May 23 — C. P. Cavafy's poem "Ithaka" is read at the funeral of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis by her longtime companion, Maurice Tempelsman.
October 6 — First annual National Poetry Day in the United Kingdom, established by William Sieghart.
October 31 (Halloween) — 15,000 copies of Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven" are distributed free at public libraries. In Austin, Texas, someone from the local coroner's office and someone from a local tax department gives a "death and taxes" reading of the poem.
Allen Ginsberg sells his papers to Stanford University for $1 million.
Wyn Cooper's "All I Wanna Do" is put to music by Sheryl Crow who makes it the United States' No. 1 hit rock tune.
Welsh poet Tony Curtis becomes Professor of Poetry at the University of Glamorgan.
Poetry Canada Review folds, the publication was founded in 1978 by Clifton Whiten in order to publish and review poetry from across Canada.
Dorothy Parker's poems are featured in Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle
In the film Four Weddings and a Funeral, directed by Mike Newell, W. H. Auden's "Stop all the clocks" is read as a eulogy. "[I]t so moved audiences that Random House published a slender paperback with "Funeral Blues" plus nine other Auden poems in a hot-selling edition of forty thousand copies."
Pablo Neruda's 1952 stay in a villa owned by Italian historian Edwin Cerio on the island of Capri is depicted in a fictionalized version this year the popular film Il Postino ("The Postman"). Neruda is treated worshipfully in the film.
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 Adamson Waving to Hart Crane
Jennifer Harrison: Michelangelo’s Prisoners, winner of the 1995 Anne Elder Award for first book of poetry; North Fitzroy: Black Pepper
Les Murray:
Collected Poems, Port Melbourne, William Heinemann Australia
Translations from the Natural World
David Rowthbaum, New and Selected Poems (1945-93)
Christian Bök, Crystallography ISBN 978-1-55245-119-9
Roo Borson, Night Walk, ISBN 0-19-541082-3 (nominated for a Governor General's Award) American-Canadian
Margaret Christakos, Other Words for Grace (Stratford, Ontario: Mercury Press)
George Elliott Clarke, Lush Dreams, Blue Exile: Fugitive Poems 1978–1993. Lawrencetown Beach, Nova Scotia: Pottersfield, ISBN 0-919001-83-1 Canada
Don Domanski, Stations of the Left Hand (nominated for a Governor General's Award)
Cherie Geauvreau, Even the Fawn Has Wings, a first collection
Gary Geddes, Girl by the Water
Ralph Gustafson, Tracks in the Snow
Evelyn Lau, In the House of Slaves
Tim Lilburn, Moosewood Sandhills, winner of the Canadian Authors Association Award for Poetry, Canada
A. F. Moritz:
Mahoning
Phantoms in the Ark
Susan Musgrave, Forcing the Narcissus
P. K. Page, Hologram: A Book of Glosas, poems in 14th-century Spanish stanzaic form
John Pass, Radical Innocence (ISBN 1-55017-107-0) Canadian
Al Purdy, Naked with Summer in Your Mouth
Linda Rogers, Hard Candy, including "Wrinkled Coloratura", winner of the new Stephen Leacock Award
Joe Rosenblatt, Beds and Consenting Dreamers
Stephen Scobie, Gospel
Francis Sparshott, The Hanging Gardens of Etobicoke
George Woodcock, George Woodcock's Introduction to Canadian Poetry, Toronto: ECW Press
Imtiaz Dharker, Postcards from God ( Poetry in English ), Viking Penguin
Eunice de Souza, Selected and New Poems ( Poetry in English ), St Xavier's College, Department of English Publication, Mumbai.
