411 REFERENCE · Wikipedia
1938 in poetry
Reference material by Wikipedia contributors. This retains its source identity and is not 411 news reporting.
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1938 poetry literature
Nationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature (for instance, Irish or France).
Events
In Nazi Germany the Reichsschrifttumskammer (the National Socialist authors' association) bans German expressionist poet Gottfried Benn from further writing.
The Arbujad ("Soothsayers") group of Estonian poets forms.
Works published in English
Australia
R. D. Fitzgerald, Moonlight Acre, Melbourne, Melbourne University Press Moonlight Acre by R. D. Fitzgerald National Library of Australia https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/815314 15 January 2026
Rex Ingamells and Ian Tilbrook, Conditional Culture, published in Adelaide; a manifesto advocating a "fundamental break ... with the spirit of English culture" to free Australian art from "alien influences" and paying more attention to Aboriginal culture as well as the use of "only such imagery as is truly Australian"; the word "Jindyworobak", which they understood to be an Aboriginal term meaning 'to annex' or 'to join', they proposed as a symbol of the reorientation; the Jindyworobak Movement resulted in at least 44 volumes of poetry and literary comment in addition to periodicals from this year through 1953; criticismJohn Dally Reginald Charles (Rex) Ingamells (1913–1955) ingamells-reginald-charles-rex-10588 1996 14 22 August 2025
Rex Ingamells:
Sun-freedom, Adelaide
Editor, Jindyworobak Anthology, Adelaide
Shaw Neilson, Beauty Imposes: Some Recent Verse, Angus & Robertson
Canada
Kenneth Leslie, By Stubborn Stars. Toronto: Ryerson.Burris Devanney, Sandra Campbell and Domenico Di Nardo. "Kenneth Leslie: A Preliminary Bibliography https://web.archive.org/web/20120402133843/http://www.uwo.ca/english/canadianpoetry/cpjrn/vol05/devanney2.htm 2012-04-02 ." Canadian Poetry: Studies/Documents/Reviews No.05 (Fall/Winter 1979), UWO, Web, Apr. 15, 2011. Governor-General's Award 1938.Gustafson, Ralph, The Penguin Book of Canadian Verse, revised edition, 1967, Baltimore, Maryland: Penguin Books
L. A. MacKay, Viper's Bugloss.
Virna Sheard, Leaves in the Wind.
Arthur Stringer, The Old Woman Remembers and Other Irish Poems. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill.
India, in English
Joseph Furtado, Songs in Exile ( Poetry in English ), Bombay: self-publishedNaik, M. K., Perspectives on Indian poetry in English, p. 230, (published by Abhinav Publications, 1984, 978-0-391-03286-6), retrieved via Google Books, June 12, 2009
Cyril Modak, editor, The Indian Gateway to Poetry ( Poetry in English ), Calcutta: Longmans, Green; anthologyJoshi, Irene, compiler, "Poetry Anthologies" https://web.archive.org/web/20090830022509/http://www.lib.washington.edu/subject/SouthAsia/guides/pre1947.html 2009-08-30 , "Poetry Anthologies" section, "University Libraries, University of Washington" website, "Last updated May 8, 1998", retrieved June 16, 2009
K. S. R. Sastry, The Light of Life ( Poetry in English )Vinayak Krishna Gokak, The Golden Treasury Of Indo-Anglian Poetry (1828-1965), p 314, New Delhi: Sahitya Akademi (1970, first edition; 2006 reprint), 81-260-1196-3, retrieved August 6, 2010
