1953 in poetry

• T. S. Eliot founds the Poetry Book Society in the U.K.
• George Plimpton, Peter Matthiessen and Harold L. Humes found The Paris Review.
• Nuovi Argomenti, an influential Italian literary magazine, founded by Alberto Carrocci and Alberto Moravia in Rome.
• The October issue of Atlantic Monthly magazine in the United States publishes "Perspectives of India", anthologizing poems from India.^[1]
• November 5 – Dylan Thomas, on a poetry reading tour of the United States, is admitted to Saint Vincent's hospital in Manhattan in a coma from which he does not recover before his death on November 9.

Listed by nation where the work was first published and again by the poet's native land, if different; substantially revised works listed separately:

• Robert Finch, A Century has Roots.^[2]
• Irving Layton, Love the Conqueror Worm. Toronto: Contact Press.^[3]
• Douglas Le Pan, The Net and the Sword, Canada^[4]
• E. J. Pratt, The Titanic, Canada^[5]
• Raymond Souster, Shake Hands with the Hangman: Poems 1940-52 Toronto: Contact Press.^[6]

• Nissim Ezekiel, Sixty Poems ( Poetry in English ), Bombay^[7]
• Harindranath Chattopadhyaya:
  • I Sing of Man and Other Poems ( Poetry in English ), Bombay: People's Publishing House^[8]
  • Spring in Winter ( Poetry in English ), Delhi: Atma Ram^[8]
• Manjeri Sundaraman Manjeri, Rhapsody in Red ( Poetry in English ),^[8]
• Romen, The Golden Apocalypse, Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Ashram^[9]
• Sri Aurobindo, The Future Poetry, essays on literary criticism, drawing on the author's (also published) views of art and life, (first appeared in the Arya, 1917–1920;^[10] later expanded with the author's letters on art, literature and poetry in the Centenary Library edition, Volume 9, 1971)^[11]

• Charles Causley, Survivor's Leave
• Sir John Betjeman, A Few Late Chrysanthemums
• Louis MacNeice, Autumn Sequel
• Charlotte Mew (died 1928), Collected Poems
• Lewis Spence, Collected Poems
• John Heath-Stubbs, New Poems
• John Heath-Stubbs and David Wright. editors, The Faber Book of Twentieth Century Verse: An Anthology of Verse in Britain 1900-1950, a selection in self-conscious contrast to the Faber Book of Modern Verse
• R.S. Thomas, The Minister

John Heath-Stubbs edited this volume, published in the United Kingdom, which included poems from these writers: Dannie Abse – Drummond Allison – Eurasia Anderson - William Bell – Thomas Blackburn – Maurice Carpenter - Alex Comfort – Yorke Crompton – N. K. Cruikshank – Keith Douglas – George Every – John Fairfax – G. S. Fraser – John Gibbs – W. S. Graham - F. Pratt Green – J. C. Hall – Michael Hamburger – John Heath-Stubbs – Glyn Jones – Sidney Keyes – Francis King – James Kirkup – Norman Nicholson – I. R. Orton – Michael Paffard – Kathleen Raine – Anne Ridler – Walter Roberts – W. R. Rodgers – Joseph Rykwert – John Smith – Muriel Spark – Derek Stanford – J. Ormond Thomas – W. Price Turner – John Wain – John Waller – Vernon Watkins – Gordon Wharton - Margaret Willy – David Wright

• Conrad Aiken, Collected Poems^[12]
• John Ashbery, Turandot and Other Poems^[13]
• W. H. Auden, "The Shield of Achilles" poem first published; his poetry book of the same name will be published in 1955
• Joseph Payne Brennan, The Humming Stair (Big Mountain Press/Alan Swallow imprint)
• Robert Creeley, American published in Europe:
  • The Kind of Act of^[14]
  • The Immoral Proposition^[14]
• E. E. Cummings, i — six nonlectures from his Charles Eliot Norton Lectures of 1951-1952 (Harvard University Press)
• Richard Eberhart, Undercliff: Poems 1946–1953^[13]
• Jean Garrigue, The Monument Rose^[13]
• Kenneth Koch, Poems^[13]
• Charles Olson:
  • In Cold Hell, In Thicket, published in Origin as its eighth issue
  • Mayan Letters, letters to the poet Robert Creeley, report on the author's research into Mayan hieroglyphs and discuss Olson's ideas on "objectism" in poetry. (criticism)^[15]
• Ezra Pound, translator, The Translations of Ezra Pound^[13]
• George Santayana, The Poet's Testament, verse drama^[13]
• May Sarton, The Land of Silence^[13]
• Karl Shapiro, Poems 1940-1953, New York: Random House^[16]
• W. D. Snodgrass, Heart's Needle, New York: Knopf^[16]
• David Derek Stacton, An Unfamiliar Country: 25 Poems
• Gertrude Stein, Bee Time Vine and Other Pieces (1913–1927), fiction and verse^[13]
• Wallace Stevens, Collected Poems
• Melvin Tolson, Libretto for the Republic of Liberia^[13]
• David Wagoner, Dry Sun, Dry Wind^[13]
• Robert Penn Warren, Brother to Dragons^[13]

• James K. Baxter, The Fallen House, New Zealand
• Nissim Ezekiel, Sixty Poems, verses written from 1945 to 1951, India^[11]
• Gershon Legman (ed.), The Limerick. 1700 examples with notes, variants and index, collection compiled by an American, published in France

• Jean-Guy Pilon, La fiancée du matin: poèmes, Montréal: Éditions Amicitia^[17]

