1854 in poetry

'Forward, the Light Brigade!' Was there a man dismay'd? Not tho' the soldiers knew
 * Some one had blunder'd:

Their's not to make reply, Their's not to reason why, Their's but to do and die: Into the valley of Death
 * Rode the six hundred.

— From "The Charge of the Light Brigade" by Alfred Lord Tennyson, first published this year

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

United Kingdom

 * William Allingham, Day and Night Songs
 * W.E. Aytoun, writing under the pen name "T. Percy Jones", Firmilian; or, The Student of Badajoz, subtitle: "A Spasmodic tragedy"
 * Thomas De Quincey, Selections Grave and Gay, including biographical essays (originally published in Tait's Edinburgh Magazine in 1834, 1835, 1839 and 1840) on some of the Lake Poets (see also Recollections of the Lakes and the Lake Poets 1860, in which all of the Recollections essays were published)
 * Eliza Craven Green, "Ellan Vannin" (later set to music)
 * John Keats, The Poetical Works of John Keats, edited by Richard Monckton Milnes; posthumously published
 * Coventry Patmore, "The Angel in the House", Part I, also known as The Betrothal (see also The Espousals 1856, Faithful for Ever 1860, The Victories of Love 1863)
 * Alfred Lord Tennyson, "The Charge of the Light Brigade" published in The Examiner on Dec. 9

United States

 * Benjamin Paul Blood, The Bride of the Iconoclast
 * William Cullen Bryant, Poems
 * Phoebe Cary, Poems and Parodies
 * William J. Grayson, The Hireling and the Slave
 * William H.C. Hosmer, Poetical Works
 * Julia Ward Howe, Passion Flowers

France

 * Louise Colet:
 * Ce qu'on rêve en aimant
 * L'Acropole d'Athènes
 * Gérard de Nerval, Les Chimères, poems appended to the author's book of short stories, Les Filles du feu
 * Tiouttchev, Poésies

Other

 * Heinrich Heine, Gedichte. 1853 und 1854 ("Poems. 1853 and 1854"), German poet and author living in France.

Births
Death years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article:
 * April 13 – William Henry Drummond, Canadian
 * September 24 – George Frederick Cameron (died 1885), Canadian
 * October 16 – Oscar Wilde, English
 * October 20 – Arthur Rimbaud, French
 * Also:
 * Govind Vasudev Kanitkar (died 1918), Indian, Marathi-language poet and translator

Deaths
Birth years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article:
 * April 3 – John Wilson (born 1785), Scots
 * April 16 – Julia Nyberg (born 1784), Swedish poet and songwriter
 * April 24 – Gabriele Rossetti (born 1783), English
 * April 30 – James Montgomery (born 1771), Scots
 * December 9 – Almeida Garrett (born 1799), Portuguese