# 1953 in poetry

"none" is preferred when the title is sufficiently descriptive; see [[WP:SDNONE]] Nationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature (for instance, Irish or France).

## Events

* T. S. Eliot founds the Poetry Book Society in the U.K.
* George Plimpton, Peter Matthiessen and Harold L. Humes found The Paris Review.
* Nuovi Argomenti, an influential Italian literary magazine, founded by Alberto Carrocci and Alberto Moravia in Rome.
* The October issue of Atlantic Monthly magazine in the United States publishes "Perspectives of India", anthologizing poems from India.
* November 5 – Dylan Thomas, on a poetry reading tour of the United States, is admitted to Saint Vincent's hospital in Manhattan in a coma from which he does not recover before his death on November 9.

## 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

* Robert Finch, A Century has Roots.
* Irving Layton, Love the Conqueror Worm. Toronto: Contact Press.
* Douglas Le Pan, The Net and the Sword, Canada
* E. J. Pratt, The Titanic, Canada
* Raymond Souster, Shake Hands with the Hangman: Poems 1940-52 Toronto: Contact Press.

### India, in English

* Nissim Ezekiel, Sixty Poems ( Poetry in English ), Bombay
* Harindranath Chattopadhyaya:
** I Sing of Man and Other Poems ( Poetry in English ), Bombay: People's Publishing House
** Spring in Winter ( Poetry in English ), Delhi: Atma Ram
* Manjeri Sundaraman Manjeri, Rhapsody in Red ( Poetry in English ),
* Romen, The Golden Apocalypse, Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Ashram
* Sri Aurobindo, The Future Poetry, essays on literary criticism, drawing on the author's (also published) views of art and life, (first appeared in the Arya, 1917–1920; later expanded with the author's letters on art, literature and poetry in the Centenary Library edition, Volume 9, 1971)

### United Kingdom

* Charles Causley, Survivor's Leave
* Sir John Betjeman, A Few Late Chrysanthemums
* Louis MacNeice, Autumn Sequel
* Charlotte Mew (died 1928), Collected Poems
* Lewis Spence, Collected Poems
* John Heath-Stubbs, New Poems
* John Heath-Stubbs and David Wright. editors, The Faber Book of Twentieth Century Verse: An Anthology of Verse in Britain 1900-1950, a selection in self-conscious contrast to the Faber Book of Modern Verse
* R.S. Thomas, The Minister

#### Poets in the anthology Images of Tomorrow

John Heath-Stubbs edited this volume, published in the United Kingdom, which included poems from these writers: Dannie Abse – Drummond Allison – Eurasia Anderson - William Bell – Thomas Blackburn – Maurice Carpenter - Alex Comfort – Yorke Crompton – N. K. Cruikshank – Keith Douglas – George Every – John Fairfax – G. S. Fraser – John Gibbs – W. S. Graham - F. Pratt Green – J. C. Hall – Michael Hamburger – John Heath-Stubbs – Glyn Jones – Sidney Keyes – Francis King – James Kirkup – Norman Nicholson – I. R. Orton – Michael Paffard – Kathleen Raine – Anne Ridler – Walter Roberts – W. R. Rodgers – Joseph Rykwert – John Smith – Muriel Spark – Derek Stanford – J. Ormond Thomas – W. Price Turner – John Wain – John Waller – Vernon Watkins – Gordon Wharton - Margaret Willy – David Wright

### United States

* Conrad Aiken, Collected Poems
* John Ashbery, Turandot and Other Poems
* W. H. Auden, "The Shield of Achilles" poem first published; his poetry book of the same name will be published in 1955
* Joseph Payne Brennan, The Humming Stair (Big Mountain Press/Alan Swallow imprint)
* Robert Creeley, American published in Europe:
** The Kind of Act of
** The Immoral Proposition
* E. E. Cummings, i — six nonlectures from his Charles Eliot Norton Lectures of 1951-1952 (Harvard University Press)
* Richard Eberhart, Undercliff: Poems 1946–1953
* Jean Garrigue, The Monument Rose
* Kenneth Koch, Poems
* Charles Olson:
** In Cold Hell, In Thicket, published in Origin as its eighth issue
** Mayan Letters, letters to the poet Robert Creeley, report on the author's research into Mayan hieroglyphs and discuss Olson's ideas on "objectism" in poetry. (criticism)
* Ezra Pound, translator, The Translations of Ezra Pound
* George Santayana, The Poet's Testament, verse drama
* May Sarton, The Land of Silence
* Karl Shapiro, Poems 1940-1953, New York: Random House
* W. D. Snodgrass, Heart's Needle, New York: Knopf
* David Derek Stacton, An Unfamiliar Country: 25 Poems
* Gertrude Stein, Bee Time Vine and Other Pieces (1913–1927), fiction and verse
* Wallace Stevens, Collected Poems
* Melvin Tolson, Libretto for the Republic of Liberia
* David Wagoner, Dry Sun, Dry Wind
* Robert Penn Warren, Brother to Dragons