• Yves Bonnefoy, Du mouvement et de l'immobilité de douve^[18]
• Rene-Guy Cadou, Helene ou le regne vegetal, Volume 2 (see Volume 1 1952), published posthumously (died 1951)^[19]
• Maurice Chappaz, Testament du Haut-Rhône, Swiss, French-language
• Andrée Chedid, Textes pour le vivant^[19]
• Jean Follain, Territoires^[20]
• Philippe Jaccottet, L'Effraie et autres poèmes, the author's first book of poetry to appear in France; publisher: Gallimard^[21]
• Saint-John Perse, Vents^[20]

In each section, listed in alphabetical order by first name:

• R. S. Mugali, Kannada Sahitya Caritre, a history of Kannada literature, written in that language, up to the 19th century^[11]
• Siddayya Puranika, Jalapata, lyrics^[11]
• Virasaiva Sahitya Mttu Itihasa, literary history of "Veerashaiva" literature in three volumes^[11]

• Amir Shah Kreri, Zafar Nama, a masnavi commemorating an episode of Islamic conquest and based on a Persian original; the poem became very popular in some rural areas^[11]
• Mohammad Amin Kamil, Saqi Nama, a masnavi^[11]
• Rasul Bath ("most probably the same person known now as Rasul Pompur", according to Indian academic Sisir Kumar Das), Ab e Hayat^[11]
• Rahman Rahi, Sanavany Saz^[11]
• Rasa Javidani, Tuhfa-e bahar, the Urdu-language poet's first book of Kashmiri-language poems^[11]

• Elamkulam Kunjan Pillai, Unninilisandesam, commentary on a 14th-century Manipravala poem^[11]
• K. Kittunni Nayar, Mahakavi Vallattol, biography of the poet Vallathol^[11]
• Ulloor Paramesvara Ayyar, Kerala Sahitya Caritram, in 1995, Indian academic Sisir Kumar Das called this book the "most comprehensive history of the Malayalam and Sanskrit literatures of Kerala"; published posthumously, in five volumes, starting this year, with the last volume coming out in 1955^[11]

• Ananta Pattanayak, Santisikhar, Oriya^[11]
• Felix Paul Noronha, writing in the Konkani dialect of the Marathi language:
  • Kaviyam Jhelo^[11]
  • Kristanu Puranatli Vinchovan^[11]
• Ghulan Rabbani Taban, editor, Shikast-i zindan, Urdu-language poems about the independence struggle in India and other Asian countries^[11]
• Kripal Singh Kasel and Parminder Singh, Punjabi Sahit Di Utpatti Te Vikas, history of Punjabi literature, written in that language^[11]
• Lekhnath Poudyal, Tarun-Tapasi, a poem on contemporary affairs written mostly in the Sikharini meter; considered the magnum opus of the author, who calls it a navya kavya; Nepali^[11]
• Nagarjun, Yug Dhara, poems on current affairs; Hindi^[11]
• Narayan, also known as "Shyam", Rupa maya, a sequence of 16 sonnets on the myth of Visvamitra and Menaka; Sindhi^[11]
• Nanuram Samskarta, Samay Vayaro, in blank verse; Rajasthani^[11]
• Nidudavolu Venkatarao, Telugu Kavula Caritra, biographical information about many Telugu poets (see also a larger work of the same nature, Daksina Desiyandhra Vangmayamu 1954)^[11]
• Nilmani Phookan, Surya Heno Nami Aahe Eyi Nadiadi, Rangiya, Assam: Prakashan Ghar, Assamese-language^[22]
• Priyakant Maniar, Pratik, the author's first book of verses; 65 poems Gujarati^[11]
• Shri Shrimat Kumar Vyas, editor, Alagojo, anthology of poems by Rajasthani authors^[11]
• Sudhindra Nath Datta, Sambarta, called "[o]ne of the major works in modern Bengali poetry", according to Sisir Kumar Das^[11]

• Arturo Corcuera, Cantoral, Peruvian writing in Spanish
• Hermann Hesse, Die Gedichte, German

• Canada: Governor General's Award, poetry or drama: The Net and the Sword, Douglas LePan^[23]

• King's Gold Medal for Poetry: Arthur Waley

• American Academy of Arts and Letters Gold Medal for Poetry: Marianne Moore
• National Book Award for Poetry: Archibald MacLeish, Collected Poems: 1917-1952
• Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: Archibald MacLeish: Collected Poems 1917-1952
• Bollingen Prize: Archibald MacLeish and William Carlos Williams
• Fellowship of the Academy of American Poets: Robert Frost
• North Carolina Poet Laureate: James Larkin Pearson appointed.

• February 5 – Giannina Braschi, Puerto Rican-born poet and novelist
• January 7 – Dionne Brand, Canadian poet, novelist, and non-fiction writer born and raised in Trinidad and Tobago before moving to Canada
• January 12 – David Brooks, Australian
• February 18 – Peter Robinson, English
• February 24 – Jane Hirshfield, American poet and translator
• February 27 – Brad Leithauser, American
• May 12 – Neil Astley, English editor
• July 20 – Joseph Bathanti, American poet, novelist and professor; North Carolina Poet Laureate, 2012–2014
• July 29 – Frank McGuinness, Irish playwright, translator and poet
• August 10 – Mark Doty, American
• August 27 – Gjertrud Schnackenberg, American
• August 31 – György Károly (died 2018), Hungarian
• October 1 – John Hegley, English performance poet
• October 20 – Robyn Bolam, English
• November 19 – Tony Hoagland (died 2018), American
• Also:
  • Alison Brackenbury, English
  • Patrick Deeley, Irish
  • Adeeb Kamal Ad-Deen, Iraqi, Arabic language poet living in Australia
  • Antonis Fostieris, Greek
  • Rita Kelly, Irish language
  • Chris Mansell, female Australian poet and publisher
  • Ian McBryde, Canadian-born poet living in Australia