1920 in poetry

''Turning and turning in the widening gyre ''The falcon cannot hear the falconer; ''Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; ''Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world, ''The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere ''The ceremony of innocence is drowned; ''The best lack all conviction, while the worst ''Are full of passionate intensity. * * * ''And what rough beast, its hour come round at last, ''Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

— Opening and closing lines of The Second Coming by W. B. Yeats, first published this year

Nationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature (for instance, Irish or France).  Fire and Ice by Robert Frost Some say the world will end in fire, Some say in ice. From what I’ve tasted of desire I hold with those who favor fire. But if it had to perish twice, I think I know enough of hate To know that for destruction ice Is also great And would suffice. -- first published in December in Harper's magazine

Events

 * Ezra Pound moves from London to Paris where he moved among a circle of artists, musicians and writers who were revolutionising modern art
 * The Dial, a longstanding American literary magazine, is re-established by Scofield Thayer; the publication becomes an important outlet for Modernist poets and writers (until 1929), with contributors this year including Sherwood Anderson, Djuna Barnes, Kenneth Burke, Hart Crane, E. E. Cummings, Charles Demuth, Kahlil Gibran, Gaston Lachaise, Amy Lowell, Marianne Moore, Ezra Pound, Odilon Redon, Bertrand Russell, Carl Sandburg, Van Wyck Brooks, and W. B. Yeats
 * Russian poet Nikolay Gumilyov co-founds the "All-Russia Union of Writers" in the Soviet Union, where he makes no secret of his anti-Communist views, crosses himself in public, and doesn't care to hide his contempt for half-literate Bolsheviks. His fate changes in 1921.
 * May — William Butler Yeats concludes a lecture tour (begun in the fall of 1919) in the United States and crosses the Atlantic to settle in Oxford.

United Kingdom

 * Maurice Baring, Poems 1914–1919
 * Edmund Blunden, The Waggoner and Other Poems
 * Robert Bridges, October, and Other Poems
 * W.H. Davies, The Sog of Life, and Other Poems
 * Walter de la Mare, Poems 1901 to 1918
 * T.S. Eliot:
 * Poems, including Gerontion (text) and Sweeney Among the Nightingales
 * The Sacred Wood: Essays on Poetry and Criticism
 * Robert Graves, Country Sentiment
 * Aldous Huxley, Leda
 * India in Song: Eastern Themes in English Verse by British and Indian Poets, an anthology of Indian poetry in English published in the UK (London: Oxford)
 * John Masefield, Enslaved, and Other Poems
 * Wilfred Owen, Poems, introduction by Sigfried Sassoon (posthumous)
 * Ruth Pitter, First Poems
 * Ezra Pound, American poet published in the United Kingdom:
 * Hugh Selwyn Mauberley, London
 * Umbra, London
 * Siegfried Sassoon, Picture Show
 * Edward Thomas, Collected Poems, forward by Walter de la Mare
 * Valour and Vision: Poems of the War, 1914-1918, anthology edited by Jacqueline T. Trotter
 * Charles Williams, Divorce
 * Humbert Wolfe:
 * London Sonnets
 * Shylock Reasons with Mr. Chesterton, and Other Poems
 * W.B. Yeats, Irish poet published in the United Kingdom, The Second Coming first published in The Dial magazine (published again in 1921 in Yeats' Michael Robartes and the Dancer)

United States
 From Bettyby Lola Ridge My doll Janie has no waist and her body is like a tub with feet on it. Sometimes I beat her but I always kiss her afterwards. When I have kissed all the paint off her body I shall tie a ribbon about it so she shan't look shabby. But it must be blue-- it mustn't be pink-- pink shows the dirt on her face that won't wash off.
 * Conrad Aiken, The House of Dust
 * Stephen Vincent Benet, Heavens and Earth
 * Witter Bynner, A Canticle of Pan
 * Hart Crane publishes his poem "My Grandmother's Love Letters" in The Dial. This is his first real step towards recognition as a poet.
 * W.E.B. DuBois, Darkwater
 * Robert Frost, Miscellaneous Poems
 * William Ellery Leonard, The Lynching Bee
 * Edgar Lee Masters, Domesday Book
 * Edna St. Vincent Millay, A Few Figs From Thistles
 * Ezra Pound, American poet published in the United Kingdom:
 * Hugh Selwyn Mauberley, London
 * Umbra, London
 * Lizette Woodworth Reese, Spicewood
 * Charles Reznikoff, Poems published by the New York Poetry Book Shop; the book features poems from Reznikoff's Rhythms and Rhythms II
 * Lola Ridge, Sun-Up, including "Betty"
 * Edward Arlington Robinson:
 * Lancelot
 * The Three Taverns
 * Carl Sandburg, Smoke and Steel
 * Sara Teasdale, Flame and Shadow, including" There Will Come Soft Rains"
 * Galway Wescott, The Bitterns
 * William Carlos Williams, Kora in Hell. Improvisations

