1959 in poetry

• March – at a dinner celebrating Robert Frost's 85th birthday, the critic Lionel Trilling gives some brief remarks about Frost's poetry and "permanently changed the way people think about his subject", according to critic Adam Kirsch. Trilling says that Frost had been long viewed as a folksy, unobjectionable poet, "an articulate Bald Eagle" who gave readers comfortable truths in traditional meter and New England dialect in such schoolbook favorites such as "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" and "The Road Not Taken"; but was instead was "a terrifying poet" not so much like Longfellow as Sophocles, "who made plain ... the terrible things of human life." Trilling is severely criticized at the time, but his view will become widely accepted in the following decades. • May 18–24 – Nikita Khrushchev, the Soviet Union's head of state, in an extemporaneous speech at the Congress of Soviet Writers, calls for indulgence towards "deviationist" writers. At the same conference, the poet Alexis Surkov again condemns writing "hostile to socialist realism and denounces fellow poet Boris Pasternak as acting in a way that is "treacherous and unworthy of a Soviet writer". A liberalizing trend in the state's treatment of its writers is evident. Surkov, the subject of intense criticism himself, resigns from the congress, and during the year attacks on Pasternak cease. • Literary critic M. L. Rosenthal coins the term "confessional" as used in Confessional poetry in "Poetry as Confession", an article appearing in the September 19 issue of The Nation. Rosenthal's article reviews the poetry collection Life Studies by Robert Lowell. The review is later collected in Rosenthal's book of selected essays and reviews, Our Life In Poetry, published in 1991 • The chairmanship of The Group, a grouping of British poets, passes to Edward Lucie-Smith this year when Philip Hobsbaum leaves London to study in Sheffield. The meetings continue at his house in Chelsea, and the circle of poets expands to include Fleur Adcock, Taner Baybars, Edwin Brock, and Zulfikar Ghose; others including Nathaniel Tarn circulate poems for comment. • Carl Sandburg, poet and historian, lectures at the U.S. fair and exposition in Moscow. • Aldous Huxley turns down the offer of a knighthood. • In France, the centenary of the death of Marceline Desbordes-Valmore is commemorated. ==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=== • Ronald Bates, The Wandering World • Robert Finch, Acis in Oxford and Other Poems. '''Governor General's Award''' 1961. • George Johnston, The Cruising Auk • Laughter in the Mind ===India, in English=== • Nissim Ezekiel, The Third ( Poetry in English ), Bombay: Strand Bookshop; • Keshav Malik, The Lake Surface and Other Poems ( Poetry in English ), New Delhi: Surge Publications • Prithwindra N. Mukherjee, ''A Rose-Bud's Song'' ( Poetry in English ), Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Ashram • P. Lal and K. Raghavendra Rao, editors, Anglo-Indian Poetry, anthology, Delhi: Kavita ===United Kingdom=== • Patricia Beer, The Loss of the Magyar, a first book of poems • George Mackay Brown, Loaves and Fishes • Robert Graves, Collected Poems, the fourth version • P. J. Kavanagh, For the Unfallen • Joseph Payne Brennan, The Dark Returners (collects a handful of poems as filler to the short fiction) • Hayden Carruth, the Crow and the Heart, New York: Macmillan • Marianne Moore, O to Be a Dragon • M. K. Joseph, The Living Countries, New Zealand • E. H. McCormick, New Zealand Literature, a Survey, acholarship, New Zealand • Chris Wallace-Crabbe, The Music of Division, Sydney: Angus & Robertson, Australia ==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: French language ====France==== • Louis Aragon, Elsa • Yves Bonnefoy, ''L'Improbable'' • Aimé Césaire, Ferrements, Martinique poet published in France • Edmond Jabès, Je batis ma demeure, poemès 1943–1957 • Boris Vian, Je voudrais crever • Pierre Albert-Birot • Marc Alyn • Guy d'Areangues • Anne-Marie de Backer • Luc Bérimont • Yves Bonnefoy • Roland Bouheret • Pierre Boujut • Hélène Cadou • Jean Cassou • René Char • Paul Chaulot • Malcolm de Chazal • Andrée Chedid • Georges-Emmanuel Clancier • Jean Cocteau • Gabriel Cousin • Yanette Delétang-Tardif • Lucienne Desnoues • Gabriel Dheur • Charles Dobzynski • Marie-Jeanne Durry • Louis Émié • Pierre Emmanuel • Jean Follain • André Frénaud • Jacqueline Frédéric Frié • Pierre Garnier • Gherasim Luca • Paul Gilson • Robert Goffin • Jean Grosjean • Guillevic • George Haldas • Anne Hébert • Alain Jouffroy • Pierre Jean Jouve • Hubert Juin • Anne-Marie Kegels • Jean-Clarence Lambert • Léna Leclercq • Jean Lurçat • Joyce Mansour • Pierre Mathias • Rouben Melik • Victor Misrahi • Bernard Noël • Norge (poet) • Pierre Oster • Pericle Patocchi • Jean-Guy Pilon • Francis Ponge • Gérard Prévot • Jean-Claude Renard • Jean Rousselot • Jacques-André Saintonge • Pierrette Sartin • Lucien Scheler • Léopold Sedar Senghor • Claude Sernet • Jules Supervielle • Jean Tardieu • Tchicaya U Tam'si • Jean Todrani • Jean Tortel • Tristan Tzara • Angèle Vannier Criticism, scholarship and biography in France • '''' (1862–1871) • Harumal Isardas Sadarangani, ''Ruba'ivun''; Sindhi-language • M. Gopalakrishna Adiga, Bhumigita; Kannada-language ===Italian=== • Maria Luisa Spaziani, Luna lombarda Anthologies in Italy • Editor not known, Nuovi poeti, an anthology of Italian poetry since 1945 • Salvatore Quasimodo, editor, Poesia italiana del dopoguerra, an anthology of Italian poetry since 1945 Spanish language ====Latin America==== • Santos Chocano, Poesía de Santos Chocano • Rafael Maya, Navegación nocturna • Pablo Neruda, Estravagario (Chile) • Octavio Paz, La estación violenta • Valdelomar, Obra poética Anthologies in Latin America • P. Félix Restrepo, prologue and epilogue, Poemas de Colombia, published by the Colombian Academy, with biographical notes by Carlos López Narváez • Antonio de Undurraga, editor, Atlas de la poesía de Chile, including poetry from Guillermo Blest Gana and Luis Merino Reyes Criticism, scholarship and biography in Latin America • Raúl Leiva, Imagen de la poesía mexicana contemporánea, concerning 29 poets ====Spain==== • Gabriel Celaya, Cantata en Aleixandre, verse variations on themes of Vicente Aleixandre, published as a book by the literary magazine Papeles de sSon Armadans ===Yiddish=== • Benjamin J. Bialostotzky, a book of poetry • M. Daych, a book of poetry • Ezra Korman, a book of poetry • H. Leivick, Lider tsum eybikn ("Songs to the Eternal") • , a book of poetry • Jacob Shargel, a book of poetry Other • Mário Cesariny, Nobilíssima Visão (Portugal) • Odysseus Elytis, To Axion Esti — It Is Worthy (Greece) ==Awards and honors==