United Kingdom
Elizabeth Daryush, Verses: Sixth BookCox, Michael, editor, The Concise Oxford Chronology of English Literature, Oxford University Press, 2004, 0-19-860634-6
Cecil Day-Lewis, Overtures to Death, and Other Poems
Walter de la Mare, Memory, and Other Poems
David Gascoyne, Holderlin's Madness
Stella Gibbons, The Lowland Venus, and Other Poems
Oliver St. John Gogarty, Others to Adorn, preface by W. B. Yeats
Poems of Today, British poetry anthology, third series
Robert Graves, Collected Poems
Louis MacNeice:
The Earth Compels
I Crossed the Minch, prose, with verse
Stevie Smith, Tender Only to One
Charles Williams, Taliessen Through Logres
W. B. Yeats, New Poems, including "Lapis Lazuli", Irish poet published in the United Kingdom
United States
Cleanth Brooks and Robert Penn Warren, editors, Understanding Poetry, criticism and anthology, (appearing thereafter in revised editions to 1976)
E. E. Cummings, Collected PoemsLudwig, Richard M., and Clifford A. Nault, Jr., Annals of American Literature: 1602–1983, 1986, New York: Oxford University Press
Donald Davidson, Lee in the Mountains
Kenneth Fearing, Dead Reckoning
John Gould Fletcher, Selected Poems
Archibald MacLeish, Land of the Free
Ogden Nash, I'm a Stranger Here Myself
Ezra Pound, Guide to Kulchur, dedicated "To Louis Zukofsky and Basil Bunting strugglers in the desert"
Frederic Prokosch, The Carnival
Laura Riding, Collected PoemsRichard Ellmann and Robert O'Clair, editors, The Norton Anthology of Modern Poetry, W. W. Norton & Company, 1973, 0-393-09357-3
Muriel Rukeyser, U.S. 1
Delmore Schwartz, In Dreams Begin Responsibilities
E. B. White, The Fox of Peapack
William Carlos Williams, The Complete Collected Poems of William Carlos Williams, 1906-1938, New Directions
Other in English
Austin Clarke, Night and Morning, Irish poet published in Ireland
A. R. D. Fairburn, Dominion, New Zealand poet
Robin Hyde, New Zealand:
Nor the Years Condemn
The Godwits Fly
Ewart Milne, Forty North Fifty West, Irish poet published in Ireland
W. B. Yeats, New Poems, including "Lapis Lazuli", Irish poet published in the United Kingdom
Works published in other languages
France
Paul Éluard, pen name of Paul-Eugène Grindel, Cours naturelAuster, Paul, editor, The Random House Book of Twentieth-Century French Poetry: with Translations by American and British Poets, New York: Random House, 1982 0-394-52197-8
Pierre Emmanuel, pen name of Noël Mathieu, Christ au tombeau, the author's first poemBree, Germaine, Twentieth-Century French Literature, translated by Louise Guiney, Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1983
Luc Estang, Au-delà de moi-même
Pierre Jean Jouve, Kyrie
Jules Supervielle, La Fable du monde
Indian subcontinent
Including all of the British colonies that later became India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal. Listed alphabetically by first name, regardless of surname:
Ajit Kumar Datta, Patal Kanya, BengaliDas, Sisir Kumar, "A Chronology of Literary Events / 1911–1956", in Das, Sisir Kumar and various, History of Indian Literature: 1911-1956: struggle for freedom: triumph and tragedy, Volume 2, 1995, published by Sahitya Akademi, 978-81-7201-798-9, retrieved via Google Books on December 23, 2008