Other in English

 * India in Song: Eastern Themes in English Verse by British and Indian Poets, London: Oxford; anthology; Indian poetry in English, published in the United Kingdom
 * Yone Noguchi, Japanese Hokkus, Japanese poet writing in English
 * Maneck B. Pithawalla, Sacred Sparks, Karachi: M. B. Pithawalla
 * Tom Redcam, San Gloria, verse play, Jamaica
 * W.B. Yeats, Irish poet published in the United Kingdom, The Second Coming first published in the November issue of The Dial magazine (see quotation, above; published again in Michael Robartes and the Dancer 1921 )

France

 * Louis Aragon, Feu de joie
 * Jean Cocteau, Poésies 1917–1920
 * Philippe Soupault, Rose des vents
 * Tristan Tzara, pen name of Sami Rosenstock, Cinéma calendrier coeur abstrait maisons
 * Charles Vildrac, Chants du désespéré

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:

Telugu poetry

 * Garimella Satyanarayana, Makoddi tella doratanamu, a Telugu-language song famously used by Indians marching for freedom; the very militant lyric was banned for a time by the colonial government, which arrested the poet
 * Rami Reddi also known as "Duvvuri":
 * Jaladangana, celebrates farming season and the beauty of nature in the rural countryside, Indian, Telugu-language
 * Venakumari, Telugu-language pastoral poems depicting the struggles of peasants

Other Indian languages

 * Ananda Chandra Agarwala, Jilikani, Assamese-language poem reflecting ancient Assamese ballads
 * Bhaskar Ramchandra Tambe, Tambe Yanci Kavita, Marathi-language poems; edited by V. G. Mayadev
 * Chanda Jha, Mahes Vani Sanghra, Maithili-language devotional songs addressed to Lord Siva
 * Dharanidhar Sharma Koirala, Naibedya, Nepali-language poetry, didactic poems popular in Darjeeling
 * Lala Kirpa Sagar, Laksmi Devi, Punjabi-language, long, narrative epic poem modeled on Sir Walter Scott's The Lady of the Lake; depicts Maharaja Ranjit Singh's battles with Jaimal Singh, a hill chieftain
 * Pt. Ram Naresh Tripathi, Pathik, very popular Hindi-language Khanda Kavya which went into 30 editions; patriotic and expressing love of the rural countryside; strongly influenced by Gandhi's thought
 * Surendra Jha, also known as "Suman", Candi Carya, adaptation of Durgasaptasati in verse, Maithili-language
 * Vaijanath Kashinath Rajwade, Kesavasutanci Kavita, Marathi-language article offering the first thematic classification and detailed analysis of Keshavsut's poems, criticism published in the monthly Manoranjan in July, September, October and November

Spanish language

 * Enrique Bustamante y Ballivián, Poemas autóctonos, Peru
 * León Felipe, Veersos y oraciones del caminante ("Verses and Prayers of the Walker"), first volume (second volume, 1930), Spain
 * Alfonsina Storni, Langour, Argentina
 * Miguel de Unamuno, El Christo de Velázquez ("Christ by Velázquez"), Spain

Other languages

 * Jacob Anker-Paulsen, Elskhugs-leik: Vanvitsvers og andre, Denmark
 * Khalil Gibran, Spirits Rebellious
 * Tom Kristensen, Pirate Dreams, Denmark
 * Boleslaw Lesmian, The Meadow, Poland
 * Jan Lechon, The Scarlet Poem, Poland
 * Edith Sodergran, The Shadow of the Future, Sweden
 * Georg Trakl, Der Herbst des Einsamen ("The Autumn of The Lonely"), Austrian native published in Germany

