1968 in poetry

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

Events

 * The Belfast Group, a grouping of poets in Belfast, Northern Ireland, which was started in 1963 in poetry, lapsed in 1966 when founder Philip Hobsbaum left for Glasgow, is reconstituted this year by Michael Allen, Arthur Terry, and Seamus Heaney. At one time or another, the grouping also includes Michael Longley, James Simmons, Paul Muldoon, Ciaran Carson, Stewart Parker, Bernard MacLaverty and the critic Edna Longley. Meetings are held at Seamus and Marie Heaney's house on Ashley Avenue. The group will last until 1972.
 * The Honest Ulsterman, a long running Northern Ireland literary magazine, is established this year by James Simmons. It was then edited for 20 years by Frank Ormsby.
 * November 23 &mdash; Roy Fuller was elected professor of poetry at Oxford University (with 385 votes) to succeed Edmund Blunden, who unexpectedly left the post. Other nominees: Kathleen Raine, Enid Starkie and Yevgeni Yevtushenko.

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, Star-People.
 * Leonard Cohen, Selected Poems, 1956-1968
 * Irving Layton, The Shattered Plinths, 60 new poems.
 * Dennis Lee, Civil Elegies. Toronto: Anansi.
 * Dorothy Livesay, The Documentaries. Poems from the 1930s and 1940s, and including "Roots", a long poem
 * Jay Macpherson, The Boatman and Other Poems. Toronto: Oxford UP.
 * E.J. Pratt, Selected Poems of E. J. Pratt, Peter Buitenhuis ed., Toronto: Macmillan.
 * Al Purdy, Wild Grape Wine
 * Joe Rosenblatt, Winter of the Luna Moth. Toronto: Anansi.
 * W.W.E. Ross, Shapes & sounds: poems of W. W. E. Ross (with a portrait by Dennis Burton, a memoir by Barry Callaghan, and an editorial note by Raymond Souster and John Robert Colombo). (Toronto: Longman's)
 * Raymond Souster, Lost and Found: Uncollected Poems. Toronto: Clarke, Irwin.
 * Anthologies in Canada
 * Mary Alice Downie and Barbara Robertson, editors, The Wind Has Wings, anthology of 77 Canadian poems for children
 * Dennis Lee, editor, T.O. Now, anthology of 13 "apprentice poets living in Toronto"

Indian poetry in English

 * R. Parthasarathy  Poetry from Leeds ( Poetry in English ). Leeds: Oxford University Press, UK 1968.
 * G. S. Sharat Chandra, Bharat Natyam Dancer and Other Poems ( Poetry in English ), Calcutta: Writers Workshop, India.
 * Deb Kumar Das, The Eye of Autumn: An Experiment in Poetry ( Poetry in English ), Calcutta: Writers Workshop, India'
 * Ira De, The Hunt and Other Poems, revised edition, ( Poetry in English ), Calcutta: Writers Workshop, India (see also first edition 1961)
 * Gauri Deshpande, Between Births ( Poetry in English ), Calcutta: Writers Workshop, India
 * Indira Devi Dhanrajgir, Partings in Mimosa, Hyderabad
 * Guari Deshpande, Between Births ( Poetry in English ), Calcutta: Writers Workshop, India
 * Paul Jacob, Sonnets ( Poetry in English ), Calcutta: Writers Workshop, India
 * S. R. Mokashi-Punekar, P. Lal: An Appreciation( Poetry in English ), Calcutta: Writers Workshop, India
 * Dom Moraes, My Son's Father, autobiography
 * Srinavas Rayaprol, Bones & Distances( Poetry in English ), Calcutta: Writers Workshop, India
 * Pradip Sen, And Then the Sun, revised edition (first edition, 1960, ( Poetry in English ), Calcutta: Writers Workshop, India
 * Vinay K. Varma,Poppies and Ashes
 * Swami Vivekananda, Search of God and Other Poems, Calcutta: Advaita Ashram''
 * Suniti Namjoshi and Sarojini Namjoshi, translators, Poems of Govindagraj, translated from Marathi, Calcutta: Writers Workshop, India

