1944 in poetry

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

Events

 * The first and second lines of Paul Verlaine's 1866 poem Chanson d'automne (Les sanglots longs des violons de l'automne / Blessent mon cœur d'une langueur monotone.) were broadcast by the Allies over Radio Londres this year as a message in code to the French Resistance to prepare for D-Day.

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

 * A.M. Klein:
 * The Hitleriad
 * Poems
 * Dorothy Livesay, Day and Night. Toronto: Ryerson. Governor General's Award 1944.
 * E.J. Pratt, Collected Poems of E. J. Pratt, Toronto: Macmillan.
 * Anthologies
 * Ralph Gustafson, editor, Canadian Accent, anthology
 * Ronald Hambleton, editor Unit of Five: Louis Dudek, Ronald Hambleton, P.K. Page, Raymond Souster, James Wreford, anthology, Toronto: Ryerson Press, Canada.
 * Biography, criticism, scholarship
 * E.K. Brown, On Canadian Poetry, revised edition (scholarship), Canada

Indian poetry in English

 * Harindranath Chattopadhyay:
 * Blood of Stones ( Poetry in English ), including "On the Pavement of Calcutta", a realistic description of suffering in the Bengal famine of 1943; Bombay: Padma Publications
 * Lyrics ( Poetry in English ), Bombay: Padma Publications
 * Nolini Kanta Gupta, To the Height ( Poetry in English ) ,
 * Humayun Kabir, Mahatma and Other Poems( Poetry in English ); except for the title poem "Mahatama", inspired by the Quit India Movement, and "Rabindranath Tagore", the other poems are reprinted from the author's Poems 1932
 * Fredoon Kabraji, A Minor Georgian's Swan Song ( Poetry in English ), Publisher: Basil Blackwell, Indian poet published in the United Kingdom
 * P.R. Kaikini, Look On Undaunted ( Poetry in English ), Bombay
 * H.D. Sethna, Struggling Heights ( Poetry in English ), Bombay: Karnatak Publishing House
 * Subho Tagore:
 * Flames of Passion ( Poetry in English ), love poems in verse and in the form of prose poems; Calcutta: Susil Gupta Ltd.
 * Rubble, translated by Nilima Devi into English from the original Bengali; Calcutta: The Futurist Publishing House

United Kingdom

 * W.H. Auden, For the Time Being: A Christmas Oratorio, English poet living and publishing in the United States
 * George Barker, Eros in Dogma
 * Laurence Binyon, The Burning of the Leaves, and Other Poems
 * Sir John Betjeman, New Bats in Old Belfries
 * Laurence Binyon, The Burning of the Leaves, and Other Poems
 * Edmund Blunden, Shells by a Stream
 * Alex Comfort, Elegies
 * Crown and Sickle poetry anthology in Britain, featuring poets in the New Apocalyptics movement
 * Walter De la Mare, Collected Rhymes and Verses
 * Patric Dickinson, The Seven Days of Jericho
 * T.S. Eliot, Four Quartets, contains "Burnt Norton" (first published 1936 and again 1941), "East Coker" (1940), "The Dry Salvages" (1941), "Little Gidding" (1942)
 * Roy Fuller, A Lost Season
 * W. S. Graham, The Seven Journeys
 * J. F. Hendry, and Henry Treece, editors, The Crown and Sickle, anthology
 * Laurie Lee, The Sun My Monument
 * John Lehmann, The Sphere of Glass, and Other Poems
 * Louis MacNeice, Springboard
 * Mervyn Peake, Rhymes Without Reason
 * John Pudney, Almanack of Hope
 * Herbert Read, A World Within a War
 * E. J. Scovell, Shadows of Chrysanthemums, and Other Poems
 * William Soutar, The Expectant Silence
 * Charles Williams, The Region of the Summer Stars

