1952 in poetry

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

Events

 * November &mdash; The Group British poetry movement of the 1950s and 1960s began at Downing College, Cambridge University, Philip Hobsbaum along with two friends &mdash; Tony Davis and Neil Morris &mdash; dissatisfied with the way poetry was read aloud in the university, decided to place a notice in the undergraduate newspaper Varsity for people interested in forming a poetry discussion group. Five others, including Peter Redgrove came along to the first meeting.  This poetry discussion group met once a week during term. The group was later moved to London.
 * E. E. Cummings is appointed to a Charles Eliot Norton Professorship at Harvard.
 * Contact, a mimeographed poetry magazine, founded by Ramond Souster (ceases publication in 1954; Contact Press, an important publisher of Canadian poetry, also founded (closes in 1967)

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

 * Alfred Bailey, Border River
 * Earle Birney, Trial of a City and Other Verse. Toronto: Ryerson.
 * Louis Dudek, Raymond Souster and Irving Layton. Cerberus. Toronto: Contact Press, 1952.
 * Louis Dudek, The Searching Image. Toronto: Ryerson Press, 1952.
 * Louis Dudek, Twenty-Four Poems. Toronto: Contact Press, 1952.
 * Wilson MacDonald, The Lyric Year. Toronto: Ryerson.
 * Jay Macpherson, Nineteen Poems
 * E.J. Pratt, Towards the Last Spike, Toronto: Macmillan. Governor General's Award 1952.

Indian poetry in English

 * Sri Aurobindo, Last Poems ( Poetry in English ), mostly philosophical, mystical poetry; Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Ashram, posthumously published (died 1950), posthumously published (died 1950)
 * Dilip Kumar Roy, Sri Aurobindo Came to Me, Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Ashram
 * Themis, Poems ( Poetry in English ), 74 mystical lyrics, from the Aurobindoean school; Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Ashram
 * G. V. Subbaramayya, Songs and Sonnets ( Poetry in English ), Nellore: Viveka Publishers
 * Nissim Ezekiel, A Time to Change( Poetry in English ) ,

New Zealand

 * James K. Baxter, Louis Johnson and Anton Vogt, Poems Unpleasant, Christchurch: Pegasus Press
 * A.R.D. Fairburn:
 * Three Poems
 * Strange Rendezvous
 * Keith Sinclair, Songs for a Summer and Other Poems
 * Robert Thompson, editor, 13 New Zealand Poets

United Kingdom

 * A. Alvarez, Poems
 * W. H. Auden, Nones, published February 22 in the United Kingdom (first published in February 1951 in the United States)
 * William Buchan, 3rd Baron Tweedsmuir, Personal Poems
 * C. Day Lewis, translation, The Aenid of Virgil (see also The Georgics of Virgil 1940, The Eclogues of Virgil 1963)
 * Patric Dickinson, The Sailing Race, and Other Poems
 * Lawrence Durrell, A Key To Modern Poetry
 * Nissim Ezekiel, Time To Change, Indian living at this time in the United Kingdom
 * Michael Hamburger, translator into English from the German original of Austrian Georg Trakl's Decline: 12 Poems, Guido Morris / Latin Press,
 * David Jones, The Anathemata
 * Thomas Kinsella, The Starlit Eye
 * Louis MacNeice, Ten Burnt Offerings
 * Edwin Muir, Collected Poems 1921-51
 * James Reeves, The Password, and Other Poems''
 * Sir Osbert Sitwell, Wrack at Tidesend, published on May 16, a sequel to England Reclaimed of 1927 (see also On the Continent 1958)
 * Dylan Thomas:
 * Collected Poems 1934-1952
 * In Country Sleep, including the poem "Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night"
 * R.S. Thomas, An Acre of Land

United States

 * R.P. Blackmur, Language as Gesture, criticism
 * Robert Creeley, Le Fou, American published in Europe
 * Archibald Macleish, Collected Poems, 1917–1952, winner of the Pulitzer Prize
 * W.S. Merwin, A Mask for Janus, New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press; awarded the Yale Younger Poets Prize, 1952 (reprinted as part of The First Four Books of Poems, 1975)
 * Frank O'Hara, A City in Winter and Other Poems
 * Kenneth Rexroth, The Dragon and the Unicorn, a verse journal of his European travels
 * Wallace Stevens, Selected Poems, Fortune Press
 * Jesse Stuart, Kentucky Is my Land
 * New World Writing the first of an annual paperback anthology of prose, drama and poetry; continues to 1959 in poetry
 * Peter Viereck, The First Morning
 * Yvor Winter, Collected Poems

Other

 * R. Berndt, editor, Djanggawul, anthology of Australian poetry
 * Seaforth Mackenzie, editor Australian Poetry, 1951-2, Sydney: Angus and Robertson; Australia

France

 * Rene-Guy Cadou, Helene ou le regne vegetal, Volume 1, published posthumously (died 1951)
 * Jean Cayrol, Les Mots sont aussi des demeures 1952
 * Jean Cocteau, Le Chiffre sept
 * Pierre Emmanuel, pen name of Noël Mathieu, Babel
 * Jean Grosjean, Le Livre du juste
 * Benjamin Péret, Air mexicain
 * Raymond Queneau, Si tu t'imagines
 * Francis Ponge, La Rage de lexpression
 * Georges Schéhadé, Les Poésies

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

Hindi

 * Haradayalu Singh, Ravan, poem written in Braja Bhasa; with characters from classical epic poems and presenting Ravana in a sympathetic light; 17 chapters
 * Narmada Prasad Khare, Svar-Pathey
 * Ramadhari Singh Dinakar, Rasmi Rathi, epic poem about Karna, a character in the Mahabharata