Bharatidasan, Paratitacan Kavitakal, Tamil
Daya Singh Arif, Zindagi Bilas, a long poem, Punjabi
Sir Muhammad Iqbal, Armaghan-i-Hijaz ("Gift from Hijaz"), philosophical poetry book in Persian
Rabindranath Tagore, Prantik, Bengali
Ramnarayan Vishvanath Pathak, Gujarati:
Sesnan Kavyo, 73 Gujarati poems, including sonnets, bhajans and hi muktaks
Arvacin Kavyasahityanan Vaheno, five lectures on modern Gujarati poetry
Rayaprolu Subba Rao, Ramyalokam, this verse work in Telugu "is accepted as the manifesto of bhava kavita (romantic poetry)", according to academic Siser Kumar Das
Sacchidananda Rout Roy, Baji Raut ("The Boatman Boy"), Indian, Oriya-language
Sumitranandan Pant, Yugvani, Hindi
Ubaidullah Mahshar and Ashfaq Husain Khan Gaurakhpuri, Yadgar-i Mahshar, Urdu
Mehr Lal Soni Zia Fatehabadi, Zia Ke Sau Sher (A Hundred Verses of Zia) - Collection of quotes published by Gajender Lal Soni, Mohan Building, near Lloyd's Bank, Delhi in 1938.Urdu
Other languages
Nathan Alterman, Stars Outside, Israel
Heinrich Anacker, Ein Volk – ein Reich – ein Führer, Munich: Eher-Verlag, Nazi GermanyAlexander Thoele The Führer’s forgotten poet swissinfo.ch https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/business/the-fuehrer-s-forgotten-poet/47878752 2022-09-07 2026-07-23
Nikos Kazantzakis, The Odyssey: A Modern Sequel, Greece
Kersti Merilaas, et Maantee tuuled, Estonia
Gabriela Mistral, Tala ("Harvesting"Tapscott, Stephen, editor, Twentieth-Century Latin American Poetry: A Bilingual Anthology, p 79, Austin: University of Texas Press, 1996 (2003, fifth paperback printing), 0-292-78140-7, retrieved via Google Books on September 22, 2010), Buenos Aires: Sur;Web page titled "The Nobel Prize in Literature 1945/Gabriela Mistral/Bibliography", Nobel Prize website, retrieved September 22, 2010 Chilean poet published in Argentina
María Pemán, Poema de la bestia y el angel ("Poem of the Beast and the Angel"); SpainDebicki, Andrew P., Spanish Poetry of the Twentieth Century: Modernity and Beyond, p 43, University Press of Kentucky, 1995, 978-0-8131-0835-3, retrieved via Google Books, November 21, 2009
Emil Staiger, Die Zeit als Einbildungskraft des Dichters, Germany (scholarship)Preminger, Alex and T.V.F. Brogan, et al., editors, The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics, 1993, Princeton University Press and MJF Books, "German Poetry" article, "Criticism in German" section, p 474
Tin Ujević, Skalpel kaosa ("Scalpel of Chaos"), Croatia
Xavier Villaurrutia, Nostalgia de la muerte, Mexico
Awards and honors
Hawthornden Prize: David Jones for In Parenthesis
Newdigate Prize: Michael Thwaites
Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: Marya Zaturenska: Cold Morning Sky
Governor General's Award, poetry or drama: By Stubborn Stars, Kenneth Leslie"Cumulative List of Winners of the Governor General's Literary Awards https://web.archive.org/web/20110514183017/http://www.canadacouncil.ca/NR/rdonlyres/E22B9A3C-5906-41B8-B39C-F91F58B3FD70/0/cumulativewinners2010rev.pdf 2011-05-14 ", Canada Council. Web, Feb. 10, 2011.
Rugby School poetry prize: John Gillespie Magee, Jr.
