1949 in poetry

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

 * 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.
 * 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).

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.
 * James Reaney, The Red Heart. Governor General's Award 1949.

Indian poetry in English

 * Sri Aurobindo, Chitrangada ( Poetry in English ), Bombay: Sri Aurobindo Circle ,

New Zealand

 * Allen Curnow:
 * The Axe, a verse play with a Pacific setting (Caxton)
 * At Dead Low Water and Sonnets (Caxton)
 * Basil Dowling, Canterbury

United Kingdom

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

United States

 * Conrad Aiken:
 * The Divine Pilgrim
 * Skylight One
 * Joseph Payne Brennan, Heart of Earth (Decker Press)
 * Gwendolyn Brooks, Annie Allen
 * John Ciardi, Live Another Day
 * Hilda Doolittle, writing under the pen name "H. D.", By Avon River
 * Kenneth Fearing, Stranger at Coney Island
 * Robert Frost, Complete Poems
 * Langston Hughes, One-Way Ticket
 * Kenneth Patchen:
 * Red Wine & Yellow Hair
 * To Say If You Love Someone
 * Ezra Pound, Selected Poems
 * Kenneth Rexroth:
 * The Signature of All Things
 * ''The Art of Worldly Wisdom", Prairie City, Illinois: Decker Press
 * Louis Simpson, The Arrivistes
 * 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
 * Peter Viereck, The Poet in the Machine Age
 * William Carlos Williams:
 * Paterson, Book III
 * Selected Poems

Other in English

 * Judith Wright, Woman to Man, Australian
 * W. B. Yeats, Poems, "The Definitive Edition", Irish poet published in the United Kingdom

France

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

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

Marathi

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

Other languages of the Indian subcontinent

 * Masood Husain, Urdu zaban aur adab, a history, written in Urdu of that language and its literature
 * Nilakantha Shastri, translator, Sri Rama Carita, translation into Sanskrit of the Tamil-language Kamba Ramayana
 * Pritam Singh Safir, Rakt Bundam, Indian, Punjabi-language
 * S. Lalita, translator, Valarmati, translation into Tamil from the Indian poetry in English of Rabindranath Tagore's The Crescent Moon
 * Sitaramaiah Kuruganti, Navyandhra Sahitya Vidhulu, a four-volume history in Telugu of that language's literature
 * Umar Alisha, translator, Umar Khayyam, translation into Telugu from the Persian of Omar Khayyam's Rubaiyats

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
 * Haim Gouri, Pirhei Esh ("Flowers of Fire, Years of Fire"), Israeli writing in Hebrew
 * Erik Knudsen (poet), Blomsten og sværdet ("The Flower and the Sword"), Denmark
 * Alexander Mezhirov, Новые встречи ("New Encounters"), including "Communists, Ahead!", Russia
 * 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 &mdash; provoking a firestorm of criticism because of his pro-Fascist activities before and during World War II.
 * Canada: Governor General's Award, poetry or drama: The Red Heart, James Reaney

Births
Death years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article:
 * January 25 – Tom Paulin, Northern Irish poet and critic of film, music and literature
 * January 27 – Bruce Weigl, American poet and academic
 * February 6 – Eliot Weinberger, American essayist & principal translator of Octavio Paz into English
 * March 14 – Lynn Emanuel, American poet
 * April 13 – Marilyn Bowering, Canadian poet and novelist
 * April 25 – James Fenton English journalist, poet, critic and academic
 * May 13 – Christopher Reid, English poet, essayist, cartoonist, writer and exponent of Martian poetry
 * June 21:
 * John Agard playwright, poet, and children's writer from Guyana, who moved to England in 1977
 * Jane Urquhart, Canadian poet and author
 * July 5 – Pier Giorgio di Cicco Italian-Canadian poet
 * August 1 – Jim Carroll, American poet, author and musician.
 * August 2 – Bei Dao, (北島, literally meaning "Northern Island"), the pseudonym of Chinese poet Zhao Zhenkai, the most notable representative of the Misty Poets, a group of Chinese  poets who reacted against the restrictions of the Cultural Revolution
 * Also:
 * Agha Shahid Ali, English poet (died in 2001)
 * Michael Blumenthal (poet)
 * David Bottoms
 * Olga Broumas Greek-born and raised, English-language poet in the United States
 * Ralph Burns (poet)
 * Victor Hernandez Cruz, African-American
 * Gil Scott-Heron, African-American poet, musician, and author
 * Denis Johnson, American
 * Alice Major, Canadian poet
 * Mary di Michele, Canadian poet and writer
 * Bob Orr, New Zealand
 * Barbara Ras
 * Liam Rector, American poet, essayist and academic
 * David St. John, American poet and academic
 * Robyn Sarah
 * Michael Waters, American
 * C. D. Wright, pen name of Carolyn D. Wright, American poet

Deaths
Birth years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article:
 * March 2 – Sarojini Naidu (born 1879), Indian writing Indian poetry in English
 * 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
 * Also:
 * William Hervey Allen
 * Lilian Bowes-Lyon, English poet
 * Alice Corbin Henderson (born 1881), American poet
 * 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