1944 in poetry

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

Events

• The first and second lines of Paul Verlaine's 1866 poem Chanson d'automne (Les sanglots longs des violons de l'automne / Blessent mon cœur d'une langueur monotone.) were broadcast by the Allies over Radio Londres this year as a message in code to the French Resistance to prepare for D-Day.

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:

Canadian poet E. J. Pratt in 1944

Canada

• E. K. Brown, On Canadian Poetry, revised edition (scholarship), Canada^[1]
• Ralph Gustafson, editor, Canadian Accent, anthology^[2]
• A. M. Klein:
  • The Hitleriad^[2]
  • Poems^[2]
• Dorothy Livesay, Day and Night. Toronto: Ryerson.^[3] Governor General's Award 1944.
• E.J. Pratt, Collected Poems of E. J. Pratt, Toronto: Macmillan.^[4]
• Ronald Hambleton, editor Unit of five: Louis Dudek, Ronald Hambleton, P. K. Page, Raymond Souster, James Wreford, anthology, Toronto: Ryerson Press, Canada^[5]

India, in English

• Harindranath Chattopadhyay:
  • Blood of Stones ( Poetry in English ), including "On the Pavement of Calcutta", a realistic description of suffering in the Bengal famine of 1943;^[6] Bombay: Padma Publications^[7]
  • Lyrics ( Poetry in English ), Bombay: Padma Publications^[7]
• Nolini Kanta Gupta, To the Height ( Poetry in English ),^[8]
• Humayun Kabir, Mahatma and Other Poems( Poetry in English ); 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^[6]
• Fredoon Kabraji, A Minor Georgian's Swan Song ( Poetry in English ), Publisher: Basil Blackwell, Indian poet published in the United Kingdom^[9]
• P. R. Kaikini, Look On Undaunted ( Poetry in English ), Bombay ^[10]
• H. D. Sethna, Struggling Heights ( Poetry in English ), Bombay: Karnatak Publishing House^[10]
• Subho Tagore:
  • Flames of Passion ( Poetry in English ), love poems in verse and in the form of prose poems; Calcutta: Susil Gupta Ltd.^[10]
  • Rubble, translated by Nilima Devi into English from the original Bengali; Calcutta: The Futurist Publishing House^[10]

United Kingdom

• W. H. Auden, For the Time Being: A Christmas Oratorio, English poet living and publishing in the United States
• George Barker, Eros in Dogma^[11]
• Laurence Binyon, The Burning of the Leaves, and Other Poems^[11]
• Sir John Betjeman, New Bats in Old Belfries
• Laurence Binyon, The Burning of the Leaves, and Other Poems^[11]
• Edmund Blunden, Shells by a Stream^[11]
• Alex Comfort, Elegies^[11]
• Crown 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^[11]
• T. S. Eliot, Four Quartets, contains "Burnt Norton" (first published 1936 and again 1941), "East Coker" (1940), "The Dry Salvages" (1941), "Little Gidding" (1942)^[11]
• Roy Fuller, A Lost Season^[11]
• W. S. Graham, The Seven Journeys^[11]
• J. F. Hendry, and Henry Treece, editors, The Crown and Sickle, anthology^[11]
• Laurie Lee, The Sun My Monument^[11]
• John Lehmann, The Sphere of Glass, and Other Poems^[11]
• Louis MacNeice, Springboard^[11]
• Mervyn Peake, Rhymes Without Reason^[11]
• John Pudney, Almanack of Hope^[11]
• Herbert Read, A World Within a War^[11]
• E. J. Scovell, Shadows of Chrysanthemums, and Other Poems^[11]
• William Soutar, The Expectant Silence^[11]
• Charles Williams, The Region of the Summer Stars^[11]

United States

• Franklin P. Adams, Nods and Becks^[12]
• Conrad Aiken, The Soldier^[12]
• W. H. Auden, For the Time Being^[12]
• E. E. Cummings, 1 X 1^[12]
• Babette Deutsch, Take Them, Stranger^[12]
• Hilda Doolittle, writing under the pen name "H.D.", The Walls Do Not Fall,^[12] first part of Trilogy (1944–46) on the blitz in war-time London
• Stanley J. Kunitz, Passport to the War^[12]
• Robert Lowell, Land of Unlikeness, Cummington, Massachusetts: Cummington Press^[13]
• William Meredith, Love Letter from an Impossible Land^[12]
• Marianne Moore, Nevertheless^[12]
• Kenneth Rexroth, The Phoenix and the Tortoise^[12]
• Muriel Rukeyser, Beast in View
• Karl Shapiro, V-Letter and Other Poems^[12]
• Jesse Stuart, Album of Destiny^[12]
• Mark Van Doren, Seven Sleepers^[12]
• Louise Varèse, translator, Eloges and Other Poems, translated from the original French of Saint-John Perse; introduction by Archibald MacLeish, New York: Norton^[14]
• Robert Penn Warren, Selected Poems, 1923—1943^[12]
• William Carlos Williams:
  • Collected Later Poems^[15]
  • 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

• Jean Cassou, Trente-trois sonnets composes au secret^[16]
• Robert Desnos, Contrée^[17]
• Paul Éluard, Au Rendez-vous allemand^[17]
• Pierre Jean Jouve, Pour les Ombres Lausanne, Switzerland: Cahiers de Poésie French poet published in Switzerland^[18]
• Alphonse Métérié, Les Cantiques du Frère Michel^[16]
• Saint-John Perse, French poet published in his native language while in exile in Argentina:
  • Pluies, Buenos Aires: Les Editions Lettres Françaises (republished in Exil, suivi de Poème à l'étrangère; Pluies; Neiges Paris: Gallimard 1945)^[14]
  • Quatre poèmes, 1941-1944, Buenos Aires: Les Editions Lettres Françaises (republished as Exil, suivi de Poème à l'étrangère; Pluies; Neiges Paris: Gallimard 1945)^[14]