E.V. Ramakrishnan, A Python in A Snake Park, New Delhi: Rupa and Co., ISBN 81-7167-194-2
Sudeep Sen:
Mount Vesuvius in Eight Frames, New York City: White Swan Books; Leeds: Peepal Tree, ISBN 0-948833-91-2
South African Woodcut, New York City: White Swan Books; Leeds: Peepal Tree, ISBN 0-948833-90-4
C. P. Surendran, Gemini II, New Delhi: Penguin (Viking)
Robin Ngangom, Time's Crossroads, Hyderabad: Orient Longman Ltd, ISBN 0-86311-456-3
Ruth Vanita, A Play of Light: Selected Poems ( Poetry in English ), New Delhi: Penguin India
Ireland
Eavan Boland, In a Time of Violence, including "Anna Liffey", "The Black Lace Fan My Mother Gave Me", "The Latin Lesson" and "Midnight Flowers", Carcanet Press
Vona Groarke, Shale, Oldcastle: The Gallery Press
Michael Hartnett, Selected and New Poems, including "Bread", "I have exhausted the delighted range ...", "For My Grandmother, Bridget Halpin", "A Farewell to English", "Lament for Tadgh Cronin's Children" and "The Man who Wrote Yeats, the Man who Wrote Mozart", Oldcastle: The Gallery Press
Medbh McGuckian:
Venus and the Rain, revised edition (first edition 1984), Oldcastle: The Gallery Press
Captain Lavender, including "Porcelain Bells", Oldcastle: The Gallery Press
Paula Meehan, Pillow Talk, including "Laburnum", Oldcastle: The Gallery Press
Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin, The Brazen Serpent, including "The Real Thing" and "Saint Margaret of Cortona", Oldcastle: The Gallery Press
Tom Paulin, Walking a Line, including "The Lonely Tower", Faber and Faber, Irish poet published in the United Kingdom
New Zealand
Fleur Adcock (New Zealand poet who moved to England in 1963) translator, Hugh Primas and the Archpoet, Cambridge, England, and New York: Cambridge University Press
Lauris Edmond, Selected Poems, 1975-1994, Wellington: Bridget Williams Books
Michele Leggott, DIA, Auckland: Auckland University Press; winner of the New Zealand Book Award for Poetry
Hone Tuwhare, Deep River Talk, 140 poems from 10 previous collections
Fleur Adcock (New Zealand poet who moved to England in 1963) translator, Hugh Primas and the Archpoet, Cambridge, England, and New York: Cambridge University Press
Eavan Boland, In a Time of Violence
Alan Brownjohn, In the Cruel Arcade
Gerry Cambridge, The Dark Gift and Other Poems, St. Inan's Press (16 pages; "I used to produce this tiny pamphlet from my breast pocket at poetry readings, and announce I would read from my complete and unexpurgated works", Cambridge wrote on his website.)
William Cookson, editor, Agenda – An Anthology 1959-1993, Carcanet Press, ISBN 978-1-85754-069-7
Carol Ann Duffy:
Editor, Anvil New Poets Volume 2 Penguin (anthology), sources also give 1995 and 1996 as publication year
Selected Poems Penguin
Helen Dunmore, Recovering a Body
Paul Durcan Give Me Your Head
James Fenton, Out of Danger, Penguin; Farrar Straus Giroux; winner of the Whitbread Prize for Poetry
Elaine Feinstein, Selected Poems, Carcanet
Roy Fisher, Birmingham River
Philip Gross, I.D.
Adrian Henri, Not Fade Away
Selma Hill, Trembling Hearts in the Bodies of Dogs
Kathleen Jamie, The Queen of Sheba
Alan Jenkins, Harm
Elizabeth Jennings, Familiar Spirits
Thomas Kinsella, From Centre City
Peter Levi, The Rags of Time
Medbh McGuckian, Captain Lavender
Derek Mahon, The Yaddo Letter
Glyn Maxwell, Mick Imlah and Peter Reading, Penguin New Poets 3, ISBN 978-0-14-058742-5
Andrew Motion, The Price of Everything
Paul Muldoon:
The Annals of Chile
The Prince of Quotidian
Tom Paulin, Walking a Line
Peter Porter, Millennial Fables
Craig Raine, History: The Home Movie
Peter Redgrove, My Father's Trapdoors
Peter Scupham, The Ark
Jon Silkin, Watersmeet
C. H. Sisson, What and Who
Sir Stephen Spender, Dolphins
Anthony Thwaite, The Dust of the World
Hugo Williams, Dock Leaves, Faber and Faber
Criticism, scholarship and biography in the United Kingdom
John Heath-Stubbs, Hindsights : An Autobiography
Kim Addonizio, The Philosopher's Club (BOA Editions)
A. R. Ammons, The North Carolina Poems
Maya Angelou, The Complete Collected Poems of Maya Angelou
John Ashbery, And the Stars Were Shining
Ted Berrigan, Selected Poems
Sophie Cabot Black, The Misunderstanding of Nature, (Graywolf Press) received the Poetry Society of America Norma Farber First Book Award, ISBN 1-55597-190-3
