1949 in poetry

List of years in poetry (table)
... 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 ... 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 ... 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 ...
In literature 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952
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Links to nations or nationalities point to articles with information on that nation's poetry or literature. For example, United Kingdom links to English poetry and Indian links to Indian poetry.

Events

• January 19 - Starting this year, and continuing to at least 2009, an anonymous black-clad person, who enters popular lore as the Poe Toaster, appears in Baltimore at the Westminster Hall and Burying Ground tomb of American poet Edgar Allan Poe early on the morning of Poe's birthday. The man toasts Poe with Cognac and leaves three red roses at the grave (along with the remainder of the Cognac).^[1]
• February 19 - Ezra Pound is awarded the first Bollingen Prize in poetry by the Bollingen Foundation and Yale University provoking a storm of criticism because of his pro-Fascist activities before and during World War II.^[2]
• March - Pablo Neruda flees Chile over the Lilpela Pass through the Andes to Argentina on horseback carrying a manuscript of his Canto General.
• April 14 - Roy Campbell punches Stephen Spender on the nose at a poetry reading in London.^[3]
• Indonesian poet Chairil Anwar writes his last poem, "Cemara Menderai Sampai Jauh" ("Fir Trees Are Sown Off Into the Distance"), prior to his death aged 26 on April 28.^[4]
• Greek Communist poet Yannis Ritsos, incarcerated during the Communist–centrist/rightist struggle in the Greek Civil War, writes poems which will ultimately see publication twenty-six years later, in the 1975 book, Petrinos khronos.
• George Hill Dillon, editor of the journal Poetry since 1937, relinquishes his post.
• First issue of Caribbean Quarterly, the flagship journal on culture edited at the University of the West Indies, spotlights Caribbean poetry.^[5]

Works published in English

Listed by nation where the work was first published and again by the poet's native land, if different; substantially revised works listed separately:

Canada

• Raymond Knister, Collected Poems ed. Dorothy Livesay.^[6]
• James Reaney, The Red Heart.^[6] Governor General's Award 1949.

India, in English

• Sri Aurobindo, Chitrangada ( Poetry in English ), Bombay: Sri Aurobindo Circle,^[7]

New Zealand

• Allen Curnow:
  • The Axe, a verse play with a Pacific setting (Caxton)^[8]
  • At Dead Low Water and Sonnets (Caxton)^[8]
• Basil Dowling, Canterbury^[9]

United Kingdom

• Dannie Abse, After Every Green Thing^[10]
• Edward Andrade, Poems and Songs
• Roy Campbell, Collected Poems, Volume 1 (Volume 2 1957, Volume 3 (consisting of translations) 1960)^[10]
• C. Day-Lewis, Collected Poems, published in March, although the book states "1948" (see also Collected Poems 1954)^[10]
• William Empson, Collected Poems of William Empson^[11]
• Roy Fuller, Epitaphs and Occasions^[10]
• Robert Garioch Sutherland, writing under the name "Robert Garioch", Chuckles on the Cairn^[10]
• W. S. Graham, The White Threshold
• Geoffrey Grigson, editor, Poetry of the Present, anthology^[10]
• Christopher Hassall, The Slow Night, and Other Poems 1940–8^[10]
• James Kirkup, editor, Leeds University Poetry, including work by Kirkup, Wilfred Rowland Childe, Derrick Metcalfe, and Kenneth Muir (Hull: Lotus Press)^[12]
• Louis MacNeice, Collected Poems 1925–48^[10]
• Edwin Muir, The Labyrinth^[10]
• Kathleen Raine, The Pythoness, and Other Poems^[10]
• James Reeves, The Imprisoned Sea^[10]
• Edith Sitwell, The Canticle of the Rose: Poems 1917–1949^[11]
• Stephen Spender, The Edge of Being^[10]
• W. B. Yeats (d. 1939), Poems, "The Definitive Edition", Irish poet published in the United Kingdom^[10]

