1944 in poetry

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

Events

June 1 & June 5 - The first and second lines respectively of Paul Verlaine's 1866 poem Chanson d'automne are broadcast by the Allies over BBC Radio Londres among coded messages to the French Resistance to prepare for the D-Day landings. In the ensuing Invasion of Normandy English soldier-poet Keith Douglas is killed; Vernon Scannell experiences the incident that gives rise to the poem "Walking Wounded" and is wounded; and, during lulls in the fighting, Dennis B. Wilson is writing the poem that will be published as Elegy of a Common Soldier in 2012.
October 2 - Dylan Thomas is best man at the wedding of his friend and fellow Welsh poet Vernon Watkins in London - but fails to turn up.

Works published in English

Listed by nation where the work was first published and again by the poet's native land, if different; substantially revised works listed separately:

Canada">Canadian poetry">Canada

E. K. Brown, On Canadian Poetry, revised edition, Canada
Ralph Gustafson, editor, Canadian Accent, anthology
A. M. Klein:
* The Hitleriad
* Poems
Dorothy Livesay, Day and Night. Toronto: Ryerson. Governor General's Award 1944.
E. J. Pratt, Collected Poems of E. J. Pratt, Toronto: Macmillan.
Ronald Hambleton, editor Unit of five: Louis Dudek, Ronald Hambleton, P. K. Page, Raymond Souster, James Wreford, anthology, Toronto: Ryerson Press, Canada

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

Harindranath Chattopadhyay:
* Blood of Stones, including "On the Pavement of Calcutta", a realistic description of suffering in the Bengal famine of 1943; Bombay: Padma Publications
* Lyrics, Bombay: Padma Publications
Nolini Kanta Gupta, To the Height,
Humayun Kabir, Mahatma and Other Poems; except for the title poem "Mahatama", inspired by the Quit India Movement, and "Rabindranath Tagore", the other poems are reprinted from the author's Poems 1932
Fredoon Kabraji, A Minor Georgian's Swan Song, Publisher: Basil Blackwell, Indian poet published in the United Kingdom
P. R. Kaikini, Look On Undaunted, Bombay
H. D. Sethna, Struggling Heights, Bombay: Karnatak Publishing House
Subho Tagore:
* Flames of Passion, love poems in verse and in the form of prose poems; Calcutta: Susil Gupta Ltd.
* Rubble, translated by Nilima Devi into English from the original Bengali; Calcutta: The Futurist Publishing House

United Kingdom">English poetry">United Kingdom

Drummond Allison, The Yellow Night: Poems 1940-41-42-43, posthumous
W. H. Auden, For the Time Being: A Christmas Oratorio, English poet living and publishing in the United States
George Barker, Eros in Dogma
Laurence Binyon, The Burning of the Leaves, and Other Poems
John Betjeman, New Bats in Old Belfries
Laurence Binyon, The Burning of the Leaves, and Other Poems
Edmund Blunden, Shells by a Stream
Alex Comfort, ElegiesCrown and Sickle poetry anthology in Britain, featuring poets in the New Apocalyptics movement
Walter De la Mare, Collected Rhymes and Verses
Patric Dickinson, The Seven Days of Jericho
T. S. Eliot, Four Quartets, contains "Burnt Norton", "East Coker", "The Dry Salvages", "Little Gidding"
Roy Fuller, A Lost Season
W. S. Graham, The Seven Journeys
Robert Greacen, Northern Harvest and One Recent Evening, Northern Ireland poet
J. F. Hendry, and Henry Treece, editors, The Crown and Sickle, anthology
Laurie Lee, The Sun My Monument
John Lehmann, The Sphere of Glass, and Other Poems
Louis MacNeice, Springboard
R. P. L. Mogg, For This Alone, and Other Poems
Mervyn Peake, Rhymes Without Reason
John Pudney, Almanack of Hope
Herbert Read, A World Within a War
Lynette Roberts, Poems
E. J. Scovell, Shadows of Chrysanthemums, and Other Poems
William Soutar, The Expectant Silence
A. P. Wavell, Other Men's Flowers, anthology
Charles Williams, ''The Region of the Summer Stars''