Rosellen Brown, Cora Fry's Pillow Book
Russell Edson, The Tunnel: Selected Poems of Russell Edson
Jane Hirshfield, The October Palace
Edward Hirsch, Earthly Measures
John Hollander, Animal Poems
Andrew Hudgins, The Glass Hammer
Galway Kinnell, Imperfect Thirst (Houghton Mifflin)
Kenneth Koch:
On the Great Atlantic Rainway: Selected Poems, 1950-1988, New York: Knopf
One Train: Poems, New York: Knopf
James McMichael, Each in a Place Apart
Robert Pinsky, translation of Dante's Inferno
Wendy Rose, Bone Dance
Mary Jo Salter, Sunday Skaters
Patti Smith, Early Work
Rosmarie Waldrop, A Key Into the Language of America (New Directions Publishers)
Criticism, scholarship and biography in the United States
Louise Glück, Proofs & Theories, with pieces on George Oppen, John Berryman, Robinson Jeffers, and Stanley Kunitz
Ian Hamilton, editor, The Oxford Companion to Twentieth-century Poetry in English, New York: Oxford University Press
Janet Malcolm, The Silent Woman, a study of Sylvia Plath
Mary Oliver, A Poetry Handbook
Carl Woodring, editor, Columbia History of British Poetry, New York: Columbia University Press
Douglas Messerli, editor, From the Other Side of the Century: A New American Poetry, 1960-1990, including American and Canadian poets; Sun and Moon Press (Messerli's own imprint) ISBN 978-1-55713-131-7
Carolyn Forché, Against Forgetting: Twentieth-Century Poetry of Witness
Jane Hirshfield, editor, Women in Praise of the Sacred: Forty-Three Centuries of Spiritual Poetry by Women
Paul Hoover, editor, Postmodern American Poetry (Norton) The introduction identifies the use of postmodern with its early mention by Charles Olson, and identifies the field chosen as experimental poetry from after 1945; about 20 short essays on poetics also included
E. Ethelbert Miller, In Search of Color Everywhere, including almost 150 African-American poets
Poets in The Best American Poetry 1994 anthology
Poems from these 75 poets were in The Best American Poetry 1994 edited by David Lehman, guest editor A. R. Ammons:
Vinay Dharwadker and A. K. Ramanujan, editors, The Oxford Anthology of Modern Indian Poetry, Delhi: Oxford University Press
Listed by nation where the work was first published and again by the poet's native land, if different; substantially revised works listed separately:
Naja Marie Aidt, Det tredje landskap ("The Third Landscape"), third volume of a poetic trilogy which started with Sålænge jeg er ung ("As Long as I’m Young") 1991, and included Et Vanskeligt mode ("A Difficult Encounter") 1992
Benny Andersen, Denne kommen og gåen
Katrine Marie Guldager, Dagene skifter hænder, ("The Days Change Hands"); Denmark
Lundbye, Lundbyes dyrefabler
Pia Tafdrup, Territorialsang
Ole Wivel, Iris
Bernlef, Vreemde wil
Toon Tellegen, Tijger onder de slakken
Leonard Nolens, Honing en As
Robert Melançon, L'Avant-printemps à Montréal
Édouard Glissant, Poèmes complets
Durs Grünbein, Falten und Fallen
Jürgen Kolbe, a book of poetry
Robert Gernhardt, a book of poetry
Criticism, scholarship, and biography in Germany
Erich Mühsam, Tagebücher, 1910-1924 (posthumous)
Haim Gouri, Ha-Ba Aharai ("Poems"), Israel
Listed in alphabetical order by first name:
Jiban Narah, O’ Mor Dhuniya Kapou Phul, Guwahati, Assam: Students’ Store; Assamese-language
Joy Goswami Pagli Tomar Songe, winner of the Sahitya Akademi Award in 2000; Kolkata: Ananda Publishers, ISBN 81-7756-148-0; Bengladeshi-language
K. Satchidanandan, Malayalam-language:
Desatanam, ("Going Places")
Kochiyile Vrikshangal, Kozhikode, Kerala: Mulberry Publications; Malayalam-language poet, critic and academic
K. Siva Reddy, Ajeyam, Hyderabad: Jhari Poetry Circle, Telugu-language
Nilmani Phookan, Sagartalir Sankha, Selected Poems edited by Hiren Gohain, Guwahati, Assam: Lawyers’ Book Stall; Assamese-language
Nirendranath Chakravarti, Chollisher Dinguli, Kolkata: Ananda Publishers, Kolkata; Bengali-language
Rajendra Kishore Panda, Bodhinabha ("The Bodhi-Sky"), Cuttack: Bharat Bharati; in Oraya and in English
Teji Grover, Lo Kaha Sanbari, New Delhi: National Publishing House, ISBN 81-214-0537-8; Hindi-language
Thangjam Ibopishak Singh, Bhoot Amasung Maikhum ("The Ghost and Mask"), Imphal: Writer’s Forum; Meitei language