United States

• Conrad Aiken:
  • The Divine Pilgrim^[13]
  • Skylight One^[13]
• Joseph Payne Brennan, Heart of Earth (Decker Press)
• Gwendolyn Brooks, Annie Allen^[13]
• John Ciardi, Live Another Day^[13]
• Hilda Doolittle, writing under the pen name "H. D.", By Avon River^[13]
• Kenneth Fearing, Stranger at Coney Island^[13]
• Robert Frost, Complete Poems^[13]
• Langston Hughes, One-Way Ticket^[13]
• Kenneth Patchen:
  • Red Wine & Yellow Hair^[13]
  • To Say If You Love Someone^[13]
• Ezra Pound, Selected Poems^[13]
• Kenneth Rexroth:
  • The Signature of All Things^[13]
  • The Art of Worldly Wisdom", Prairie City, Illinois: Decker Press
• Louis Simpson, The Arrivistes^[13]
• Donald A. Stauffer, The Golden Nightingale: Essays on Some Principles of Poetry in the Lyrics of William Butler Yeats, New York: Macmillan, United States criticism^[14]
• Peter Viereck, The Poet in the Machine Age
• William Carlos Williams:
  • Paterson, Book III^[13]
  • Selected Poems^[13]

Other in English

• Judith Wright, Woman to Man, Australian
• W. B. Yeats (d. 1939), Poems, "The Definitive Edition", Irish poet published in the United Kingdom^[10]

Works published in other languages

France

• Aimé Césaire, Corps perdu^[15]
• Paul Éluard, pen name of Paul-Eugène Grindel, ''Une leçon de morale^[16]
• Eugene Guilleveic, Gagner^[17]
• Pierre Jean Jouve, Diadème^[17]
• Henri Michaux, Poesie pour pouvoir, Paris: Drouin^[18]
• Pierre Reverdy, Main d'oeuvre: 1913–1949^[17]
• Claude Roy, Le Poète mineur^[16]
• Jules Supervielle, Oublieuse Mémoire^[17]
• Tristan Tzara, pen name of Sami Rosenstock, Phases^[17]

India

In each section, listed in alphabetical order by first name:

Marathi

• C. V. Karandikar, also known as Vinda Karandikar, Svedaganga, India, Marathi-language^[19]
• Manmohan, Yugayugance Sahapravasi, Indian, Marathi-language (later translated into Hindi under the title Marsal ki Salami)^[19]
• K. B. Nikumb, Ujjvala, Indian, Marathi-language^[19]
• Sarachchandra Muktibodh, Navi Malavat Indian, Marathi-language^[19]
• Shrikrishna Powale, Jala Mati, Indian, Marathi-language^[19]

Other languages of the Indian subcontinent

• Chittadhar Hridaya, Sugata Saurabha, a Buddhist epic, written in Nepal Bhasa, mostly in prison 1941-46, published in India
• Masood Husain, Urdu zaban aur adab, a history, written in Urdu of that language and its literature^[19]
• Nilakantha Shastri, translator, Sri Rama Carita, translation into Sanskrit of the Tamil-language Kamba Ramayana^[19]
• Pritam Singh Safir, Rakt Bundam, Indian, Punjabi-language^[19]
• S. Lalita, translator, Valarmati, translation into Tamil from the Indian poetry in English of Rabindranath Tagore's The Crescent Moon^[19]
• Sitaramaiah Kuruganti, Navyandhra Sahitya Vidhulu, a four-volume history in Telugu of that language's literature^[19]
• Umar Alisha, translator, Umar Khayyam, translation into Telugu from the Persian of Omar Khayyam's Rubaiyats^[19]

Other languages

Listed by nation where the work was first published and again by the poet's native land, if different; substantially revised works listed separately:

• Alfonso Calderón, Primer Consejo a los Arcangeles del Viento ("First Advice to the Archangels of the Wind"), Spanish-language, Chile^[20]
• Haim Gouri, Pirhei Esh ("Flowers of Fire, Years of Fire"), Israeli writing in Hebrew^[21]
• Eric Knudsen, Blomsten og sværdet ("The Flower and the Sword"), Denmark^[22]
• Alexander Mezhirov, Новые встречи ("New Encounters"), including "Communists, Ahead!", Russia^[23]
• Máirtín Ó Direáin, Rogha Dánta, Irish poet writing in Irish
• Carlos de Oliveira, Descida aos Infernos
• Nizar Qabbani, Samba, Syrian poet writing in Arabic

