1938 in poetry

Events

• In Nazi Germany the Reichsschrifttumskammer bans German expressionist poet Gottfried Benn from further writing.
• The Arbujad group of Estonian poets forms.

  Works published in English

Australia">Australian poetry">Australia

• Rex Ingamells and Ian Tilbrook, Conditional Culture, published in Adelaide; a manifesto advocating a "fundamental break... with the spirit of English culture" to free Australian art from "alien influences" and paying more attention to Aboriginal culture as well as the use of "only such imagery as is truly Australian"; the word "Jindyworobak", which they understood to be an Aboriginal term meaning 'to annex' or 'to join', they proposed as a symbol of the reorientation; the Jindyworobak Movement resulted in at least 44 volumes of poetry and literary comment in addition to periodicals from this year through 1953; criticism
• Rex Ingamells:
• * Sun-freedom, Adelaide
• * Editor, Jindyworobak Anthology, Adelaide
• Shaw Neilson, Beauty Imposes: Some Recent Verse, Angus & Robertson

  Canada">Canadian poetry">Canada

• Kenneth Leslie, By Stubborn Stars. Toronto: Ryerson. Governor-General's Award 1938.
• L. A. MacKay, Viper's Bugloss.
• Virna Sheard, Leaves in the Wind.
• Arthur Stringer, The Old Woman Remembers and Other Irish Poems. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill.

  India">Indian poetry">India, in English">Indian poetry in English">in English

• Joseph Furtado, Songs in Exile , Bombay: self-published
• Cyril Modak, editor, The Indian Gateway to Poetry , Calcutta: Longmans, Green; anthology
• K. S. R. Sastry, The Light of Life

  United Kingdom">English poetry">United Kingdom

• Elizabeth Daryush, Verses: Sixth Book
• Cecil Day-Lewis, Overtures to Death, and Other Poems
• Walter de la Mare, Memory, and Other Poems
• David Gascoyne, Holderlin's Madness
• Stella Gibbons, The Lowland Venus, and Other Poems
• Oliver St. John Gogarty, Others to Adorn, preface by W. B. Yeats
• Poems of Today, British poetry anthology, third series
• Robert Graves, Collected Poems
• Louis MacNeice:
• * The Earth Compels
• * I Crossed the Minch, prose, with verse
• Stevie Smith, Tender Only to One
• Charles Williams, Taliessen Through Logres
• W. B. Yeats, New Poems, including "Lapis Lazuli", Irish poet published in the United Kingdom

  United States">American poetry">United States

• Cleanth Brooks and Robert Penn Warren, editors, Understanding Poetry, criticism and anthology,
• E. E. Cummings, Collected Poems
• Donald Davidson, Lee in the Mountains
• Kenneth Fearing, Dead Reckoning
• John Gould Fletcher, Selected Poems
• Archibald MacLeish, Land of the Free
• Ogden Nash, I'm a Stranger Here Myself
• Ezra Pound, Guide to Kulchur, dedicated "To Louis Zukofsky and Basil Bunting strugglers in the desert"
• Frederic Prokosch, The Carnival
• Laura Riding, Collected Poems
• Muriel Rukeyser, U.S. 1
• Delmore Schwartz, In Dreams Begin Responsibilities
• E. B. White, The Fox of Peapack
• William Carlos Williams, The Complete Collected Poems of William Carlos Williams, 1906-1938, New Directions

  Other in English

• Austin Clarke, Night and Morning, Irish poet published in Ireland
• A. R. D. Fairburn, Dominion, New Zealand poet
• Robin Hyde, New Zealand:
• *Nor the Years Condemn
• * The Godwits Fly
• Ewart Milne, Forty North Fifty West, Irish poet published in Ireland
• W. B. Yeats, New Poems, including "Lapis Lazuli", Irish poet published in the United Kingdom

  Works published in other languages

France">French poetry">France

• Paul Éluard, pen name of Paul-Eugène Grindel, Cours naturel
• Pierre Emmanuel, pen name of Noël Mathieu, Christ au tombeau, the author's first poem
• Luc Estang, Au-delà de moi-même
• Pierre Jean Jouve, Kyrie
• Jules Supervielle, La Fable du monde

  Indian">Indian poetry">Indian subcontinent

• Ajit Kumar Datta, Patal Kanya, Bengali
• Bharatidasan, Paratitacan Kavitakal, Tamil
• Daya Singh Arif, Zindagi Bilas, a long poem, Punjabi
• Sir Muhammad Iqbal, Armaghan-i-Hijaz, philosophical poetry book in Persian
• Rabindranath Tagore, Prantik, Bengali
• Ramnarayan Vishvanath Pathak, Gujarati:
• * Sesnan Kavyo, 73 Gujarati poems, including sonnets, bhajans and muktaks
• * Arvacin Kavyasahityanan Vaheno, five lectures on modern Gujarati poetry
• Rayaprolu Subba Rao, Ramyalokam, this verse work in Telugu "is accepted as the manifesto of bhava kavita ", according to academic Siser Kumar Das
• Sacchidananda Rout Roy, Baji Raut, Indian, Oriya-language
• Sumitranandan Pant, Yugvani, Hindi
• Ubaidullah Mahshar and Ashfaq Husain Khan Gaurakhpuri, Yadgar-i Mahshar, Urdu
• Mehr Lal Soni Zia Fatehabadi, Zia Ke Sau Sher - Collection of quotes published by Gajender Lal Soni, Mohan Building, near Lloyd's Bank, Delhi in 1938.Urdu

