1940 in poetry

Events

• January - English literary magazine Horizon is first published in London by Cyril Connolly, Peter Watson and Stephen Spender
• July 26 - Release of the movie adaptation of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice with English poet and writer Aldous Huxley as a screenwriter
• English poet Basil Bunting joins the Royal Air Force and is eventually sent to Iran as an intelligence officer and translator
• Russian poet Anna Akhmatova's collection From Six Books is published in the Soviet Union but publication is suspended shortly after release, copies pulped and remaining issues prohibited
• American poet Louis Zukofsky finishes the first half of A

  Works published

India">Indian poetry">India, in English">Indian poetry in English">in English

• Mohendra Nath Dutt, Kurukshetra, an epic; Calcutta: P. M. Mukherji
• P. R. Kaikini, The Recruit, Bombay: New Book Co.
• Manjeri Sundaraman, Catguts, Madras: Hurley Press

  Canada">Canadian poetry">Canada

• A. M. Klein, Hath Not a Jew.
• E. J. Pratt, Brebeuf and his Brethren, Toronto: Macmillan, 1940. Detroit: Basilian Press, 1942. Governor General's Award 1940.

  United Kingdom">English poetry">United Kingdom

• W. H. Auden English poet living at this time in the United States:
• * Another Time, including "September 1, 1939"
• * Some Poems
• John Betjeman, Old Lights for New Chancels
• R. N. Currey, Tiresias
• Cecil Day-Lewis:
• * translation, The Georgics of Virgil
• * Poems in Wartime
• T. S. Eliot:
• * The Waste Land, and Other Poems, The Waste Land first published in 1923
• * East Coker, published in The New English Weekly, Easter Number; published in book form in June; republished in Four Quartets 1944
• William Empson, The Gathering Storm
• Roy Fuller, Poems
• Robert Garioch, pen name of Robert Garioch Sutherland and Sorley MacLean, also known as Somhairle MacGill-Eain, 17 Poems for 6d. in Gaelic, Lowland Scots and English
• Rayner Heppenstall, Blind Men's Flowers are Green
• Hugh MacDiarmid, editor, The Golden Treasury of Scottish Poetry
• Louis MacNeice, The Last Ditch, including "The Coming of War" sequence, Northern Ireland poet published in Ireland
• Alice Meynell, The Poems of Alice Meynell, complete edition
• R. F. Patterson, Mein Rant: a summary in light verse of "Mein Kampf"
• William Plomer, Selected Poems
• Stephen Spender, Selected Poems
• Dylan Thomas, Portrait of the Artist as a Young Dog
• Henry Treece, 38 Poems
• W. B. Yeats, Last Poems and Plays, published posthumously

  United States">American poetry">United States

• Conrad Aiken, And in the Human Heart
• W. H. Auden English poet living at this time in the United States:
• * Another Time, including the famous "September 1, 1939"
• * Some Poems
• Leonard Bacon, Sunderland Capture
• Stephen Vincent Benét, Nightmare at Noon
• Witter Bynner, Against the Cold
• John Ciardi, Homeward to America
• E. E. Cummings, 50 Poems
• Richard Eberhart, Song and Idea
• Kenneth Fearing, Collected Poems
• Robert Hayden, Heart-Shape in the Dust
• Phyllis McGinley, A Pocketful of Wry
• Edna St. Vincent Millay, Make Bright the Arrows
• Ogden Nash, The Face is Familiar
• Ezra Pound, Cantos LII-LXXI
• Frederic Prokosch, Death at Sea
• Kenneth Rexroth, In What Hour
• Elizabeth Madox Roberts, Song in the Meadow

  Other in English

• E. H. McCormick, Letters and Art in New Zealand, scholarship
• Ewart Milne, Letter from Ireland, Irish poet published in Ireland

  Works published in other languages

France">French poetry">France

• Louis Aragon, Le Crève-cœur
• Paul Éluard, pen name of Eugène Grindel, Le Livre ouvert, published from this year to 1941; France
• Pierre Reverdy, Plein Verre, France

  Greece">Modern Greek poetry">Greece

• Odysseus Elytis's first book, Orientations
• Giorgos Seferis:
• * Τετράδιο Γυμνασμάτων
• * Ημερολόγιο Καταστρώματος Ι

  Indian">Indian poetry">Indian subcontinent

Bengali">Bengali poetry">Bengali

• Premendra Mitra, Samrat
• Rabindranath Tagore:
• * Nabajatak, with themes and images from urban and industrial life, a sharp contrast to the rural and natural themes of traditional Bengali poetry
• * Rogsayyay, written during his illness and with many images of sickness and worry, but without despondency
• * Sanai, poems with a nostalgic tone
• * Chelebela, autobiography concerning the author's childhood
• Samar Sen, Grahan o Anyana Kabita, Indian, Bengali-language
• Subhash Mukhopadhyay, Padatik, poems reflecting Marxist ideology and politics in general, with a combination of lyricism and sloganeering; the consonance and speech-like rhythm of these poems became popular and influential in Bengali poetry
• V. K. Gokak, also known as "Vinayaka", Samudra Gitagalu, poems about the potency and loveliness of the sea; the poems experiment with new diction and meters, including free verse

  Hindi">Hindi poetry">Hindi

• Narendra Sharma, Palas Van, mostly sensuous poems of love and beauty
• Ramadhari Singh Dinakar, Rasavanti
• Ayodhya Singh Upadhyay, also known as "Hariandha", Vaidehi Vanavas, based on Sita's exile

