1956 in poetry

• February 25 – English poet Ted Hughes and American poet Sylvia Plath meet in Cambridge, England. • June 16 – Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath marry at the church of St George the Martyr, Holborn, London and spend the night at his flat at 18 Rugby Street. • September 6 – American poet Richard Eberhart, having been sent by The New York Times to San Francisco to report on the poetry scene there, publishes this day an article in the New York Times Book Review titled "West Coast Rhythms" which helps call national attention to Allen Ginsberg's Howl as "the most remarkable poem of the young group" of poets who are becoming known as the spokesmen of the Beat Generation. On November 1, Howl and Other Poems, is published by City Lights Bookstore. • The Lake Eden campus of Black Mountain College, the birthplace of the Black Mountain School of poetry, closes, although classes do not end until the spring of 1957, and the final issue of the Black Mountain Review is published in the fall of 1957. • Quadrant magazine is 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. • Northern Review, founded in 1945 from the merger of two small Canadian literary magazines, Preview and First Statement, publishes its last issue. • Tamarack Review founded by Robert Weaver in Canada ==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: ===Australia=== • James McAuley, A Vision of Ceremony ===Canada=== • Leonard Cohen, Let Us Compare Mythologies, Canada • Louis Dudek, The Transparent Sea. Toronto: Contact Press, 1956. • Eldon Grier, Poems • Irving Layton, The Improved Binoculars: Selected Poems. Introduction by William Carlos Williams. Highlands, NC: Jonathan Williams. • Raymond Souster ed. Poets 56: Ten Younger English-Canadians. Toronto: Contact Press. ===India in English=== • Einar Beer, Samadhi Poems and Autumn Rains ( Poetry in English ), Alvdal: The Brahmakul; • Humayun Kabir, Mahatma & other Poems ( Poetry in English ), ===United Kingdom=== • Kingsley Amis, A Case of Samples: Poems 1946–1956 • Paul Dehn, For Love and Money • J. P. Fletcher, Tally 300 • David Gascoyne, Night Thoughts • John Holloway, The Minute and Longer Poems, Hessle, East Yorkshire: Marvell Press • John Berryman, Homage to Mistress Bradstreet, New York: Farrar, Straus & Cudahy • Gwendolyn Brooks, Bronzeville Boys and Girls • Witter Bynner, A Book of Lyrics • Kenneth Fearing, New and Selected Poems • Kenneth Rexroth (translator), 30 Spanish Poems of Love and Exile and (translator), 100 Poems from the Chinese • Edna St. Vincent Millay, Collected Poems • Marianne Moore, Like a Bulwark • Gertrude Stein, Stanzas in meditation and Other Poems (1929–1933) • Peter Viereck, The Persimmon Tree • John Hall Wheelock, Poems Old and New • Reed Whittemore, An American Takes a Walk • Richard Wilbur, Things of This World: Poems, New York: Harcourt, Brace • Tennessee Williams, In the Winter of Cities ==Works published in other languages==

Listed by language and often 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 Roman inachevé • Aimé Césaire, ''Cahier d'un retour au pays natal'', definitive, revised edition • Pierre Jean Jouve, Lyrique • Rupert Hirschenauer and Albrecht Weber, editors, Wege zum Gedicht, 2 volumes (second volume, on the ballad, in 1963), Germany, scholarship • Walther Killy, Wandlungen des lyrischen Bildes • Shambhu Nath Sharma, Bhadasa ====Kannada==== • C. Mahadevappa, translation from the English of Percy Bysshe Shelley's The Defence of Poetry • Parsram Rohra, Sargam, Sindhi • José Santos Chocano, Las mejores poesías de Chocano, pról. de Francisco Bendezú (Lima: Editorial Paracas), Peru • Juan Gelman, Violín y otras cuestiones, Argentina • Octavio Paz, La estación violenta, Mexico Other languages • Miron Białoszewski's first book: Obroty rzeczy, Poland • Zbigniew Herbert's first book: Struna światła, Poland • Harry Martinson, Aniara, Swedish • Eugenio Montale, La bufera e altro ("The Storm and Other Things"), a first edition of 1,000 copies, Venice: Neri Pozza; second, larger edition published in 1957, Milan: Arnaldo Mondadore Editore; Italy • Nizar Qabbani, Poems (قصائد), Syrian poet writing in Arabic • Yevgeny Yevtushenko, Stantsiia Zima (Станция Зима, "Zima Station", translated as "Winter Station"), Soviet Union ==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 • Canada: Governor General's Award, poetry or drama: A Window on the North, Robert A.D. Ford ==Births==

Death years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article: • January 1 – John O'Donohue (died 2008), Irish poet, author, priest, and philosopher • January 21 – Ian McMillan, English poet • March 11 – Jean "Binta" Breeze (died 2021), Jamaican dub poet • April 7 – Dionisio D. Martinez, Cuban-born poet who grows up speaking Spanish, raised first in Spain, then in the United States • May 9 – Henri Cole, Japanese-born American poet • May 22 – Lucie Brock-Broido (died 2018), American poet • August 15 – Henry Normal, born Pete Carroll, English performance poet and television comedy producer • August 21 – Julia Darling (died 2005), English fiction writer, poet and dramatist • September 26 – Mick Imlah (died 2009), Scottish-born poet • October 7 – Diane Ackerman, American poet and naturalist • October 30 – Annie Finch, American poet, librettist and theorist • December 8 – Michael C. Burgess, English poet • Also: • Bai Hua, Chinese poet • Jim Daniels, American poet, writer and academic • Forrest Gander, American poet, essayist and translator • Amy Gerstler, American poet • Lachlan Mackinnon, Scottish-born poet and critic • Amir Or, Israeli poet ==Deaths==

Birth years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article: • January 31 – A. A. Milne, 74 (born 1882), English author of children's books and children's poetry • March 11 – Aleksanteri Aava, 72 (born 1883), Finnish poet • March 23 – Mitsuko Shiga 四賀光子, pen name of Mitsu Ota (born 1885), Japanese, Taishō and Shōwa period tanka poet, a woman • March 30 – Edmund Clerihew Bentley, 80 (born 1875), popular English novelist and humorist and inventor of the clerihew, an irregular form of humorous verse on biographical topics • April 2 – Kōtarō Takamura 高村 光太郎 (born 1883), Japanese poet and sculptor; son of sculptor Takamura Kōun • May 11 – Takashi Matsumoto 松本たかし (born 1906), Japanese, Shōwa period professional haiku poet in the Shippo-kai haiku circle, then, starting in 1929, in the Hototogisu group that also included Kawabata Bosha; founded a literary magazine, Fue ("Flute"), in 1946 • May 15 – Arthur Talmage Abernethy (born 1872), American poet, journalist, theologian, minister; North Carolina Poet Laureate 1948–53 • June 22 – Walter de la Mare, 83 (born 1873), 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 8 – Giovanni Papini, 75 (born 1881), Italian poet, essayist, journalist, literary critic, and novelist • July 11 – Dorothy Wellesley, 70, English socialite, author, poet and literary editor • August 31 – Percy MacKaye, 81 (born 1875), American playwright and poet • September 7 – Frank Oliver Call (born 1878), Canadian poet and academic • November 21 – Aizu Yaichi (会津 八一) (born 1881), Japanese poet, calligrapher and historian (Surname: Aizu) • December 10 – David Shimoni, 66, (born 1891), Israeli poet and writer ==See also==