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

• Badarayan, Kedi^[19]
• Prahlad Parekh Bari Bahar^[6]
• Umashankar Joshi, Prachina, a "dialogue-poem"^[19]

Hindi

• Anchala Rameshvar Shukla, Lal Cunar, lyrics celebrating love, youth and revolt^[6]
• Girija Kumar Mathur, Manjir, many of these poems have themes of nature and intense love^[6]
• Rangeya Raghav, Ajeya Khandhar, pragativadi-movement poetry about the battle of Stalingrad, depicted to illustrate the human struggle for freedom^[6]
• Shyam Narayan Pandey, Jauhar, depicting the self-sacrifice of Padmini, queen of Chittor, written in a folk style^[6]

Other Indian languages

• A. N. Krishna Rao, Pragati Sila Sahitya, 15 essays in Kannada on the Pragatisila Caluvali (progressive movement) in Indian literature^[6]
• Bhimaraj Bhambiru, also known as "Mangal"; Mumgha Moti, written in doha form, the poems are addressed to an individual Mangala; Rajasthani-language^[6]
• Joseph Mundasseri, written in Malayalam-language:
  • Manadandam, criticism about Indian classical literature, particularly Kalidasa^[6]
  • Mattoli, a comparison of three major works of poetry: Kumaran Asan's Karuna, Vallathol's Magdalana Mariyam and Ulloor's Pingala^[6]
• 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^[6]
• Kshama Rao, Miralahari, Khanda Kavya poetry on Meera, the medieval Indian saint-poet; Sanskrit-language^[6]
• Mahjoor, Kalam-e-Mahjoor "No. 8", Kashmiri-language ghazals and vatsan's^[6]
• Mohammad Jamil Ahmad, Tazkirah-yi Sha'irat-i Urdu, literary criticism of Urdu-language women poets, with biographical information and selections from their poems^[6]
• Mohammad Mujib, Insha, adab aur adib, Urdu essays in literary criticism^[6]
• Prabhjot Kaur, Palkan Ohle, love poems; Punjabi-language^[6]
• Shrikrishna Powale, Agniparag; Marathi-language^[6]
• Va. Ramaswamy Ayyangar, Makakavi Paratiyar, Tamil biography of the Tamil poet Bharati^[6]

Spanish language

• Delmira Agustini, Poesías, posthumously published (died 1914), prologue by Luisa Luisi (Motevideo, Claudio García & Co., Uruguay^[20]
• Vicente Aleixandre, Sombra del paraíso ("Shadows of Paradise"); Spain^[21]
• César Moro, pen name of César Quíspez Asín, Lettre d'amour, Peru^[22]

Other languages

• Nathan Alterman, Plague Poems, Israel
• Nizar Qabbani, The Brunette Told Me, Syrian poet writing in Arabic
• Giorgos Seferis, Ημερολόγιο Καταστρώματος ΙΙ ("Deck Diary II"), Greece

Awards and honors

• Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress (later the post would be called "Poet Laureate 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 (Canada) ^[23]

Births

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

• February 9 – Alice Walker, African-American novelist, poet, writer and feminist
• February 19 – Jeffrey Wainwright, English poet and academic
• March 21 – Pedro Pietri, (died in 2004) a Puerto Rican and Nuyorican poet and playwright who co-founded the Nuyorican Poets Cafe
• August 25 – Margaret Gibson (poet) (died 1999), 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
• 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:
  • Sandra Alcosser, American
  • David Constantine, British poet, translator, editor and academic
  • John Donlan, Canadian and editor
  • Paul Duncan
  • William Hathaway (poet), American
  • Susan Ioannou, Canadian
  • Penn Kemp, Canadian poet, novelist, playwright, and sound poet
  • Mary Kinzie, American
  • Lewis MacAdams, American poet, journalist, and activist. Founder of Friends of The Los Angeles River (FoLAR) established in 1985
  • Robert C. Morgan, American art critic, art historian, curator, poet and artist
  • John Reibetanz
  • Jergen Theobaldy, German^[24]
  • Sherley Anne Williams, American

Deaths

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

• January 7 – Napoleon Lapathiotis, Greek
• March 5 – Alun Lewis, Anglo-Welsh school poet and war poet killed 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 (born 1876), American poet and academic
• June 9 – Keith Douglas, war poet died in the D-Day invasion of Normandy; he was killed by enemy mortar fire while his regiment was advancing from Bayeux and is buried at the war cemetery at Tilly-sur-Seuilles.
• July 3 – A. H. Reginald Buller, a 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 (born 1870), English poet, author and artist
• September 26 – Eunice Tietjens (born 1884), American poet, novelist, journalist, children's author, lecturer, and editor
• November 22 – Sadakichi Hartmann (born 1867), American
• November 24 – Jun Tsuji 辻 潤 (born 1884), Japanese author, poet, essayist, translator, musician and bohemian

• Also:
  • Olivia Bush
  • Joseph Campbell, Irish poet and lyricist
  • Olive Custance, poet
  • Keith Castellain Douglas, killed in World War II at Normandy;
  • Ndoc Gjetja (died 2010), Albanian poet and magazine editor^[25]
  • Robert Nichols, poet and dramatist
  • Frederick George Scott

See also

Poetry portal

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

Notes