  Kannada">Kannada poetry">Kannada

• B. R. Bendre, also known as Ambikatanaya Datta, Sahitya Samsodhana, literary criticism on some older works of Kannada literature
• Muliya Timmappayya, Navanita Ramayana, the Ramayana in ragale meter
• S. V. Parameshwara Bhatt, Ragini, 28 love poems

  Urdu">Urdu poetry">Urdu

• Muhiuddin Qadri Zor, Ruh-i tanqid, introduction to principles of Western literary criticism
• Nasiruddin Hashmi, Khavatin-i Dakan Ki Urdu Khidmat, literary history on women Urdu writers from Deccan
• Syed Mohammad Hasnain, Jauhar-i-Iqbal, literary criticism in Urdu on the poetry of Sir Muhammad Iqbal's Urdu poetry

  Other Indian languages

• Ahad Zargar, Tarana-e-Ahad Zargar, Sufistic ghazals and vatsans; Kashmiri
• Dimbeshwar Neog, Asamiya Sahityar Buranjit Bhumuki, a comprehensive review of early Assamese literature; criticism
• K. V. Jaganathan, Tamilkkavyankal, literary history of Tamil epics, compared to the traditions of Sanskrit poetry and world literature
• Kavi Nhanalal, Kuruksetra, final part of a 12-canto, Gujarati epic about the war of the Mahabharat, written in poetic prose, interspersed with songs
• Maiyilai Seeni Venkataswamy, Pauttamum Tamilum, literary history on the influence of Buddhism on Tamil culture and literature
• N. M. Sant and Indira Sant, a poet and couple publishing together; N. M. Sant's poems show influences from Madhav Julian, Indira Sant's reflect folklore; Marathi
• Prahlad Parekh, Bari Bahar, called a "milestone in the history of Gujarati poetry of the post-Gandhian era" by Indian academic Siser Kumar Das
• Sankarambadi Sundarachari, Telugu talliki malle pudanda, popular "prayer song" in Andhra, originally written for a film that was never completed, a record of the song was published, and its popularity led the government of Andhra Pradesh to declare it a prayer song to be sung along with Vandemataram

  Spanish language

Spain">Spanish poetry">Spain

• Gerardo Diego, Angeles de Compostela, 42 sonnets on diverse topics; Spain
• Federico García Lorca, Poeta en Nueva York published posthumously this year
• Dionisio Ridruejo, Poesía en armas ; Spain

  Other in Spanish

• César Vallejo, España, aparta de mí este cáliz, Peruvian poet posthumously published in Mexico after the first attempt at publication was interrupted during the Spanish Civil War and all copies were lost. That edition was printed by soldiers of the Army of the East, on paper they themselves had made.
• José Varallanos, Elegia en el mundo, Peruvian

  Awards and honors

• Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: Mark Van Doren: Collected Poems
• King's Gold Medal for Poetry: Michael Thwaites
• Governor General's Award, poetry or drama: Brébeuf and his Brethren, E. J. Pratt

  Births

• January 30 - Sterling D. Plumpp, African-American
• April 11 - Emmanuel Hocquard, French
• April 16 - Rolf Dieter Brinkmann, German
• April 25 - Peter Wild, American poet and historian, professor at the University of Arizona in Tucson
• May 7 - Angela Carter, née Stalker, English novelist and poet
• May 24 - Joseph Brodsky, born Iosif Aleksandrovich Brodsky, Russian-born American poet and essayist, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature and Poet Laureate of the United States
• June 13 - David Budbill, American poet and playwright
• June 23 - Amal Abul-Qassem Donqol, Egyptian Arabic poet
• August 14 - Judith Kazantzis, née Pakenham, English poet and activist
• September 2 - Harry Northup, American poet and actor
• September 8 - Jack Prelutsky, American poet noted for children's poems
• September 10 - John Curl, American poet, memoirist, translator, author, activist and historian
• October 11 - David McFadden, Canadian poet and travel writer
• October 15 - Fanny Howe, American poet, novelist and short story writer and recipient of the 2009 Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize
• October 20 - Robert Pinsky, American poet and Poet Laureate of the United States
• November 1 - William Heyen, American poet, editor and literary critic
• November 5 - Dmitri Prigov, Russian poet
• November 19 - Peter Cooley, American poet and academic
• December 14 - Carolyn Rodgers, American poet, leading participant of the Black Arts Movement of the 1960s and 1970s and founder of one of the country's oldest and largest black-owned book publishers
• December 21
• * Kelly Cherry, American writer
• * Rolf Sagen, Norwegian writer
• Also:
• * Martha Collins, American
• * Michael Jackson, New Zealand anthropologist and poet
• * Paul Mariani, American poet and academic
• * Pattiann Rogers, American
• * Andrew Waterman, English poet and academic

  Deaths

• January 5 - Humbert Wolfe, British poet and epigrammist
• March 4 - Hamlin Garland, American novelist, poet, essayist and short story writer
• March 7 - Edwin Markham, American poet
• March 23 - Minakami Takitarō 水上滝太郎 pen name of Abe Shōzō, Shōwa period Japanese poet, novelist, literary critic and essayist
• May 18 - Jacob Hiegentlich, gay Dutch Jewish writer who also wrote poetry in German, suicide
• June 21 - Hendrik Marsman, Dutch poet
• August 21 - Ernest Thayer, American writer and poet who wrote "Casey at the Bat"
• September 26 - W. H. Davies, Welsh-born poet and writer who spent most of his life as a tramp in the United States and United Kingdom, but became known as one of the most popular poets of his time
• October 11 - Taneda Santōka 種田 山頭火 pen name of Taneda Shōichi 種田 正, Japanese author and haiku poet
• December 27 - Ella Rhoads Higginson, American poet