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Let not Ambition mock their useful toil,
Their homely joys, and destiny obscure;
Nor Grandeur hear with a disdainful smile
The short and simple annals of the poor.
— Thomas Gray, Elegy Written in a Country Church-Yard, published this year
Nationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature (for instance, Irish or France).
Events
- Christopher Smart wins the Seatonian Prize for the second year in a row. He will also win the prize in 1753 and 1755.
Works published
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Portrait of Thomas Gray by Benjamin Wilson, date unknown, with image of the church at Stoke Poges where Gray composed An Elegy Written in a Country Church-Yard and where Gray is buried
United Kingdom
- Richard Owen Cambridge, The Scribleriad, in six books, first published separately from January through March[1]
- Thomas Cooke, An Ode on the Powers of Poetry, published anonymously[1]
- Nathaniel Cotton, Visions in Verse, published anonymously, a verse version for children of Gay's Fables 1727[1]
- Thomas Gray, Elegy Written in a Country Church-Yard, published anonymously, a literary sensation published February 15 by Robert Dodsley in a quarto pamphlet with a preface by Horace Walpole (reprinted in Designes by Mr. R. Bentley 1753 and in Gray's Poems 1768);[1] an important work of the Graveyard poets movement
- Mary Leapor, Poems Upon several Occasions, edited by Samuel Richardson and Isaac Hawkins, published posthumously (see also Poems upon Several Occasions 1748[1]
- Moses Mendes, The Seasons[1]
- Alexander Pope, The Works of Alexander Pope, edited by William Warburton, published posthumously[1]
Switzerland, German language
- Johann Jakob Bodmer:
- Die Sundflutz, an epic
- Noah, an epic
- Solomon Gessner, Lied eines Schweizers an sein bewaffnetes Madchen, German-language work published in Switzerland
Other
- Christoph Martin Wieland, Nature of Things, alexandrine verse, in six books; Germany[2]
Births
Death years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article:
- January 22 – David Richards (Dafydd Ionawr) (died 1827), Welsh poet
- February 20 – Johann Heinrich Voss (died 1826), German poet
- October 15 – David Samwell (Dafydd Ddu Feddyg) (died 1798), Welsh naval surgeon and poet
- October 30 – Richard Brinsley Sheridan (died 1816), Irish playwright, poet, speechwriter and Whig politician
- Probable date – Mary Scott (died 1793), English poet
- Approximate date – Henrietta Battier (died 1813), Irish poet, satirist and actress
Deaths
Birth years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article:
- April 19 – John Bancks (Banks) (born 1709), English poet and author
- May 24 – William Hamilton (born 1665?), Scottish comic poet
- October 26 – Philip Doddridge (born 1702), English Nonconformist preacher and writer