1997 in poetry
Nationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature.
Events
- January 20 — Miller Williams of Arkansas reads his poem, "Of History and Hope," at President Clinton's inauguration.
- Regeneration, a film about World War I poets Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon, is released. It is based on the novel Regeneration by Pat Barker.
- Jacket online literary magazine founded.
Works published in English
Canada">Canadian literature">Canada
- Michael Barnholden, On the Ropes
- Dionne Brand, Land to Light On
- Clint Burnham, Be Labour Reading
- Kwame Dawes, editor, Wheel and Come again: An Anthology of Reggae Poetry, Fredericton, New Brunswick: Goose Lane.
- Louis Dudek, The Caged Tiger. Montreal: Empyreal Press.
- John Glassco, Selected Poems with Three Notes on the Poetic Process. Ottawa: Golden Dog Press)
- Elisabeth Harvor, The Long Cold Green Evenings of Spring
- Roy Kiyooka, Pacific Windows: The Collected Poems of Roy Kiyooka, edited by Roy Miki
- A.M. Klein, Selected Poems. Selected Poems Seymour Mayne, Zailig Pollock, Usher Caplan ed. Toronto: U of Toronto P, 1997.
- Laura Lush:
- * Darkening In, Montreal: Véhicule Press
- * Fault Line, Montreal: Véhicule Press
- Don McKay, Apparatus
- George McWhirter, Incubus: The Dark Side of the Light
- John Reibetanz:
- * Midland Summer
- * Near Finisterre
India">Indian poetry">India, in English">Indian poetry in English">in English
- R. Parthasarathy Rough Passage. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, India 1977.
- Jeet Thayil, Apocalypso, London: Aark Arts, 1997,
- Sudeep Sen, Postmarked India: New & Selected Poems, New Delhi: HarperCollins,
- Eunice de Souza, editor, Nine Indian Women Poets, New Delhi: Oxford University Press,
- Svami Bhumananda Sarasvati, editor and translator, Anthology of Vedic Hymns: Being a Collection of Hymns from the Four Vedas, Sahibabad, Ghaziabad: Kusum Lat Arya Pratishthan, India.
Ireland">Irish poetry">Ireland
- Moya Cannon, The Parchment Boat, Oldcastle: The Gallery Press,
- Michael Coady, All Souls, Oldcastle: The Gallery Press,
- Aidan Murphy, Stark Naked Blues, New Island Books,
- William Wall, Mathematics And Other Poems, Collins Press, Cork
New Zealand">New Zealand literature">New Zealand
- Fleur Adcock, Looking Back, Oxford and Auckland: Oxford University Press
- Jenny Bornholdt, Gregory O'Brien, and Mark Williams, editors, An Anthology of New Zealand Poetry in English, Auckland: Oxford University Press New Zealand
- Jenny Bornholdt, Miss New Zealand: Selected Poems
- Diane Brown, Before The Divorce We Go To Disneyland, Tandem Press
- Alan Brunton, Years Ago Today, documentary essay on poetry in the 1960s, Bumper Books
- Allen Curnow, Early Days Yet: New and Collected Poems 1941-1997
- Kendrick Smithyman, Atua Wera, Auckland: Auckland University Press, posthumous
- Paula Green, Cookhouse, Auckland University Press
United Kingdom">English poetry">United Kingdom
- Fleur Adcock, Looking Back, Oxford and Auckland: Oxford University Press
- Simon Armitage, CloudCuckooLand
- Charles Causley, Collected Poems
- Gillian Clarke, Collected Poems, Carcanet Press,
- Elaine Feinstein, Daylight, Carcanet
- Lavinia Greenlaw, A World Where News Travelled Slowly, Faber and Faber
- Ted Hughes, Tales from Ovid; a New York Times "notable book of the year" for 1998
- Elizabeth Jennings, In the Meantime
- Jamie McKendrick, The Marble Fly
- Anne MacLeod, Standing by Thistles
- Derek Mahon, The Yellow Book. Gallery Press
- Andrew Motion, Salt Water
- Sean O'Brien, The Ideology
- Don Paterson, God's Gift to Women
- Peter Reading, Work in Regress
- Peter Redgrove:
- * Orchard End
- * What the Black Mirror Saw: New Short Fiction and Prose Poetry
- Robin Robertson, A Painted Field
- Labi Siffre, Monument
- Anthony Thwaite, Selected Poems 1956-1996
