1838 in poetry

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

Events

 * William Wordsworth granted an honorary Doctor of Civil Law degree by Durham University.

United Kingdom

 * Elizabeth Barrett, later Elizabeth Barrett Browning, The Seraphim, and Other Poems
 * Alexander Bethune, written with John Bethune, Tales and Sketches of the Scottish Peasantry
 * Richard Hurrell Froude, edited by John Keble and John Henry Newman, Remains of the late Richard Hurrell Froude, published posthumously
 * Leigh Hunt publishes Abou Ben Adhem
 * Robert Southey, The Poetical Works of Robert Southey, volumes 3-5 (first two volumes published in 1837)
 * Isaac Williams, The Cathedral; or, The Catholic and Apostolic Church in England
 * William Wordsworth's The Sonnets of William Wordsworth

United States

 * George Moses Horton, Hope of Liberty &mdash; Poems by a Slave, a third edition of Hope of Liberty, originally published in 1829 together with poetry by Phillis Wheatley; a second edition was published in Philadelphia in 1837 by an abolitionist group, as was this Boston edition; Horton (still alive, unlike Wheatley) received no royalties (although he slave was trying to earn money for his freedom), and likely didn't even know that these editions had been published in the North
 * James Russell Lowell, "Class Poem", the author's first published poem, a satire on new ideas and reforms, including Transcendentalism, abolitionism, women's rights and temperance; Lowell later supported many of these ideas and grew to regret writing humorously at their expense
 * George Pope Morris, The Deserted Bride and Other Poems, the first of numerous editions; includes the author's most popular poem, "Woodman, Spare That Tree!" (which had originally been published in the New York Mirror 1830)
 * John Greenleaf Whittier, Poems, expanded edition of the unauthorized work published in 1837

Other languages

 * Emil Aarestrup, Digte ("Poems"), also called Erotiske Situationer ("Erotic Situations"); Denmark

Births
Death years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article:
 * February 5 (?) - Abram Joseph Ryan, American
 * February 16 - Henry Adams, American
 * June 26 - Bankim Chatterjee (died 1894)
 * October 8 - John Hay, American
 * Also:
 * Sarah Elizabeth Carmichael, American
 * William Reed Huntington, American
 * Charles Mair, Canadian
 * Margaret Elizabeth Sangster

Deaths
Death years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article:
 * October 15 - Letitia Elizabeth Landon, likely by suicide
 * Date not known:
 * Margaret Miller Davidson
 * Charles Morris
 * Annabella Plumptre
 * Richard Polwhele