United Kingdom

 * W. H. Auden:
 * Collected Longer Poems
 * Secondary Worlds, lecture given in October
 * Selected Poems
 * Dannie Abse, A Small Desperation
 * Kingsley Amis, A Look Round the Estate
 * Edward Brathwaite, Masks
 * Basil Bunting, Collected Poems
 * Charles Causley, Underneath the Water
 * Stewart Conn, Stoats in Sunlight
 * Tony Connor, Kon in Springtime
 * Maureen Duffy, Lyrics for the Dog Hour
 * D. J. Enright, Unlawful Assembly
 * Gavin Ewart, The Deceptive Grin of the Gravel Porters
 * James Fenton, Our Western Furniture
 * Roy Fuller, New Poems
 * William R. P. George - Cerddi'r Neraig
 * Zulfikar Ghose, Jets from Orange
 * Robert Graves, Poems 1965–1968
 * John Heath-Stubbs, Satires and Epigrams
 * Adrian Henri, Tonight at Noon
 * Norman Jackson, Beyond the Habit of Sense
 * A. Norman Jeffares, A New Commentary On The Poems Of W.B. Yeats, criticismUnited Kingdom
 * James Kirkup, Paper Windows
 * George MacBeth, The Night of Stones
 * Norman MacCaig, Rings on a Tree
 * Derek Mahon, Night-Crossing, Oxford University Press
 * Adrian Mitchell, Out Loud
 * Edwin Morgan, The Second Life, his first collection and the first in Britain to be typeset by computer
 * Richard Murphy, The Battle of Aughrim
 * Ruth Pitter, Poems 1926–1966
 * J. H. Prynne, Kitchen Poems
 * Muriel Spark, Collected Poems Volume 1
 * R. S. Thomas, Not That He Brought Flowers
 * J. R. R. Tolkien, The Road Goes Ever On, first published in the United States 1967
 * Vernon Watkins, Fidelities
 * Anthologies in the United Kingdom
 * John Bishop, Music and Sweet Poetry, poems about music
 * Rodney Hall and Thomas Shapcott, editors, New Impulses in Australian Poetry
 * Howard Sergeant, Poetry from Africa (published in the United Kingdom), including work from Gabriel Okara (Nigeria), Gaston Bart-Williams (Sierra Leone), Kwesi Brew (Ghana) and David Rubadiri (Malawi)
 * Jean Sergeant and Howard Sergeant, Poems from Hospital
 * Joan Murray Simpson, Without Adam: The Femina Anthology of Poetry, poems by women

United States

 * James Agee, The Collected Poems of James Agee, including 60 poems previously unpublished in books (posthumous)
 * Bert Almon. The Return and Other Poems.


 * A. R. Ammons, Selected Poems
 * Paul Blackburn, In. On. Or About The Premises
 * Gwendolyn Brooks, In the Mecca
 * Raymond Carver, Near Klamath
 * Stanley Cooperman, The Day of the Parrot and Other Poems
 * Robert Creeley, Pieces
 * Ed Dorn and Gordon Brotherston, translators, Our Word: Guerilla Poems From Latin America, Grossman
 * Ed Dorn, Gunslinger, Black Sparrow Press
 * Robert Duncan, Bending the Bow
 * Allen Ginsberg, T.V. Baby Poems
 * John Hollander, Types of Shape
 * LeRoi Jones and Larry Neal, editors, Black Fire, an anthology of African-American poetry
 * Etheridge Knight, Poems from Prison
 * Archibald MacLeish, The Wild Wicked Old Man and Other Poems
 * Rod McKuen, Lonesome Cities
 * Ogden Nash, There's Always Another Windmill
 * Howard Nemerov, The Winter Lightning: Selected Poems
 * Lorine Niedecker, North Central (Fulcrum Press: London)
 * Ned O'Gorman, The Harversters' Vase
 * George Oppen, Of Being Numerous
 * Charles Reznikoff, second Testimony collection
 * Kenneth Rexroth, Collected Longer Poems
 * Aram Saroyan, Aram Saroyan, Random House
 * Karl Shapiro, Selected Poems (more than 200, including 25 previously unpublished)
 * Mark Strand, Reasons for Moving, Canadian native published in the United States
 * Alice Walker, Once
 * Anthologies in the United States
 * Phyllis McGinley, editor, Wonders and Surprises, anthology for juveniles, including poems by Elinor Wylie, E. B. White, Langston Hughes and T. S. Eliot
 * Paul Carroll, editor, The Young American Poets, anthology of 54 poets