- Charles Tomlinson, Selected Poems 1955-1997
Anthologies in the United Kingdom
- Thomas Rain Crowe with Gwendal Denez and Tom Hubbard, Writing the Wind: A Celtic resurgence: The New Celtic Poetry: Welsh, Breton, Irish Gaelic, Scottish Gaelic, Cornish, Manx, Cullowhee, NC: New Native Press
- Michael Donaghy, Andrew Motion, Hugo Williams, poets in Penguin Modern Poets 11, Penguin
- Iona Opie and Peter Opie, The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes, Oxford: Oxford University Press
Criticism, scholarship, and biography in the United Kingdom
- R. F. Foster, W. B. Yeats: A Life, Vol. I: The Apprentice Mage, Oxford University Press
United States">American poetry">United States
- Kim Addonizio, Jimmy & Rita 1997
- Agha Shahid Ali, The Country Without a Post Office
- Dick Allen, Ode to the Cold War: Poems New and Selected
- A.R. Ammons, Glare
- Marvin Bell, Ardor
- Wendell Berry, Entries
- Frank Bidart, Desire, received the Theodore Roethke Memorial Poetry Prize and the 1998 Bobbitt Prize for Poetry; nominated for the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, and the National Book Critics Circle Award
- Allison Hedge Coke, Dog Road Woman, "American Book Award"
- [Alfred Corn, Present
- Tess Gallagher, At the Owl Woman Saloon, a New York Times "notable book of the year"
- Amy Clampitt, The Collected Poems of Amy Clampitt, published posthumously, a New York Times "notable book of the year"
- Jorie Graham, The Errancy: Poems, a New York Times "notable book of the year"
- Beth Gylys, Balloon Heart, Winner of the Quentin R. Howard Award.
- Robert Fagles, The Odyssey by Homer, a New York Times "notable book of the year"
- Susan Hahn, Confession
- Anthony Hecht and John Hollander, Jiggery-Pokery: A Compendium of Double Dactyls
- Paul Hoover, Viridian
- Fanny Howe, One Crossed Out
- Jane Kenyon, Otherwise: New and Selected Poems, a New York Times "notable book of the year"
- Maxine Kumin, Selected Poems, 1960-1990, a New York Times "notable book of the year"
- Robert Hass, Sun Under Wood: New Poems, a New York Times "notable book of the year"
- John Hollander, The Work of Poetry
- Maxine Kumin, Selected Poems, 1960-1990
- Philip Levine, Unselected Poems
- Sarah Lindsay, Primate Behavior, National Book Award finalist
- William Meredith, Effort at Speech: New and Selected Poems
- W. S. Merwin, Flower and Hand: Poems, 1977-1983
- Howard Nemerov, The Collected Poems of Howard Nemerov
- Mary Oliver, West Wind: Poems and Prose Poems
- Carl Rakosi, The Earth Suite 1997
- Kenneth Rexroth, Sacramental Acts: The Love Poems
- Rosmarie Waldrop, Another Language: Selected Poems
- C. K. Williams, The Vigil, nominated for the National Book Critics Circle Award
- David Wojahn, The Falling Hour
- Charles Wright, BlackZodiac''
Criticism, scholarship, and biography in the United States
- Kim Addonizio and Dorianne Laux, The Poet's Companion: A Guide to the Pleasures of Writing Poetry
- Joseph Blotner, Robert Penn Warren: A Biography., one of The New York Times "notable books of the year"
- Bonnie Costello, Celeste Goodridge and Cristanne Miller, editors, The Selected Letters of Marianne Moore, one of The New York Times "notable books of the year"
- Angela Davis, Blues Legacies and Black Feminism: Gertrude "Ma" Rainey, Bessie Smith, and Billie Holiday, 1997 American Book Award
- Phyllis Grosskurth, Byron: The Flawed Angel, one of The New York Times "notable books of the year"
- Douglas Hofstadter, Le Ton Beau de Marot: In Praise of the Music of Language "ruminations on the art of translation" with a 16th-century French poem as the prime example, one of The New York Times "notable books of the year"
- John Hollander, The Work of Poetry
- Sam McCready, A William Butler Yeats Encyclopedia, Greenwood Press
- Nicholas Murray, A Life of Matthew Arnold, one of The New York Times "notable books of the year"