### Other in English

* James K. Baxter, The Fallen House, New Zealand
* Nissim Ezekiel, Sixty Poems, verses written from 1945 to 1951; India

## Works published in other languages
### French language
#### Canada, in French

* Jean-Guy Pilon, La fiancée du matin: poèmes, Montréal: Éditions Amicitia

#### France

* Yves Bonnefoy, Du mouvement et de l'immobilité de douve
* Rene-Guy Cadou, Helene ou le regne vegetal, Volume 2 (see Volume 1 1952), published posthumously (died 1951)
* Maurice Chappaz, Testament du Haut-Rhône, Swiss, French-language
* Andrée Chedid, Textes pour le vivant
* Jean Follain, Territoires
* Philippe Jaccottet, L'Effraie et autres poèmes, the author's first book of poetry to appear in France; publisher: Gallimard
* Saint-John Perse, Vents

### India

In each section, listed in alphabetical order by first name:

#### Kannada

* R. S. Mugali, Kannada Sahitya Caritre, a history of Kannada literature, written in that language, up to the 19th century
* Siddayya Puranika, Jalapata, lyrics
* Virasaiva Sahitya Mttu Itihasa, literary history of "Veerashaiva" literature in three volumes

#### Kashmiri

* Amir Shah Kreri, Zafar Nama, a masnavi commemorating an episode of Islamic conquest and based on a Persian original; the poem became very popular in some rural areas
* Mohammad Amin Kamil, Saqi Nama, a masnavi
* Rasul Bath ("most probably the same person known now as Rasul Pompur", according to Indian academic Sisir Kumar Das), Ab e Hayat
* Rahman Rahi, Sanavany Saz
* Rasa Javidani, Tuhfa-e bahar, the Urdu-language poet's first book of Kashmiri-language poems

#### Malayalam

* Elamkulam Kunjan Pillai, Unninilisandesam, commentary on a 14th-century Manipravala poem
* K. Kittunni Nayar, Mahakavi Vallattol, biography of the poet Vallathol
* Ulloor Paramesvara Ayyar, Kerala Sahitya Caritram, in 1995, Indian academic Sisir Kumar Das called this book the "most comprehensive history of the Malayalam and Sanskrit literatures of Kerala"; published posthumously, in five volumes, starting this year, with the last volume coming out in 1955

#### Other languages of the Indian subcontinent

* Ananta Pattanayak, Santisikhar, Oriya
* Felix Paul Noronha, writing in the Konkani dialect of the Marathi language:
** Kaviyam Jhelo
** Kristanu Puranatli Vinchovan
* Ghulan Rabbani Taban, editor, Shikast-i zindan, Urdu-language poems about the independence struggle in India and other Asian countries
* Kripal Singh Kasel and Parminder Singh, Punjabi Sahit Di Utpatti Te Vikas, history of Punjabi literature, written in that language
* Lekhnath Poudyal, Tarun-Tapasi, a poem on contemporary affairs written mostly in the Sikharini meter; considered the magnum opus of the author, who calls it a navya kavya; Nepali
* Nagarjun, Yug Dhara, poems on current affairs; Hindi
* Narayan, also known as "Shyam", Rupa maya, a sequence of 16 sonnets on the myth of Visvamitra and Menaka; Sindhi
* Nanuram Samskarta, Samay Vayaro, in blank verse; Rajasthani
* Nidudavolu Venkatarao, Telugu Kavula Caritra, biographical information about many Telugu poets (see also a larger work of the same nature, Daksina Desiyandhra Vangmayamu 1954)
* Nilmani Phookan, Surya Heno Nami Aahe Eyi Nadiadi, Rangiya, Assam: Prakashan Ghar, Assamese-language
* Priyakant Maniar, Pratik, the author's first book of verses; 65 poems Gujarati
* Shri Shrimat Kumar Vyas, editor, Alagojo, anthology of poems by Rajasthani authors
* Sudhindra Nath Datta, Sambarta, called "[o]ne of the major works in modern Bengali poetry", according to Sisir Kumar Das

