American poetryAmerican poetry refers to the poetry of the United States. It arose first as efforts by American colonists to add their voices to English poetry in the 17th century, well before the constitutional unification of the Thirteen Colonies (although a strong oral tradition often likened to poetry already existed among Native American societies). Most of the early colonists' work was similar to contemporary English models of poetic form, diction, and theme. However, in the 19th century, an American idiom began to emerge.
1994 in poetryNationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature (for instance, Irish or France). May 23 — C. P. Cavafy's poem "Ithaka" is read at the funeral of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis by her longtime companion, Maurice Tempelsman. October 6 — First annual National Poetry Day in the United Kingdom, established by William Sieghart. October 31 (Halloween) — 15,000 copies of Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven" are distributed free at public libraries.
1991 in poetryNationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature (for instance, Irish or France). Forward Poetry Prize created Dana Gioia, writing in The Atlantic Monthly suggests (in an article titled "Can Poetry Matter?") that poets recite the works of other poets at public readings. Joseph Brodsky, the United States poet laureate, suggests in The New Republic that an anthology of American poetry be put beside the Bible and telephone directory in every hotel room in the country.
1952 in poetryNationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature (for instance, Irish or France). August 12 — Night of the Murdered Poets, the execution of thirteen Soviet Jews in the Lubyanka Prison in Moscow, Soviet Union, including several poets. November — The Group British poetry movement of the 1950s and 1960s begins at Downing College, University of Cambridge: Philip Hobsbaum along with two friends – Tony Davis and Neil Morris – dissatisfied with the way poetry has been read aloud in the university, decides to place a notice in the undergraduate newspaper Varsity for people interested in forming a poetry discussion group.
1951 in poetryNationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature (for instance, Irish or France). Poet Cid Corman begins Origin magazine in response to the failure of a magazine that Robert Creeley had planned. The magazine typically features one writer per issue and runs, with breaks, until the mid-1980s. Poets featured include Robert Creeley, Robert Duncan, Larry Eigner, Denise Levertov, William Bronk, Theodore Enslin, Charles Olson, Louis Zukofsky, Gary Snyder, Lorine Niedecker, Wallace Stevens, William Carlos Williams and Paul Blackburn.
1966 in poetryNationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature (for instance, Irish or France). Raymond Souster founds the League of Canadian Poets Philip Hobsbaum, who had founded The Belfast Group in Belfast, Northern Ireland, in 1963, departs for Glasgow, and the Belfast Group meetings lapsed for a while, but then was reconstituted in 1968 by Michael Allen, Arthur Terry, and Seamus Heaney. At one time or another, the grouping also includes Michael Longley, James Simmons, Paul Muldoon, Ciaran Carson, Stewart Parker, Bernard MacLaverty and the critic Edna Longley.
1967 in poetryNationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature (for instance, Irish or France). Poetry International started by Ted Hughes and Patrick Garland May 16 – the premiere at Taganka Theater in Moscow of the staged a poetical performance Послушайте! ("Listen!"), based on the works of Russian poet Vladimir Mayakovsky. The show was in repertoire until April 1984, was revived in May 1987 and again in repertoire until June 1989.
1969 in poetryNationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature (for instance, Irish or France). March 23 – German-born writer Assia Wevill, a mistress of English poet Ted Hughes (and ex-wife of Canadian poet David Wevill), gasses herself and their daughter at her London home. FIELD magazine founded at Oberlin College. Charles Bukowski quits his day job as a Post Office clerk in Los Angeles to embark on a writing career after being promised a $100 stipend from Black Sparrow Press.
1950 in poetryNationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature (for instance, Irish or France). Charles Olson publishes his seminal essay, "Projective Verse". In this, he calls for a poetry of "open field" composition to replace traditional closed poetic forms with an improvised form that should reflect exactly the content of the poem. This form is to be based on the line, and each line is to be a unit of breath and of utterance.
John BerrymanJohn Allyn McAlpin Berryman (born John Allyn Smith, Jr.; October 25, 1914 – January 7, 1972) was an American poet and scholar. He was a major figure in American poetry in the second half of the 20th century and is considered a key figure in the "confessional" school of poetry. His best-known work is The Dream Songs. John Berryman was born on October 25, 1914 in McAlester, Oklahoma, where he was raised until the age of ten, when his father, John Smith, a banker, and his mother, Martha (also known as Peggy), a schoolteacher, moved to Florida.