1982 in poetry

	… 1972; 1973; 1974; 1975; 1976; 1977; 1978; ; 1979; 1980; 1981; 1982; 1983; 1984; 1985; ; 1986; 1987; 1988; 1989; 1990; 1991; 1992 …;
	In literature 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985
	Art; Archaeology; Architecture; Literature; Music; Philosophy; Science +...;

Nationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature (for instance, Irish or France).

Events

March 1 – Dylan Thomas posthumously honoured by a floor plaque in Poets' Corner, Westminster Abbey
September – The New Criterion founded in New York City
October – Canadian documentary film Poetry in Motion released
Final edition of This magazine published in Canada

Works published in English

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

Australia

M. Duwell, editor, A Possible Contemporary Poetry (scholarship)[1]
Chris Mansell, Head, Heart & Stone (Fling Publishers)
Les Murray:
- Equanimities
- The Vernacular Republic: Poems 1961-1981, Angus & Robertson; Edinburgh, Canongate; New York, Persea Books, 1982 and (enlarged and revised edition) Angus & Robertson, 1988[2]
A. Paolucci and L. Dobrez, editors, Review of National Literatures: Australia (scholarship)

Canada

Margaret Atwood, The New Oxford Book of Canadian Verse in English (anthology)[3]
Margaret Avison, Winter Sun /The Dumbfounding: Poems 1940-66
Dionne Brand, Primitive Offensive
Don Domanski, War in an Empty House
Robert Finch, Twelve for Christmas.[4]
Diane Keating, No Birds or Flowers
Irving Layton, A Wild Peculiar Joy: Selected Poems, 1945-82 Toronto: McClelland and Stewart.[5]
Gwendolyn MacEwen:
- The Fire Eaters.[6]
- The T. E. Lawrence Poems[7]
- Earth-Light: Selected Poetry 1963-1982. Toronto: General Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7736-1117-7
Elizabeth Smart, Eleven Poems
Michael Ondaatje, Running in the Family, memoir, New York: W. W. Norton,[8] ISBN 0-393-01637-4, ISBN 0-7710-6884-0
Wilfred Watson, Mass on Cowback.
Phyllis Webb, The Vision Tree: Selected Poems[7]

India, in English

Keki Daruwalla, The Keeper of the Dead ( Poetry in English ), winner of the Central Sahitya Academy Award in 1984;[9] Delhi: Oxford University Press[10]
Nissim Ezekiel, Latter-Day Psalms ( Poetry in English ),[11]
Arvind Krishna Mehrotra, Distance in Statute Miles ( Poetry in English ),[12]
Suniti Namjoshi, The Authentic Lie ( Poetry in English ), Fredericton, New Brunswick: Fiddlehead, ISBN 0-86492-010-5[13]

Ireland

Dermot Bolger, No Waiting America
Harry Clifton, Comparative Lives, Oldcastle: The Gallery Press, ISBN 978-0-904011-33-3
Pearse Hutchinson, Selected Poems, including "Malaga" and "Gaeltacht", Oldcastle: The Gallery Press[14]
Paul Muldoon, Out of Siberia,[15] Northern Ireland native published in the United Kingdom
Seamus Heaney: Poems and a Memoir, Limited Editions Club, Northern Ireland native living at this time in the United States
Derek Mahon:
- The Hunt by Night, including "Courtyards in Delft", "Rathlin" and "Tractatus", Oxford University Press, Irish poet published in the United Kingdom[14]
- Translator, The Chimeras, Gallery Press, translation from the French of Les Chimères by Nerval
John Montague, Selected Poems, including "A Drink of Milk", "Family Conference" and "The Cave of Night"[14]

New Zealand

Fleur Adcock (New Zealand poet who moved to England in 1963), editor, Oxford Book of Contemporary New Zealand Poetry, Auckland: Oxford University Press[16]
Allen Curnow, You Will Know When You Get There: Poems 1979–81[17]
W. Ihimaera and D. S. Long, Into the World of Light: An Anthology of Maori Writing[18]
Bill Manhire, Good Looks, New Zealand
Cilla McQueen, Homing In,[19] winner of the New Zealand Book Award for Poetry and the 1983 Jessie MacKay Award
W. H. Oliver, Poor Richard: Poems, Wellington: Port Nicholson Press, New Zealand

United Kingdom

Peter Ackroyd, The Great Fire of London[15]
James Berry, Lucy's Letters and Loving[15]
Sir John Betjeman, Uncollected Poems
Roald Dahl, Roald Dahl's Revolting Rhymes
Patric Dickinson, A Rift in Time[15]
Carol Ann Duffy, Fifth Last Song, Headland[20]
Douglas Dunn, Europa's Lover[15]
Gavin Ewart, More Little Ones (see All My Little Ones, 1978)[15]
U. A. Fanthorpe, Standing To[15]
James Fenton, The Memory of War: Poems 1968-1982, Salamander Press,[21]
Geoffrey Grigson:
- Collected Poems, 1963–1980[15]
- The Cornish Dancer, and Other Poems[15]
Thom Gunn, The Passages of Joy
Seamus Heaney: Poems and a Memoir, Limited Editions Club, Northern Ireland native living at this time in the United States
Seamus Heaney and Ted Hughes, editors, The Rattle Bag, Faber, anthology
John Heath-Stubbs, Naming the Beasts
Alan Hollinghurst, Confidential Chats with Boy[15]
Ted Hughes, Selected Poems 1957–1981[15]
Kathleen Jamie, Black Spiders[15]
Roger McGough, Waving at Trains[15]
Derek Mahon, The Hunt By Night. Oxford University Press
Paul Muldoon, Out of Siberia,[15] Northern Ireland native published in the United Kingdom
Nerval, The Chimeras, a version of Les Chimères, translated from French by Derek Mahon, Gallery Press
Norman Nicholson, Selected Poems 1940–82[15]
Tom Rawling, Ghosts At My Back
Jeremy Reed, A Man Afraid[15]
E. J. Scovell, The Space Between[15]
Muriel Spark, Going Up to Sotheby's and Other Poems[15]

