Nationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature (for instance, Irish or France).
December 19 – Ted Hughes' appointment as Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom in succession to Sir John Betjeman is announced, Philip Larkin having turned down the post.After Ghazi al-Gosaibi, the Saudi Arabian minister of health, publishes a poem, "A Pen Bought and Sold", that criticizes the corruption and privilege of the country's elite, he is dismissed from his post.Prvoslav Vujčić's second collection of poems, Kastriranje vetra ("Castration of the wind"), written during a week's imprisonment in Tuzla for criticising the state, is prohibited in Yugoslavia.Scottish Poetry Library established.Listed by nation where the work was first published and again by the poet's native land, if different; substantially revised works listed separately:
Robert Gray, The SkylightJeff Guess, Leaving Maps, Adelaide: Friendly Street PoetsChris Wallace-Crabbe, D. Goodman and D.J. Hearn, editors, Clubbing of the Gunfire: 101 Australian War Poems, Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, anthologyRoo Borson, The Whole Night, Coming Home, ISBN 0-7710-1579-8 (nominated for a Governor General's Award) American-CanadianDionne Brand, Chronicles of the Hostile SunLeonard Cohen, Book of MercyRobert Finch, Double Tuning. Erin, ON: Porcupine's Quill.<finch/>Robert Finch, Sailboat and Lake.. Erin, ON: Porcupine's Quill.Paulette Jiles, Celestial NavigationGeorge Johnston, Ask Again.Irving Layton, The Love Poems of Irving Layton: With Reverence & Delight. Oakville, Ontario: Mosaic Press, 1984.Irving Layton, A Spider Danced a Cosy Jig. Toronto: Stoddart.Dorothy Livesay, Feeling the Worlds: New Poems. Fredericton: Goose Lane.Miriam Mandel, The Collected Poems of Miriam Mandel. Sheila Watson, ed. Edmonton: Longspoon Press. ISBN 0-920316-50-6 ISBN 978-0920316504Michael Ondaatje, Secular Love, Toronto: Coach House Press, ISBN 0-88910-288-0, ISBN 0-393-01991-8 ; New York: W. W. Norton, 1985James Reaney, Imprecations: The Art of Swearing. Black Moss Press.Charles Sangster, The St. Lawrence and the Saguenary and other poems (revised edition), edited by Frank M. Tierney (Tecumseh) Raymond Souster, Jubilee of Death: The Raid On Dieppe. Ottawa: Oberon Press.Raymond Souster, Queen City. Ottawa: Oberon Press.Kamala Das, Collected Poems Volume 1 ( Poetry in English ), Trivandrum: Kamala DasNissim Ezekiel, Latter-Day Psalms ( Poetry in English ), DelhiArvind Krishna Mehrotra, Middle Earth ( Poetry in English ), New Delhi: Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-561604-9Suniti Namjoshi, From the Bedside Book of Nightmares ( Poetry in English ), Fredericton, New Brunswick : Fiddlehead, ISBN 0-86492-031-8Ireland
Seamus Heaney Northern Ireland native at this time living in the United States:Hailstones, Gallery PressStation Island, Faber & Faber,Sweeney Astray (see also Sweeney's Flight 1992)Verses for a Fordham Commencement, Nadja PressThomas McCarthy, The Non-Aligned Storyteller, Anvil Press, London, IrelandMedbh McGuckian, Venus and the Rain, first edition (see revised edition 1994), Oldcastle: The Gallery PressDerek Mahon, A Kensington Notebook, Northern Ireland poet published in the United KingdomPaul Muldoon, editor, The Faber Book of Contemporary Irish Poetry, an anthology of works by Patrick Kavanagh, Louis MacNeice, Thomas Kinsella, John Montague, Seamus Heaney, Michael Longley, Derek Mahon, Paul Durcan, Tom Paulin and Medbh McGuckian.New Zealand
