1963 in poetry

• January 26 – Raghunath Vishnu Pandit, an Indian poet who writes in both Konkani and Marathi languages, publishes five books of poems this day • February 11 – American-born poet Sylvia Plath (age 30) commits suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning in her London flat (in a house lived in by W. B. Yeats as a child) during the cold winter of 1962–63 in the United Kingdom about a month after publication of her only novel, the semi-autobiographical The Bell Jar and six days after writing (probably) her last poem, "Edge". • July–August – The Vancouver Poetry Conference is held over a three-week period, involving about 60 people who attend discussions, workshops, lectures, and readings designed by Warren Tallman and Robert Creeley as a summer course at the University of British Columbia. According to Creeley: :"It brought together for the first time a decisive company of then disregarded poets such as Denise Levertov, Charles Olson, Allen Ginsberg, Robert Duncan, Margaret Avison, Philip Whalen... together with as yet unrecognised younger poets of that time, Michael Palmer, Clark Coolidge and many more." After the Union of Soviet Writers rebukes Voznesensky, he replies "with what is regarded as a classic nonconfessional confession", according to Voznesensky's 2010 obituary in the Times: "It has been said that I must not forget the strict and severe words of Nikita Sergeyevich [Khrushchev]. I will never forget them. He said 'work'. This word is my program." He continues, "What my attitude is to Communism — what I am myself — this work will show." • Russian poet Anna Akhmatova's Requiem, an elegy about suffering of Soviet people under the Great Purge, composed 1935–61, is first published complete in book form, without her knowledge, in Munich. • Ukrainian writer Vasyl Symonenko's ''Kurds'komu bratovi'' is written and begins to circulate in samizdat. ==Works published in English==

Listed by nation where the work was first published and again by the poet's native land, if different; substantial revisions listed separately: ===Canada=== • Roy Daniells, The Chequered Shade, a collection of short poems, mostly sonnets • R. G. Everson, ''Blind Man's Holiday'', a first book of poems • Eldon Grier, A Friction of Lights • Lionel Kearns, Songs of Circumstance • Gwendolyn MacEwen, The Rising Fire • Al Purdy, The Blur in Between • Denis Devlin, Selected Poems, New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, London: Faber and Faber; New York: Chilmark Press, 1965 • Edwin Bronk, With Love From Judas, • T. S. Eliot, Collected Poems 1909–1962 • Richard Murphy, Sailing to an Island, London: Faber and Faber; • Wilfred Owen (killed 1918), The Collected Poems of Wilfred Owen, edited and introduced by C. Day-Lewis • Gwendolyn Brooks, Selected Poems • Translator, The Song of Roland • James McAuley, Australia: • James McAuley (Australian Poets series), Sydney: Angus & Robertson • The Six Days of Creation (An Australian Letters publication) • Chris Wallace-Crabbe, Australia: • In Light and Darkness, Sydney: Angus & Robertson • Editor, Six Voices: Contemporary Australian Poets, Sydney: Angus & Robertson; American Edition, Westport, Connecticut: 1979 (anthology) ==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: ===Denmark=== • Inger Christensen, Græs: digte ("Grass") • Ivan Malinovski, Romerske Bassiner ("Roman Pools") • Jørgen Sonne, Krese ("Cycles") • Ronald Desprês, Les Cloisons en vertige ====France==== • Louis Aragon, ''Le Fou d'Elsa'' • P. Bealu, ''Amour me cele, celle que j'aime'' • Leon-Paul Fargue, Poesies, a collection of the author's early books published here posthumously (died 1947) with a preface by Saint-John Perse • Oiseaux • Poésie • Peter Huchel, Chausseen, Chausseen: Gedichte (East Germany) • Christa Reinig, Gedichte (East Germany) ===Hebrew=== • Nathan Alterman, a four-volume edition of his writing • Harumal Isardas Sadarangani, ''Ruha D'ino Relo'', Sindhi-language • Poemas del hoyporhoy ("Poems of Today"), Uruguay • Esther de Cáceres, Los Cantos del destierro • Roland Cárdenas, En el invierno de la provincia • Arturo Corcuera, Noé delirante (Peru) • Lupo Hernández Rueda, Muerte y memoria (Dominican Republic) • Francisco Monterde, Sakura, including poetry inspired by epigrams and haiku (Mexico) ===Swedish=== • Solveig von Schoultz, Sänk ditt ljus ===Yiddish=== • E. Ayzikovich, a new book of poems • Sore Birnboym, a new book of poems • , Nefilim, drama in the form of a symbolic poem • Aaron Glanz-Leyeles, Amerike un ikh ("America and I") (United States) • Jeremiah Hescheles, Lider ("Poems") • Leon Kusman, a new book of poems • Israel Mordechai Levin, a new book of poems • Moyshe Khayim Likhtshteyn, a new book of poems • Nosn Mark, a new book of poems • , a new book of poems • , Der step vakht ("The Steppe Is Awake"), with Hassidic mysticism as an inspiration (United States) • Nachman Raf, a new book of poems • Eliyohu Reyzman, a new book of poems • M. M. Shafir, a new book of poems • , a new book of poems • Hersh Leib Young, a new book of poems Other • Nanni Balestrini, Come si agisce (Italy) • Manuel Bandeira, Estrêla da tarde, a selection from previous works (Brazil) • Ascensio Ferreira, Catimbó e outros poemas, a collection of three previous books (Brazil) • Stratis Haviaras, Η κυρία με την πυξίδα (Lady with a Compass, Greece) ==Awards and honors==