Kannada

 * D. V. Gundappa, translator, Umarana Osage, translated from the English of Edward Fitzgerald's translation of The Rubaiyatt of Omar Khayyam
 * M. Gopalakrishna Adiga, Nadedu Banna Dari, poems showing the transition in Indian poetry from the more idealistic Navodaya tradition to Navya poetry which is more pessimistic and uses imagery to provide structure; Kannada
 * Pejavara Sadashiva Rao, Varuna, written before 1950, but differing distinctly from navodaya poetry; using original rhythm and with subject matter from the experiences of an alienated individual; including "Natyotsava", considered by some critics as the earliest navya poem in the Kannada language; published posthumously (the author died at age 26 in Italy)

Other languages in India

 * Amrita Pritam, Sarghi Vela, romantic and progressive poems; Punjabi
 * Bahinabai, Bahinabaici Kavita, Marathi
 * Birendra Chattopadhyay, Ranur Janya, Bengali
 * Chandranath Mishra, Yugacakra, humorous and satirical poems by "a major poet of Maithili", according to Indian academic Sisir Kumar Das (see also Unata pal 1972, a revised and expanded edition)
 * Faiz Ahmad Faiz, Dast-e-Saba, Urdu
 * Gangaprasad Upadhyay, Arodaya mahakavya, epic poem on Swami Dayananda; Sanskrit
 * Jnanindra Barma Eka Ratri, Uttara Kranti, Ratnarakha, Oriya
 * Mir Shaban Dar, Qissa-e-Bahram Shah, popular romantic poem in masnavi form, modeled on a Persian poem; Kashmiri
 * Parsram Rohra, Sitar, Sindhi
 * Pinakin Thakore, Alap, Gujarati
 * Pir Atiquallah, Pirnama, comic narrative poem in masnavi form on the "Ways of the Pir"; shows the influence of Maqbool; Kashmiri
 * Rayaprolu Subba Rao, Rupanavanitamu, poems honoring womanhood and spiritual love; Telugu
 * Sreedhara Menon, Onappattukar, Malayalam

Other languages

 * Gabriela Mistral, Los sonetos de la muerte y otros poemas elegíacos, Santiago, Chile: Philobiblion
 * Sean O Riordain, Eireaball Spideoige, including "Adhlacadh Mo Mhathar", "Malairt", "Cnoc Melleri" and "Siollabadh", Gaelic-language, Ireland
 * Wisława Szymborska: Dlatego żyjemy ("That's Why We Are Alive"), Poland

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"): William Carlos Williams appointed this year (but did not serve).
 * Bollingen Prize: Marianne Moore
 * Frost Medal: Carl Sandburg
 * National Book Award for Poetry: Marianne Moore, Collected Poems
 * Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: Marianne Moore, Collected Poems
 * King's Gold Medal for Poetry: Andrew Young
 * Fellowship of the Academy of American Poets: Padraic Colum
 * Canada: Governor General's Award, poetry or drama: Towards the Last Spike, E.J. Pratt

Births
Death years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article:
 * January 2 – Jimmy Santiago Baca, American poet and writer
 * January 10 – Dorianne Laux, American poet
 * January 17 – Barry Dempster, a Canadian poet and novelist
 * January 20 – Roo Borson, pen name of Ruth Elizabeth Borson, American native living in Canada
 * January 24 – Alice Fulton, an American poet, author, and MacArthur Foundation fellow
 * March 12 – Naomi Shihab Nye, American poet and songwriter born to a Palestinian father and American mother
 * April 12 – Gary Soto, Mexican-American poet and author
 * June 20 – Vikram Seth, Indian poet, novelist, travel writer, librettist, children's writer, biographer and memoirist
 * June 5 – Mark Jarman, American poet and critic often identified with the "New Narrative" branch of the New Formalism
 * August 5 – D. C. Reid, a Canadian poet, novelist and short story writer
 * August 28 – Rita Dove, an African American poet and author and former Poet Laureate of the United States
 * October 26 – Andrew Motion English poet, novelist, biographer and Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom
 * November 7 – Malca Litovitz, Canadian poet, author and educator
 * December 20 – Sky Gilbert, a Canadian poet, writer, actor, academic and drag performer
 * Also:
 * Maxine Chernoff &mdash; American poet and writer
 * Judith Ortiz Cofer born in Hormigueros, Puerto Rico, an author of poetry, short stories, autobiography, essays, and young adult novels
 * Carla Harryman, American poet and playwright
 * Jan Horner
 * Carole Langille
 * Myron Lysenko, Australian
 * Alberto Rios American poet and writer
 * Carolyn Smart, English-Canadian poet and educator
 * Elizabeth Spires, American poet and academic
 * Susan Stewart &mdash; American poet, academic and literary critic
 * thalia, Australian

Deaths
Birth years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article:
 * February 3 – Kambara Ariake 蒲原有明 pen-name of Kambara Hayao (born 1876), Taishō and Showa period Japanese poet and novelist
 * March 1 – Masao Kume 久米正雄 (born 1891), late Taishō period and early Showa period Japanese playwright, novelist and haiku poet (under the pen-name of Santei)
 * August 22 – E. J. Brady (born 1869), Australian
 * September 26 – George Santayana (born 1863), Spanish-American philosopher, essayist, poet, and novelist
 * November 16 – Charles Maurras, 84, French author, poet, and critic
 * November 18 – Paul Éluard, 56, French poet who broke with Surrealism when he became a Stalinist
 * November 23 – Aaro Hellaakoski, Finnish poet
 * December 27 – Patrick Joseph Hartigan, who wrote under the pen name "Joseph O'Brien" (born 1878), Australian


 * Also:
 * Wendy Jenkins, Australian
 * Roger Vitrac, poet and dramatist
 * Arthur Shearly Cripps