# 1944 in poetry

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

## Events

* June 1 & June 5 – The first and (modified) second lines respectively of Paul Verlaine's 1866 poem Chanson d'automne (Les sanglots longs des violons de l'automne / Bercent mon cœur d'une langueur monotone.) are broadcast by the Allies over BBC Radio Londres among coded messages to the French Resistance to prepare for the D-Day landings (second broadcast at 22:15 local time). In the ensuing Invasion of Normandy English soldier-poet Keith Douglas is killed; Vernon Scannell (as John Bain) experiences the incident that gives rise to the poem "Walking Wounded" (1965) and is wounded; and, during lulls in the fighting, Dennis B. Wilson is writing the poem that will be published as Elegy of a Common Soldier in 2012.
* October 2 – Dylan Thomas is best man at the wedding of his friend and fellow Welsh poet Vernon Watkins in London - but fails to turn up.

## 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

* E. K. Brown, On Canadian Poetry, revised edition (scholarship), Canada
* Ralph Gustafson, editor, Canadian Accent, anthology
* A. M. Klein:
** The Hitleriad
** Poems
* Dorothy Livesay, Day and Night. Toronto: Ryerson. Governor General's Award 1944.
* E. J. Pratt, Collected Poems of E. J. Pratt, Toronto: Macmillan.
* Ronald Hambleton, editor Unit of five: Louis Dudek, Ronald Hambleton, P. K. Page, Raymond Souster, James Wreford, anthology, Toronto: Ryerson Press, Canada

### India, in English

* Harindranath Chattopadhyay:
** Blood of Stones ( Poetry in English ), including "On the Pavement of Calcutta", a realistic description of suffering in the Bengal famine of 1943; Bombay: Padma Publications
** Lyrics ( Poetry in English ), Bombay: Padma Publications
* Nolini Kanta Gupta, To the Height ( Poetry in English ),
* Humayun Kabir, Mahatma and Other Poems( Poetry in English ); except for the title poem "Mahatama", inspired by the Quit India Movement, and "Rabindranath Tagore", the other poems are reprinted from the author's Poems 1932
* Fredoon Kabraji, A Minor Georgian's Swan Song ( Poetry in English ), Publisher: Basil Blackwell, Indian poet published in the United Kingdom
* P. R. Kaikini, Look On Undaunted ( Poetry in English ), Bombay
* H. D. Sethna, Struggling Heights ( Poetry in English ), Bombay: Karnatak Publishing House
* Subho Tagore:
** Flames of Passion ( Poetry in English ), love poems in verse and in the form of prose poems; Calcutta: Susil Gupta Ltd.
** Rubble, translated by Nilima Devi into English from the original Bengali; Calcutta: The Futurist Publishing House

### United Kingdom

* Drummond Allison, The Yellow Night: Poems 1940-41-42-43, posthumous
* W. H. Auden, For the Time Being: A Christmas Oratorio, English poet living and publishing in the United States
* George Barker, Eros in Dogma
* Laurence Binyon, The Burning of the Leaves, and Other Poems
* John Betjeman, New Bats in Old Belfries
* Laurence Binyon, The Burning of the Leaves, and Other Poems
* Edmund Blunden, Shells by a Stream
* Alex Comfort, Elegies
* Crown and Sickle poetry anthology in Britain, featuring poets in the New Apocalyptics movement
* Walter De la Mare, Collected Rhymes and Verses
* Patric Dickinson, The Seven Days of Jericho
* T. S. Eliot, Four Quartets, contains "Burnt Norton" (first published 1936 and again 1941), "East Coker" (1940), "The Dry Salvages" (1941), "Little Gidding" (1942)
* Roy Fuller, A Lost Season
* W. S. Graham, The Seven Journeys
* Robert Greacen, Northern Harvest and One Recent Evening, Northern Ireland poet
* J. F. Hendry, and Henry Treece, editors, The Crown and Sickle, anthology
* Laurie Lee, The Sun My Monument
* John Lehmann, The Sphere of Glass, and Other Poems
* Louis MacNeice, Springboard
* R. P. L. Mogg, For This Alone, and Other Poems
* Mervyn Peake, Rhymes Without Reason
* John Pudney, Almanack of Hope
* Herbert Read, A World Within a War
* Lynette Roberts, Poems
* E. J. Scovell, Shadows of Chrysanthemums, and Other Poems
* William Soutar, The Expectant Silence
* A. P. Wavell (comp.), Other Men's Flowers, anthology
* Charles Williams, The Region of the Summer Stars

