1923 in poetry
—From Robert Frost's "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening", first published this year in his collection New Hampshire
Nationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature.
Events
- In Paris, Basil Bunting meets Ezra Pound, whose poems will have a strong influence on Bunting throughout his career.
- E. C. McFarlane and others found the Jamaican Poetry League.
- Xu Zhimo founds the Crescent Moon Society in China.
- December – Persian poet Nima Yooshij publishes the poem Afsaneh, the manifesto of the She'r-e Nimaa'i school of modernist poetry.
Works published in English
Canada">Canadian poetry">Canada
- Arthur Bourinot, Lyrics from the hills
- Katherine Hale, ed.,Isabella Valancy Crawford
- Thom MacInnes, Complete Poems
- Marjorie Pickthall, Angels' Shoes, posthumously published
- E. J. Pratt, Newfoundland Verse, Canada
- Duncan Campbell Scott, ''The Witching of Elspie''
Indian">Indian poetry">Indian in English">Indian poetry in English">English
- Ananda Acharya, Usarika,
- N. M. Chatterjee, India and Other Sonnets, Calcutta
- Margaret MacNicol, Poems by Indian Women, Calcutta: Association Press, 98 pages; anthologyOriental Blossoms, London: Heath Cranton; anthology; Indian poetry in English, published in the United Kingdom
- Puran Singh, Unsung Beads on mystical experiences and with social and political themes
- K. S. Venkataramani, On the Sand-Dune, Madras: Ganesh and Co.
- S. K. De, A history of Sanskrit Poetics, one of the earliest accounts of Sanskrit literary theories in English; scholarship
United Kingdom">English poetry">United Kingdom
- Harold Acton, Aquarium
- Edmund Blunden, To Nature
- W. H. Davies, Collected Poems, second series; first series, 1916, see also Collected Poems, 1928; Poems, 1934
- Walter De La Mare, Come Hither: A Collection of Rhymes and Poems for the Young of all Ages
- John Drinkwater, Collected Poems, in three volumes, published 1923-1937
- T. S. Eliot, The Waste Land first published in the U.K. in book form complete with notes in a limited edition in September 1923 by the Hogarth Press of Richmond upon Thames, run by Eliot's Bloomsbury Group friends Leonard and Virginia Woolf, the type handset by Virginia )
- Robert Graves, Whipperginny
- D. H. Lawrence, Birds, Beasts and Flowers, including "Snake", published in the United Kingdom in November; first published in the United States in October; English poet and author living in the United States
- Hugh MacDiarmid, Annals of the Five Senses
- Katherine Mansfield, Poems, New Zealand author living in Europe
- John Masefield:
- * Collected Poems
- * King Cole, and Other Poems
- Alice Meynell, Last Poems
- Susan Miles, Little Mirrors
- Herbert Read, Mutations of the Phoenix
- Edith Sitwell, Bucolic ComediesOriental Blossoms, London: Heath Cranton; anthology; Indian poetry in English, published in the United Kingdom
- Osbert Sitwell, Out of the Flame
- Jean Toomer, Cane
- William Butler Yeats, The Cat and the Moon, including "Leda and the Swan", Ireland and United Kingdom
United States">American poetry">United States
- Conrad Aiken, The Pilgrimage of Festus
- Stephen Vincent Benét:
- * King David
- * The Ballad of William Sycamore, 1790-1880
- Louise Bogan, Body of This Death
- E. E. Cummings, Tulips and Chimneys
- Djuna Barnes, A Book, collection of prose and poetry
- Robert Frost, New Hampshire including "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening", "Fire and Ice", "Nothing Gold Can Say"
- Elsa Gidlow, On A Grey Thread, the first volume of openly lesbian love poetry published in North America
- D. H. Lawrence, Birds, Beasts and Flowers, including "Snake", published in the United States in October, published in the United Kingdom in November, English poet and author living in the United States
- Vachel Lindsay, Going-to-the-Sun
- Edna St. Vincent Millay, The Harp-Weaver and Other Poems
- Lizette Woodworth Reese, Wild Cherry
