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As the clever hopes expire
Of a low dishonest decade

— W. H. Auden, from "September 1, 1939"

Nationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature (for instance, Irish or France).

Events

January
- Last issue of The Criterion is published
- The Kenyon Review is established by John Crowe Ransom
January/February – Poetry London: a Bi-Monthly of Modern Verse and Criticism, founded and edited by Tambimuttu (with Dylan Thomas and others), is first published
February 17 – Gunga Din, a film directed by George Stevens, based loosely on Rudyard Kipling's poem of the same name, is released in the United States
June – Rolfe Humphries, a former student of Nicholas Murray Butler at Columbia University, publishes in the magazine Poetry "Draft Ode for a Phi Beta Kappa Occasion", following a classical format of blank verse with one classical reference per line but with the first letters of each line of the resulting acrostic spelling out the message "Nicholas Murray Butler is a horses [sic.] ass"; upon learning of the "hidden" message, the irate editors run an apology in the August issue^[1]
Carl Rakosi begins a 28-year hiatus from writing poetry

Works published in English

Canada

Arthur Bourinot, Under the Sun (1939 Governor General's Award)^{[citation needed]}
Anne Marriott, The Wind Our Enemy, Toronto: Ryerson Press^[2]

India, in English

Harindranath Chattopadhyaya, The Dark Well (Poetry in English), Madras: Kalakshetra^[3]
Tandra Devi, Poems (Poetry in English), Srinagar: Tandra Devi Publications^[4]
P. R. Kaikini, Shanghai (Poetry in English), Bombay: New Book Co.^[5]

New Zealand

Ursula Bethell, Day and Night : Poems 1924-34, by the author of 'Time and Place, Christchurch: Caxton Press^[6]
Charles Brasch, The Land and the People, and Other Poems, Christchurch: Caxton Press^[7]
Allen Curnow, Not in Narrow Seas, Christchurch: Caxton Press^[8]

United Kingdom

W. H. Auden and Christopher Isherwood, Journey to a War, verse and nonfiction prose, published March 16; includes "In Time of War", a sonnet sequence with verse commentary by Auden; diary and prose by Isherwood^[9]
W. H. Auden, "September 1, 1939", a poem written on the occasion of the outbreak of World War II, first published in The New Republic on October 18, and which will later appear in Auden's collection Another Time (1940); at this time Auden is an English poet living in the United States
George Barker, Elegy on Spain^[9]
Roy Campbell, Flowering Rifle: A poem from he battlefield of Spain^[9]
W. H. Davies, The Loneliest Mountain, and Other Poems^[9]
T. S. Eliot:
- Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats
- "The Marching Song of the Pollicle Dogs" and "Billy M'Caw: The Remarkable Parrot", contributions to The Queen's Book of the Red Cross anthology
Gavin Ewart, Poems and Songs^[9]
Geoffrey Grigson, editor, New Verse, anthology^[9]
J. F. Hendry and Henry Treece, editors, The New Apocalypse, an early anthology of the New Apocalyptics poets in Britain
A. E. Housman, Collected Poems^[9]
Louis MacNeice, Autumn Journal^[9]
Ruth Pitter, The Spirit Watches^[9]
Enoch Powell, Casting-off, and Other Poems, Oxford: Blackwell’s^[10]
Lady Margaret Sackville, Collected Poems
Christopher Smart, Rejoice in the Lamb: A Song from Bedlam, the first publication of Smart's Jubilate Agno (written during his asylum confinement 1757–1758) edited by W. F. Stead (includes the lines beginning "For I will consider my Cat Jeoffry")
William Soutar, In the Time of Tyrants^[9]
Julian Symons, Confusions About X^[9]
Dylan Thomas, The Map of Love, verse and fiction^[9]
W. B. Yeats, Last Poems and Two Plays, Irish poet published in the United Kingdom, published posthumously in July^[9]

