1956 in poetry

[edit] Events

• Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath marry
• Black Mountain College, the birthplace of the Black Mountain School of poetry, goes defunct, although it doesn't officially close until the spring of 1957, and the final issue of the Black Mountain Review is published in the fall of 1957.
• Quadrant magazine was founded in Australia by Richard Krygier, a Polish-Jewish refugee who had been active in social-democrat politics in Europe, and James McAuley, a Catholic poet.
• September 6 — The New York Times sent poet Richard Eberhart to San Francisco to report on the poetry scene there. Eberhart's resulting article, published this day in the New York Times Book Review, was titled "West Coast Rhythms" and helped call national attention to Howl as "the most remarkable poem of the young group" of poets who were becoming known as the spokesmen of the Beat generation^[1]

[edit] Works published

• John Ashbery, Some Trees, United States
• John Berryman, Homage to Mistress Bradstreet, New York: Farrar, Straus & Cudahy^[2]
• Gwendolyn Brooks, Bronzeville Boys and Girls
• Robert Chapman and Jonathan Bennett, editors, An Anthology of New Zealand Verse, Oxford University Press
• Robert Creeley, If You, American^[3]
• Charles Doyle, A Splinter of Glass, New Zealand^[4][5]
• Allen Ginsberg, Howl and Other Poems, a signature of the Beat Generation published by City Lights Books, United States
• Zbigniew Herbert's first book: Struna światła, Poland
• W. Höllerer, editor, Transit, anthology, German^[6]
• John Holloway, The Minute and Longer Poems, Hessle, East Yorkshire: Marvell Press^[2]
• Anne Lindbergh, The Unicorn, and Other Poems, United States
• Norman MacCaig, Riding Lights, London: Hogarth Press^[2]
• Harry Martinson, Aniara
• Octavio Paz, La estación violenta
• Kenneth Rexroth (translator), 30 Spanish Poems of Love and Exile and (translator), 100 Poems from the Chinese, United States
• Reed Whittemore, An American Takes a Walk
• Richard Wilbur, Things of This World: Poems, New York: Harcourt, Brace^[2], United States

[edit] Criticism, scholarship and biography

• Rupert Hirschenauer and Albrecht Weber, editors, Wege zum Gedicht, 2 volumes (second volume, on the ballad, in 1963), Germany ^[7]
• Walther Killy, Wandlungen des lyrischen Bildes^[7]

[edit] 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"): Randall Jarrell appointed this year.
• National Book Award for Poetry: W. H. Auden, The Shield of Achilles
• Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: Elizabeth Bishop: Poems - North & South
• Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry: Edmund Blunden
• Bollingen Prize: Conrad Aiken
• Fellowship of the Academy of American Poets: William Carlos Williams
• Adonais Prize (Spain): María C. Lacaci, Humana voz

[edit] Births

• October 7 — Diane Ackerman, American poet and naturalist
• date not known:
  • Henri Cole, American poet
  • Annie Finch, American poet, librettist, and theorist
  • Forrest Gander, American poet, essayist and translator
  • Amy Gerstler, American poet
  • Amir Or, Israeli poet

[edit] Deaths

• January 31 — A. A. Milne, 74, English author of children's books and children's poetry
• March 30 — Edmund Clerihew Bentley, 80, popular English novelist and humorist and inventor of the clerihew, an irregular form of humorous verse on biographical topics
• June 22 — Walter de la Mare, 83, English poet, short story writer and author of children's books
• July 7 — Gottfried Benn (born 1886), German expressionist poet; buried in Dahlem Waldfriedhof, Berlin
• July 11 — Dorothy Wellesley, 70, English socialite, author, poet and literary editor
• July 8 — Giovanni Papini, 75, Italian poet, essayist, journalist, literary critic, and novelist.
• August 31 — Percy MacKaye, 81, American playwright and poet

[edit] See also

Poetry portal

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

[edit] Notes

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