# 1937 in poetry

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

## Events

* February 1 – First broadcast on Sveriges Radio (Sweden) of the continuing programme Dagens dikt ("Poem of the day").
* Summer – In Nazi Germany, Wolfgang Willrich, a member of the SS, lampoons German expressionist poet Gottfried Benn in his book Säuberung des Kunsttempels; Heinrich Himmler, however, steps in to reprimand Willrich and defends Benn on the grounds of his pro-Nazi record since 1933 (his earlier artistic output being dismissed as irrelevant).
* Iowa Writers' Workshop is founded by Paul Engle at the University of Iowa
* George Hill Dillon becomes editor of Poetry Magazine, remaining in that post until 1949.
* Poems of colonial American pastor Edward Taylor (d. 1729) are first discovered and published.
* W. B. Yeats concludes his recordings of his own verse and his broadcast lectures on the BBC (begun in 1936).

## Works published in English
### Canada

* Wilson MacDonald, Comber Cove. Toronto: S.J.R. Saunders.
* E. J. Pratt, The Fable of the Goats and Other Poems, Toronto: Macmillan. Governor General's Award 1937.

### India, in English

* Harindranath Chattopadhyaya, Strange Journey ( Poetry in English ), Madras: Shakti Karyalayam
* P. R. Kaikini, This Civilization ( Poetry in English ), Bombay: New Book Co.
* Iqbal Ali Shah, editor, The Coronation Book of Oriental Literature ( Poetry in English ), London: Sampson Low, Marston and Co., 404 pages; anthology; Indian poetry published in the United Kingdom

### United Kingdom

* W. H. Auden, Spain
* W. H. Auden and Louis MacNeice, Letters from Iceland, partly poetry
* George Barker, Calamiterror
* John Betjeman, Continual Dew: A little book of bourgeois verse, including "The Arrest of Oscar Wilde at the Cadogan Hotel"
* Edmund Blunden, A Ballad of Titles, An elegy, and other poems and Uneasy Quiet
* Walter de la Mare, This Year, Next Year, illustrations by Harold Jones, Faber
* David Jones, In Parenthesis, frontispiece by author, Faber
* Charles Madge, The Disappearing Castle
* Edwin Muir, Journeys and Places
* Enoch Powell, First Poems, Oxford: Blackwell
* Isaac Rosenberg, Collected Works, foreword by Siegfried Sassoon; posthumously published
* Iqbal Ali Shah, editor, The Coronation Book of Oriental Literature, London: Sampson Low, Marston and Co., 404 pages; anthology; Indian poetry in English, published in the United Kingdom
* Stevie Smith, A Good Time Was Had By All

### United States

* W. H. Auden, with Louis MacNeice, Letters from Iceland
* R. P. Blackmur, From Jordan's Delight
* Louise Bogan, the Sleeping Fury
* Richard Eberhart, Reading the Spirit
* Robert Hillyer, A Letter to Robert Frost and Others
* Robinson Jeffers, Such Counsels You Gave to Me
* Josephine Johnson, Year's End
* Edna St. Vincent Millay, Conversation at Midnight
* Ezra Pound, The Fifth Decad of Cantos
* May Sarton, Encounter in April
* Dr. Seuss, And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street, the author's first book; for children
* Wallace Stevens, The Man with the Blue Guitar, and Other Poems, includes "The Man With the Blue Guitar," "A Thought Revolved," and "The Men That Are Falling", Knopf
* Allen Tate, Selected Poems

### Other in English

* Allen Curnow, Enemies: Poems 1934–36 (Caxton), New Zealand
* Robin Hyde, Wednesday's Children, New Zealand
* Seaforth Mackenzie, Our Earth, Sydney: Angus and Robertson; Australia

## Works published in French
### Canada

* Hector de Saint-Denys Garneau, Regards et jeux dans l'espace

### France

* Jacques Audiberti, Race des hommes
* Rene-Guy Cadou, Les Brancardiers de l'aube, the author's first book of poems, published when he was 17 years old
* Pierre Jean Jouve, Matière celeste
* Max Jacob, Morceaux choisis
* Oscar Vladislas de Lubicz-Milosz, also known as O. V. de L. Milosz, Dix-sept Poèmes de Milosz
* Henri Michaux, Plume, précédé de Lointain intérieur
* Pierre Reverdy, Ferraille
* Philippe Soupault, Poésies Complètes 1917–1973

## Works published in other languages
### 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:

#### Bengali

* Mallavarapu Visveswara Rao, Madukila, notable for its style, sentiments and various metrics
* Rabindranath Tagore:
** Khapchada, short, humorous and frivolous poems in the style of nursery rhymes
** Chadar Chabi
* Samar Sen, Kayekti Kabita, Indian, Bengali-language
* Sudhindranath Dutta, Krandasi

#### Telugu

* Gangula Sayi Reddi, Kapu bidda, poems on the condition of farmers; Telugu
* Gurram Jashuva, editor, Khanda Kavyamu or Jashuva Khandakavyalu, in seven volumes, published from this year to 1949; anthology of Telagu poetry
* Peer Aziz Ullah Haqqani, Qissa-e-Mumtaz E Benazir, a large masnavi of Romantic mysticism; Telugu; posthumous
* Srirangam arayanababu, Rudhirajyoti, Telugu
* Vedula Satyanarayan Shastri, Dipavali, romantic lyrics, Telugu

#### Urdu

* Mehr Lal Soni Zia Fatehabadi Noor-e-Mashriq (The Light of the East) - Collection of nazms, geets and sonnets published by Jyoti Prasad Gupta, Jyoti Printing Works, Esplanade, Delhi in 1937.