United States

W. H. Auden:
- "September 1, 1939" a poem written on the occasion of the outbreak of World War II, first published in The New Republic on October 18, and which will later appear in Auden's collection Another Time (1940); at this time Auden is an English poet living in the United States
- With Christopher Isherwood, The Journey to a War^[11]
Stephen Vincent Benét, The Ballad of the Duke's Mercy^[11]
Paul Engle, Corn^[11]
Robert Frost, Collected Poems^[11]
Archibald MacLeish, America Was Promises^[11]
Josephine Miles, Lines at Intersection^[11]
Edna St. Vincent Millay, Huntsman, What Quarry?^[11]
Kenneth Patchen, First Will and Testament^[11]
Muriel Rukeyser, A Turning Wind^[11]
May Sarton, Inner Landscape^[11]
Edward Taylor, The Poetical Works, edited by Thomas H. Johnson^[11]
Mark Van Doren, Collected Poems^[11]
Thomas Wolfe, The Face of a Nation^[11]

Other in English

Kenneth Slessor, Five Bells: XX Poems, Sydney: F.C. Johnson, Australia
W. B. Yeats, Last Poems and Two Plays, Irish poet published in the United Kingdom, published posthumously in July^[9]

Works published in other languages

France

Aimé Césaire, Cahier d'un retour au pays natal ("Notebook of a Return to My Native Land"), a landmark work in French Caribbean literature, which had previously been characterized by literary works derivative of European models and often marked by exoticism; this book-length poem, according to Bonnie Thomas, "laid the foundations for a new literary style in which Caribbean writers came to reject the alienating gaze of the Other in favour of their own Caribbean interpretation of reality", a change expressed in the theory of négritude; Martinique poet published in France,^[12] Volontés (Paris), August; (enlarged edition in book format, 1947; definitive edition, 1956)
Paul Éluard, pen name of Paul-Eugène Grindel, Chanson complète^[13]
Luc Estang, Transhumances^[13]
Leon-Paul Fargue, Le Piéton de Paris^[14]
Tristan Tzara, Midis gagnés^[14]

Indian subcontinent

Including all of the British colonies that later became India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal. Listed alphabetically by first name, regardless of surname:

Urdu

Akbar Allahabadi, Kulliyat-i Akbar Allahabadi, in four volumes, published (posthumously) from 1935 through this year; Urdu-language^[15]
Mir Hasan, Maghribi tasanif ke Urdu tarajim, treatise in Urdu on the difficulties of translating Western literature into the Urdu language; one of the earlier studies of translation into any Indian language^[15]
Muhammad Tahir Farooqi, Sirat-i Iqbal, biography of Muhammad Iqbal, with appraisals of his poetry^[15]
Nushur Vahidi, Sabha-i Hindi, mostly traditional poems; Urdu^[15]

Other Indian languages

Baikunthanath Pattnayak, Myttika Darsana, long elegy on the death of his son; Oriya^[15]
Balamani Amma, Strihrdayam ("The Heart of a Woman"), Malayalam^[15]
Bapiraju, Ssikala, love poems; Telugu^[15]
Changampuzha Krishna Pillai, Rahtapuspangal, includes Vazhakkula ("A Bunch of Bananas"), which exerted a strong influence on revolutionary Malayalam poetry in the next few decades^[15]
Khalairakpam Chaoba, Thainagi Leirang ("Ancient Flowers"), Meitei^[15]
Mahjoor, Payam-e Mahjoor, popular lyrics; Kashmiri^[15]
Rameshvar Shukla, Aparajita Indian poetry, Hindi-language^[15]
Sundaram, Vasudha, poems about social change and reflecting the influence of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi on Indian society; Gujarati^[15]
Suryakant Tripathi 'Nirala', Tulsidas, long poem on the life and characteristics of Tulsidas, Hindi^[15]
U. M. Dandpota, Abyat-i-Sindhi, critical appraisal in Sindhi of the Sindhi couplets of Kkwaja Muhammad Zaman (1713–1774)^[15]
Umashankar Joshi, Nishith, lyrics, songs, sonnets and longer poems; received the Bharatiya Jnanpith Award in 1968; Gujarati^[15]
Visvanatha Satyanarayana, Srimad Ramayana Kalpavrksamu, the author's magnum opus, according to Indian literary scholar Siser Kumar Das; it won the Jnanapith Award; a free rendering of the Ramayana; the first canto was published in 1930, the last in 1957; Telugu^[15]