United States">American poetry">United States

Franklin P. Adams, Nods and Becks
Conrad Aiken, The Soldier
W. H. Auden, For the Time Being
E. E. Cummings, 1 X 1
Babette Deutsch, Take Them, Stranger
Hilda Doolittle, writing under the pen name "H.D.", The Walls Do Not Fall, first part of Trilogy on the blitz in war-time London
Stanley J. Kunitz, Passport to the War
Robert Lowell, Land of Unlikeness, Cummington, Massachusetts: Cummington Press
William Meredith, Love Letter from an Impossible Land
Marianne Moore, Nevertheless
Kenneth Rexroth, The Phoenix and the Tortoise
Muriel Rukeyser, Beast in View
Karl Shapiro, V-Letter and Other Poems
Jesse Stuart, Album of Destiny
Mark Van Doren, Seven Sleepers
Louise Varèse, translator, Eloges and Other Poems, translated from the original French of Saint-John Perse; introduction by Archibald MacLeish, New York: Norton
Robert Penn Warren, Selected Poems, 1923—1943
William Carlos Williams:
* Collected Later Poems
* ''The Wedge''

Other in English

James K. Baxter, Beyond the Palisade, his first volume of poetry, New Zealand
Seaforth Mackenzie, The Moonlit Doorway, Sydney: Angus and Robertson; Australia
Kenneth Slessor, One Hundred Poems, 1919-1939, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, Australia

Works published in other languages

Listed by nation where the work was first published and again by the poet's native land, if different; substantially revised works listed separately:

France">French poetry">France

Jean Cassou, Trente-trois sonnets composes au secret
Robert Desnos, Contrée
Paul Éluard, Au Rendez-vous allemand
Pierre Jean Jouve, Pour les Ombres Lausanne, Switzerland: Cahiers de Poésie French poet published in Switzerland
Alphonse Métérié, Les Cantiques du Frère Michel
Saint-John Perse, French poet published in his native language while in exile in Argentina:
* Pluies, Buenos Aires: Les Editions Lettres Françaises
* Quatre poèmes, 1941-1944, Buenos Aires: Les Editions Lettres Françaises

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:

Gujarati">Gujarati poetry">Gujarati

Badarayan, Kedi
Umashankar Joshi, Prachina, a "dialogue-poem"

Hindi">Hindi poetry">Hindi

Anchala Rameshvar Shukla, Lal Cunar, lyrics celebrating love, youth and revolt
Girija Kumar Mathur, Manjir, many of these poems have themes of nature and intense love
Rangeya Raghav, Ajeya Khandhar, pragativadi-movement poetry about the battle of Stalingrad, depicted to illustrate the human struggle for freedom
Shyam Narayan Pandey, Jauhar, depicting the self-sacrifice of Padmini, queen of Chittor, written in a folk style

Other Indian languages

A. N. Krishna Rao, Pragati Sila Sahitya, 15 essays in Kannada on the Pragatisila Caluvali in Indian literature
Bhimaraj Bhambiru, also known as "Mangal"; Mumgha Moti, written in doha form, the poems are addressed to an individual Mangala; Rajasthani-language
Joseph Mundasseri, written in Malayalam-language:
* Manadandam, criticism about Indian classical literature, particularly Kalidasa
* Mattoli, a comparison of three major works of poetry: Kumaran Asan's Karuna, Vallathol's Magdalana Mariyam and Ulloor's Pingala
K. V. Puttappa, also known as "Kuvempu", Kogile Mattu Soviet Russia, verses with a focus on the common man, which was pioneering for Kannada poetry of the time; a recurring theme in the poems is rejection of institutionalized religion
Kshama Rao, Miralahari, Khanda Kavya poetry on Meera, the medieval Indian saint-poet; Sanskrit-language
Mahjoor, Kalam-e-Mahjoor "No. 8", Kashmiri-language ghazals and vatsan's
Mohammad Jamil Ahmad, Tazkirah-yi Sha'irat-i Urdu, literary criticism of Urdu-language women poets, with biographical information and selections from their poems
Mohammad Mujib, Insha, adab aur adib, Urdu essays in literary criticism
Prabhjot Kaur, Palkan Ohle, love poems; Punjabi-language
Shrikrishna Powale, Agniparag; Marathi-language
Va. Ramaswamy Ayyangar, Makakavi Paratiyar, Tamil biography of the Tamil poet Bharati

Spanish language

Delmira Agustini, Poesías, posthumously published, prologue by Luisa Luisi ; Spain
César Moro, pen name of César Quíspez Asín, Lettre d'amour, Peru
Stella Sierra, Canciones de mar y luna, Panama

