1956 in poetry

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

Events

 * February 27&mdash;Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath meet in Cambridge. They marry this year.
 * Black Mountain College, the birthplace of the Black Mountain School of poetry, goes defunct, although it doesn't officially close until the spring of 1957, and the final issue of the Black Mountain Review is published in the fall of 1957.
 * Quadrant magazine was founded in Australia by Richard Krygier, a Polish-Jewish refugee who had been active in social-democrat politics in Europe, and James McAuley, a Catholic poet.
 * September 6 &mdash; The New York Times sent poet Richard Eberhart to San Francisco to report on the poetry scene there. Eberhart's resulting article, published this day in the New York Times Book Review, was titled "West Coast Rhythms" and helped call national attention to Howl as "the most remarkable poem of the young group" of poets who were becoming known as the spokesmen of the Beat generation
 * Northern Review, founded in 1945 from the merger of two small Canadian literary magazines, Preview and First Statement, publishes its last issue.
 * Tamarack Review founded by Robert Weaver in Canada

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

 * Fred Cogswell, The haloed tree.
 * Leonard Cohen, Let Us Compare Mythologies, Canada
 * R. A. D. Ford, A Window on the North
 * Louis Dudek, The Transparent Sea. Toronto: Contact Press, 1956.
 * Eldon Grier, Poems
 * Irving Layton, The Bull Calf and Other Poems. Toronto: Contact Press.
 * Irving Layton, The Improved Binoculars: Selected Poems. Introduction by William Carlos Williams. Highlands, NC: Jonathan Williams.
 * Irving Layton, Music on a Kazoo. Toronto: Contact Press.
 * W.W.E. Ross, Experiment 1923-1929, Contact Press.
 * Raymond Souster, The Selected Poems. Louis Dudek ed. Toronto: Contact Press.
 * Raymond Souster ed. Poets 56: Ten Younger English-Canadians. Toronto: Contact Press.
 * Wilfred Watson, Even Your Right Eye

New Zealand

 * D'Arcy Cresswell, The Voyage of the Hurunui : a Ballad, Christchurch: Caxton Press
 * Anthologies
 * Robert Chapman and Jonathan Bennett, editors, An Anthology of New Zealand Verse, Oxford University Press.
 * Charles Doyle, A Splinter of Glass

Indian poetry in English

 * Einar Beer, Samadhi Poems and Autumn Rains ( Poetry in English ), Alvdal: The Brahmakul;
 * Humayun Kabir, Mahatma & other Poems ( Poetry in English ),

United Kingdom

 * Kingsley Amis, A Case of Samples: Poems 1946–1956
 * David Gascoyne, Night Thoughts
 * John Holloway, The Minute and Longer Poems, Hessle, East Yorkshire: Marvell Press
 * Christopher Logue, Devil, Maggot and Son
 * Norman MacCaig, Riding Lights, London: Hogarth Press
 * Edwin Muir, One Foot in Eden
 * E. J. Scovell, The River Steamer, and Other Poems

United States

 * John Ashbery, Some Trees
 * John Berryman, Homage to Mistress Bradstreet, New York: Farrar, Straus & Cudahy
 * Gwendolyn Brooks, Bronzeville Boys and Girls
 * Witter Bynner, A Book of Lyrics
 * Robert Creeley, If You
 * Kenneth Fearing, New and Selected Poems
 * Robert Fitzgerald, In the Rose of Time: Poems 1931–1956
 * Allen Ginsberg, Howl and Other Poems, a signal work of the Beat Generation; published by City Lights Books
 * Anne Morrow Lindbergh, The Unicorn, and Other Poems
 * W. S. Merwin, Green with Beasts, New York: Knopf (reprinted as part of The First Four Books of Poems, 1975)
 * Kenneth Rexroth (translator), 30 Spanish Poems of Love and Exile and (translator), 100 Poems from the Chinese
 * Edna St. Vincent Millay, Collected Poems
 * Marianne Moore, Like a Bulwark
 * Gertrude Stein, Stanzas in meditation and Other Poems (1929–1933)
 * Peter Viereck, The Persimmon Tree
 * John Hall Wheelock, Poems Old and New
 * Reed Whittemore, An American Takes a Walk
 * Richard Wilbur, Things of This World: Poems, New York: Harcourt, Brace
 * Tennessee Williams, In the Winter of Cities

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

France

 * Louis Aragon, Le Roman inachevé
 * Aimé Césaire, Cahier d'un retour au pays natal, definitive, revised edition
 * Pierre Jean Jouve, Lyrique
 * Henri Michaux, Misérable miracle, about his experiences taking mescaline
 * Jules Supervielle, L'Escalier
 * Tristan Tzara, pen name of Sami Rosenstock, Le fruit permis

Germany

 * W. Höllerer, editor, Transit, anthology, German
 * Rupert Hirschenauer and Albrecht Weber, editors, Wege zum Gedicht, 2 volumes (second volume, on the ballad, in 1963), Germany, scholarship
 * Walther Killy, Wandlungen des lyrischen Bildes

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

Dogri

 * Dinu Bhai Pant, Dadi Te Mam
 * Shambhu Nath Sharma, Bhadasa
 * Shuk Dev Shastri, Svacchanda Trivani, verses celebrating traditional values and patterned on Sanskrit meters
 * Tara Smail Puri, Fauji Pimsanar, a long poem on the plight of a military veteran

