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1959 in poetry

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Nationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature (for instance, Irish or France).

{{Year topic navigation|1959|poetry|literature}}

Events

File:Robert Frost NYWTS 5.jpg

  • 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.[http://www.nysun.com/pf.php?id=48424] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070224222642/http://www.nysun.com/pf.php?id=48424 |date=2007-02-24 }} Kirsch, Adam, "Subterranean Frost Books", a review of The Notebooks of Robert Frost, in The New York Sun, February 12, 2007, accessed February 16, 2007.
  • 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.
  • November 11 – Release in the United States of the short film Pull My Daisy, written and narrated by Jack Kerouac and starring poets of the Beat Generation Allen Ginsberg, Peter Orlovsky and Gregory Corso.
  • December 8 – "The Poetry Society" episode of Hancock's Half Hour is broadcast on BBC radio, satirizing artistic pretensions.
  • In the United States, "Those serious new Bohemians, the beatniks, occupied with reading their deliberately undisciplined, protesting verse in night clubs and hotel ballrooms, created more publicity than poetry", writes Harrison M. Hayford, a professor of American Literature at Northwestern University. "Meanwhile back on the campus, the 'square' poets were turning more and more to a controlled verse, much of it good enough to survive the pointed charge of academicism." Non-beat, off-campus poets almost routinely displayed "simple competence in the handling of complex forms", he writes in Encyclopædia Britannica's Britannica Book of the Year 1960, which covers 1959.Britannica Book of the Year 1960, covering events of 1959, published by the Encyclopædia Britannica, 1960; including these articles: "American Literature", "Canadian Literature", English Literature", "French Literature", "German Literature", "Jewish Literature", "Italian Literature", "Latin American Literature", "Obituaries", "Spanish Literature" and "Soviet Literature"
  • 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 1991Rosenthal, Our Life in Poetry pages 109 – 112
  • 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.
  • After twenty years, John Crowe Ransom steps down as editor of The Kenyon Review, which he founded.
  • The journal Canadian Literature is founded by George Woodcock at the University of British Columbia.
  • The British poetry magazine Agenda is founded by William Cookson and Ezra Pound.[https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/agenda-the-long-and-the-short-of-excellence-in-poetry-815709.html "'Agenda': the long and the short of excellence in poetry"] article (no byline) in The Independent, April 25, 2008, accessed April 27, 2008
  • 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:

=[[Canadian poetry|Canada]]=

  • Ronald Bates, The Wandering World
  • Ralph Gustafson, The Penguin Book of Canadian Verse, anthology Preminger, Alex and T.V.F. Brogan, et al., editors, The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics, 1993, Princeton University Press and MJF Books, "Canadian Poetry" article, English "Anthologies" section, p 164
  • Robert Finch, Acis in Oxford and Other Poems."

[http://www.track0.com/ogwc/authors/finch_r.html Robert Finch]," Online Guide to Writing in Canada. Web, Mar. 17, 2011. Governor General's Award 1961.

  • George Johnston, The Cruising Auk
  • Irving Layton:
  • A Red Carpet for the Sun,. Governor General's Award 1959.Gnarowsky, Michael, [http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/poetry-in-english/ "Poetry in English, 1918-1960"], article in The Canadian Encyclopedia, retrieved February 8, 2009
  • Laughter in the Mind
  • Jay Macpherson, *A Dry Light & The Dark Air. Toronto: Hawkshead Press."[http://www.brocku.ca/canadianwomenpoets/Macpherson.htm Jay Macpherson, 1931-]", Canadian Women Poets," BrockU.ca, Web, Apr. 10, 2011

=[[Indian poetry|India]], [[Indian poetry in English|in English]]=

  • Nissim Ezekiel, The Third ( Poetry in English ), Bombay: Strand Bookshop;Naik, M. K., [https://books.google.com/books?id=FcH2MUnlQjQC Perspectives on Indian poetry in English], p. 230, (published by Abhinav Publications, 1984, {{ISBN|0-391-03286-0}}, {{ISBN|978-0-391-03286-6}}), retrieved via Google Books, June 12, 2009
  • Keshav Malik, The Lake Surface and Other Poems ( Poetry in English ), New Delhi: Surge Publications
  • K. P. Budhey, Chant and Incense, Nagpur: Kusum BudheyVinayak Krishna Gokak, [https://books.google.com/books?id=WLE8GVsAfEMC The Golden Treasury Of Indo-Anglian Poetry (1828-1965), p 323], New Delhi: Sahitya Akademi (1970, first edition; 2006 reprint), {{ISBN|81-260-1196-3}}, retrieved August 10, 2010
  • Prithwindra N. Mukherjee, A Rose-Bud's Song ( Poetry in English ), Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo AshramVinayak Krishna Gokak, [https://books.google.com/books?id=WLE8GVsAfEMC The Golden Treasury Of Indo-Anglian Poetry (1828-1965), p 325], New Delhi: Sahitya Akademi (1970, first edition; 2006 reprint), {{ISBN|81-260-1196-3}}, retrieved August 10, 2010
  • P. Lal and K. Raghavendra Rao, editors, Anglo-Indian Poetry, anthology, Delhi: KavitaLal, P., Modern Indian Poetry in English: An Anthology & a Credo, p 8, Calcutta: Writers Workshop, second edition, 1971 (however, on page 597 an "editor's note" states contents "on the following pages are a supplement to the first edition" and is dated "1972")