- Edward Arlington Robinson, Roman Bartholow
- George Sterling, Selected Poems
- Wallace Stevens, Harmonium, including "Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird", "The Emperor of Ice-Cream", "Le Monocle de Mon Oncle", "Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird", "Peter Quince at the Clavier", "Sunday Morning", "Sea Surface Full of Clouds" and "In the Clear Season of Grapes". Stevens' first book, it is published by Knopf when he is in middle age. Its first edition sells only a hundred copies before being remaindered, suggesting that Mark Van Doren has it right when he writes in The Nation this year that Stevens's wit "is tentative, perverse, and superfine; and it will never be popular" yet by 1960 the cottage industry of Stevens studies will be becoming a "multinational conglomerate"
- Jean Toomer, Cane, a blend of poetry, fiction and dramatic sketches
- Amos Wilder, Battle Retrospect, Yale University Press
- William Carlos Williams:
- * Go Go
- * ''Spring and All''
Other in English
- Mina Loy, Lunar Baedecker, English-born poet living and published in Paris
- Shaw Neilson, Ballad and Lyrical Poems, Sydney, Bookfellow, Australia
- W. B. Yeats, The Cat and the Moon, including "Leda and the Swan", Irish poet published in the United Kingdom
Works published in other languages
France">French poetry">France
- Antonin Artaud, Tric-trac du ciel, Paris: Galerie Simon
- Jean Cocteau, Plain-Chant
- Francis Jammes:
- * La Brebis égarée
- * Livres des quatrains, published each year from 1922 to 1925
- Alphonse Métérié, Le Cahier noir
- Tristan Tzara, pen name of Sami Rosenstock, ''De nos oiseaux''
Indian">Indian poetry">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 language">Telugu poetry">Telugu language
Bahar-e-Gulshan-e-Kashmir, anthology of traditional Kashmiri poetry, mostly the vatsans and ghazals of Mahmood Gami- Pendyalu Venkatasubrahmanya Shastri, critical account of the Mahabharata and its interpretation, Telugu-language criticism
- Penumarti Venkataratnam, Sandhya ragamu, romantic poems; a well-known work in the field of Telugu poetry
Other in India
- Seemab Akbarabadi, Naistaan, Urdu
- Bharati, Kuyil Pattu-Kannan Pattu-Parata Arupattaru, consists of three works, including Kuyil Pattu, written in 1912, a long narrative poem of 741 lines, written in the traditional Kalivenpa meter, called "a landmark in the field of modern Tamil poetry" by Sisir Kumar Das; Parati Arupattaru, 66-verse autobiographical work
- Chandra Kanta Agarwala, Binbaragi, 12 important poems about the past glory of Assam, ancient Assamese ballads strongly influenced the poems; Assamese language
- G. Sankara Kurup, Sahitya Kantukam, lyrical Malayalam poems modelled on those of Vallathol Narayana Menon, with original themes, context and diction; the author later published three other volumes with the same title
- Godavarish Mishra, Kisalaya, Oriya-language
- Imam Baksh Nasikh, Divan-i Nasikh, two volumes, Urdu
- Jhaverchand Meghani, Veninan Phool
- Kumaran Asan, Karuna, based on the Buddhist legend of Vasavadatta and Upagupta; the author's last poem and an extremely popular one; celebrates compassion, Malayalam language
- Mahananda Sapkota, Manalahari, Nepali language
- Manishankar Bhatt "Kant", Purvalap, a work with a conspicuous romantic mood and classical diction, considered a landmark of Gujarati poetry, according to Sisir Kumar Das; published on the day the poet died
- Nagardas Amarjee Pandya, Rukmini-Harana, epic Sanskrit mahakavya on a mythological theme
- Puran Singh, Khulle Maidan, blank verse, Punjabi language
- Sarasvatibhai Bhide, editor, Abhinavakavyamala, Volume 5, Marathi-language anthology of modern women poets
- Sukumar Ray, Abol Tabol, nonsense verse, Sisir Kumar Das has called it "one of the landmarks in the history of Bengali literature for children"
- Yatindranath Sengupta, Maricika, known for their innovative rhythm and imagery in Bengali poetry, very different from the followers of Rabindranath Tagore
