1751 in poetry

Events

• Christopher Smart wins the Seatonian Prize for the second year in a row. He will also win the prize in 1753 and 1755.

  Works published

United Kingdom">English poetry">United Kingdom

• Richard Owen Cambridge, The Scribleriad, in six books, first published separately from January through March
• Thomas Cooke, An Ode on the Powers of Poetry, published anonymously
• Nathaniel Cotton, Visions in Verse, published anonymously, a verse version for children of Gay's Fables 1727
• Thomas Gray, Elegy Written in a Country Church-Yard, published anonymously, a literary sensation published February 15 by Robert Dodsley in a quarto pamphlet with a preface by Horace Walpole ; an important work of the Graveyard poets movement
• Mary Leapor, Poems Upon several Occasions, edited by Samuel Richardson and Isaac Hawkins, published posthumously (see also Poems upon Several Occasions 1748
• Moses Mendes, The Seasons
• Alexander Pope, The Works of Alexander Pope, edited by William Warburton, published posthumously

  Switzerland">Swiss poetry">Switzerland, German">German poetry">German language

• Johann Jakob Bodmer:
• * Die Sundflutz, an epic
• * Noah, an epic
• Solomon Gessner, Lied eines Schweizers an sein bewaffnetes Madchen, German-language work published in Switzerland

  Other

• Christoph Martin Wieland, Nature of Things, alexandrine verse, in six books; Germany

  Births

• January 22 - David Richards , Welsh poet
• February 20 - Johann Heinrich Voss, German poet
• October 15 - David Samwell , Welsh naval surgeon and poet
• October 30 - Richard Brinsley Sheridan, Irish playwright, poet, speechwriter and Whig politician
• Probable date - Mary Scott, English poet
• Approximate date - Henrietta Battier, Irish poet, satirist and actress

  Deaths

• April 19 - John Bancks , English poet and author
• May 24 - William Hamilton, Scottish comic poet
• October 26 - Philip Doddridge, English Nonconformist preacher and writer