Awards and honors

• Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress (later the post would be called "Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress"): Elizabeth Bishop appointed this year.
• Pulitzer Prize for poetry: Peter Viereck, Terror and Decorum
• Bollingen Prize: Ezra Pound
• Canada: Governor General's Award, poetry or drama: The Red Heart, James Reaney ^[24]

Births

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

• January 6 – Carolyn D. Wright, writing as C. D. Wright, American poet
• January 25 – Tom Paulin, Northern Irish poet and critic of film, music and literature
• January 27 – Bruce Weigl, American poet and academic
• February – Agha Shahid Ali (died 2001), Indian-born English-language poet
• February 6
  • Victor Hernández Cruz, Puerto Rico-born American poet
  • Eliot Weinberger, American essayist and principal translator of Octavio Paz into English
• March 14 – Lynn Emanuel, American poet
• April 1 – Gil Scott-Heron (died 2011), African-American poet, jazz/soul musician and author
• April 13 – Marilyn Bowering, Canadian poet and novelist
• April 25 – James Fenton, English journalist, poet, critic and academic
• May 6 – Olga Broumas, Greek-born English-language poet in the United States
• May 13 – Christopher Reid, Hong Kong-born English poet, essayist, cartoonist, writer and exponent of Martian poetry
• June 21:
  • John Agard, playwright, poet and children's writer from Guyana, who moves to England in 1977
  • Jane Urquhart, Canadian poet and author
• July 1 – Denis Johnson, American writer
• July 5 – Pier Giorgio di Cicco, Italian-Canadian poet
• August 1 – Jim Carroll (died 2009), American poet, author and punk musician^[25]
• August 2 – Bei Dao (北島, literally "Northern Island"), pseudonym of Zhao Zhenkai, Chinese poet, the most notable representative of the Misty Poets, a group of Chinese poets who will react against the restrictions of the Cultural Revolution
• August 6 – Mary di Michele, Italian-born Canadian poet and writer
• November 21 – Liam Rector (died 2007), American poet, essayist and academic
• Also:
  • David Bottoms, American poet
  • Cathy Smith Bowers, American poet and teacher; North Carolina Poet Laureate, 2010–2012
  • Alice Major, Scottish-born Canadian poet
  • Barbara Ras, American poet
  • David St. John, American poet and academic

Deaths

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

• March 2 – Sarojini Naidu (born 1879), Indian writing Indian poetry in English
• April 28 – Chairil Anwar (born 1922), Indonesian poet
• May 5 – Hideo Nagata 長田秀雄 (born 1885), Showa period Japanese poet, playwright and screenwriter (surname: Nagata)
• May 6 – Maurice Maeterlinck, Belgian poet, playwright and Nobel Laureate
• June 15 – Ulloor S. Parameswara Iyer, also known simply as "Ulloor" (born 1877), Indian, Malayalam-language poet, scholar and government official who published a five-volume history of Malayalam literature^[26]
• July 18 – Alice Corbin Henderson (born 1881), American poet
• July 25 – Lilian Bowes Lyon (born 1895), English poet
• September 9 – Fredegond Shove (born 1889), English poet
• December 28 – Hervey Allen (born 1889), American novelist and poet