Spain">Spanish poetry">Spain
- Juan Ramón Jiménez:
- *Belleza
- *Poesía
- Pedro Salinas, ''Presagios''
Other languages
- Otto Gelsted, Reklameskibet, Denmark
- Enrique González Rojo, Sr., El puerto y otros poemas, Mexico
- Sir Muhammad Iqbal, Payam-i-Mashriq, philosophical poetry in Persian
- Vladislav Khodasevich, Heavy Lyre, Russian poet published in Germany
- Hendrik Marsman, Verzen, Netherlands
- Vladimir Mayakovsky, About That, Soviet Russia
- Pablo Neruda, Crepusculario, [Latin American poetry|American poetry|Chile]
- Rainer Maria Rilke, Duino Elegies and Sonnets to Orpheus, Austria
- J. Slauerhoff, Archipel, Netherlands
- David Vogel, Lifney Hasha'ar Ha'afel, Hebrew language, published in Vienna, the only book of poems published in the author's lifetime
Awards and honors
- Nobel Prize in Literature : William Butler Yeats
- Pulitzer Prize for Poetry : Edna St. Vincent Millay, The Ballad of the Harp-Weaver: A Few Figs from Thistles: Eight Sonnets in American Poetry, 1922. A Miscellany
- Georg Büchner Prize : Adam Karrillon, German physician, novelist and poet
Births
Death years link to the corresponding " in poetry" article:- January 9 - David Holbrook, English poet, novelist and academic
- January 13 - Pinkie Gordon Lane, African American poet
- January 15 - Ivor Cutler, Scottish poet, songwriter and humorist
- January 16 - Anthony Hecht, American poet
- January 23 - John Logan, American poet
- February 2 - James Dickey, American poet and novelist
- February 4 - Cola Franzen, American translator
- February 12 - Alan Dugan, American poet
- March 18 - Ryūichi Tamura 田村隆, Japanese Shōwa period poet, essayist and translator of English-language novels and poetry
- March 21 - Nizar Qabbani, Syrian diplomat, poet and publisher
- March 27 - Louis Simpson, Jamaican-born American poet, winner of the 1964 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry
- March 30 - Milton Acorn, Canadian poet, writer and playwright nicknamed "The People's Poet"
- April 3
- * Daniel Hoffman, American poet, essayist and academic serving as Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 1973 to 1974
- * John Ormond, Welsh poet and journalist
- May 21 - Dorothy Hewett, Australian feminist poet, playwright and novelist
- June 24 - Yves Bonnefoy, French poet
- June 29 - Pablo García Baena, Spanish poet
- July 2 - Wisława Szymborska, Polish poet, essayist and translator, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1996
- July 16 - Mari Evans, African-American poet, author, playwright, academic and television producer
- September 13 - Miroslav Holub, Czech poet and immunologist
- September 22 - Dannie Abse, Welsh poet and writer
- October 9 - Haim Gouri, Israeli poet in Hebrew, novelist and documentary filmmaker
- October 24 - Denise Levertov, English-born American poet
- November 9 - James Schuyler, American poet and a central figure in the New York School
- November 22 - Tu An, Chinese poet and translator
- December 21 - Richard Hugo, born Richard Hogan, American poet
- December 20 - Aco Šopov Macedonian poet
- Also - Nanao Sakaki, Japanese poet and leading personality of "The Tribe" (Buzoko), a counter-cultural group
Deaths
Birth years link to the corresponding " in poetry" article:- January 9 - Katherine Mansfield, 34, New Zealand-born poet and prominent Modernist writer of short fiction
- May - J. Brynach Davies, c.50, Welsh poet and journalist
- June 15 - Maurice Hewlett, 62, English historical novelist, poet and essayist
- August 10 - Laura Redden Searing, 84, deaf American poet and journalist
- September 10 - Sukumar Ray, 35, Bengali humorous poet, short-story writer and playwright
- October 12 - John Cadvan Davies, 77, Welsh poet and hymn-writer
- December 15 - Frank Morton, 53, English-born Australian poet and journalist
- December 18 - Edna Dean Proctor, 94, American poet; occasional author of short sketches and stories