=[[English poetry|United Kingdom]]=

==Anthologies in the United Kingdom==

=[[Poetry of the United States|United States]]=

=Criticism, scholarship and biography in the United States=

=Other in English=

  • Frank Collymore, Collected Poems, Barbados[https://books.google.com/books?id=-jzJb96uTdQC&dq=Timeline+poetry&pg=PR17 "Selected Timeline of Anglophone Caribbean Poetry"] in Williams, Emily Allen, Anglophone Caribbean Poetry, 1970–2001: An Annotated Bibliography, page xvii and following pages, Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Publishing Group, 2002, {{ISBN|978-0-313-31747-7}}, retrieved via Google Books, February 7, 2009
  • M. K. Joseph, The Living Countries, New Zealand[http://www.teara.govt.nz/1966/L/LiteraturePoetry/TheContemporaryScene/en Web page titled "The Contemporary Scene"] in An Encyclopedia of New Zealand, 1966 website, accessed April 21, 2008
  • E. H. McCormick, New Zealand Literature, a Survey, acholarship, New ZealandPreminger, Alex and T.V.F. Brogan, et al., editors, The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics, 1993, Princeton University Press and MJF Books, "New Zealand Poetry" article, "History and Criticism" section, p 837
  • 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=

==[[French literature|France]]==

  • Louis Aragon, ElsaAuster, Paul, editor, The Random House Book of Twentieth-Century French Poetry: with Translations by American and British Poets, New York: Random House, 1982 {{ISBN|0-394-52197-8}}
  • Yves Bonnefoy, L'ImprobablePreminger, Alex and T. V. F. Brogan, et al., The New Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics, 1993. New York: MJF Books/Fine Communications
  • Aimé Césaire, Ferrements, Martinique poet published in FranceBree, Germaine, Twentieth-Century French Literature, translated by Louise Guiney, Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1983
  • Edmond Jabès, Je batis ma demeure, poemès 1943–1957
  • Michel Deguy, Meurtrières
  • Patrice de La Tour du Pin, Le Second Jeu
  • Henri Michaux, Paix dans les brisements, about his experiences taking mescaline
  • Saint-John Perse, Chronique, Marseilles: Cahiers du SudWeb page titled [http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1960/perse-bibl.html "Saint-John Perse: The Nobel Prize in Literature 1960: Bibliography"] at the Nobel Prize Website, retrieved July 20, 2009. 2009-07-24.
  • Boris Vian, Je voudrais crever

===Anthologies in France===

  • Roger Caillois and Jean Clarence Lambert, editors, {{lang|fr|Trésor de la poésie universelle}}
  • Max Pol Fouchet, {{lang|fr|De L'Amour au voyage, anthologie thématique de la poésie française}}
  • Paul Valéry wrote the preface to the new edition this year of {{lang|fr|Anthologie des poètes de la N. R. F.}}

===Les poèmes de l'année 1959===

Alain Bosquet and Pierre Seghers, editors, Les poèmes de l'année 1959, with poems by:[https://books.google.com/books?id=0qgqw-5K23wC&q=French+poetry+chronology French Twentieth Bibliography: Critical and Biographical References for French Literature Since 1885], p 2456 (#46194), Susquehanna University Press, 1990, retrieved via Google Books on July 4, 2010

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===Criticism, scholarship and biography in France===

=[[Canadian literature|Canada]]=

==Criticism, scholarship and biography in French Canada==

  • Editor not known, La Poésie et nous, a collection of essays on poetry

=[[Hebrew literature|Hebrew]]=

==[[Israeli literature|Israel]]==

==United States==

=[[Indian poetry|India]]=

Listed in alphabetical order by first name:

  • Agyeya (pen name of Sachchidananda Vatsyayan), editor, Teesra Saptak, an anthology of seven poets, including Kunwar Narain), Bhratiya Jnanpith, {{ISBN|81-263-0822-2}}; Hindi-languageWeb page titled [https://web.archive.org/web/20110920055309/http://india.poetryinternationalweb.org/piw_cms/cms/cms_module/index.php?obj_id=2726 "Kunwar Narain"] at the "Poetry International" website, retrieved July 12, 2010
  • Harumal Isardas Sadarangani, Ruba'ivun; Sindhi-languageDas, Sisir Kumar and various, [https://books.google.com/books?id=sqBjpV9OzcsC History of Indian Literature: 1911-1956: struggle for freedom: triumph and tragedy, Volume 2], 1995, published by Sahitya Akademi, {{ISBN|978-81-7201-798-9}}, retrieved via Google Books on December 23, 2008
  • M. Gopalakrishna Adiga, Bhumigita; Kannada-language

=[[Italian literature|Italian]]=

==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 American literature|Latin America]]==

===Anthologies in Latin America===

===Criticism, scholarship and biography in Latin America===

  • Raúl Leiva, Imagen de la poesía mexicana contemporánea, concerning 29 poets

==[[Spanish literature|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 literature|Yiddish]]=

=Other=

Awards and honors

=[[English poetry|United Kingdom]]=

=[[Poetry of the United States|United States]]=

=Other=

  • Premio de la Crítica in poetry (Spain): Blas de Otero
  • Canada: Governor General's Award, poetry or drama: Red Carpet for the Sun, Irving Layton.[http://www.canadacouncil.ca/NR/rdonlyres/E22B9A3C-5906-41B8-B39C-F91F58B3FD70/0/cumulativewinners2010rev.pdf "Cumulative List of Winners of the Governor General's Literary Awards] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110514183017/http://www.canadacouncil.ca/NR/rdonlyres/E22B9A3C-5906-41B8-B39C-F91F58B3FD70/0/cumulativewinners2010rev.pdf |date=2011-05-14 }}", Canada Council. Retrieved February 10, 2011.

Births

Death years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article:

Deaths

Birth years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article:

See also

{{portal|Poetry}}

Notes

{{Reflist|30em}}

{{Poetry of different cultures and languages}}

{{Schools of poetry}}

{{Lists of poets}}

Category:20th-century poetry

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