Gujarati

 * Bhatt Damodar Kesavaji, pen name "Sudhansu", Alakhtano, Gujarati
 * Dhirubhai Thaker, Arvacin Gujarati Shaityani Vikasrekha, a Gujarati-language history of that language's literature from 1850 to the post-independence period
 * Natvarlal Kuberdas Pandya, Nepathye, longer poems based on new interpretations of mythological characters; Gujarati
 * Suresh Joshi, Upjati, Indian, Gujarati language

Kannada

 * C. Mahadevappa, translation from the English of Percy Bysshe Shelley's The Defence of Poetry
 * Channaveera Kanavi, Dipadhari, with some lyrics in the navodaya style, others in the navya; poetry known as Samanvaya Kavya in Kannada poetry because it attempted to synthesize the two types of subject matter: both the beauty of nature, folk traditions, mysticism, and humanism of the one form and the stark contemporary realism of the other
 * Yarmunja Ramachandra, Vidaya, the author's only book of poems, published posthumously after his death at age 22

Malayalam

 * O. N. V. Kurup, Dahikkunna Panapatram, Malayalam, the author's earliest poems, mostly lyrics reflecting revolutionary idealism
 * Sreedhara Menon, Vittumkaikkottum, Malayalam
 * Sukumar Azhikode, Ramananum Malayala Kavitayum, critical study in Malayalam of Changampuzha's Ramanan

Urdu

 * Faiz Ahmad Faiz, Zindan Nama
 * Mirza Muhammad Muqimi Bijapuri, Candar badan va Mahayar, edited by Muhammad Akbaruddin Siddiqi, narrative poems
 * Nadim, "Subuhdam Yets Chhu Paratshyon Gashi-Tarukh", the first sonnet in the Kashmiri language; published in the Urdu publication Tameer

Other Indian languages

 * Harekrushna Mahadab, Chayapathara Yatri, Oriya
 * Kunvar Narayan (also spelled in English as Kunwar Narain), Cakravyuha (has also been transliterated into English as Chakravyooh), New Delhi: Radhakrishan Prakashan, ISBN 81-7119-192-4; Hindi-language
 * Parsram Rohra, Sargam, Sindhi
 * Sankha Ghosh, Dinguli Ratguli, the author's first book of poems, Bengali

Spanish language

 * Mario Benedetti, Poemas de oficina ("Office Poems"), Uruguay
 * José Santos Chocano, Las mejores poesías de Chocano, pról. de Francisco Bendezú (Lima: Editorial Paracas), Peru
 * Octavio Paz,  La estación violenta, Mexico

Other languages

 * Zbigniew Herbert's first book: Struna światła, Poland
 * Harry Martinson, Aniara, Swedish
 * Eugenio Montale, La bufera e altro ("The Storm and Other Things"), a first edition of 1,000 copies, Venice: Neri Pozza; second, larger edition published in 1957, Milan: Arnaldo Mondadore Editore; Italy
 * Nizar Qabbani, Poems, 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"): Randall Jarrell appointed this year.
 * National Book Award for Poetry: W. H. Auden, The Shield of Achilles
 * Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: Elizabeth Bishop: Poems - North & South
 * Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry: Edmund Blunden
 * Bollingen Prize: Conrad Aiken
 * Fellowship of the Academy of American Poets: William Carlos Williams
 * Adonais Prize (Spain): María C. Lacaci, Humana voz
 * Canada: Governor General's Award, poetry or drama: A Window on the North, Robert A.D. Ford

Births
Death years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article:
 * April 7 – Dionisio D. Martinez, Cuban-born poet who grew up speaking Spanish, raised first in Spain, then in the United States
 * October 7 – Diane Ackerman, American poet and naturalist
 * Also:
 * Bai Hua (poet), Chinese
 * Henri Cole, American poet
 * Jim Daniels, American poet, writer and academic
 * Annie Finch, American poet, librettist, and theorist
 * Forrest Gander, American poet, essayist and translator
 * Amy Gerstler, American poet
 * Mick Imlah (died 2009), British poet
 * Amir Or, Israeli poet

Deaths
Birth years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article:
 * January 31 – A. A. Milne, 74, English author of children's books and children's poetry
 * March 23 – Mitsuko Shiga 四賀光子, pen-name of Mitsu Ota (born 1885), Japanese, Taishō and Showa period tanka poet, a woman
 * March 30 – Edmund Clerihew Bentley, 80, popular English novelist and humorist and inventor of the clerihew, an irregular form of humorous verse on biographical topics
 * April 2 – Kōtarō Takamura 高村 光太郎 (born 1883), Japanese poet and sculptor; son of sculptor Kōun Takamura
 * May 11 – Takashi Matsumoto (haiku poet) 松本たかし (born 1906), Japanese, Showa period professional haiku poet in the Shippo-kai haiku circle, then, starting in 1929, in the Hototogisu group that also included Kawabata Bosha; founded a literary magazine, Fue ("Flute") in 1946
 * June 22 – Walter de la Mare, 83 (died 1873), English poet, short story writer and author of children's books
 * July 7 – Gottfried Benn (born 1886), German expressionist poet; buried in Dahlem Waldfriedhof, Berlin
 * July 8 – Giovanni Papini, 75, Italian poet, essayist, journalist, literary critic, and novelist.
 * July 11 – Dorothy Wellesley, 70, English socialite, author, poet and literary editor
 * August 31 – Percy MacKaye, 81 (born 1875), American playwright and poet
 * November 21 – Aizu Yaichi (会津 八一) (born 1881), Japanese poet, calligrapher and historian (Surname: Aizu)