1936 in poetry

Nationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature (for instance, Irish or France).

Events

The olive tree near Alfacar, where Federico García Lorca was executed, as it was in 1999. Many people have left quotations from his works in its branches.^[1]

• James Laughlin founds New Directions Publishers in New York, which published many modern poets for the first time;

• Martin Starkie founds Oxford University Poetry Society in Oxford, England.

• May — In Nazi Germany, the SS magazine Das Schwarze Korps attacked the expressionist and experimental poetry of German Gottfried Benn as degenerate, Jewish, and homosexual.

• William Butler Yeats begins delivering broadcast lectures on the BBC (the lectures continue into 1937), and makes recordings of his own verse.^[2]

• August 19 – Spanish poet Federico Garcia Lorca, age 37, is executed with others at the beginning of the Spanish Civil War

• Canadian Poetry Magazine founded by the Canadian Authors Association, with E. J. Pratt's active involvement. It becomes associated with more traditional poetry, very popular in Canada at this time.^[3]

Works published in English

Canada

• W. E. Collin, The White Savannahs, the first collection of criticism of contemporary poetry in Canada from a modernist perspective; written by a professor of French at the University of Western Ontario^[4]
• F. R. Scott, editor, New Provinces, anthology with modernist poetry, including work by Scott, E. J. Pratt, Robert Finch, A. J. M. Smith, Leo Kennedy, A. M. Klein, with a toned-down preface by Scott rather than the initial, provocative introduction Smith wrote; the book didn't sell many copies; Canada
• Marjorie Pickthall, The Complete Poems of Marjorie Pickthall, posthumously published^[5]
• Frederick George Scott, Poems^[5]

New Zealand

• Ursula Bethell, Time and Place: poems by the author of 'From a garden in the Antipodes, Christchurch: Caxton Press^[6]
• Robin Hyde:
  • Passport to Hell
  • Check To Your King

United Kingdom

• W. H. Auden, Look, Stranger!^[7]
• Roy Campbell, Mithraic Emblems^[7]
• Cecil Day Lewis, Noah and the Waters^[7]
• T. S. Eliot, Collected Poems 1909–35,^[7] including "Burnt Norton"
• A. E. Housman, More Poems^[7]
• James Joyce, Collected Poems^[7]
• Patrick Kavanagh, Ploughman, and Other Poems^[7]
• F. R. Leavis, Revaluation rejects Milton, Spenser, and Shelley and praises Donne, Pope, Gerard Manley Hopkins, T. S. Eliot, and others (criticism)
• Louis MacNeice, translation from the original Ancient Greek, The Agamemnon of Aeschylus^[7]
• Robert Nichols, A Spanish Triptych^[7]
• Ruth Pitter, A Trophy of Arms, preface by James Stephens^[7]
• Michael Roberts edits The Faber Book of Modern Verse, which praises poets such as W. H. Auden and T. S. Eliot and ignores poets like Robert Frost and Thomas Hardy (anthology)
• Sacheverell Sitwell, Collected Poems, introductory essay by Edith Sitwell^[7]
• William Soutar, A Handful of Earth^[7]
• Dylan Thomas, Twenty-five Poems,^[7] including "And Death Shall have No Dominion"
• Edward Thomas, Collected Poems, Faber and Faber^[8]
• W. B. Yeats, editor, The Oxford Book of Modern Verse 1892-1935 (anthology)

