1872 in poetry

Events

• First printed version of the Thai epic Khun Chang Khun Phaen.

  Works published in English

United Kingdom">English poetry">United Kingdom

• Alfred Austin, Interludes
• Robert Browning, Fifine at the Fair
• C. S. Calverley, published anonymously, Fly Leaves
• Samuel Ferguson, Congal
• W. S. Gilbert, More "Bab" Balads
• Edward Lear, More Nonsense, Pictures, Rhymes, Botany, etc.
• Winwood Reade, The Martyrdom of Man
• Christina Rossetti, Sing-Song, book of nursery rhymes
• Alfred Lord Tennyson, Gareth and Lynette,

  United States">American poetry">United States

• Thomas Gold Appleton, Faded Leaves
• Paul Hamilton Hayne, Legends and Lyrics
• Oliver Wendell Holmes, The Poet at the Breakfast-Table, a book that combines fiction and nonfiction prose, together with poetry
• Albert Pike, Hymns to the Gods
• Celia Thaxter, Poems
• John Greenleaf Whittier, The Pennsylvania Pilgrim, United States

  Other in English

• Alfred Domett, Ranolf and Amohia, epic poem in a Maori setting, New Zealand
• Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Three Books of Song

  Works published in other languages

France">French poetry">France

• François Coppée:
• *Les Bijoux de la delivrance, short verse drama inspired by the Franco-Prussian War; France
• * Les Humbles
• Victor Hugo, L'Année terrible, France
• Catulle Mendès, La Part du roi, verse drama, a one-act comedy; France

  Other languages

• Hilario Ascasubi, Obras completas, three volumes compiled by the author; Argentine author writing in Spanish
• Girolamo de Rada, Skënderbeu i pafat, begins publication, Arbëresh
• Holger Drachmann, Digte, Denmark
• José Hernández, Martín Fierro, the first part of an epic Spanish-language Argentine poem in which the hero defends his way of life against encroaching socialization and civilization; an example of the Gaucho poetry literary movement in Argentina
• Michel Rodange, Renert odder de Fuuss am Frack an a Maansgréisst, Luxembourg

  Awards and honors

Births

• February 22 – John Shaw Neilson, Australian
• June 27 – Paul Laurence Dunbar, African American
• July 8 – Sasaki Nobutsuna 佐佐木信綱, Japanese, Shōwa period tanka poet and scholar of the Nara and Heian periods
• August 15 – Sri Aurobindo , Indian nationalist, poet, Yogi and spiritual Guru writing mostly in English
• October 10 – Arthur Talmage Abernethy, American poet, journalist, theologian and minister; North Carolina Poet Laureate 1948–1953
• October 18 – Mikhail Kuzmin, Russian poet, novelist and composer
• November 7 – Leonora Speyer, American poet and violinist
• November 30 – John McCrae, Canadian war poet, physician, author, artist and soldier best known for the poem "In Flanders Fields"
• December 6 – Arthur Henry Adams, Australian
• Also:
• * Hafiz Ibrahim, Egyptian poet called "the poet of the Nile"
• * Divakarla Tirupti Shastri, Indian, Telugu-language poet; one of the two poets in the due known in Telugu literature as "Triupati Vankata Kavulu"

  Deaths

• January 21 – Franz Grillparzer, Austrian dramatic poet
• March 20 – William Wentworth, Australian
• March 31 – Samuel Henry Dickson, American poet, physician, writer and educator
• September 2 – N. F. S. Grundtvig, Danish
• October 15 – Handrij Zejler, Sorbian
• December 24 – William Rankine, Scottish physicist and engineer
• Also:
• * Henry Howard Brownell, American poet and historian