Other languages

Vladimir Cavarnali, Răsadul verde al inimii stelele de sus îl plouă ("The heart's green seedling is rained upon by the stars above")
Tove Ditlevsen, Pigesind and Slangen i Paradiset, Denmark
José Gorostiza, Muerte sin fin ("Death without end"), Mexico
W. J. Hartmann, comp., Sie alle fielen: Gedichte europäischer Soldaten ("They all fell in battle: poems of European soldiers"), translations into German
D. Gwenallt Jones, Ysgubau'r Awen, Welsh poet published in the United Kingdom
Eugenio Montale, Le occasioni ("The Occasions"), Turin: Einaudi; Italy^[16]
César Vallejo, posthumously published (died in 1936), Peru:
- Poemas humanos ("Human Poems")^[17]
- Sermón de la barbarie ("Sermon on Barbarism")^[17]

Awards and honors

Governor General's Award, poetry or drama: Under the Sun, Arthur S. Bourinot (Canada)^[18]

United States

American Academy of Arts and Letters Gold Medal for Poetry: Robert Frost
Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: John Gould Fletcher: Selected Poems

Births

Death years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article:

January 10 – Jared Carter, American poet, winner of the 1980 Walt Whitman Award
January 23 – Fred Wah, Chinese-Canadian poet, novelist, and scholar
February 5 – Siv Cedering (died 2007), Swedish-American poet, painter, sculptor, illustrator, and author
February 22 – Katerina Anghelaki-Rooke (died 2020), Greek (died 2020)
February 26 – Clark Coolidge, American
March 3 – Hans Verhagen (died 2020), Dutch journalist, poet, painter and filmmaker
March 26 – Patrick Lane (died 2019), Canadian
April 13 – Seamus Heaney (died 2013), Irish writer and lecturer from Northern Ireland awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1995
April 16 – Diane Wood Middlebrook, née Helen Diane Wood (died 2008),^[19] American poet, academic and biographer
April 25 – Ted Kooser, American poet and 13th Poet Laureate of the United States, serving two terms from 2004 to 2006
May 7 – Volker Braun, German
May 11 – Samih al-Qasim (died 2014), Palestinian
May 23 – Stanley Plumly (died 2019), American poet and academic
May 27 – Frank Bidart, American
May 31 – Al Young (died 2021), American poet, novelist and writer of musical memoirs named poet laureate of California in 2005
June 6 – Lee Harwood (died 2015), English poet associated with the British Poetry Revival
June 24 – Stephen Dunn, American poet and winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry
June 30 – José Emilio Pacheco (died 2014), Mexican poet, essayist, translator, novelist and short story writer
July 22 – Quincy Troupe, American poet, editor, journalist, and academic
July 27 – Michael Longley, Northern Irish poet
August 8 – Dick Allen (died 2017), American poet, literary critic and academic
August 18 – Sándor Tóth (died 2019), Hungarian poet, journalist and politician
August 31 – Dennis Lee, Canadian children's writer and poet
October 7 – Clive James (died 2019), Australian-born writer and poet
October 24 – Paula Gunn Allen (died 2008), Native American poet, literary critic, activist and novelist
November 11 – Bimbo Rivas, born Bittman Rivas (died 1992), Puerto Rican-born actor, community activist, director, playwright, poet and teacher
November 18 – Margaret Atwood, Canadian novelist and poet
November 23 – Bill Bissett, Canadian poet

Yeats' gravestone, with his famous epitaph, erected 1948.