- Helen Vendler, The Art of Shakespeare's Sonnets, one of The New York Times "notable books of the year"
Anthologies in the United States
- Harold Bloom edits The Best of the Best American Poetry 1988-1997
- Ross and Kathryn Petras, editors, Very Bad Poetry
''[The [Best American Poetry 1997]]''
- Ai
- Sherman Alexie
- Agha Shahid Ali
- A. R. Ammons
- Nin Andrews
- L. S. Asekoff
- John Ashbery
- Marianne Boruch
- Catherine Bowman
- Joseph Brodsky
- Stephanie Brown
- Joshua Clover
- Billy Collins
- Gillian Conoley
- Jayne Cortez
- Robert Creeley
- Carl Dennis
- William Dickey
- Robert Dow
- Thomas Sayers Ellis
- Irving Feldman
- Herman Fong
- Dick Gallup
- Martin Galvin
- Amy Gerstler
- Allen Ginsberg
- Dana Gioia
- Elton Glaser
- Kate Gleason
- Albert Goldbarth
- Jorie Graham
- Donald Hall
- Daniel Halpern
- Robert Hass
- Bob Hicok
- Paul Hoover
- Christine Hume
- Harry Humes
- Don Hymans
- Lawson Fusao Inada
- Richard Jackson
- Gray Jacobik
- George Kalamaras
- Jennifer L. Knox
- Philip Kobylarz
- Yusef Komunyakaa
- Elizabeth Kostova
- Denise Levertov
- Larry Levis
- Matthew Lippman
- Beth Lisick
- Khaled Mattawa
- William Matthews
- Josip Novakovich
- Geoffrey Nutter
- Catie Rosemurgy
- Clare Rossini
- Mary Ruefle
- Hillel Schwartz
- Maureen Seaton
- Vijay Seshadri
- Steven Sherrill
- Charles Simic
- Charlie Smith
- Leon Stokesbury
- Mark Strand
- Jack Turner
- Karen Volkman
- Derek Walcott
- Rosanna Warren
- Lewis Warsh
- Terence Winch
- Eve Wood
- Charles Wright
- Dean Young
Other in English
- Margaret Avison, Not Yet but Still, Australia
Works published in other languages
French language
France">French poetry">France
- Olivier Barbarant, Aragon: la mémoire et l'excès, publisher: Editions Champ Vallon,
- Yves Bonnefoy, L'Encore Aveugle,
- Seyhmus Dagtekin, Artères-solaires, publisher: L'Harmattan; Kurdish Turkish poet writing in French, living in and published in France
Canada, in French
- Suzanne Jacob, La part de feu, Montréal: Boréal, winner of the prix de la Société Radio-Canada, and prix du Gouverneur général
- Pierre Nepveu, Romans-fleuves, Montréal: Le Noroît
Hebrew">Hebrew literature">Hebrew
- Aharon Shabtai, Be-xodesh May ha-nifla’
- Rami Saari, Maslul Ha-k'ev Ha-no"az
India">Indian poetry">India
Bengali">Bengali poetry">Bengali
- Joy Goswami, Kabita-Songroho, Vol. 2, Kolkata: Ananda Publishers,
- Nirendranath Chakravarti, Shondharaater Kobita, Kolkata: Ananda Publishers
- Udaya Narayana Singh, Ashru o Parihaas, Kolkata: Pritoniya
- Subrata Bandyopadhyay, Saodāgara o The final judgement, Kalakata: De'ja Pābaliśiṃ
Other in India
- Jiban Narah, Dhou Khela Loralir San, Guwahati, Assam: Nibedon; Indian, Assamese-language
- Jayant Kaikini, Neelimale, Bangalore: Patrike Prakashana, Indian, Kannada-language poet, short-story writer, and screenwriter
- K. G. Sankara Pillai, K.G. Shankara Pillayude Kavithakal 1969-1996, Kottayam, Kerala: D C Books; Malayalam-language
- K. Siva Reddy, Naa Kalala Nadi Anchuna, Hyderabad: Jhari Poetry Circle; Telugu-language
- Kanaka Ha Ma, Papanashini, Puttur, Karnataka: Kannada Sangha; Kannada language
- Namdeo Dhasal, Andhale Shatak, Mumbai: Ambedkara Prabodhini; Marathi-language
Poland">Polish poetry">Poland
- Stanisław Barańczak, Zimy i podroze, Krakow: Wydawnictwo Literackie
- Ewa Lipska, Ludzie dla poczatkujacych, ; Poznan: a5
- Tomasz Różycki, Vaterland, Łódź: Stowarzyszenie Literackie im. K.K. Baczyńskiego
- Piotr Sommer, Nowe stosunki wyrazów. Wiersze z lat siedemdziesiątych i osiemdziesiątych
- Wisława Szymborska: Sto wierszy - sto pociech
- Eugeniusz Tkaczyszyn-Dycki, Liber mortuorum
Spain">Spanish poetry">Spain
- Matilde Camus, Mundo interior
Other
- Mario Benedetti, La vida ese paréntesis, Uruguay
- Attilio Bertolucci, La lucertola di Casarola, previously unpublished poems, many written in his youth; Italy