See also

• Poetry
• List of poetry awards
• List of years in poetry

Notes

1. Kennedy, Randy, "Edgar 'Poe Toaster' Is a No-Show", January 19, 2010, "Arts Beat" column, p C2, The New York Times, retrieved same day.
2. Ackroyd, Peter (1980). "Chronology". Ezra Pound. London: Thames and Hudson Ltd. p. 118.
3. Sutherland, John; Fender, Stephen (2010). "14 April". Love, Sex, Death & Words: surprising tales from a year in literature (2011 ed.). London: Icon Books. ISBN 978-184831-247-0.
4. Balfas, Muhammad (1976). "Modern Indonesian Literature in Brief". In Brakel, L. F. Handbuch der Orientalistik [Handbook of Orientalistics]. 1. Leiden, Netherlands: E. J. Brill. p. 79. ISBN 978-90-04-04331-2.
5. "Selected Timeline of Anglophone Caribbean Poetry" in Williams, Emily Allen, Anglophone Caribbean Poetry, 1970–2001: An Annotated Bibliography, page xvii and following pages, Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Publishing Group, 2002, ISBN 978-0-313-31747-7, retrieved via Google Books, February 7, 2009
6. Gustafson, Ralph, The Penguin Book of Canadian Verse, revised edition, 1967, Baltimore, Maryland: Penguin Books
7. Vinayak Krishna Gokak, The Golden Treasury Of Indo-Anglian Poetry (1828-1965), p 313, New Delhi: Sahitya Akademi (1970, first edition; 2006 reprint), ISBN 81-260-1196-3, retrieved August 6, 2010
8. Allen Curnow Web page at the New Zealand Book Council website, accessed April 21, 2008
9. Web page titled "Ursula Bethall" in An Encyclopedia of New Zealand, 1966 website, accessed April 21, 2008
10. Cox, Michael, ed. (2004). The Concise Oxford Chronology of English Literature. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-860634-6.
11. Richard Ellmann and Robert O'Clair, editors, The Norton Anthology of Modern Poetry, W. W. Norton & Company, 1973, ISBN 0-393-09357-3
12. "James Kirkup" Archived March 18, 2012, at the Wayback Machine., Leeds University Library website, retrieved November 30, 2008
13. Ludwig, Richard M., and Clifford A. Nault, Jr., Annals of American Literature: 1602–1983, 1986, New York: Oxford University Press ("If the title page is one year later than the copyright date, we used the latter since publishers frequently postdate books published near the end of the calendar year." — from the Preface, p vi)
14. Untitled review by A. Norman Jeffares, of book in The Review of English Studies, New Series, Vol. 2, No. 7 (Jul., 1951), pp. 291-293
15. Rees, William, The Penguin book of French poetry: 1820-1950, p 810, Penguin, 1992, ISBN 978-0-14-042385-3
16. Bree, Germaine, Twentieth-Century French Literature, translated by Louise Guiney, Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1983
17. 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
18. Rigaud-Drayton, Margaret, Henri Michaux: Poetry, Painting and the Universal Sign, Bibliography, p 165, Oxford University Press, 2005, retrieved via Google Books on August 10, 2009
19. 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
20. "Chile National Literature Prize Winner Alfonso Calderon Dies", obituary, August 8, 2009, Latin American Herald Tribune, retrieved September 4, 2009. Archived 2009-09-06.
21. Web page titled "Haim Gouri" at the Institute for the Translation of Hebrew Literature Web site, accessed October 6, 2007
22. "Danish Poetry" article, pp 273, in Preminger, Alex and T. V. F. Brogan, et al., The New Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics, 1993. New York: MJF Books/Fine Communications
23. Shrayer, Maxim, "Aleksandr Mezhirov", p 879, An Anthology of Jewish-Russian Literature: Two Centuries of Dual Identity in Prose and Poetry, publisher: M.E. Sharpe, 2007, ISBN 0-7656-0521-X, ISBN 978-0-7656-0521-4, retrieved via Google Books on May 27, 2009
24. "Cumulative List of Winners of the Governor General's Literary Awards", Canada Council. Web, Feb. 10, 2011. http://www.canadacouncil.ca/NR/rdonlyres/E22B9A3C-5906-41B8-B39C-F91F58B3FD70/0/cumulativewinners2010rev.pdf
25. Grimes, William (13 September 2009). "Jim Carroll, Poet and Punk Rocker, Is Dead at 60". The New York Times.
26. Paniker, Ayyappa, "Modern Malayalam Literature" chapter in George, K. M., editor, ' 'Modern Indian Literature, an Anthology' ', pp 231–255, published by Sahitya Akademi, 1992, retrieved January 10, 2009.