Births
Death years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article:
January 13 – Nabaneeta Dev Sen (died 2019), Bengali writer and poet
January 21 – Julia Fields, African American
February 13 – Frances Horovitz (died 1983), English poet, broadcaster and performer of poetry
February 18 – Elke Erb, GermanHofmann, Michael, editor, Twentieth-Century German Poetry: An Anthology, Macmillan/Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2006
February 22
Ishmael Reed, American poet, essayist and novelist
George Thaniel (died 1991), Greek poet and classical scholar working in Canada
March 18 – Michael S. Harper (died 2016), African American
March 24 – Ian Hamilton (died 2001), English literary critic, reviewer, biographer, poet, magazine editor and publisher
April 18 – Jwalamukhi జ్వాలాముఖీ, pen name of Veeravalli Raghavacharyulu (died 2008), Indian, Telugu-language poet, novelist, writer and political activist
May 9 – Charles Simic, American
May 11 – Joan Margarit (died 2021), Catalan Spanish poet and architecthttp://www.elpais.com/articulo/cultura/Joan/Margarit/gana/premio/Nacional/Poesia/elpepucul/20081007elpepucul_3/Tes Joan Margarit gana el premio Nacional de Poesía El País Madrird 2008-10-07
May 25 – Raymond Carver (died 1988), American short-story writer and poet
June 1 – Khawar Rizvi (died 1981), Pakistani poet, scholar
June 13 – John Newlove (died 2003), Canadian
July 19
Dom Moraes (died 2004), Indian writer, poet and columnist
Tom Raworth (died 2017), English poet and visual artist; influential figure in the British Poetry Revival movement
August 10 – Momoko Kuroda, 黒田杏子, Japanese haiku poet and essayist
August 21 – Peter Dale, English poet and translator
August ? – Deena Linett, American
September 2 – Carlo Bordini (died 2020), Italian
September 16 – Betty Adcock, American
September 17 – H. H. ter Balkt (died 2015), Dutch
September 19 – Keorapetse Kgositsile (died 2018), South African
September 22 – Tajal Bewas, pen name of Taj Mohammed Samoo (died 2008), bucolic Sufi poet, novelist, short-story writer, teacher and Pakistani government officialKhaskheli Jan http://www.thenews.com.pk/print1.asp? https://archive.today/20080602180252/http://www.thenews.com.pk/print1.asp?id=116193 dead June 2, 2008 151776 Tajal Bewas passes away The News Karachi, Pakistan 2008-12-14 2008-12-14
October 9 – Gwendoline Konie (died 2009), Zambian poet and politician
October 13 – Askia M. Touré, African American
October 17 – Les Murray (died 2019), Australian
October 23 – R. F. Langley (died 2011), English
November 7 – LeRoy Clarke (died 2021), Trinidadian poet and visual artist
November 12 – Belal Chowdhury (died 2018), Bangladeshi
Also:
Brendan Galvin, American
Alan Jackson, English-born Scottish
Robert Phillips, American poet and academic
Sansei Yamao (died 2001), Japanese poet and friend of American poet Gary Snyder
Deaths
Birth years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article:
March 1 – Gabriele D'Annunzio (born 1863), Italian poet, writer, novelist, dramatist, soldier, political figure and daredevil
March 10 – Angiolo Silvio Novaro (born 1866), Italian poet and children's writer
March 31 – Willem Kloos (born 1859), Dutch poet and critic
April 15 – César Vallejo (born 1892), Peruvian poet
April 19 – Sir Henry Newbolt (born 1862), English author and poet
April 21 – Sir Muhammad Iqbal (aka "Allama Iqbal" [Urdu] and "Iqbal-e-Lahori" [Persian]; born 1877), Indian Muslim poet, philosopher and politician, writing in Persian and Urdu, praised as Muffakir-e-Pakistan ("The Thinker of Pakistan"), Shair-i-Mashriq ("The Poet of the East") and Hakeem-ul-Ummat ("The Sage of Ummah"); his birthday is annually commemorated in Pakistan as "Iqbal Day", a national holiday
June 9 – Ovid Densusianu (aka "Ervin"; born 1873), Romanian poet, philologist, linguist, folklorist, literary historian, critic, academic and journalist
June 26 – James Weldon Johnson (born 1871), African-American author, poet, early civil rights activist and prominent figure in the Harlem Renaissance, best known for his writing, including novels, poems and collections of folklore
August 4 – Rudolf G. Binding (born 1867), German poet
August 26 – Millosh Gjergj Nikolla ("Migjeni"; born 1911), Albanian poet and writer
October 5 – Chieko Takamura (born 1886), Japanese (surname: Takamura)
October 27 – Lascelles Abercrombie (born 1881), British poet and literary critic, one of the "Dymock poets"
December 7 – Osip Mandelstam (born 1891), Russian poet, essayist and one of the foremost members of the Acmeist school of poets
See also
Poetry
Poetry
List of poetry awards
List of years in poetry
Notes
Category:20th-century poetry
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