United States

• Conrad Aiken, Time in the Rock^[9]
• W. H. Auden, Look, Stranger! (Anglo-American)
• Stephen Vincent Benet, Burning City^[9]
• E. E. Cummings, 1/20^[9]
• Emily Dickinson, Unpublished Poems^[9]
• Paul Engle, Break the Heart's Anger^[9]
• John Gould Fletcher, The Epic of Arkansas^[9]
• Robert Frost, A Further Range^[9]
• Robinson Jeffers, The Beaks of Eagles^[9]
• Archibald MacLeish, Public Speech^[9]
• Edgar Lee Masters, Poems of People^[9]
• Marianne Moore, The Pangolin and Other Verse^[9]
• Ogden Nash, The Bad Parents' Garden of Verse^[9]
• New Directions publishes its first book and its first "annual", New Directions in Prose and Poetry with contributions from Wallace Stevens, Ezra Pound, Elizabeth Bishop, Marianne Moore, William Carlos Williams and others
• Dorothy Parker, Not So Deep as a Well: Collected Poems^[9]
• Kenneth Patchen, Before the Grave^[9]
• Frederic Prokosch, The Assassins^[9]
• Lizette Woodworth Reese, The Old House in the Country^[9]
• Charles Reznikoff, Separate Way, including "The Socialists of Vienna" (Objectivist Press)
• Carl Sandburg, The People, Yes, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich^[8]
• Winfield Townley Scott, Elegy for Robinson^[9]
• Wallace Stevens:
  • Ideas of Order, includes "Farewell to Florida," "The Idea of Order at Key West," "Academic Discourse at Havana," "Like Decorations in a Nigger Cemetery," and "A Postcard from the Volcano"), Knopf, enlarged from the 1935 edition^[10]
  • Owl's Clover, Alcestis Press (contents later incorporated into Opus Posthumous 1952)^[10]
• John Hall Wheelock, Poems, 1911–1936^[9]
• William Carlos Williams, Adam & Eve & The City^[9]

Other in English

• Nilima Devi, The Hidden Face, Calcutta: Futurist Publishing House; India, Indian poetry in English^[11]
• Rex Ingamells, Forgotten People published in Adelaide; including "Garrakeen"; Australia^[12]
• Brajendranath Seal, The Quest Eternal, Indian poetry in English^[13]

Works published in other languages

France

• Paul Éluard, pen name of Paul-Eugène Grindel, Les Yeux fertiles^[14]
• Francis Jammes, Sources, Paris: Le Divan^[15]
• Pierre Jean Jouve, Hélène^[14]
• Henri Michaux, Voyage en Grand Garabagne^[14]
• Benjamin Péret, Je sublime^[14]
• Saint-John Perse, Poème pour Valery Larbaud, Liège: A la Lampe d'Aladdin; France^[16]

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:

Bengali

• Mohitlal Majumdar, Smara-garal, Bengali^[13]
• Rabindranath Tagore, in these two works as well as in some others of the mid- and early 1930s, the author introduced a new rhythm in poetry that "had a tremendous impact on the modern poets", according to Indian academic Sisir Kumar Das:^[13]
  • Patrput^[13]
  • Syamali^[13]

Muhammad Iqbal

Urdu

• Maulana Mohammad Ali Jauhar, "Kulam-i Jauhar", an Urdu poem edited and with an introduction by Abudul Majid Daryabadi^[13]
• Sir Muhammad Iqbal, Zarb-i-Kalim, also rendered "Zarbe Kalim" (or The Rod of Moses), philosophical poetry book in Urdu; the author's third collection in the Urdu language; the 183 poems include some ghazals; divided into six parts, including Islam and Muslims, Education, and Fine Arts (Iqbal also published a book in Persian this year)^[13]
• P. T. Narasimhachar (also known as "Pu.Ti.Na."), Mandaliru, 23 lyrics in Sanskritized Urdu^[13]

Other Indian languages

• Changampuzha Krishna Pillai Ramanan, Malayalam-language poem about the life, love and death of his friend, the poet Edappalli Raghavan Pillai (1909–1936)^[17]
• Haridasa Siddhantavagish, Sankara Sambhavam Khandakavya, a mythological poem in Sanskrit^[13]
• Idappalli Raghavan Pillai, Maninadam, Malayalam^[13]
• Kulachandra Gautam, Prapanica Carca, religious verses in Nepali by an eminent Sanskrit scholar and translator^[13]
• Mahadevi Varma, Sandhyagit, considered significant lyrics in the Chayavadi (Indian romanticism) tradition; Hindi^[13]
• Mahjoor, Taran-e Vatan, Kashmiri^[13]
• Mohan Singh, Save Pattar, Punjabi romantic lyrics^[13]
• Sir Muhammad Iqbal, Pas Chih Bayad Kard ay Aqwam-i-Sharq (or What should then be done O people of the East), philosophical poetry book in Persian (Iqbal also published a book in Urdu this year; see above)
• Sumitranandan Pant, Yugant, Hindi poems reflecting the author's transition from the Chayavad (Indian romanticism) tradition to Pragtivad^[13]
• Suryakant Tripathi Nirala, Gitika, including poems on God, the beauty of nature, women, national awakening and philosophy; Hindi^[13]