• Nobel Prize in Literature: Giorgos Seferis ===United Kingdom=== • Eric Gregory Award: Ian Hamilton, Stewart Conn, Peter Griffith, David Wevill • Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry: William Plomer • Newdigate Prize: not awarded ===United States=== • February 19 - Robert Frost wins Bollingen Prize • Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress (later the post would be called "Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress"): Howard Nemerov appointed this year. • American Academy of Arts and Letters Gold Medal in Poetry, William Carlos Williams • National Book Award for Poetry: William Stafford, Traveling Through the Dark • Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: William Carlos Williams: Pictures from Breughel • Fellowship of the Academy of American Poets: Ezra Pound and Allen Tate ==Births==

• May 19 – Michael Symmons Roberts, English • May 26 – Simon Armitage, English poet laureate and playwright • August 7 – Lynn Crosbie, Canadian poet and novelist • September 4 – Claudia Rankine, American poet born in Jamaica and raised there and in New York City. • December 24 – Naja Marie Aidt, Danish poet and writer • Also: • He Xiaozhu, Chinese-Hmong poet, novelist and short story writer • Michael Derrick Hudson, American poet and librarian • John Kinsella, Australian • Don Paterson, Scottish poet, writer and musician • Fiona Sampson, English • Lutz Seiller, German ==Deaths==

Birth years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article: • January 29 – Robert Frost, 88, American poet • February 11 – Sylvia Plath, 30, American-born poet, by suicide • March 4 – William Carlos Williams, 79, American poet • April 18 – Lady Margaret Sackville, 81, English poet and children's author • April 25 – Christopher Hassall, 51, English lyricist • May 6 – Mantarō Kubota 久保田万太郎 (born 1889), Japanese author, playwright and poet • August 1 – Theodore Roethke, 55, American poet and winner of the 1954 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry • August 3 – Evelyn Scott (born 1893), American poet, novelist and playwright • September 3 • Eva Dobell, 87, English poet, nurse, and editor best known for her verses related to World War I soldiers • Louis MacNeice, 55, British poet, playwright and producer, of pneumonia • September 10 – Bernard Spencer, 53 English poet, apparently in accident • October 11 – Jean Cocteau, 74, French poet, playwright, novelist, painter, designer, producer and critic • November 22 – Patrick MacGill, 73, Irish-born "navvy poet" and journalist • December 2 – Sasaki Nobutsuna 佐佐木信綱 (born 1872), Japanese, Shōwa period tanka poet and scholar of the Nara and Heian periods • December 24 – Tristan Tzara, 67, French poet (native of Romania) and a founder of Dadaism ==See also==