1881 in poetry

• Frederick James Furnivall founds the Browning Society

• Alexander Baumgartner, Festspiel zur Calderonfeier, Switzerland
• François Coppée, Conies en tiers, France^[8]
• Victor Hugo, Les Quatres vents de l'esprit, France^[9]
• Jorge Isaacs, Saulo, 1st canto (no more published), Colombia
• Helena Nyblom, Digte ("Poems"), Denmark

Death years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article:

• January 9 – Lascelles Abercrombie (died 1938), English poet and literary critic called the Georgian Laureate and one of the "Dymock poets"
• February 13 – Eleanor Farjeon (died 1965), English author and poet
• February 15 – Piaras Béaslaí (died 1965), Irish writer and poet
• February 17 – Puran Singh (died 1931), Indian, writing Indian poetry in English^[10]
• March 6 – John Cournos, born Ivan Grigorievich Korshun (died 1966), Russian-American Imagist poet, but better known for his novels, short stories, essays, criticism and translations of Russian literature (pen name: John Courtney)
• April 4 – Gertrud von Puttkamer, born Gertrud Günther (died 1944), German homoerotic poet (pen name: Marie-Madeleine)
• April 6 – Furnley Maurice (died 1942), Australian
• April 16 – Alice Corbin Henderson (died 1949), American poet
• May 18 – Alan Edward Mulgan (died 1962), New Zealand
• June 10 – Jaime Sabartés (died 1968), Catalan Spanish poet and longtime secretary to Pablo Picasso
• August 1 – Aizu Yaichi 会津 八一 (died 1956), Japanese poet, calligrapher and historian (surname: Aizu)
• August 10 – Witter Bynner (died 1968), American poet, writer and scholar
• August 20 – Edgar Albert Guest (died 1959), prolific American poet
• September 16 – Clive Bell (died 1964), English critic associated with the Bloomsbury group
• October 30 – Elizabeth Madox Roberts (died 1941), American novelist and poet
• November 15:
  • Franklin Pierce Adams (died 1960), American columnist (pen name: F.P.A.), writer and wit, part of the Algonquin Round Table of the 1920s and 1930s whose newspaper column introduced the public to many poets and writers
  • Masamune Atsuo 正宗敦夫 (died 1958), Japanese poet and academic (surname: Masamune)
• November 16 – Ernest O'Ferrall (died 1925), Australian poet and short-story writer (pen name: Kodak)
• December 8 – Padraic Colum (died 1972), Irish poet, novelist, dramatist, biographer, collector of folklore and a leading figure of the Celtic Revival
• December 24 – Lady Margaret Sackville (died 1963), English poet and children's author
• Also:
  • Swami Ananda Acharya (died 1945), Indian poet who wrote Indian poetry in English^[11]
  • Deepakba Desai (died 1955), Indian, Gujarati-language woman poet who wrote khandakavyas^[12]
  • Ardoshir Faramji Kharbardar (died 1953), Indian, Gujarati-language, Parsi poet^[12]
  • Sotiris Skipis (died 1951), Greek

Birth years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article:

• January 30 – Arthur O'Shaughnessy (born 1844), 36, British poet
• August 2 – Marcus Clarke (born 1846), 35, Australian novelist and poet
• September 7 – Sidney Lanier (born 1842), 39, American musician and poet
• October 12 – Josiah Gilbert Holland (born 1819), 62, American novelist and poet
• November 1 – Jacques Perk (born 1859), 22, Dutch poet
• November 4 – Estella Hijmans-Hertzveld (born 1837), 44, Dutch poet
• Also – Mangkunegara IV (born 1809), Javanese ruler of Mangkunegaran and poet

• 19th century in poetry
• 19th century in literature
• List of years in poetry
• List of years in literature
• Victorian literature
• French literature of the 19th century
• Poetry