### United States

* Franklin P. Adams, Nods and Becks
* Conrad Aiken, The Soldier
* W. H. Auden, For the Time Being
* E. E. Cummings, 1 X 1
* Babette Deutsch, Take Them, Stranger
* Hilda Doolittle, writing under the pen name "H.D.", The Walls Do Not Fall, first part of Trilogy (1944–46) on the blitz in war-time London
* Stanley J. Kunitz, Passport to the War
* Robert Lowell, Land of Unlikeness, Cummington, Massachusetts: Cummington Press
* William Meredith, Love Letter from an Impossible Land
* Marianne Moore, Nevertheless
* Kenneth Rexroth, The Phoenix and the Tortoise
* Muriel Rukeyser, Beast in View
* Karl Shapiro, V-Letter and Other Poems
* Jesse Stuart, Album of Destiny
* Mark Van Doren, Seven Sleepers
* Louise Varèse, translator, Eloges and Other Poems, translated from the original French of Saint-John Perse; introduction by Archibald MacLeish, New York: Norton
* Robert Penn Warren, Selected Poems, 1923—1943
* William Carlos Williams:
** Collected Later Poems
** The Wedge

### Other in English

* James K. Baxter, Beyond the Palisade, his first volume of poetry, New Zealand
* Seaforth Mackenzie, The Moonlit Doorway, Sydney: Angus and Robertson; Australia
* Kenneth Slessor, One Hundred Poems, 1919-1939, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, Australia

## Works published in other languages

Listed by nation where the work was first published and again by the poet's native land, if different; substantially revised works listed separately:

### France

* Jean Cassou, Trente-trois sonnets composes au secret
* Robert Desnos, Contrée
* Paul Éluard, Au Rendez-vous allemand
* Pierre Jean Jouve, Pour les Ombres Lausanne, Switzerland: Cahiers de Poésie French poet published in Switzerland
* Alphonse Métérié, Les Cantiques du Frère Michel
* Saint-John Perse, French poet published in his native language while in exile in Argentina:
** Pluies, Buenos Aires: Les Editions Lettres Françaises (republished in Exil, suivi de Poème à l'étrangère; Pluies; Neiges Paris: Gallimard 1945)
** Quatre poèmes, 1941-1944, Buenos Aires: Les Editions Lettres Françaises (republished as Exil, suivi de Poème à l'étrangère; Pluies; Neiges Paris: Gallimard 1945)

### 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:

#### Gujarati

* Badarayan, Kedi
* Umashankar Joshi, Prachina, a "dialogue-poem"

#### Hindi

* Anchala Rameshvar Shukla, Lal Cunar, lyrics celebrating love, youth and revolt
* Girija Kumar Mathur, Manjir, many of these poems have themes of nature and intense love
* Rangeya Raghav, Ajeya Khandhar, pragativadi-movement poetry about the battle of Stalingrad, depicted to illustrate the human struggle for freedom
* Shyam Narayan Pandey, Jauhar, depicting the self-sacrifice of Padmini, queen of Chittor, written in a folk style

#### Other Indian languages

* A. N. Krishna Rao, Pragati Sila Sahitya, 15 essays in Kannada on the Pragatisila Caluvali (progressive movement) in Indian literature
* Bhimaraj Bhambiru, also known as "Mangal"; Mumgha Moti, written in doha form, the poems are addressed to an individual Mangala; Rajasthani-language
* Joseph Mundasseri, written in Malayalam-language:
** Manadandam, criticism about Indian classical literature, particularly Kalidasa
** Mattoli, a comparison of three major works of poetry: Kumaran Asan's Karuna, Vallathol's Magdalana Mariyam and Ulloor's Pingala
* K. V. Puttappa, also known as "Kuvempu", Kogile Mattu Soviet Russia, verses with a focus on the common man, which was pioneering for Kannada poetry of the time; a recurring theme in the poems is rejection of institutionalized religion
* Kshama Rao, Miralahari, Khanda Kavya poetry on Meera, the medieval Indian saint-poet; Sanskrit-language
* Mahjoor, Kalam-e-Mahjoor "No. 8", Kashmiri-language ghazals and vatsan's
* Mohammad Jamil Ahmad, Tazkirah-yi Sha'irat-i Urdu, literary criticism of Urdu-language women poets, with biographical information and selections from their poems
* Mohammad Mujib, Insha, adab aur adib, Urdu essays in literary criticism
* Prabhjot Kaur, Palkan Ohle, love poems; Punjabi-language
* Shrikrishna Powale, Agniparag; Marathi-language
* Va. Ramaswamy Ayyangar, Makakavi Paratiyar, Tamil biography of the Tamil poet Bharati

### Spanish language

* Delmira Agustini, Poesías, posthumously published (died 1914), prologue by Luisa Luisi (Montevideo, Claudio García & Co., Uruguay
* Vicente Aleixandre, Sombra del paraíso ("Shadows of Paradise"); Spain
* César Moro, pen name of César Quíspez Asín, Lettre d'amour, Peru
* Stella Sierra, Canciones de mar y luna ("Songs of Sea and Moon"), Panama

