1954 in poetry

• January 25 – Dylan Thomas's Under Milk Wood is broadcast posthumously on BBC Radio.
• February – W. H. Auden and Chester Kallman move to an apartment on the Lower East Side of Manhattan.
• Spring – Robert Creeley founds and edits the Black Mountain Review.^[1]
• Publication of American literary theorist William K. Wimsatt's collected essays Verbal Icon: Studies in the Meaning of Poetry, including the influential critical essays “The Intentional Fallacy” and “The Affective Fallacy” cowritten with Monroe Beardsley.^[2]
• Jack Kerouac reads Dwight Goddard's A Buddhist Bible, which will influence him greatly.

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

• Daryl Hine, Five Poems^[3]
• Irving Layton, In the Midst of My Fever. Palma de Mallorca, Spain: Divers Press.^[4]
• Irving Layton, The Long Pea-Shooter. Montreal: Laocoon Press.^[4][5]
• Jay Macpherson, O Earth Return^[3]
• P. K. Page, The Metal and the Flower, Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, Canada^[6]
• Raymond Souster, A Dream That Is Dying. Toronto: Contact Press^[7]
• Raymond Souster, Walking Death. Toronto: Contact Press.^[7]
• F. R. Scott, Events and Signals. Toronto: Ryerson Press.^[8]
• A. J. M. Smith, A Sort of Ecstasy; Michigan State College Press / Ryerson Press.

• Sri Aurobindo:
  • Collected Poems (Poetry in English), Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Ashram^[9]
  • Savitri ( Poetry in English ), Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Ashram^[10]
• R. de L. Furtado, The Centre, Hamilton, Ontario: Cromlech Press; Indian author published in Canada^[11]
• Nizamat Jung, Poems (Poetry in English), edited and published by Zahir Ahmed in Hyderabad^[12]
• Prithwi Singh Nahar, The Wind of Silence (Poetry in English), songs, sonnets and other poems; Pondicherry: Sri Aurobindo Ashram^[13]
• C. Raju, This Modern Age, foreword by Amarnath Jha^[11]
• K. S. R. Sastry, A Vision of India, Madras: Raja Power Press^[14]

• W. H. Auden, The Shield of Achilles, English poet living in the United States at this time
• Sir John Betjeman, A Few Late Chrysanthemums
• George Mackay Brown, The Storm, Scotland
• Thom Gunn, Fighting Terms, Fantasy Press
• John Heath-Stubbs, A Charm Against the Toothace
• Philip Larkin, The Less Deceived
• David Raikes (posthumous), The Poems of David Raikes

• P. Cruttwell, The Shakespearean Moment, criticism, United Kingdom^[15]
• G. Hartmann, The Unmediated Vision, criticism, United Kingdom^[15]
• W. K. Wimsatt Jr., The Verbal Icon, criticism, United Kingdom^[15]
• Jon Silkin, The Peaceable Kingdom, including "Death of a Son (who died in a mental hospital aged one)"
• Dylan Thomas, Quite Early One Morning, New Directions Publishers

• Léonie Adams, Poems^[16]
• W. H. Auden, The Shield of Achilles, English poet living in the United States at this time
• Louise Bogan, Collected Poems, 1923–1953^[16]
• E. E. Cummings, Poems, 1923–1954^[16]
• Babette Deutsch, Animal, Vegetable, Mineral^[16]
• Anthony Hecht, A Summoning of Stones^[16]
• Daniel G. Hoffman, An Armada of Thirty Wales^[16]
• Robinson Jeffers, Hungerfield and Other Poems^[16]
• Weldon Kees, Poems 1947–1954^[16]
• Archibald MacLeish, Songs for Eve^[16]
• W. S. Merwin, The Dancing Bears, New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press (reprinted as part of The First Four Books of Poems, 1975)^[17]
• Edna St. Vincent Millay, Mine the Harvest^[16]
• Marianne Moore, The Fables of La Fontaine^[16]
• Howard Moss, The Toy Fair^[16]
• Kenneth Patchen, The Famous Boating Party^[16]
• May Swenson, Another Animal^[16]
• Wallace Stevens, The Collected Poems of Wallace Stevens, includes "The Rock," previously unpublished section including "The Poem That Took the Place of a Mountain," "A Quiet Normal Life," "Final Soliloquy of the Interior Paramour," "The Rock," "The Planet on the Table," and "Not Ideas about the Thing but the Thing Itself"), Knopf^[18]
• E. B. White, The Second Tree from the Corner^[16]
• William Carlos Williams, The Desert Music and Other Poems