United States

 * Franklin P. Adams, Nods and Becks
 * Conrad Aiken, The Soldier
 * W.H. Auden, For the Time Being
 * E.E. Cummings, 1 X 1
 * Babette Deutsch, Take Them, Stranger
 * Hilda Doolittle, writing under the pen name "H.D.", The Walls Do Not Fall, first part of Trilogy (1944–46) on the blitz in war-time London
 * Stanley J. Kunitz, Passport to the War
 * Robert Lowell, Land of Unlikeness, Cummington, Massachusetts: Cummington Press
 * William Meredith, Love Letter from an Impossible Land
 * Marianne Moore, Nevertheless
 * Kenneth Rexroth, The Phoenix and the Tortoise
 * Muriel Rukeyser, Beast in View
 * Karl Shapiro, V-Letter and Other Poems
 * Jesse Stuart, Album of Destiny
 * Mark Van Doren, Seven Sleepers
 * Louise Varèse, translator, Eloges and Other Poems, translated from the original French of Saint-John Perse; introduction by Archibald MacLeish, New York: Norton
 * Robert Penn Warren, Selected Poems, 1923&mdash;1943
 * William Carlos Williams:
 * Collected Later Poems
 * The Wedge

Other in English

 * James K. Baxter, Beyond the Palisade, his first volume of poetry, New Zealand
 * Seaforth Mackenzie, The Moonlit Doorway, Sydney: Angus and Robertson; Australia
 * Kenneth Slessor, One Hundred Poems, 1919-1939, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, Australia

Works published in 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:

France

 * Jean Cassou, Trente-trois sonnets composes au secret
 * Robert Desnos, Contrée
 * Paul Éluard, Au Rendez-vous allemand
 * Pierre Jean Jouve, Pour les Ombres Lausanne, Switzerland: Cahiers de Poésie French poet published in Switzerland
 * Alphonse Métérié, Les Cantiques du Frère Michel
 * Saint-John Perse, French poet published in his native language while in exile in Argentina:
 * Pluies, Buenos Aires: Les Editions Lettres Françaises (republished in Exil, suivi de Poème à l'étrangère; Pluies; Neiges Paris: Gallimard 1945)
 * Quatre poèmes, 1941-1944, Buenos Aires: Les Editions Lettres Françaises (republished as Exil, suivi de Poème à l'étrangère; Pluies; Neiges Paris: Gallimard 1945)

Indian subcontinent
Including all of the British colonies that later became India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal. Listed alphabetically by first name, regardless of surname:

Gujarati

 * Badarayan, Kedi
 * Prahlad Parekh Bari Bahar
 * Umashankar Joshi, Prachina, a "dialogue-poem"

Hindi

 * Anchala Rameshvar Shukla, Lal Cunar, lyrics celebrating love, youth and revolt
 * Girija Kumar Mathur, Manjir, many of these poems have themes of nature and intense love
 * Rangeya Raghav, Ajeya Khandhar, pragativadi-movement poetry about the battle of Stalingrad, depicted to illustrate the human struggle for freedom
 * Shyam Narayan Pandey, Jauhar, depicting the self-sacrifice of Padmini, queen of Cittor, written in a folk style

Other Indian languages

 * A. N. Krishna Rao, Pragati Sila Sahitya, 15 essays in Kannada on the Pragatisila Caluvali (progressive movement) in Indian literature
 * Bhimaraj Bhambiru, also known as "Mangal"; Mumgha Moti, written in doha form, the poems are addressed to an individual Mangala; Rajasthani-language
 * Joseph Mundasseri, written in Malayalam-language:
 * Manadandam, criticism about Indian classical literature, particularly Kalidasa
 * Mattoli, a comparison of three major works of poetry: Kumaran Asan's Karuna, Vallathol's Magdalana Mariyam and Ulloor's Pingala
 * K. V. Puttappa, also known as "Kuvempu", Kogile Mattu Soviet Russia, verses with a focus on the common man, which was pioneering for Kannada poetry of the time; a recurring theme in the poems is rejection of institutionalized religion
 * Kshama Rao, Miralahari, Khanda Kavya poetry on Meera, the medieval Indian saint-poet; Sanskrit-language
 * Mahjoor, Kalam-e-Mahjoor "No. 8", Kashmiri-language ghazals and vatsan's
 * Mohammad Jamil Ahmad, Tazkirah-yi Sha'irat-i Urdu, literary criticism of Urdu-language women poets, with biographical information and selections from their poems
 * Mohammad Mujib, Insha, adab aur adib, Urdu essays in literary criticism
 * Prabhjot Kaur, Palkan Ohle, love poems; Punjabi-language
 * Shrikrishna Powale, Agniparag; Marathi-language
 * Va. Ramaswamy Ayyangar, Makakavi Paratiyar, Tamil biography of the Tamil poet Bharati