United States

A. R. Ammons, Worldly Hopes[22]
Louise Simone Bennett, Selected Poems
Hayden Carruth, The Sleeping Beauty[22]
Nicholas Christopher, On Tour with Rita[22]
Robert Creeley:
- Echoes[23]
- The Collected Poems, 1945–1975[23]
James Dickey, Puella[22]
Hilda Doolittle ("H.D.", died 1961), Notes on Thought and Vision (written in 1919)
Jack Gilbert, Monolithos
Allen Ginsberg, Plutonian Ode: Poems 1977–1980[22]
Seamus Heaney: Poems and a Memoir, Limited Editions Club, Northern Ireland native living at this time in the United States
Jane Hirshfield, Alaya
Phyllis Janowitz, Visiting Rites
Galway Kinnell, Selected Poems[22]
Denise Levertov, Candles in Babylon[22]
William Logan, Sad-faced Men
James Merrill:
- The Changing Light at Sandover,[22] an epic poem
- From the First Nine Poems[22]
W. S. Merwin, Finding the Islands, San Francisco: North Point Press[24]
Reynolds Price, Vital Provisions[22]
Peter Seaton, The Son Master (New York: Roof Books, The Segue Foundation)[25]
Gjertrud Schnackenberg, Portraits and Elegies
Mona Van Duyn, Letters from a Father and Other Poems[22]
Theodore Weiss, Recoveries[22]
James Wright, This Journey[22]

Criticism, scholarship and biography in the United States

William Meredith, Reasons for Poetry, and The Reason for Criticism

Other in English

Edward Brathwaite, Sun Poem, Caribbean poet living and publishing in the United States[26]
Mafika Gwala, No More Lullabies, South Africa
Dennis Scott, Dreadwalk,[26] Jamaica

Works published in other languages

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

France

Aimé Césaire, Moi, laminaire, Martinique author published in France; Paris: Editions du Seuil
Odysseus Elytis, Marie de Brumes translated by Xavier Bordes into French from the original Greek[27]
Abdellatif Laabi, translator, Rires de l'arbre à palabre from the original Arabic of Abdallah Zrika into French; Paris: L'Harmattan

India

Listed in alphabetical order by first name:

Faiz Ahmad Faiz, Sare Sukhan Hamare, Indian, Urdu-language[28]
Gitaujali Badruddin, Poems of Gitaujali (posthumously published)
Jayant Kaikini, Kotitirtha, Sagar, Karnataka: Akshara Prakashana, Indian, Kannada-language poet, short-story writer, and screenwriter[29]
K. Satchidanandan, Malayalam-language:
- Janatayum Kavitayum, ("Poetry and the People"); criticism[30]
- Venal Mazha, ("The Summer Rain")[31]
Rajendra Kishore Panda, Shailakalpa ("Mountainesque"), Cuttack: Grantha Mandir, Oraya-language[32]
Mehr Lal Soni Zia Fatehabadi, Soch ka Safar (The Journey of Thought) - published by R.K.Sehgal, Bazm-e-Seemab, J 5/21, Rajouri Garden, New Delhi in 1982. Urdu
Saroop Dhruv, Mara Hathni Vat, Ahmedabad: Nakshatra Trust, Ahmedabad; Gujarati-language[33]

Poland

Ryszard Krynicki, Jeżeli w jakimś kraju ("If in Some Country). Underground publisher S.i.s.n.[34]
Ewa Lipska, Nie o śmierć tutaj chodzi, lecz o biały kordonek ("Death Is Not at Stake, But the White Cord"), selected poems, Kraków: Wydawnictwo literackie[35]
Czesław Miłosz, Hymn o Perle ("The Poem of the Pearl"); Paris: Instytut Literacki[36]
Tadeusz Różewicz, Pułapka ("The Trap"), Warszawa: Czytelnik[37]
Adam Zagajewski, List - Oda do wielosci ("Letter - An Ode to Quantity"), Kraków: Pólka Poetów, (republished in 1983, Paris: Instytut literacki)[38]

Spain

Matilde Camus:
- Testimonio ("Testimony")
- La preocupación de Miguel Ángel ("The concern of Miguel Angel")

Other

Arturo Corcuera, Puente de los Suspiros, Peru
Odysseus Elytis, Three Poems under a Flag of Convenience (Τρία ποιήματα με σημαία ευκαιρίας), Greece
Ndoc Gjetja, E përditshme ("The Daily"), Albania[39]
Klaus Høeck, Eno Zebra, with Asger Schnack, Denmark[40]
Alexander Mezhirov, Проза в стихах ("Prose in Verse") (winner of the USSR State Prize, 1986), Russia, Soviet Union[41]
Nizar Qabbani, A Poem For Balqis, Syrian poet writing in Arabic
Rajendra Shah, Prasang-Spatak, Indian, writing in Gujarati[42]
Søren Ulrik Thomsen, Ukendt under den samme måne ("Unknown Under the Same Moon"), Denmark
Marie Uguay, Autoportraits, French-Canadian (posthumous)
Silvia Volckmann, Zeit der Kirschen? Das Naturbild in der deutschen Gegenwartslyrik (scholarship), West Germany[43]

Awards and honors