Fleur Adcock, editor, Oxford Book of Contemporary New Zealand PoetryCharles Brasch, Collected Poems, Auckland: Oxford University Press, posthumousAlan Brunton, And She Said, New York:Red MoleLauris Edmond, Selected Poems, winner of the Commonwealth Poetry Prize in 1985Bill Manhire, Zoetropes: Poems 1972-82Cilla McQueen, Anti GravityIan Wedde:GeorgiconTales of Gotham CityPeter Ackroyd, T. S. Eliot: A Life (biography)Samuel Beckett, Collected Poems 1930–78James Berry (editor), News for Babylon: The Chatto Book of Westindian-British PoetryAlison Brackenbury, Breaking GroundGeorge Mackay Brown, Christmas PoemsCharles Causley, Secret DestinationsDavid Constantine, Mappa MundiGavin Ewart:The Ewart QuartoFestival NightsU. A. Fanthorpe, Voices OffAlison Fell, Kisses for MayakovskyJames Fenton, Children in Exile: Poems 1968-1984 Salamander Press version, poems from this volume were combined with those from The Memory of War to make the Penguin volume titled The Memory of War and Children in Exile; that combined volume was published in the United States, also under the title Children in ExileRoy Fuller, Mianserin SonnetsGeoffrey Grigson, Montaigne's Tower, and Other PoemsSeamus Heaney Northern Ireland native at this time living in the United States:Hailstones, Gallery PressStation Island, Faber & Faber,Sweeney Astray (see also Sweeney's Flight 1992)Verses for a Fordham Commencement, Nadja PressJohn Hegley, Visions of the Bone Idol (Poems about Dogs and Glasses)Selima Hill, Saying Hello at the StationLiz Lochhead, Dreaming Franenstein and Collected Poems (includes Memo for Spring 1972, Islands 1978, The Grimm Sisters 1981)Medbh McGuckian, Venus and the RainDerek Mahon, A Kensington Notebook, Northern Ireland poet published in the United KingdomE. A. Markham, Human RitesChristopher Middleton, SerpentineEdwin Morgan, Sonnets from ScotlandBlake Morrison, Dark GlassesAndrew Motion, Dangerous PlayGrace Nichols, The Fat Black Woman's Poems, ViragoFiona Pitt-Kethley, LondonPeter Porter, Fast ForwardCraig Raine, RichPeter Reading, CJeremy Reed, By the FisheriesCharles Tomlinson, Notes from New York; and Other PoemsJohn Ashbery, A Wave, awarded the Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize and the Bollingen PrizeCharles Bernstein and Bruce Andrews, The L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E Book, "selected" pieces from the 13 issues of L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E magazine (Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press)Joseph Brodsky, To UraniaAlan Brunton, And She Said, Red Mole, book by a New Zealand poet published in the United StatesLouise Erdrich, JacklightSeamus Heaney Northern Ireland native at this time living in the United States:Station Island, Faber & Faber,Verses for a Fordham Commencement, Nadja PressHailstones, Gallery Press* Denise Levertov, Breathing the Water, her 19th book of poetrySharon Olds, The Dead and the LivingMichael Palmer, First Figure (North Point Press)Molly Peacock, Raw HeavenKenneth Rexroth, Selected PoemsRosmarie Waldrop, Differences for Four Hands (Singing Horse)Criticism, scholarship and biography in the United States
'The Rhapsodic Fallacy' by Mary Kinzie appears in Salmagundi 65Judith Moffett, James Merrill: An Introduction to the PoetryHariprasad Sastri, editor and translator, Indian Mystic Verse, 3rd revised and enlarged edition; New Delhi: Macmillan (first edition 1941) anthologyKlaus Høeck; Denmark:Blåvand revisited, with Asger Schnack, publisher: SchønbergInternational Klein Bleu, publisher: GyldendalMarienbad, publisher: BrøndumHenrik Nordbrandt, 84 digte ("84 Poems"); Copenhagen: Gylendal, 125 pagesPoland
S. Barańczak, editor, Poeta pamieta, anthologyStanisław Barańczak, Uciekinier z utopii. O poezji Zbigniewa Herberta ("Fugitive from Utopia: On the Poetry of Zbigniew Herbert"), criticism; London: PoloniaCzesław Miłosz, Nieobjeta ziemia ("The Unencompassed Earth"); Paris: Instytut LiterackiJarosław Marek Rymkiewicz, Mogila Ordona ("Ordon's Grave")Listed in alphabetical order by first name:
Faiz Ahmad Faiz, Nuskha-hae Wafa; Urdu-language* Nirendranath Chakravarti; Bengali-language:Roop-Kahini, Kolkata: Ananda PublishersShomoi Boro Kom, Kolkata: Proma ProkashoniRituraj, Nahin Prabodhachandrodya, Bikaner: Dharati Prakashan; Hindi-languageSaroop Dhruv, Mara Hathni Vat, Ahmedabad: Nakshatra Trust, Ahmedabad; Gujarati-languageK. Satchidanandan, Socrateesum Kozhiyum, ("Socrates and the Cock"); Malayalam-languageChristoph Buchwald, general editor, and Gregory Laschen, guest editor, Luchterhand Jahrbuch der Lyrik 1984 ("Luchterhand Poetry Yearbook 1984"), publisher: Luchterhand Literaturverlag; anthology; GermanyMatilde Camus, Raíz del recuerdo ("Root of remembrance"), SpainOdysseus Elytis, Ημερολόγιο ενός αθέατου Απριλίου ("Diary of an Invisible April"), GreeceNdoc Gjetja, Çaste ("Moments"); AlbaniaRita Kelly, An Bealach Éadóigh, IrelandAlexander Mezhirov, Тысяча мелочей ("A thousand small things"), Russia, Soviet UnionEugenio Montale, Tutte le poesie, enlarged from the original 1977 edition; publisher: Mondadori; posthumous; ItalyJacques Prévert, La Cinquième Saison, published posthumously (died 1977); FranceJean Royer, Jours d'atelier, Saint-Lambert: Le Noroît; Canada, in FrenchHåkan Sandell, Efter sjömännen ; Elektrisk måne (literal translation: "After Sailor; Electric Moon"), SwedenAwards and honors
Nobel Prize in Literature: Jaroslav Seifert, a Czech poet
Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry: Les Murray, The People's Other WorldGerald Lampert AwardSee 1984 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards.Pat Lowther Award: Bronwen WallaceJapanese 100 yen note, starting this year and through 2004, features a portrait of Natsume Sōseki 夏目 漱石 (commonly referred to as "Sōseki"), pen name of Natsume Kinnosuke 夏目金之助 (1867–1916), Meiji Era novelist, haiku poet, composer of Chinese-style poetry, writer of fairy tales and a scholar of English literatureCholmondeley Award: Michael Baldwin, Michael Hofmann, Carol RumensEric Gregory Award: Martyn Crucefix, Mick Imlah, Jamie McKendrick, Bill Smith, Carol Ann Duffy, Christopher Meredith, Peter Armstrong, Iain BamforthAgnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize: Arthur Smith, Elegy on Independence DayBernard F. Connors Prize for Poetry: Gjertrud Schnackenberg, "Imaginary Prisons", and (separately) Sharon Ben-Tov, "Carillon for Cambridge Women"Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress (later the post would be called "Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress"): Robert Fitzgerald appointed this year in a health-limited capacity, but was not present at the Library of Congress.Frost Medal: Jack StadlerPulitzer Prize for Poetry: Mary Oliver: American PrimitiveFellowship of the Academy of American Poets: Richmond Lattimore and Robert FrancisBirth years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article:
January 18 – Ary dos Santos, 46 (born 1937), Portuguese, of cirrhosisFebruary 6 – Jorge Guillén, 91 (born 1893), SpanishFebruary 8 – Ishizuka Tomoji 石塚友二 the kanji (Japanese writing) is a pen name of Ishizuka Tomoji, which is written with the different kanji 石塚友次, but in English there is no difference (born 1906), Japanese, Showa period haiku poet and novelistFebruary 17 – Jesse Stuart, 76 (born 1906), American, from a strokeFebruary 26 – Richmond Lattimore, 77 (born 1906), American poet and translator, of cancerMarch 3 – Tatsuko Hoshino 星野立子 (born 1903), Japanese, Showa period haiku poet and travel writer; founded Tamamo, a haiku magazine exclusively for women; in the Hototogisu literary circle; haiku selector for Asahi Shimbun newspaper; contributed to haiku columns in various newspapers and magazines (a woman)April 15 – Sir William Empson, 77 (born 1906), English criticMay 19 – Sir John Betjeman, 77 (born 1906), English poet laureate, of Parkinson's diseaseJuly 2 – George Oppen, 76 (born 1908), American, of Alzheimer's diseaseSeptember 14 (possible date) – Richard Brautigan 49 (born 1935), American novelist and poet, of a self-inflicted gunshot wound; the exact date of his suicide is speculative as his body is not found until October 25September 29 – Hal Porter, 73 (born 1911), Australian writer, novelist, playwright and poetDecember 14 – Vicente Aleixandre, 86 (born 1898), SpanishDecember 29 – Robert Farren (Roibeárd Ó Faracháin), 75 (born 1909), Irish 