Spanish language

 * Delmira Agustini, Poesías, posthumously published (died 1914), prologue by Luisa Luisi (Motevideo, Claudio García & Co., Uruguay
 * Vicente Aleixandre, Sombra del paraíso ("Shadows of Paradise"); Spain
 * César Moro, pen name of César Quíspez Asín, Lettre d'amour, Peru

Other languages

 * Nathan Alterman, Plague Poems, Israel
 * Nizar Qabbani, The Brunette Told Me, Syrian poet writing in Arabic
 * Giorgos Seferis, Ημερολόγιο Καταστρώματος ΙΙ ("Deck Diary II"), Greece

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"): Robert Penn Warren appointed this year. He would serve until 1945.
 * Governor General's Award, poetry or drama: Day and Night, Dorothy Livesay (Canada)

Births
Death years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article:
 * February 9 – Alice Walker, African-American novelist, poet, writer and feminist
 * February 19 – Jeffrey Wainwright, English poet and academic
 * March 21 – Pedro Pietri, (died in 2004) a Puerto Rican and Nuyorican poet and playwright who co-founded the Nuyorican Poets Cafe
 * August 25 – Margaret Gibson (poet) (died 1999), African-American
 * August 31 – Lorenzo Thomas, American
 * September 24 – Eavan Boland, Irish
 * September 25 – bpNichol, Canadian
 * October 10 – Linda Rogers, Canadian poet and children's writer
 * December 3 – Craig Raine, English poet and critic
 * December 10 – Carol Rumens, English poet, writer, literary editor and academic
 * December 18 – Michael Davidson, American
 * Also:
 * Sandra Alcosser, American
 * David Constantine, British poet, translator, editor and academic
 * John Donlan, Canadian and editor
 * Paul Duncan
 * William Hathaway (poet), American
 * Susan Ioannou, Canadian
 * Penn Kemp, Canadian poet, novelist, playwright, and sound poet
 * Mary Kinzie, American
 * Lewis MacAdams, American poet, journalist, and activist. Founder of Friends of The Los Angeles River (FoLAR) established in 1985
 * Robert C. Morgan, American art critic, art historian, curator, poet and artist
 * John Reibetanz
 * Jergen Theobaldy, German
 * Sherley Anne Williams, American

Deaths
Birth years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article:
 * January 7 – Napoleon Lapathiotis, Greek
 * March 5 – Alun Lewis, Anglo-Welsh school poet and war poet killed in Burma
 * March 28 – Stephen Leacock, Canadian writer and economist
 * April 4 – John Peale Bishop, American poet and man of letters
 * May 22 – William Ellery Leonard (born 1876), American poet and academic
 * June 9 – Keith Douglas, war poet died in the D-Day invasion of Normandy; he was killed by enemy mortar fire while his regiment was advancing from Bayeux and is buried at the war cemetery at Tilly-sur-Seuilles.
 * July 3 – A. H. Reginald Buller, a British/Canadian mycologist mainly known as a researcher of fungi and wheat rust who also wrote limericks, some of which were published in Punch
 * July 18 – Thomas Sturge Moore (born 1870), English poet, author and artist
 * September 26 – Eunice Tietjens (born 1884), American poet, novelist, journalist, children's author, lecturer, and editor
 * November 22 – Sadakichi Hartmann (born 1867), American
 * November 24 – Jun Tsuji 辻 潤 (born 1884), Japanese author, poet, essayist, translator, musician and bohemian
 * Also:
 * Olivia Bush
 * Joseph Campbell, Irish poet and lyricist
 * Olive Custance, poet
 * Keith Castellain Douglas, killed in World War II at Normandy;
 * Ndoc Gjetja (died 2010), Albanian poet and magazine editor
 * Robert Nichols, poet and dramatist
 * Frederick George Scott