• Hugh Kenner, Wyndham Lewis: A Critical Guidebook, criticism, United States
• W. C. Williams, Selected Essays, criticism, United States^[19]

• Martin Carter, Poems of Resistance, Guyana^[20]
• Wilson Harris, Eternity to Season, Guyana^[20]
• Frank Prince, Soldiers Bathing and Other Poems, South African
• Keith Sinclair, Strangers or Beasts: Poems, New Zealand

• Jean-Guy Pilon, Les cloîtres de l'été, Montréal: l'Hexagone^[21]

• Louis Aragon, Les Yeux et la memoire^[22]
• Jean Cocteau, Clair–obscur^[23]
• René Daumal, Poésie noire, poésie blanche, posthumously published (died 1944)^[23]
• Jean Follain, Appareil de la terre^[23]
• Jean Grosjean, Fils de l'homme^[23]
• Henri Michaux, Face au verrous^[22]

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

• Girija Kumar Mathur, Dhup ke dhan^[24]
• Namvar Singh, Chayavad, literary criticism that offers a radically new interpretation of the romantic movement in Hindi poetry; shows the social foundations of Hindi romanticism and its ties to the progressive movement that followed it^[24]
• Premchand, Sahitya Ka Uddesya, literary essays; published posthumously^[24]

• P. K. Paramesvaran Nair, Adhunika Sahitya Caritram, history of Malayalam literature (later translated into English and published by Sahitya Akademi in 1967 under the title History of Malayalam Literature)^[24]
• P. Kunjiraman Nair, Kaliyacchan, poems reflecting traditional ways of life in Kerala^[24]
• Sreedhara Menon, Kunnimenikal^[24]
• Sukumar Azhikode, Asante Sitakavyam, critical assessment of Kumaran Asan's Cintavishtayaya^[24]

• Gian Chand Jain, Urdu ki nasri dastanen, literary criticism on classical Urdu fiction ("dastan"), written in that language^[24]
• Jigar Brelvi, Payam-i Savitri, a narrative poem on Savitri, a figure from Hindu mythology; Urdu^[24]
• Masood Husain Khan, Urdu zaban aur adab, critical study on the Urdu language and literature^[24]

• Baldev Gajra, also known as "Gumnam", Gumnam Sada, nationalist poems; Sindhi^[24]
• Buddhadeb Basu, Sahitya Carca, essays on various literary topics; Bengali^[24]
• Jayant Pathak, Marmar, the author's first poetry collection; Gujarati^[24]
• M. Gopalakrishna Adiga, Cendemaddale, Kannada^[24]
• Mohan Singh, Awazan, lyrics with a "romantic progressive ideology", according to Indian academic Sisir Kumar Das; Punjabi^[24]
• Nand Lal Ambardar, Loel Ta Husun, including "Roopavat", Kashmiri^[24]
• Nirendranath Chakraborty (also transliterated into English as Nirendranath Chakravarti, ), Nilnirjan (also transliterated into English as Nirendranath Chakravarti), mostly love poems, although one or two have political elements,^[24] Kolkata: Signet Press; Bengali-language^[25]
• Raghunath Singh Samyal, Dogra Desa Te Dogari Boli, Dogri poetry praising Dograland, Dogra people and the Dogri language^[24]
• Tulasibahadur Chetri, nicknamed "Apatan", Samkalpa ("Resolve"), Nepali^[24]
• Madhunapantula Satyanarayanashastri, also spelled "Madhunapantula Satyanarayana Sastri", Andhra Puranamu, Telugu, (surname: Madhunapantula)^[24]
• Manoj Das, Padadvani, Oriya^[24]
• Satramdas, also known as "Sail", Rama Katha, 32 cantos in a Persian meter, written in the wake of the partition of India in 1947; Sindhi^[24]
• Visvanatha Satyanarayana, Nannayagari prasanna Katha Kalitartha Yukti, critical appraisal of Nannaya; Telugu^[24]

