# 1788 in poetry

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

## Events

* December – Robert Burns writes his version of the Scots poem Auld Lang Syne.

## Works published in English
### United Kingdom

This year three works of poetry, all written by women (the Falconars, More and Yearsley), condemn slavery; while Samuel Pratt is an early advocate of animal rights:
* Henry Cary, Sonnets and Odes, the author turns 16 years old this year
* William Collins, Ode on the Popular Superstitions of the Highlands of Scotland
* William Crowe, Lewesdon Hill, published anonymously
* Maria Falconar and Harriet Falconar:
** Poems
** Poems on Slavery
* James Hurdis, The Village Curate
* Robert Merry, writing under the pen name "Della Crusca", Diversity
* Hannah More, Slavery: A Poem
* "Peter Pindar", see John Wolcot, below
* Samuel Jackson Pratt, Sympathy
* William Whitehead, Poems by William Whitehead, published posthumously, edited by William Mason (see also Plays and Poems 1774)
* John Wolcot, writing under the pen name "Peter Pindar", Tales and Fables
* Ann Yearsley, A Poem on the Inhumanity of the Slave Trade

### United States

* Timothy Dwight, published anonymously, "The Triumph of Infidelity: A Poem", satire in heroic couplets; supports Calvinism and attacks Voltaire, David Hume, Joseph Priestley and their followers
* Philip Freneau, Miscellaneous Works of Mr. Philip Freneau, Containing His Essays and Additional Poems
* Francis Hopkinson:
** An Ode, in honor of the Adoption of the U.S. Constitution
** Seven Songs, for the Harpsichord or Forte-Piano
* Peter Markoe:
** "The Times", satire on prominent Philadelphia society people
** "The Storm", attributed to Markoe
* William Roscoe, The Wrongs of Africa: A Poem
* Susanna Rowson:
** Poems on Various Subjects
** A Trip to Parnassus

## Works published in other languages

* Basilio da Gama, Relação abreviada da República e Lenitivo da saudade; Brazil
* Joseph Quesnel, Colas et Colinette, a comedy in verse, French language, published in Quebec, Canada

## Births

Death years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article:
* January 22 – Lord Byron (died 1824), English poet and leading figure in Romanticism
* March 10 – Joseph von Eichendorff (died 1857), German poet and novelist
* May 16 – Friedrich Rückert (died 1866), German poet, translator and professor of Oriental languages
* June (day unknown) – Eliza Townsend (died 1854), American poet who published anonymously
* c. October 14 – Robert Millhouse (died 1839), English weaver poet
* October 24 – Sarah Josepha Hale (died 1879), American writer, influential editor, author of nursery rhymes, including "Mary Had a Little Lamb"
* December 6 – Richard H. Barham ("Thomas Ingoldsby") (died 1845), English poet, humorist and priest

## Deaths

Birth years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article:
* March 29 – Charles Wesley (born 1707), English Methodist clergyman and hymn writer
* June 12 – Johann Andreas Cramer (born 1723), German poet, writer and theologian
* July 5 – Mather Byles, (born 1707), English Colonial American clergyman and poet
* July 31 – Thomas Russell (born 1762), English poet whose Sonnets and Miscellaneous Poems are posthumously published in 1789
* October 13 – Robert Nugent, 1st Earl Nugent (born 1709), Irish poet and politician
* October 28 – William Julius Mickle (born 1734), Scottish-born poet
* Giulio Variboba (born 1725), Arbëresh poet