===United Kingdom=== • Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry: Francis Cornford ===United States=== • Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress (later the post would be called "Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress"): Richard Eberhart appointed this year. • National Book Award for Poetry: Theodore Roethke, Words for the Wind • Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: Stanley Kunitz, Selected Poems 1928-1958 • Bollingen Prize: Theodore Roethke • Fellowship of the Academy of American Poets: Louise Bogan Other • Premio de la Crítica in poetry (Spain): Blas de Otero ==Births==

Death years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article: • June – Robin Llwyd ab Owain, Welsh poet • June 25 – Barbara Rosiek, Polish writer, poet and clinical psychologist (died 2020) • July 23 – Carl Phillips, American writer and poet • October 1 – Brian P. Cleary, American humorist, poet and author • August 9 – Kim Bridgford, American poet (died 2020) • September 29 – Jon Fosse, Norwegian fiction writer, playwright and poet • Also: • Dermot Bolger, Irish author, playwright and poet • Robert Crawford, Scottish poet and literary scholar • Peter Gizzi, American poet • Paul Henry, Welsh poet • Gwyneth Lewis, Welsh poet • Laura Lush, Canadian poet ==Deaths==

Birth years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article: • January 3 – Edwin Muir, 72 (born 1887), Scottish poet, novelist and translator • February 20 – Zalman Shneur, 72, Hebrew-Yiddish poet and author • February 23 – Luis Palés Matos, Puerto Rican poet, of a heart attack • April 4 – Sarah Cleghorn, American reformer and poet, 83 • April 8 – Kyoshi Takahama 高浜 虚子, pen name of Kiyoshi Takahama (born 1874), Japanese, Shōwa period poet; close disciple of Masaoka Shiki • June 2 – Orelia Key Bell, 95, American poet • June 9 – Ryuko Kawaji 川路柳虹, pen-name of Kawaki Makoto (born 1888), Japanese, Shōwa period poet and literary critic • June 23 – Boris Vian, 39, French writer, poet, singer and musician • July 6 – George Grosz (born 1893), German artist and poet, died from falling down a flight of stairs after a night drinking • August 5 – Edgar Guest, 79, American poet known as the "poet of the people" • August 21 – Denis Devlin (born 1908) Irish modernist poet and career diplomat • September 16 – Roger-Arnould Rivière, 29, French poet, suicide • September 18 – Benjamin Péret, 60, French poet and Surrealist • September 27 – Herman Wildenvey, 74, Norwegian poet • December 27 – Alfonso Reyes, 70, Mexican poet and writer ==See also==