Other languages

Nathan Alterman, Plague Poems, Israel
Nizar Qabbani, The Brunette Told Me, Syrian poet writing in Arabic
Giorgos Seferis, Ημερολόγιο Καταστρώματος ΙΙ, Greece

Awards and honors

Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress : Robert Penn Warren appointed this year. He would serve until 1945.
Governor General's Award, poetry or drama: Day and Night, Dorothy Livesay

Births

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

February 3 - Sandra Alcosser, American
February 9 - Alice Walker, African-American novelist, poet, writer and feminist
March 9 - Ndoc Gjetja, Albanian poet and magazine editor
March 21 - Pedro Pietri, Puerto Rican and Nuyorican poet and playwright, co-founder of Nuyorican Poets Cafe
March 25 - Jack Mapanje, Malawian poet and writer
April 18 - Kathy Acker, American postmodernist experimental novelist and punk poet
July 18 - Wayne Brown, Caribbean
July 24 - Jalal Mansur Nuriddin, American rap poet and musician
August 4 - Penn Kemp, Canadian poet, novelist, playwright and sound poet
August 22 - Tom Leonard, Scottish
August 24 - Paulo Leminski, Brazilian poet and translator
August 25
* Margaret Gibson, African-American
* Sherley Anne Williams, African-American
August 31 - Lorenzo Thomas, American
September 24 - Eavan Boland, Irish
September 25 - bpNichol, Canadian
October 10 - Linda Rogers, Canadian poet and children's writer
October 12 - Lewis MacAdams, American poet, journalist and activist, founder of Friends of The Los Angeles River in 1985
October 16 - Paul Durcan, Irish
November 24 - Jules Deelder, Dutch
November 25 - Kathryn Stripling Byer, American poet, teacher; North Carolina Poet Laureate, 2005–2009
December 3 - Craig Raine, English poet and critic
December 10 - Carol Rumens, English poet, writer, literary editor and academic
December 18 - Michael Davidson, American
Also:
* David Constantine, English poet, translator, editor and academic
* Susan Ioannou, Canadian
* Mary Kinzie, American
* Patrick O'Connell, Canadian
* Jergen Theobaldy, German
* Tim Thorne, Tasmanian

Deaths

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

January 7 - Napoleon Lapathiotis, Greek poet
January 19 - Frederick George Scott, Canadian poet
February 9 - Agnes Mary Frances Duclaux, English-born poet and biographer
February 12 - Olive Custance, Lady Alfred Douglas, English poet
February 23 - Augusta Peaux, Dutch poet
March 5 - Alun Lewis, Anglo-Welsh school poet and war poet, died on active service in Burma
March 28 - Stephen Leacock, Canadian writer and economist
April 4 - John Peale Bishop, American poet and man of letters
May 22 - William Ellery Leonard, American poet and academic
June 5 - Capel Boake, Australian writer
June 9 - Keith Douglas, English war poet died in World War II in the D-Day invasion of Normandy, killed by enemy mortar fire while his regiment is advancing from Bayeux and buried at the war cemetery at Tilly-sur-Seuilles
June - Joseph Campbell, Irish poet and lyricist
July 3 - A. H. Reginald Buller, British/Canadian mycologist mainly known as a researcher of fungi and wheat rust who also wrote limericks, some of which were published in Punch
July 18 - Thomas Sturge Moore, English poet, author and artist
August 25 – Musa Cälil, Soviet Tatar poet and resistance fighter, executed in a Nazi German prison
September 26 - Eunice Tietjens, American poet, novelist, journalist, children's author, lecturer and editor
September 30 - Baroness Gertrud von Puttkamer, writing as Marie-Madeleine, German homoerotic poet, dies in a Nazi sanatorium
October 2 or 3 - Benjamin Fondane, Romanian-French Symbolist poet, critic and existentialist philosopher, gassed in Auschwitz concentration camp
November 22 - Sadakichi Hartmann, American art critic and poet
November 24 - Jun Tsuji 辻潤, Japanese author, poet, essayist, translator, musician and bohemian
December 17 - Robert Nichols, English war poet and dramatist
Also:
* Olivia Ward Bush-Banks, African and Native American poet and journalist
* K. V. Simon, Indian, Malayalam-language poet
* David Vogel, Hebrew poet, gassed in Auschwitz concentration camp