Also:
- Charles Boer, American
- Michael Coady (died 2024), Irish poet, short story writer, local historian, genealogist, photographer, journalist and musician
- Philip Dacey, American
- James L. McMichael, American
- Heather Ross Miller, American poet, author and academic
- Primus St. John, American

Deaths

Birth years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article:

January 28 – W. B. Yeats (born 1865), Irish poet
February 2 – Amanda McKittrick Ros (born 1860), Irish novelist and poet noted for her purple style
February 18 – Okamoto Kanoko 岡本かの子, pen name of Ohnuki Kano, (born 1889) Japanese author, tanka poet and Buddhist scholar in the Taishō and early Shōwa periods; mother of artist Tarō Okamoto
February 22 – Antonio Machado (born 1875), Spanish poet
March 7 – Ludwig Fulda (born 1862), German playwright and poet, suicide
March 29 – Tachihara Michizō 立原道造 (born 1914), Japanese poet and architect (surname: Michizō)
June 14 – Vladislav Khodasevich (born 1886), Russian poet and critic
July 19 – Rose Hartwick Thorpe (born 1850), American poet
August 29 – Robin Hyde (Iris Guiver Wilkinson) (born 1906), New Zealand poet and novelist, suicide

Notes

^ Gamaliel. "Nicholas Murray Butler". Everything2. Retrieved 2011-09-03.
^ "Anne Marriott (1913-1997)", Canadian Woman Poets, BrockU.ca, Web, Apr. 21, 2011.
^ Vinayak Krishna Gokak, The Golden Treasury Of Indo-Anglian Poetry (1828-1965), p 316, New Delhi: Sahitya Akademi (1970, first edition; 2006 reprint), ISBN 81-260-1196-3, retrieved August 6, 2010
^ Vinayak Krishna Gokak, The Golden Treasury Of Indo-Anglian Poetry (1828-1965), p 319, New Delhi: Sahitya Akademi (1970, first edition; 2006 reprint), ISBN 81-260-1196-3, retrieved August 6, 2010
^ Vinayak Krishna Gokak, The Golden Treasury Of Indo-Anglian Poetry (1828-1965), p 322, New Delhi: Sahitya Akademi (1970, first edition; 2006 reprint), ISBN 81-260-1196-3, retrieved August 6, 2010
^ "Ursula Bethell / New Zealand Literature File". The University of Auckland Library. Archived from the original on March 6, 2006. at the University of Auckland Library website, accessed April 30, 2008
^ Web page titled "Charles Brasch: New Zealand Literature File" Archived September 28, 2006, at the Wayback Machine at the University of Auckland Library website, accessed April 26, 2008
^ Allen Curnow Web page at the New Zealand Book Council website, accessed April 21, 2008
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ Cox, Michael, ed. (2004). The Concise Oxford Chronology of English Literature. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-860634-6.
^ "Works by Enoch Powell". enochpowell.net. Archived from the original on October 3, 2014.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m Ludwig, Richard M., and Clifford A. Nault, Jr., Annals of American Literature: 1602–1983, 1986, New York: Oxford University Press
^ Thomas, Bonnie, "Aimé Césaire", article in The Literary Encyclopedia, retrieved August 5, 2009. Archived 2009-08-11.
^ ^a ^b Bree, Germaine, Twentieth-Century French Literature, translated by Louise Guiney, Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1983
^ ^a ^b Auster, Paul, editor, The Random House Book of Twentieth-Century French Poetry: with Translations by American and British Poets, New York: Random House, 1982 ISBN 0-394-52197-8
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o ^p Das, Sisir Kumar, "A Chronology of Literary Events / 1911–1956", in Das, Sisir Kumar and various, History of Indian Literature: 1911-1956: struggle for freedom: triumph and tragedy, Volume 2, 1995, published by Sahitya Akademi, ISBN 978-81-7201-798-9, retrieved via Google Books on December 23, 2008
^ Eugenio Montale, Collected Poems 1920-1954, translated and edited by Jonathan Galassi, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1998, ISBN 0-374-12554-6
^ ^a ^b Web page titled "César Vallejo" at the website of the Academy of American Poets, retrieved August 28, 2011
^ ""Cumulative List of Winners of the Governor General's Literary Awards" (PDF). canadacouncil.ca. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 1, 2012.", Canada Council. Web, Feb. 10, 2011.
^ Fox, Margalit, "Diane Wood Middlebrook, Biographer, Dies at 68", obituary, The New York Times, December 17, 2007. Retrieved December 10, 2008.