1746 in poetry

Nationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature.

Events

Lucy Terry writes the first known poem by an African American, "Bars Fight, August 28, 1746", about an Indian massacre of two white families in Deerfield, Massachusetts; the ballad was related orally for a century and first printed in 1855; English Colonial America
May 9 - Voltaire, on being admitted into the French Academy, gives a discours de réception in which he criticizes Boileau's poetry. In England, Voltaire's speech is quoted in The Gentleman's Magazine in July and the full text is translated into English in Dodsley's Museum for December 20.

Works published

Thomas Blacklock, Poems on Several Occasions
William Collins, Odes on Several Descriptive and Allegoric Subjects, including "To Simplicity", "To Liberty", "Ode Written in the beginning of the Year 1746" and "The Passions, and Ode for Music"; published this year, although the book states "1747"
Soame Jenyns, The Modern Fine Gentleman, published anonymously
Tobias George Smollett, Advice, published anonymously
Horace Walpole, The Beauties, published anonymously
Joseph Warton, ''Odes on Various Subjects''

Akenside's "Balance of Poets"

In Dodsley's Museum of September 13, a literary periodical, Mark Akenside publishes two lists of personages: One, "The Temple of Modern Fame, A Vision", a list of the 24 most famous men of modern times, ranked in order of fame and including monarchs, scientists, priests, philosophers and men of letters. French poet and critic Boileau is ranked 20th, beneath Tasso and Ariosto but above Francis Bacon, John Milton Miguel de Cervantes and Molière. In some accompanying prose, Akenside wrote:
The second list, "The Balance of Poets", is a table, giving 20 modern and 20 ancient poets marks of up to 20 points in each of the following categories: Critical Ordonnance, Pathetic Ordonnance, Dramatic Ordonnance, Incidental Expression, Taste, Colouring, Versification, Moral, and Final Estimate. Boileau's "Final Estimate" rating is 12, the same as Euripides and Tasso, better than Lucretius and Terence, Ariosto, Dante, Horace, Pindar, Alexander Pope, Racine and Sophocles each get 13. "Perhaps neither of these curiosities of criticism is to be taken very seriously", wrote Alexander Clark, an early 20th-century literary historian.

Births

Death years link to the corresponding " in poetry" article:

February 16 - Wilhelm Heinse, German author and poet
March 27 - Michael Bruce, Scottish poet and hymnist
June 5 - Elizabeth Hands, English servingmaid poet
September 3 - Friedrich Wilhelm Gotter, German poet and dramatist
September 13 - Ernst Theodor Johann Brückner, German theologian and writer
Undated - Isachar Falkensohn Behr, Lithuanian-born German-Jewish poet and physician

Deaths

Birth years link to the corresponding " in poetry" article:

January 2 - Edward Chicken, English Geordie poet and teacher
February 4 - Robert Blair, Scottish member of the "Graveyard poets"
November 12 - Mary Leapor, English kitchenmaid poet, from measles
December 6 - Lady Grizel Baillie, Scottish poet