1738 in poetry

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



Events

 * During a visit to Morpeth this year, poet Mark Akenside gets the idea for his long didactic poem, The Pleasures of the Imagination, published in 1744.

Great Britain

 * Mark Akenside, A British Philippic, published anonymously
 * John Banks, Miscellaneous Works in Verse and Prose
 * Mather Byles, On the Death of the Queen, English, Colonial America
 * Elizabeth Carter, Poems Upon Particular Occasions, published anonymously
 * Robert Dodsley, The Art of Preaching, published anonymously
 * John Gay, Fables: Volume the Second (see also Fables 1727)
 * Samuel Johnson, London, A Poem, on the Third Satire of Juvenal
 * Alexander Pope:
 * The First Epistle of the First Book of Horace Imitated
 * The Sixth Epistle of the First Book of Horace Imitated
 * One Thousand Seven Hundred and Thirty Eight
 * One Thousand Seven Hundred and Thirty Eight: Dialogue II
 * The Universal Prayer
 * (see also Pope and Swift, below)
 * Frances Seymour, Countess of Hertford (later Duchess of Somerset), The Story of Inkle and Yarrico, published anonymously, includes "An Epistle From Yarrico to Inkle, after he had left her in slavery", an imitation of Alexander Pope's "Eloisa to Abelard", a part of his Works 1717)
 * Alexander Pope and Jonathan Swift, An Imitation of the Sixth Satire of the Second Book of Horace, Pope's contribution was anonymous; Part 1, by Swift, had previously appeared in Miscellanies, "The Last Volume" (that is, Volume 3) 1727
 * Jonathan Swift (see also Pope and Swift above), "The Beasts' Confession"
 * and Alexander Pope, An Imitation of the Sixth Satire of the Second Book of Horace
 * James Thomson, The Works of Mr. Thomson
 * John Wesley, A Collection of Psalms and Hymns (first published in Charlestown 1737, see also A Collection of Psalms and Hymns 1741)

Other languages

 * Johann Jakob Bodmer, Critical Disquisition on the Wonderful in Poetry, a defense of John Milton; German-language, Switzerland

Births
Death years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article:
 * December 4 – Karl Friedrich Kretschmann (died 1809) German poet, playwright and storyteller
 * Mary Darwall
 * Johann Christoph Krauseneck (died 1799), German
 * Erika Leibman (died 1803), Swedish poet and academic
 * Moritz August von Thümmel (died 1817), German
 * John Wolcot (died 1819), English satirist and poet

Deaths
Birth years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article:
 * Onitsura (born 1661), Japanese haiku poet