Spain

• Federico García Lorca (killed this year; see deaths, below):
  • Diván del Tamarit (Spanish for "The Diván of Tamarit") written this year, will be published in 1941);
  • Sonetos del amor oscuro ("Sonnets of Dark Love") published this year
  • Primeras canciones ("First Songs") published this year
• Jorge Guillén, Cántico, second, enlarged edition, with 125 poems in seven sections (first edition, with 75 poems, 1928)^[18]
• Miguel Hernández, El rayo que no cesa
• Pedro Salinas, Razón d'amor ("Reason for Love")^[18]
• Luis Felipe Vivanco, Cantos de primavera ("Songs of Springtime")^[18]

Other languages

• Gottfried Benn, Ausgewählte Gedichte ("Selected Poems"); when first published in May, the book contained two poems that were removed for the next edition in November : "Mann und Frau gehen durch die Krebsbaracke" and "D-Zug". The vast majority of the first editions were collected and destroyed.
• Cesare Pavese, Lavorare stanca ("Hard Work"), shortened by four poems deleted by Fascist censors; expanded version nearly double in size published in 1942; Florence: Solaria, Italy^[10]

Awards and honors

• Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: Robert P. Tristram Coffin: Strange Holiness

Births

Death years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article:

• March 24 – John Robert Colombo, Canadian poet, editor and humorist
• March 31 – Marge Piercy, American poet, novelist, and social activist
• April 6 – John Pepper Clark, Nigerian poet and playwright who originally published under the name of "J.P. Clark"
• May 28 – Fred Chappell, American poet, author and academic
• June 24 – J. H. Prynne, British poet, writer, academic, key figure in the British Poetry Revival, and a major contributor to The English Intelligencer
• June 26 – Elisabeth Harvor, Canadian novelist and poet
• June 27 – Lucille Clifton, African-American poet and feminist
• July 9 – June Jordan (died 2002), African-American political activist, writer, poet, and teacher
• November 4 – C. K. Williams, American poet
• November 17:
  • Dahlia Ravikovitch, Israeli poet
  • Tarapada Roy (died 2007) Bengali poet, essayist and short-story writer known for his satirical sense of humour
• December 1 — George Bowering, Canadian novelist, poet, historian, and biographer
• December 4 — Ken Smith (poet), (died 2003), English poet, academic and an editor of the quarterly Stand from in 1963 to 1972

• Also:
  • Jayne Cortez, African-American poet
  • Sandra M. Gilbert, American poet, critic and academic
  • Sandra Hochman, American poet
  • Brendan Kennelly, Irish poet and novelist
  • Al Mahmud, Bengali poet
  • Clarence Major, American poet, novelist and painter
  • Tom Raworth, English poet and visual artist; influential figure in the British Poetry Revival movement
  • Christopher Wiseman
  • David Young (writer), editor and co-founder of FIELD Magazine

Deaths

Birth years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article:

• January 18 – Rudyard Kipling, English author and poet who won the Nobel prize for literature in 1907
• April 30 – A. E. Housman, 77, English poet and writer and classical scholar, now best known for his cycle of poems A Shropshire Lad
• June 11 – Robert E. Howard, 30, American writer and poet, committed suicide
• June 14 – G. K. Chesterton English writer, journalist, poet, biographer and Christian apologist
• August 19 – Federico García Lorca, 38, Spanish dramatist, poet, painter, pianist, composer, and emblematic member of the Generation of '27, killed by Nationalist partisans at the beginning of the Spanish Civil War (see "Works published" above)
• September 26 – Harriet Monroe, 75 (born 1860, American editor, scholar, literary critic, and patron of the arts best known as founder and long time editor of Poetry magazine, of a cerebral haemorrhage
• December 28 – John Cornford, 21, English Communist poet, in the Spanish Civil War
• December 31 – Miguel de Unamuno, 72, Spanish essayist, novelist, poet, playwright, and philosopher

• Also:
  • Govinda Kristna Chettur
  • Kattakkayathil Cherian Mappila (born 1859), Indian, Malayalam-language poet^[17]
  • Edappalli Raghavan Pillai (born 1909), Indian, Malayalam-language poet^[17]
  • Jamil Sidqi al-Zahawi, 73, Arab poet, philosopher and champion of women's rights

See also

Poetry portal

• Poetry
• List of poetry awards
• List of years in poetry

Notes