Other in English

 * Edward Brathwaite, Masks, second part of his The Arrivants trilogy, which also includes Rights of Passage (1967) and Islands (1969), Caribbean
 * Kendrick Smithyman, Flying to Palmerston, Christchurch: Auckland University & Oxford University Press, New Zealand
 * R. Hall and T. Shapcott, editors, New Impulses in Australian Poetry, anthology, Australia
 * Richard Murphy, The Battle of Aughrim, Ireland

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:

Denmark

 * Per HÃ¸jholt, Turbo
 * Hans JÃ¸rgen Nielsen, Fra luften i munden
 * Thorkild BjÃ¸rnvig, Ravnen

Canadian poetry in French

 * Jean-Guy Pilon, Comme eau retenue : poÃ¨mes 1954-1963, MontrÃ©al: l'Hexagone
 * Yves PrÃ©fontaine, Pays sans parole

France

 * P. Albert-Birot, PoÃ¨tes d'aujourd'hui (posthumous), edited by J. Follain
 * Marc Alyn, La Nuit majeure
 * J. Berthet:
 * Poesiepures
 * Quelconqueries
 * J. Bancal, L'Ã‰preuve du feu
 * AndrÃ© du Bouchet, OU LE SOLEIL
 * A. Bosquet, Quatre Testaments et autres poÃ¨mes
 * AndrÃ©e Chedid, Contre–Chant
 * Rene Char, Dans la pluie giboyeuse
 * C. Fourcade, De LumiÃ¨re et de nuit
 * L. Foucher, Argyne et les GypaÃ¨tes, third part of a trilogy
 * AndrÃ© FrÃ©naud, La Sainte Face
 * Armel Lubin, Feux contre feux
 * F. Millepierres, Cheval noir et cheval blanc
 * Raymond Queneau, Battre la campagne
 * G. Puel, La LumiÃ¨re du jour
 * Denis Roche, Ã‰ros Ã©nergumÃ¨ne
 * Jean Tardieu, Le Fleuve cachÃ©

Hebrew

 * A. Shlonsky, Mishiai ha-Perozdor ha-Aroch ("From the Poems of the Long Corridor")
 * A. Gilboa, Lichtov Siftai Yeshainim ("To Write from the Lips of the Sleepers"), Israel
 * Haim Gouri, Tenua le-Maga ("A Move to Touch")
 * A. Halfi, Mivhar Shirimx ("Selected Poems")
 * A. Kovner, Ahot Ketana ("Little Sister")
 * B. Galai, Massa Zafonah ("Northward Journey")
 * D. Pagis, Shirai Levi Ibn Altabban (prose), a study of the Medieval Hebrew poet's work

India
Listed in alphabetical order by first name:
 * Buddhidhari Singha, Sarasayya, a long poem published as a book; Maithili-language
 * Nilmani Phookan, Aru Ki Naisabda, Guwahati, Assam: Dutta Barua; India, Assamese-language
 * Varavara Rao (better known as "VV"), Chali Negallu or Chalinegallu ("Camp Fires"), Hanamkonda: Svecha Sahiti; India, Telugu-language

Italy

 * Giorgio Vigolo, La luce ricorda, collection of poems from 1923 and after
 * Sergio Solmi, Dal balcone
 * Giovanni Testori, L'amore
 * Giuseppe Guglielmi, Panglosse blandimentis oramentis coeteris meretriciis
 * Andrea Zalzotto, La beltÃ 
 * Franco Fortini, Una volta per sempre
 * Angela Giannitrapani, Professione di poesia

Norway

 * Arnulf Ã˜verland, De hundrede fioliner: Dikt i utvalg (posthumous)
 * Tor Obrestad, VÃ¥rt daglige brÃ¸d
 * Arnljot Eggen, Roller og rÃ¸ynd
 * Hallvard Lie, Norsk verslÃ¦re, a scholarly study on Norwegian poetry

Brazil

 * JoÃ£o Cabral de Melo Neto, Complete Works
 * Augusto de Campos, Haroldo de Campos and Boris Schnaiderman, editors:
 * An anthology of modern Russian poetry from Symbolism to the present in Portuguese
 * Traduzir e Trovar, an anthology of translated poetry, including poetry from France, Italy and England.
 * Biography, criticism, scholarship
 * Augusto de Campos, O balanÃ§o da Bossa, a study of the relationship of Brazilian popular music to "vanguardist" poetry
 * Luiz Costa Lima, Lira e Antilira, essays on modern Brazilian poetry
 * DÃ©cio Pignatari, InformaÃ§Ã£o, Linguagem, CommunicaÃ§Ã£o, critical study of vanguardist art and mass culture