#### Other Indian languages

* Anupa Sharma, Siddharth, a Hindi epic in 18 chapters on the story of Gautama Buddha
* D. R. Bendre, also known as Ambikatanaya Datta, Sakhigita, the title poem is autobiographical; Kannada
* Devandas Kishinani, 'Purab Sandes, Indian, Sindhi-language
* Ghulam Mohammad Hanafi, Jang-e Amir Hamza, a Jangnama, based on an episode in the movement to spread Islam; Kashmiri
* Hijam Anganhal Simha, Singel Indu, a long narrative Meitei poem
* Manjewshwara Govinda Pai, Golgotha, long narrative poem on the final days of Jesus Christ, Kannada
* Riddhinath Jha, Pravasi Mithiles, verses praising the Maharaja of Darbhanga; Maithili
* Siyaramsharan Gupta, Bapu, on Gandhi and his ideology, Hindi

### Spanish language
#### Peru

* Xavier Abril, Descubrimiento del alba
* José Santos Chocano, Poemas de amor doliente, Peru
* Manuel Moreno Jimeno, Así bajaron los perros
* Luis Fabio Xammar, Waino

#### Other in Spanish

* Miguel Hernández, Viento del pueblo; Spain

### Other

* Amir Hamzah, Nyanyi Sunyi, Dutch East Indies

## Awards and honors

* Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry: W. H. Auden
* Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress (the post which was later called "Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress"): Joseph Auslander appointed this year (he would serve until 1941)
* Fellowship of the Academy of American Poets: Edwin Markham
* Governor General's Award, poetry or drama: The Fable of the Goats, E. J. Pratt

## Births

Death years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article:
* January 1:
** John Fuller, English poet and author
** Dilwar Khan (died 2013), Bengali poet
* January 14 – J. Bernlef, born Hendrik Jan Marsman (died 2012), Dutch poet, novelist and translator
* February 21 – Mervyn Morris, Jamaican poet
* February 27 – Peter Hamm (died 2019), German poet, author, journalist, editor and literary critic
* April 10 – Bella Akhmadulina (died 2010), Russian poet
* April 23 – Coleman Barks, American poet who, although he neither speaks nor reads Persian, is nonetheless renowned as a translator of Rumi and other mystic poets of Persia
* April 30 – Tony Harrison, English poet and playwright
* May 11 – Michael Heller, American poet
* May 21 – Glen Sorestad, Canadian poet
* June 8 – Gillian Clarke, native Welsh, English-language poet, playwright, editor, broadcaster, lecturer and translator (from Welsh)
* June 10 – Susan Howe, American poet and critic closely associated with the Language poets
* July 3 – Milovan Danojlić, Serbian poet and essayist (died 2022)
* July 10 – Kurt Bartsch, German poet
* July 29 – Eleanor Wilner, American poet and editor
* August 3
** Marvin Bell (died 2020), American poet
** Diane Wakoski, American poet associated with the "deep image" poets and the Beats
* September 14 – Douglas Oliver (died 2000), British poet
* October 11 – R. H. W. Dillard, American poet, author, critic and translator
* November 4 – W. Dabney Stuart, American poet
* November 9
** Roger McGough, English poet
** S. Abdul Rahman (died 2017), Tamil poet
* November 11 – Alicia Ostriker, American poet and academic
* November 19 – Meg Campbell (died 2007), New Zealand poet and wife of Alistair Campbell
* December 1 – Eugene B. Redmond, African-American poet
* December 31 – Nicolas Born (died 1979), German poet
* Also:
** Vénus Khoury-Ghata, Lebanese-born French poet, novelist and beauty queen
** Parijat, पारिजात, Bishnu Kumari Waiba (died 1993), Nepalese novelist and poet
** John Riley (died 1978), English poet associated with the British Poetry Revival

## Deaths

Death years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article:
* March 8 – Albert Verwey (born 1865), Dutch poet
* June 22 – Jean-Joseph Rabearivelo (born 1901?), Malagasy poet writing in French; suicide
* July 6 – Alex McDade (born 1905), Scottish poet and labourer; killed in the Spanish Civil War
* July 18 – Julian Bell (born 1908), English poet, and a member of a family whose notable members include his parents, Clive and Vanessa Bell; his aunt, Virginia Woolf; his younger brother, writer Quentin Bell; and his half-sister, writer and painter Angelica Garnett; killed in the Spanish Civil War
* August 11 – Edith Wharton (born 1862), American novelist, short story writer, designer and poet
* September 8 – Anna Hempstead Branch (born 1875), American poet
* October 22 – Chūya Nakahara 中原 中也 (born 1907), early Shōwa period Japanese poet (surname: Nakahara)
* December 26 – Ivor Gurney (born 1890), English composer and poet; tuberculosis while suffering delusional insanity
* December 29 – Don Marquis (born 1878), American poet, artist, newspaper columnist, humorist, playwright and author best known for creating the characters "Archy" and "Mehitabel"
* Also – Constance Woodrow (born 1899), English-born Canadian poet