  Other languages

• Nathan Alterman, Stars Outside, Israel
• Nikos Kazantzakis, , Greek
• Kersti Merilaas, Maantee tuuled, Estonia
• Gabriela Mistral, Tala, Buenos Aires: Sur; Chilean poet published in Argentina
• María Pemán, Poema de la bestia y el angel ; Spain
• Emil Staiger, Die Zeit als Einbildungskraft des Dichters, Germany
• Tin Ujević, Skalpel kaosa, Croatian
• Xavier Villaurrutia, Nostalgia de la muerte, Mexico

  Awards and honors

• Hawthornden Prize: David Jones for In Parenthesis
• Newdigate Prize: Michael Thwaites
• Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: Marya Zaturenska: Cold Morning Sky
• Governor General's Award, poetry or drama: By Stubborn Stars, Kenneth Leslie
• Rugby School poetry prize: John Gillespie Magee, Jr.

  Births

• January 13 - Nabaneeta Dev Sen, Bengali writer and poet
• January 21 - Julia Fields, African American
• February 13 - Frances Horovitz, English poet, broadcaster and performer of poetry
• February 18 - Elke Erb, German
• February 22
• * Ishmael Reed, American poet, essayist and novelist
• * George Thaniel, Greek poet and classical scholar working in Canada
• March 18 - Michael S. Harper, African American
• March 24 - Ian Hamilton, English literary critic, reviewer, biographer, poet, magazine editor and publisher
• April 18 - Jwalamukhi జ్వాలాముఖీ, pen name of Veeravalli Raghavacharyulu, Indian, Telugu-language poet, novelist, writer and political activist
• May 9 - Charles Simic, American
• May 25 - Raymond Carver, American short-story writer and poet
• June 1 - Khawar Rizvi, Pakistani poet, scholar
• June 13 - John Newlove, Canadian
• July 19
• * Dom Moraes, Indian writer, poet and columnist
• * Tom Raworth, English poet and visual artist; influential figure in the British Poetry Revival movement
• August 10 - Momoko Kuroda, 黒田杏子, Japanese haiku poet and essayist
• August 21 - Peter Dale, English poet and translator
• August ? - Deena Linett, American
• September 16 - Betty Adcock, American
• September 17 - H. H. ter Balkt, Dutch
• September 19 - Keorapetse Kgositsile, South African
• September 22 - Tajal Bewas, pen name of Taj Mohammed Samoo, bucolic Sufi poet, novelist, short-story writer, teacher and Pakistani government official
• October 9 - Gwendoline Konie, Zambian poet and politician
• October 13 - Askia M. Touré, African American
• October 17 - Les Murray, Australian
• October 23 - R. F. Langley, English
• November 12 - Belal Chowdhury, Bangladeshi
• Also:
• * Brendan Galvin, American
• * Alan Jackson, English-born Scottish
• * Robert Phillips, American poet and academic
• * Sansei Yamao, Japanese poet and friend of American poet Gary Snyder

  Deaths

• March 1 - Gabriele D'Annunzio, Italian poet, writer, novelist, dramatist, soldier, political figure and daredevil
• March 10 - :it:Angiolo Silvio Novaro|Angiolo Silvio Novaro, Italian poet and children's writer
• March 31 - Willem Kloos, Dutch poet and critic
• April 15 - César Vallejo, Peruvian poet
• April 19 - Sir Henry Newbolt, English author and poet
• April 21 - Sir Muhammad Iqbal, Indian Muslim poet, philosopher and politician, writing in Persian and Urdu, praised as Muffakir-e-Pakistan, Shair-i-Mashriq and Hakeem-ul-Ummat ; his birthday is annually commemorated in Pakistan as "Iqbal Day", a national holiday
• June 9 - Ovid Densusianu, Romanian poet, philologist, linguist, folklorist, literary historian, critic, academic and journalist
• June 26 - James Weldon Johnson, African-American author, poet, early civil rights activist and prominent figure in the Harlem Renaissance, best known for his writing, including novels, poems and collections of folklore
• August 4 - Rudolf G. Binding, German poet
• August 26 - Millosh Gjergj Nikolla, Albanian poet and writer
• October 5 - Chieko Takamura, Japanese
• October 27 - Lascelles Abercrombie, British poet and literary critic, one of the "Dymock poets"
• December 7 - Osip Mandelstam, Russian poet, essayist and one of the foremost members of the Acmeist school of poets