1948 in poetry

• January 6 – Pablo Neruda speaks out in the Senate of Chile against political repression and is forced into hiding. • Summer – Composer Richard Strauss sets three short poems by Hermann Hesse to music; they become part of his valedictory Four Last Songs, his final works before his death in 1949. • September 17 – The remains of Irish poet W. B. Yeats (who died at Menton, France in 1939) are re-buried at Drumcliffe, County Sligo, "Under bare Ben Bulben's head", having been moved from the original burial place, Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, on Irish Naval Service corvette LÉ Macha. His grave at Drumcliffe, with an epitaph from "Under Ben Bulben", one of his final poems ("Cast a cold Eye / On Life, on Death. / Horseman, pass by"), becomes a place of literary pilgrimage • Sometime this year, Jack Kerouac introduces the phrase Beat Generation to describe his friends and as a general term describing the underground, anti-conformist youth gathering in New York at this time to the novelist John Clellon Holmes • Di Goldene Keyt, an Israeli literary quarterly, is founded • The Bollingen Prize is established by Paul Mellon, funded by a $10,000 grant from the Bollingen Foundation to the Library of Congress. ==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=== • Earle Birney, The Strait of Anian. Toronto: Ryerson Press. • Roy Daniels, Deeper into the Forest • Robert Finch, The Strength of the Hills • Douglas Le Pan, The Wounded Prince • Gurdial Mallik, Hound of the Heart ( Poetry in English ), Bombay: Naranda Publications • Nanikram Vasanmal Thadani, He Walked Alone ( Poetry in English ), Delhi: Bharat Publishing House ===United Kingdom=== • Richard Aldington, Complete Poems • Edward Andrade, He Likens Her to a Soldier • John Betjeman, Selected Poems • Lilian Bowes Lyon, Collected Poems • Lawrence Durrell, On Seeming to Presume • John Heath-Stubbs, The Swarming of the Bees • Hamish Henderson, Elegies for the Dead in Cyrenaica • A. Norman Jeffares, W. B. Yeats: Man And Poet, United Kingdom, biography, revised in 1978 • Louis MacNeice, Holes in the Sky • Richard Ellmann, Yeats, The Man And The Mask, United States, biography • Langston Hughes, One-Way Ticket, Alfred A. Knopf • Winfield Townley Scott, Mr. Whittier • Charles Brasch: Disputed Ground: Poems 1939-45, Christchurch: Caxton Press, New Zealand • Robert Farren, The Course of Irish Verse in English, Irish criticism published in the United Kingdom • Derek Walcott, 25 Poems ==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=== • Louis Aragon, Le Nouveau Creve-Coeur • André Breton, Poemes Paris: K • René Char, Fureur et mystere • Jacques Prévert, Histoires • Georges Schéhadé, Hosties noires • Premendra Mitra, Pherari Phauj • Aimé Césaire, Soleil cou coupé, Martinique author published in France • Peter Huchel, Gedichte (Poems), East Germany • Bohumil Hrabal, Ztracená ulička ("A Lost Alley"), Czechoslovakia • Henryk Jasiczek, Rozmowy z ciszą ("Conversations with Silence"), Poland • Olga Kirsch, Mure van die Hart, Afrikaans, South Africa • Paul la Cour, Fragmenter af en Dagbog ("Fragments of a Diary"), Denmark • Alexander Mezhirov, Kommunisty, vpered!, "Communists, Ahead!" poem reprinted in his second collection, New Encounters, and in many volumes, anthologies and samplers; Russia, Soviet Union • Eugenio Montale, La fiera letteraria poetry criticism; Italy • Nizar Qabbani, Childhood of a Breast, Syrian poet writing in Arabic • Ole Wivel, I Fiskens Tegn ("In the Sign of the Fish"), Denmark ==Awards and honors==

• Nobel Prize in Literature: T. S. Eliot • Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress (later the post would be called "Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress"): Léonie Adams appointed this year. • Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: W. H. Auden, The Age of Anxiety • Fellowship of the Academy of American Poets: Percy MacKaye • Canada: Governor General's Award, poetry or drama: The Rocking Chair and Other Poems, A. M. Klein • North Carolina Poet Laureate: Arthur Talmage Abernethy (the first one to hold the office) ==Births==

Years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article: • January 22 – Timothy Steele, American poet and academic • January 31 – Albert Goldbarth, American poet • February 16 – Jeff Guess, Australian poet • March 5 – Leslie Marmon Silko, Laguna Pueblo descent American writer, a figure in the "Native American Renaissance" • March 28 – Iman Budhi Santosa, Indonesian writer • April 6 – Anna Couani, Australian poet and teacher • May 13 – R. S. Gwynn, American poet and anthologist associated with New Formalism • May 16 – Manglesh Dabral (died 2020), Indian Hindi poet and journalist • May 24 – Lorna Crozier, Canadian poet • May 29 – David Waltner-Toews, Canadian poet, writer and veterinary epidemiologist • June 11 – David Lehman, American poet and series editor for The Best American Poetry book series • June 29 – John Ash, English-born poet and writer • July 7 – Stephen Ratcliffe, American poet and publisher • August 1 – Frank Stanford (died 1978), American poet • August 20 – Heather McHugh, American poet • September 9 – Sherod Santos, American poet and academic • October 3 – Barrett Watten, American poet • October 6 – Zakes Mda (Zanemvula Kizito Gatyeni Mda), South African novelist, poet and playwright • October 7 – Diane Ackerman, American author, poet and naturalist • October 9 – Ciaran Carson, Northern Irish poet and novelist • October 18 – Ntozake Shange (pronounced En-toe-ZAHK-kay SHONG-gay) née Paulette Williams (died 2018), African-American playwright, performance artist, writer and poet • November 14 – Kristina Lugn (died 2020), Swedish poet and dramatist • November 29 – George Szirtes, Hungarian-born English poet and translator • Also: • Ali Al Shargawi (علي الشرقاوي), Bahraini poet • Aung Cheint (died 2021), Burmese poet • Qassim Haddad, Bahraini free verse political poet • Umar Bin Hassan, American poet • Brian Henderson, Canadian poet and writer • Bob Holman, American poet • Lawrence Joseph, American poet, writer, essayist, critic, lawyer and law professor • Yitzhak Laor (יצחק לאור), Israeli poet, author and journalist • Denise Riley, English poet ==Deaths==

Years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article: • January 2 – Vicente Huidobro (born 1893), Chilean poet • February 1 – Jatindramohan Bagchi (born 1878), Bengali poet • May 22 – Claude McKay (born 1889), Jamaican-born American writer, humanist, Communist and part of the Harlem Renaissance • March 14 – Senge Motomaro 千家元麿 (born 1888), Taishō and Shōwa period Japanese poet (surname: Senge) • June 17 – Changampuzha Krishna Pillai (born 1911), Indian, Malayalam-language poet and translator • August 25 – Gordon Bottomley (born 1874), English poet, known for his verse dramas • August 31 – Andrei Zhdanov, 52 (born 1896), Soviet government official and persecutor of poets, writers and artists; until the late 1950s, Zhdanovism, defined cultural production in the Soviet Union; reducing permissible culture to a straightforward, scientific chart, where a given symbol corresponded to a simple moral value; Zhdanov and his associates further sought to eliminate foreign influence from Soviet art, proclaiming that "incorrect art" was an ideological diversion • December 13 – Michael Roberts, 46 (born 1902), English poet, writer, critic and broadcaster and teacher ==See also==