• Simin Behbahani, Ja-ye Pa ("Footprint"), Persia
• José Santos Chocano, Obras completas, pról. de Luis Alberto Sánchez Madrid, Aguilar, Peruvian poetry published in Spain^[26]
• Haim Gouri, Shirei Hotam ("Poems of the Seal"), Israeli writing in Hebrew^[27]
• Sorley MacLean, Hallaig, Scottish Gaelic (in Gairm 8)^[28]
• Pier Paolo Pasolini, La meglio gioventù, Friulian language published in Italy
• Maria Luisa Spaziani, Le acque del sabato, Italy
• Wisława Szymborska, Pytania zadawane sobie ("Questioning Yourself"), Poland
• Tin Ujević, Žedan kamen na studencu ("Thirsty stone at the wellspring"), Croatian

• National Book Award for Poetry: Conrad Aiken, Collected Poems
• Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: Theodore Roethke: The Waking
• King's Gold Medal for Poetry: Ralph Hodgson
• Bollingen Prize: W. H. Auden
• Fellowship of the Academy of American Poets: Louise Townsend Nicholl and Oliver St. John Gogarty
• Canada: Governor General's Award, poetry or drama: The Metal and the Flower, P. K. Page^[29]

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

• February 9 – Ian Duhig, English poet
• February 13 – Vijay Seshadri, Indian poet, essayist and literary critic who emigrates to the United States c. 1959
• February 21 – Francisco X. Alarcón (died 2016), Mexican-American poet
• February 27 – Thylias Moss, African-American poet, writer and playwright
• March 4 – Irina Ratushinskaya, Russian samizdat poet
• March 26 – Dorothy Porter (died 2008), Australian
• April 17 – Erín Moure, Canadian
• May 5 – Hamid Ismailov, Uzbek writer
• May 25 – Alexei Parshchikov (died 2009), Russian poet, critic and translator who emigrates to the United States in 1991
• July 5 – Kevin Hart, Australian
• July 19 – Jane Eaton Hamilton, Canadian short story writer, poet and photographer
• July 31 – Kim Addonizio, American poet and novelist
• August 6 – Lorna Dee Cervantes, American poet
• August 8 – Yu Jian, China^[30]
• August 15 – Mary Jo Salter, American
• October 15 – Peter Bakowski, Australian
• November 10 – Joy Goswami, Indian Bengali poet (a man)
• December 5 – Lynda Hull, American
• December 20 – Sandra Cisneros, American poet and author
• December 27 – David Baker, American
• Also:
  • Catherine Anderson (poet), American
  • Robert Boates, Canadian
  • Brother Resistance, Trinidadian (died 2021)
  • Janet Charman, New Zealand
  • Imtiaz Dharker, Pakistan-born British
  • Cornelius Eady, African American
  • David Hallett, Australian
  • Sotiris Kakisis, Greek
  • Jan Heller Levi, American
  • Ahmed Matar, Iraqi poet
  • Ibrahim Nasrallah, Jordanian-Palestinian poet and novelist
  • Luis J. Rodriguez, American poet, novelist, journalist, critic and columnist
  • Stephen Sartarelli, poet and translator
  • Deb Westbury (died 2018),^[31] Australian