### Other languages

* Arturo Corcuera, Cantoral, Peruvian writing in Spanish
* Hermann Hesse, Die Gedichte, German

## Awards and honors

* Canada: Governor General's Award, poetry or drama: The Net and the Sword, Douglas LePan

### United Kingdom

* King's Gold Medal for Poetry: Arthur Waley

### United States

* American Academy of Arts and Letters Gold Medal for Poetry: Marianne Moore
* National Book Award for Poetry: Archibald MacLeish, Collected Poems: 1917-1952
* Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: Archibald MacLeish: Collected Poems 1917-1952
* Bollingen Prize: Archibald MacLeish and William Carlos Williams
* Fellowship of the Academy of American Poets: Robert Frost
* North Carolina Poet Laureate: James Larkin Pearson appointed.

## Births

* February 5 – Giannina Braschi, Puerto Rican-born poet and novelist
* January 7 – Dionne Brand, Canadian poet, novelist, and non-fiction writer born and raised in Trinidad and Tobago before moving to Canada
* January 12 – David Brooks, Australian
* February 18 – Peter Robinson, English
* February 24 – Jane Hirshfield, American poet and translator
* February 27 – Brad Leithauser, American
* May 12 – Neil Astley, English editor
* July 20 – Joseph Bathanti, American poet, novelist and professor; North Carolina Poet Laureate, 2012–2014
* July 29 – Frank McGuinness, Irish playwright, translator and poet
* August 10 – Mark Doty, American
* August 27 – Gjertrud Schnackenberg, American
* August 31 – György Károly (died 2018), Hungarian
* October 1 – John Hegley, English performance poet
* October 20 – Robyn Bolam, English
* November 19 – Tony Hoagland (died 2018), American
* Also:
** Alison Brackenbury, English
** Patrick Deeley, Irish
** Adeeb Kamal Ad-Deen, Iraqi, Arabic language poet living in Australia
** Antonis Fostieris, Greek
** Rita Kelly, Irish language
** Chris Mansell, female Australian poet and publisher
** Ian McBryde, Canadian-born poet living in Australia

## Deaths

Birth years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article:
* February 25 – Mokichi Saitō (born 1882), Taishō period poet of the Araragi school and psychiatrist; father of novelist Kita Morio (surname: Saitō)
* April 6 – Idris Davies (born 1905), Welsh poet, originally writing in the Welsh language, but later exclusively in English
* May 22 – Louis Lavater (born 1867), Australian composer and writer
* May 28 – Tatsuo Hori 堀 辰雄 (born 1904), Japanese, Shōwa period writer, poet and translator (surname: Hori)
* July 16 – Hilaire Belloc, 82 (born 1870), French-born English poet, essayist and travel writer whose "cautionary tales", humorous poems with a moral, are the most widely known of his writings, from burns resulting from a fall into a fireplace
* September 1 – Bernard O'Dowd (born 1866), Australian co-founder of newspaper Tocsin
* September 3 – Shinobu Orikuchi 折口 信夫, also known as Chōkū Shaku 釋 迢空 (born 1887), Japanese ethnologist, linguist, folklorist, novelist and poet; a disciple of Kunio Yanagita, he established an academic field named "Orikuchiism" (折口学, Orikuchigaku), a mix of Japanese folklore, Japanese classics and Shintō religion (surname: Orikuchi)
* November 9 – Dylan Thomas, 39 (born 1914), Welsh poet, from an alcohol-related cerebral incident
* November 30 – Francis Picabia (born 1879), French avant-garde painter, poet and typographer
* December 7 – Helena Jane Coleman (born 1860), Canadian poet
* Also:
** George Herbert Clarke (born 1873), English-born Canadian academic and writer