Poland
Stanisław Barańczak, Podroz zimowa ("Journey in Winter"), Poznan: a5
Juliusz Erazm Bolek, Serce błyskawicy
Ewa Lipska, Stypendisci czasu, ("Time's Scholarship Winners"); Wroclaw: Wydawnictwo Dolnoslaskie
Bronisław Maj, Światło ("Light"); Cracow: Znak
Eugeniusz Tkaczyszyn-Dycki, Młodzieniec o wzorowych obyczajach
Czesław Miłosz, Na brzegu rzeki ("Facing the River"); Kraków: Znak
Adam Zagajewski, Ziemia ognista ("Land in Flames"), Poznañ: A5
Matilde Camus, Ronda de azules ("Blue avenue")
Mario Benedetti, Inventario dos (1985-1994) ("Inventory Two (1985-1994)"), published in Madrid, Uruguay
José Emilio Pacheco, El silencio de la luna, Mexico
Francisco Hernández, El infierno es un decir, Mexico
Octavio Paz. Obras completas, Mexico
Katarina Frostenson, Tankarna
Ann Jäderlund, Mörker mörka mörkt kristaller
Arne Johnsson, Faglarnas eldhuvuden
Criticism, scholarship and biography in Sweden
Lars Huldén, Carl Michael Bellman, on the 18th-century poet
Olof Lagercrantz, In Jag bor i en annan värld men du bor ju i samma, about the author's friendship with poet Gunnar Ekelöf
Lars Gustafsson, Ett minnespalats. Vertikala memoarer., a memoir
Ylva Eggehorn, Kvarteret Radiomottagaren, a memoir of her childhood
Hugo Claus, Gedichten 1948-1993, Flemish
Wang Xiaoni, Fangzhu Shenzhen ("Exile in Shenzhen"), China
Yi Sha, Esi de shiren ("Poets Starved to Death"), China
C. J. Dennis Prize for Poetry: Robert Gray, Certain Things
Dinny O'Hearn Poetry Prize: The Monkey's Mask by Dorothy Porter
Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry: Barry Hill, Ghosting William Buckley
Mary Gilmore Prize: Aileen Kelly - Coming Up for Light
Gerald Lampert Award
Archibald Lampman Award
See 1994 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards.
Pat Lowther Award
Prix Alain-Grandbois
Cholmondeley Award: Ruth Fainlight, Gwen Harwood, Elizabeth Jennings, John Mole
Eric Gregory Award: Julia Copus, Alice Oswald, Steven Blyth, Kate Clanchy, Giles Goodland
Forward Poetry Prize (United Kingdom, Best Collection): Alan Jenkins, Harm (Chatto & Windus)
Forward Poetry Prize (United Kingdom, Best First Collection): Kwame Dawes, Progeny of Air (Peepal Tree)
T. S. Eliot Prize (United Kingdom and Ireland): Paul Muldoon, The Annals of Chile
Whitbread Award for poetry: James Fenton, Out of Danger
Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize: Jan Beatty, Mad River
Aiken Taylor Award for Modern American Poetry: Wendell Berry
AML Award for poetry to Pamela Porter Hamblin for "Magi"
Bernard F. Connors Prize for Poetry: Stewart James, "Vanessa", and (separately) Marilyn Hacker, "Cancer Winter"
Bobbitt National Prize for Poetry: A. R. Ammons, Garbage
National Book Award for poetry (United States): James Tate, A Worshipful Company of Fletchers
Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: Yusef Komunyakaa, Neon Vernacular: New and Selected Poems
Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize: Donald Hall
Wallace Stevens Award inaugurated with first award this year: W. S. Merwin
Whiting Awards: Mark Doty, Wayne Koestenbaum, Mary Swander
William Carlos Williams Award: Cyrus Cassells, The Mud Actor
Fellowship of the Academy of American Poets: David Ferry
New Zealand
Montana Book Award for Poetry: Bill Manhire, ed., 100 New Zealand Poems
New Zealand Book Award for Poetry: Andrew Johnston, How to Talk
Norway: Brague Prize: Sigmund Mjelve for Omrade aldri fastlagt
Birth years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article:
January 1 – Chaganti Somayajulu (born 1915), Indian, Tegulu-language short-story writer and poet
February 20 — Rolf Jacobsen, 86 (born 1907), Norwegian modernist poet
March 9 — Charles Bukowski, 73 (born 1920), American poet and novelist, of leukemia
March 29 — Lynda Hull, 49 (born 1955), American poet, in an automobile accident
May 24 — John Wain, 69 (born 1925), English poet, novelist and critic, of a stroke
July 5 — Jack Clemo, 78 (born 1916), English poet of Cornwall
September 10 — Amy Clampitt, 74, American poet, of ovarian cancer
December 12 — Donna J. Stone, 61 (born 1933), American poet and philanthropist, of heart failure
date not known — Rhoda Bulter (born 1929), Scottish poet of Shetland
