1939 in poetry

Years in poetry:	1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942
Years in literature:	1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942
Decades in poetry:	1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1950s 1960s 1970s
Centuries in poetry:	19th century 20th century 21st century
Centuries:	19th century · 20th century · 21st century
Decades:	1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1950s 1960s 1970s
Years:	1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942

“

As the clever hopes expire

Of a low dishonest decade

”

[edit] Events

Last issue of The Criterion is published.
Gunga Din, a film directed by George Stevens, based loosely on Rudyard Kipling's poem of the same name
Poetry London, a magazine founded by Dylan Thomas, its editor James Meary Tambimuttu, and others
Carl Rakosi begins a 28-year hiatus from writing poetry
The Kenyon Review is founded by John Crowe Ransom

W.H. Auden's "September 1, 1939" a poem written on the occasion of the outbreak of World War II, first published in The New Republic on October 18, and which will later appear in Auden's collection Another Time (1940)
T.S. Eliot - The Idea of a Christian Society, Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats
J. F. Hendry and Henry Treece, editors of the anthology The New Apocalypse, an early anthology of the New Apocalyptics poets in Britain
Dylan Thomas, The Map of Love
Christopher Smart, Rejoice in the Lamb: A Song from Bedlam, posthumously edited by W.F. Stead
W.B. Yeats, Last Poems and Two Plays

January 23 — Fred Wah Chinese-Canadian poet, novelist, and scholar
February 5 — Siv Cedering, Swedish-American poet, painter, sculptor, illustrator, and author
March 26 — Patrick Lane, Canadian poet
April 13 — Seamus Heaney, Irish writer and lecturer from Northern Ireland who awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1995
May 31 — Al Young, American poet, novelist and writer of musical memoirs named poet laureate of California in 2005
June 30 — José Emilio Pacheco Mexican poet, essayist, translator, novelist and short story writer
July 22 — Quincy Troupe, American poet, editor, journalist, and academic
July 27 — Michael Longley, Northern Irish poet
August 31 — Dennis Lee Canadian children's writer and poet
October 24 — Paula Gunn Allen, Native American poet, literary critic, activist and novelist
November 18 - Margaret Atwood, novelist and poet
November 23 — bill bissett Canadian poet famous for his anti-conventional style who does not capitalise his name