RitesGalway Kinnell, Selected PoemsDenise Levertov, Candles in BabylonWilliam Logan, Sad-faced MenJames Merrill:The Changing Light at Sandover, an epic poemFrom the First Nine PoemsW. S. Merwin, Finding the Islands, San Francisco: North Point PressReynolds Price, Vital ProvisionsPeter Seaton, The Son Master (New York: Roof Books, The Segue Foundation)Gjertrud Schnackenberg, Portraits and ElegiesMona Van Duyn, Letters from a Father and Other PoemsTheodore Weiss, RecoveriesJames Wright, This JourneyPaul-Henri Campbell, German-American poet born.Criticism, scholarship and biography in the United States
William Meredith, Reasons for Poetry, and The Reason for CriticismEdward Brathwaite, Sun Poem, Caribbean poet living and publishing in the United StatesMafika Gwala, No More Lullabies, South AfricaDennis Scott, Dreadwalk, JamaicaListed by nation where the work was first published and again by the poet's native land, if different; substantially revised works listed separately:
Aimé Césaire, Moi, laminaire, Martinique author published in France; Paris: Editions du SeuilOdysseus Elytis, Marie de Brumes translated by Xavier Bordes into French from the original GreekAbdellatif Laabi, translator, Rires de l'arbre à palabre from the original Arabic of Abdallah Zrika into French; Paris: L'HarmattanListed in alphabetical order by first name:
Faiz Ahmad Faiz, Sare Sukhan Hamare, Indian, Urdu-languageGitaujali Badruddin, Poems of Gitaujali (posthumously published)Jayant Kaikini, Kotitirtha, Sagar, Karnataka: Akshara Prakashana, Indian, Kannada-language poet, short-story writer, and screenwriterK. Satchidanandan, Malayalam-language:Janatayum Kavitayum, ("Poetry and the People"); criticismVenal Mazha, ("The Summer Rain")Rajendra Kishore Panda, Shailakalpa ("Mountainesque"), Cuttack: Grantha Mandir, Oraya-languageMehr Lal Soni Zia Fatehabadi, Soch ka Safar (The Journey of Thought) - published by R.K.Sehgal, Bazm-e-Seemab, J 5/21, Rajouri Garden, New Delhi in 1982. UrduSaroop Dhruv, Mara Hathni Vat, Ahmedabad: Nakshatra Trust, Ahmedabad; Gujarati-languagePoland
Ryszard Krynicki, Jeżeli w jakimś kraju ("If in Some Country). Underground publisher S.i.s.n.Ewa Lipska, Nie o śmierć tutaj chodzi, lecz o biały kordonek ("Death Is Not at Stake, But the White Cord"), selected poems, Kraków: Wydawnictwo literackieCzesław Miłosz, Hymn o Perle ("The Poem of the Pearl"); Paris: Instytut LiterackiTadeusz Różewicz, Pułapka ("The Trap"), Warszawa: CzytelnikAdam Zagajewski, List - Oda do wielosci ("Letter - An Ode to Quantity"), Kraków: Pólka Poetów, (republished in 1983, Paris: Instytut literacki)Matilde Camus:Testimonio ("Testimony")La preocupación de Miguel Ángel ("The concern of Miguel Angel")Odysseus Elytis, Three Poems under a Flag of Convenience (Τρία ποιήματα με σημαία ευκαιρίας) (Greece)Ndoc Gjetja, E përditshme ("The Daily"); AlbaniaKlaus Høeck, Eno Zebra, with Asger Schnack,; DenmarkAlexander Mezhirov, Проза в стихах ("Prose in Verse") (winner of the USSR State Prize, 1986), Russia, Soviet UnionNizar Qabbani, A Poem For Balqis, Syrian poet writing in ArabicRajendra Shah, Prasang-Spatak (Indian, writing in Gujarati)Søren Ulrik Thomsen, Ukendt under den samme måne ("Unknown Under the Same Moon"), DenmarkMarie Uguay, Autoportraits French-Canadian (posthumous)Silvia Volckmann, Zeit der Kirschen? Das Naturbild in der deutschen Gegenwartslyrik (scholarship), West GermanyKenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry: Fay Zwicky, Kaddish and Other PoemsGerald Lampert AwardSee 1982 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards.Pat Lowther AwardCholmondeley Award: Basil Bunting, Herbert Lomas, William ScammellEric Gregory Award: Steve Ellis, Jeremy Reed, Alison Brackenbury, Neil Astley, Chris O'Neill, Joseph Bristow, John Gibbens, James LasdunAcademy of American Poets Fellowship: John Ashbery and John Frederick NimsAgnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize: Lawrence Joseph, Shouting at No OneNational Book Award: William Bronk for Life Supports (April 27)Bernard F. Connors Prize for Poetry: Gerald Stern, "Father Guzman"Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress (later the post would be called "Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress"): Anthony Hecht appointed this year.Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: Sylvia Plath: The Collected PoemsFellowship of the Academy of American Poets: John Frederick Nims and John AshberyNorth Carolina Poet Laureate: Sam Ragan appointed.Birth years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article:
January 19 – Maria Zaturenska, 80, of heart failureMarch 11 – Horace Gregory, 83March 15 – Edgell Rickword (born 1898, English poet, critic, journalist and literary editor who was one of the leading communist intellectuals active in the 1930sMarch 18 – Yaho Kitabatake 北畠 八穂 (born 1903), Japanese, Showa period poet and children's fiction writerApril 20 – Archibald MacLeish, 89 (born 1892), AmericanJune 5 – Nishiwaki Junzaburo 西脇順三郎 (born 1894), Japanese, Shōwa period poet and literary criticJune 6 – Kenneth Rexroth, 76 (born 1905), of a heart ailment, AmericanJune 18 – Djuna Barnes, 90, American writer and poetOctober 22 – Richard Hugo, 58, of leukemiaNovember 13 – Babette Deutsch, 87, AmericanDecember 3 – Bishnu Dey (born 1909) Bengali poet, prose writer and movie criticdate not known – P'Bitek 