Russia

 * A. Tvardovski, Selected Lyrics 1959-67
 * Alexander Mezhirov, Ð›ÐµÐ±ÑÐ¶Ð¸Ð¹ Ð¿ÐµÑ€ÐµÑƒÐ»Ð¾Ðº ("Swan's Lane"), Russia, Soviet Union
 * A. Mezhov, Horseshoe
 * Robert Rozhdestvenski, Poem from Various Points of View
 * Yarlov Smelyakov, December, poems published serially in the periodical Friendship Between the Peoples last year and this year

Latin America

 * Nicanor Parra, Canciones rusas (Chile)
 * Emma Godoy, a book interpreting of "Muerte sin fin" by JosÃ© Gorostiza (Mexico)

Sweden

 * Lars Forssell, a book of poetry
 * Johannes Edfelt, a book of poetry
 * Petter Bergman, a book of poetry
 * Lars Gustalfsson, a book of poetry

United States

 * Yaykev Glatshteyn, a book of poems
 * Aron Tseytlin, Poems of the Holocaust and Poems of Faith
 * Efroyim Oyerbakh, a book of poems
 * I. J. Shvarts, a book of poems
 * Itsik Manger, a book of poems
 * Eliezer Grinberg, a book of poems
 * Rokhl Korn, a book of poems
 * A. Glants-Leyeles, I Do Remember (posthumous)

Israel

 * Malke Loker, a book of poems
 * Leyb Olitski, a book of poems
 * Avrom Lev, a book of poems
 * I. Manik, a book of poems
 * Binem Heler, a book of poems
 * Rivke Basman, a book of poems
 * Abraham Sutzkever, Square Letters and Miracles

Soviet Union

 * Itsik Fefer, a book of poems
 * Zyame Telesin, a book of poems
 * Mendl Lifshits, a book of poems

Poland

 * Eliyohu Reyzman, a book of poems
 * P. Tsibulski, a book of poems (posthumous)

Other languages

 * Nizar Qabbani, Diary of an Indifferent Woman, Syrian poet writing in Arabic

Canada

 * See 1968 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards.
 * Canadian Centennial Commission poetry competition: First prize: Margaret Atwood, The Animals in That Country

United Kingdom

 * Cholmondeley Award: Harold Massingham, Edwin Morgan
 * Eric Gregory Award: James Aitchison, Douglas Dunn, Brian Jones
 * Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry: Robert Graves

United States

 * American Academy of Arts and Letters Gold Medal in Poetry, W. H. Auden
 * 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 Jay Smith appointed this year.
 * National Book Award for Poetry: Robert Bly, The Light Around the Body
 * Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: Anthony Hecht, The Hard Hours
 * Fellowship of the Academy of American Poets: Stanley Kunitz

Births

 * Dates not known:
 * Nan Cohen
 * Jun Er, China
 * A. E. Stallings, American poet
 * Michael Teig, American poet

Deaths
Birth years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article:
 * January 14 – Dorothea Mackellar, 82, Australian poet and writer
 * January 20 – David Stacton, 42
 * January 25 – Yvor Winters, 67, American literary critic and poet
 * February 16 – Jaime SabartÃ©s, Spanish poet and longtime secretary to Pablo Picasso
 * March 16 – Gunnar EkelÃ¶f, 60, Swedish poet
 * March 25 – Arnulf Ã˜verland, 78, Norwegian poet
 * April 26 – Donald Davidson, 74, American poet, essayist, social and literary critic, and author who organized the Nashville circle of poets called the Fugitives and an overlapping group, the Southern Agrarians.
 * April 28 – Winfield Townley Scott, 58, American poet
 * May – Erik Lindegren 58, Swedish poet
 * May 9 – George Hill Dillon, 62
 * June 1 – Witter Bynner, 86, American poet, writer and scholar
 * June 12 – Sir Herbert Edward Read, at 74, English poet and critic of literature and art.
 * June 14 – Salvatore Quasimodo, 66, Italian poet
 * November 17 – Mervyn Peake, 57, British modernist writer, artist, poet and illustrator.
 * December 10 – Thomas Merton (born 1915), American poet, author and Roman Catholic monk, in a freak accident in a visit to Bangkok, Thailand
 * date not known – Eckart Peterich (born 1900), German