Births
Death years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article:
 * January 24 – Keith Douglas (died 1944), English poet
 * February 21 – Ishigaki Rin 石垣りん (died 2004), Japanese poet; she was an employee of the Industrial Bank of Japan, sometimes called "the bank teller poet"
 * February 29 – Howard Nemerov American (died 1991), United States Poet Laureate from 1963 to 1964, and from 1988 to 1990
 * March 11 – Dennis Joseph Enright (died 2002) English academic, poet, novelist and critic
 * April 27 – Edwin Morgan Scotts poet and translator
 * June 15 – Amy Clampitt (died 1994), American poet and author
 * June 18 – Rosemary Dobson, Australian poet
 * August 16 – Charles Bukowski (died 1994), American poet, novelist, and short-story writer
 * August 18 – Harbhajan Singh (died 2002), Indian, Punjabi poet in the Sahajvadi tradition, also a critic, cultural commentator, and translator
 * September 6 – Barbara Guest née Barbara Ann Pinson (died 2006), American poet and critic
 * November 3 – Oodgeroo Noonuccal (died 1993), Australian poet, actress, writer, teacher, artist and campaigner for Aboriginal causes
 * November 23 – Paul Celan (died 1970), German-language poet born to a German-speaking Jewish family in a place then part of Romania, now part of Ukraine
 * Also:
 * Alexander Scott (Scotland)
 * V. A. Anandakkuttan (died 1969), Indian, Malayalam-language poet and author of humorous essays and farces
 * Balachandra Rajan (died 2009), Indian critic, novelist and writer of in Indian poetry in English
 * Bernardino Evaristo Mendes, also known as B. E. Mendes, Indian, Konkani-language poet known for philosophical and theosophical writing
 * Birendra Chattopadhyay (died 1985), Bengali-language poet and Marxist
 * Jayant Pathak, Indian, Gujarati-language poet and critic
 * K. B. Nikumb, Indian, Marathi-language poet
 * Kaifi Azmi (died 2002), Indian, Hindi- and Urdu-language poet lyricist and songwriter
 * Manmohan Misra, Indian poet and essayist in Orissa
 * Natvarlal Kuberdas Pandya (pen name, "Usanas"), Indian, Gujarati-language poet and critic
 * Okiyuma Gwaynn, Indian poet who wrote Indian poetry in English and then in Nepali; born in Hong Kong to a Japanese father and Tibetan mother, he settled in Darjeeling in 1946
 * Ram Lal Papiha, Indian, Dogri-language poet
 * Rentala Gopalakrishna, Indian, Telugu-language poet and playwright
 * Santokh Singh Dheer, Indian, Punjabi poet and fiction writer in the largely romantic and progressive-in-outlook Amrita-Mohan Singh tradition of Punjabi
 * Madhunapantula Satyanarayanashastri, Indian, Telugu-language poet (surname: Satyanarayanashastri)
 * Tulasibahadur Chetri, nicknamed "Apatan", Indian, Nepali-language poet and playwright

Deaths
Birth years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article:
 * May 11 – William Dean Howells, 83, American literary critic, author and poet
 * June 5 – Julia A. Moore, 72, American poetaster, famed for her notoriously bad poetry
 * December 21 – Mohammed Abdullah Hassan, 56, Somali poet, religious and nationalist leader who for 20 years led armed resistance to the British, Italian, and Ethiopian forces in Somalia and used his patriotic poetry to rally his supporters
 * Also:
 * Charles Carryl
 * Ernest Hartley Coleridge (born 1846), English scholar and poet, grandson of Samuel Taylor Coleridge
 * Devendranath Sen (born 1855), Indian, Bengali-language poet
 * Divakarla Tirupti Shastri (born 1872), Indian, Telugu-language poet; one of the two poets in the due known in Telugu literature as "Triupati Vankata Kavulu"
 * Eknath Pandurang Randalkar (born 1887), Indian, Marathi-language poet and translator from Sanskrit, English, Bengali and Gujarati poetry
 * Louise Imogen Guiney (born 1861), American poet
 * Jammuneshwar Khataniyar (born 1899), Indian, Assamese-language poet; a woman
 * Mian Hidayatulla, birth year not known, Indian, Punjabi-language poet
 * Nagesh Vishwanath Pai, also spelled "Nagesh Vishvanath Pai" (born 1860), Indian poet and fiction writer Marathi-language poet
 * Dollie Radford (born 1858), English poet and writer
 * Vishvanatha Dev Varma, (born 1850), Indian, Sanskrit-language poet