- Christoph Buchwald, general editor, and Ror Wolf, guest editor, Jahrbuch der Lyrik 1997/98, publisher: Beck; anthology
- Chen Kehua, Bie ai moshengren Chinese
- Alexander Mezhirov:
- * Позёмка, Russia
- * Apologii︠a︡ t︠s︡irka: kniga novykh stikhov, including a version of "Blizzard", St. Petersburg, Russia
- Wang Xiaoni, Wode zhili baozhe wo de huo, China
Awards and honors
Australia">Australian poetry">Australia
- C. J. Dennis Prize for Poetry: Les Murray, Subhuman Redneck Poems
- Dinny O'Hearn Poetry Prize: Joint winners
- *Dragons in their Pleasant Places by Peter Porter
- *The Wild Reply by Emma Lew
- Kenneth Slessor Prize for Poetry: Anthony Lawrence, The Viewfinder
- Mary Gilmore Prize: Emma Lew - The Wild Reply
Canada">Canadian poetry">Canada
- Gerald Lampert Award: Marilyn Dumont, A Really Good Brown Girl
- Archibald Lampman Award: Diana Brebner, Flora & Fauna
- 1997 Governor General's Awards: Dionne Brand, Land to Light On ; Pierre Nepveu, Romans-fleuves
- Pat Lowther Award: Marilyn Bowering, Autobiography
- Prix Alain-Grandbois: Claude Beausoleil, Grand hôtel des étrangers
- Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize: Margo Button, The Unhinging of Wings
- Prix Émile-Nelligan: Patrick Lafontaine, L’Ambition du vide
New Zealand">New Zealand poetry">New Zealand
- Montana New Zealand Book Awards, First Book Award for Poetry: Diane Brown, Before the Divorce We Go To Disneyland, Tandem Press
United Kingdom">English poetry">United Kingdom
- Cholmondeley Award: Alison Brackenbury, Gillian Clarke, Tony Curtis, Anne Stevenson
- Eric Gregory Award: Matthew Clegg, Sarah Corbett, Polly Clark, Tim Kendall, Graham Nelson, Matthew Welton
- Forward Poetry Prize Best Collection: Jamie McKendrick, The Marble Fly
- Forward Poetry Prize Best First Collection: Robin Robertson, A Painted Field
- T. S. Eliot Prize : Don Paterson, God's Gift to Women
- Whitbread Award for poetry and book of the year: Ted Hughes, Tales from Ovid
United States">American poetry">United States
- Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize: Richard Blanco, City of a Hundred Fires
- Aiken Taylor Award for Modern American Poetry: Fred Chappell
- American Academy of Arts and Letters Gold Medal in Poetry, John Ashbery
- AML Award for poetry to Susan Elizabeth Howe for Stone Spirits
- Bernard F. Connors Prize for Poetry: John Drury, "Burning the Aspern Papers"
- Bollingen Prize: Gary Snyder
- National Book Award for poetry: William Meredith, Effort at Speech: New & Selected Poems
- Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress: Robert Pinsky appointed
- Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: Lisel Mueller: Live Together: New and Selected Poems
- Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize: William Matthews
- Wallace Stevens Award: Anthony Hecht
- Whiting Awards: Connie Deanovich, Forrest Gander, Jody Gladding, Mark Turpin
- Fellowship of the Academy of American Poets: John Haines
- North Carolina Poet Laureate: Fred Chappell appointed.
Deaths
- January 19 - James Dickey, 73, American
- April 5 - Allen Ginsberg, 70, of liver cancer, American
- May 15 - Laurie Lee, 82, English poet, novelist and screenwriter
- August 27 - Johannes Edfelt, 92, Swedish
- November 12:
- *James Laughlin, 83, American poet, publisher and man of letters
- *William Matthews, 55, American poet and essayist, of a heart attack
- November 17 - David Ignatow, 83, American poet
- November 30 - Kathy Acker, 53, American postmodernist experimental novelist and punk poet
- December 13 - Claude Roy, pen name of Claude Orland, French poet, novelist, essayist, art critic and journalist; an activist in the Communist Party until his expulsion in 1956
- December 20 - Denise Levertov, 74, of lymphoma
- Undated - Stella Sierra, c.80, Panamanian