### Other languages

* Nathan Alterman, Plague Poems, Israel
* Nizar Qabbani, The Brunette Told Me, Syrian poet writing in Arabic
* Giorgos Seferis, Ημερολόγιο Καταστρώματος ΙΙ ("Deck Diary II"), Greece

## 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"): Robert Penn Warren appointed this year. He would serve until 1945.
* Governor General's Award, poetry or drama: Day and Night, Dorothy Livesay (Canada)

## Births

Death years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article:
* February 3 – Sandra Alcosser, American
* February 9 – Alice Walker, African-American novelist, poet, writer and feminist
* March 9 – Ndoc Gjetja (died 2010), Albanian poet and magazine editor
* March 21 – Pedro Pietri (died 2004), Puerto Rican and Nuyorican poet and playwright, co-founder of Nuyorican Poets Cafe
* March 25 – Jack Mapanje, Malawian poet and writer
* April 18 – Kathy Acker (died 1997), American postmodernist experimental novelist and punk poet
* July 18 – Wayne Brown (died 2009), Caribbean (Trinidadian-born)
* July 24 – Jalal Mansur Nuriddin (died 2018), American rap poet and musician
* August 4 – Penn Kemp, Canadian poet, novelist, playwright and sound poet
* August 22 – Tom Leonard (died 2018), Scottish
* August 24 - Paulo Leminski (died 1989), Brazilian poet and translator
* August 25
** Margaret Gibson (died 1999), African-American
** Sherley Anne Williams, African-American
* August 31 – Lorenzo Thomas, American
* September 24 – Eavan Boland (died 2020), Irish
* September 25 – bpNichol, Canadian
* October 10 – Linda Rogers, Canadian poet and children's writer
* October 12 – Lewis MacAdams, American poet, journalist and activist, founder of Friends of The Los Angeles River (FoLAR) in 1985
* October 16 – Paul Durcan, Irish
* November 24 – Jules Deelder (died 2019), Dutch
* November 25 – Kathryn Stripling Byer (died 2017), American poet, teacher; North Carolina Poet Laureate, 2005–2009
* December 3 – Craig Raine, English poet and critic
* December 10 – Carol Rumens, English poet, writer, literary editor and academic
* December 18 – Michael Davidson, American
* Also:
** David Constantine, English poet, translator, editor and academic
** Susan Ioannou, Canadian
** Mary Kinzie, American
** Patrick O'Connell (died 2005), Canadian
** Jergen Theobaldy, German
** Tim Thorne (died 2021), Tasmanian

## Deaths

Birth years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article:
* January 7 – Napoleon Lapathiotis (born 1888), Greek poet
* January 19 – Frederick George Scott (born 1861), Canadian poet
* February 9 – Agnes Mary Frances Duclaux (born 1857), English-born poet and biographer
* February 12 – Olive Custance, Lady Alfred Douglas (born 1874), English poet
* February 23 – Augusta Peaux (born 1859), Dutch poet
* March 5 – Alun Lewis (born 1915), Anglo-Welsh school poet and war poet, died on active service in Burma
* March 28 – Stephen Leacock (born 1869), Canadian writer and economist
* April 4 – John Peale Bishop (born 1892), American poet and man of letters
* May 22 – William Ellery Leonard (born 1876), American poet and academic
* June 5 – (Doris) Capel Boake (born 1889), Australian writer
* June 9 – Keith Douglas (born 1920), English war poet died in World War II in the D-Day invasion of Normandy, killed by enemy mortar fire while his regiment is advancing from Bayeux and buried at the war cemetery at Tilly-sur-Seuilles
* June – Joseph Campbell (born 1879), Irish poet and lyricist
* July 3 – A. H. Reginald Buller (born 1874), British/Canadian mycologist mainly known as a researcher of fungi and wheat rust who also wrote limericks, some of which were published in Punch
* July 18 – Thomas Sturge Moore (born 1870), English poet, author and artist
* August 25 – Musa Cälil (born 1905), Soviet Tatar poet and resistance fighter, executed in a Nazi German prison
* September 26 – Eunice Tietjens (born 1884), American poet, novelist, journalist, children's author, lecturer and editor
* September 30 – Baroness Gertrud von Puttkamer, writing as Marie-Madeleine (born 1881), German homoerotic poet, dies in a Nazi sanatorium
* October 2 or 3 – Benjamin Fondane (born 1898), Romanian-French Symbolist poet, critic and existentialist philosopher, gassed in Auschwitz concentration camp
* November 22 – Sadakichi Hartmann (born 1867), American art critic and poet
* November 24 – Jun Tsuji 辻 潤 (born 1884), Japanese author, poet, essayist, translator, musician and bohemian
* December 17 – Robert Nichols (born 1893), English war poet and dramatist
* Also:
** Olivia Ward Bush-Banks (born 1869), African and Native American poet and journalist
** K. V. Simon (born 1883), Indian, Malayalam-language poet
** David Vogel (born 1891), Hebrew poet, gassed in Auschwitz concentration camp