1751 in poetry

— Thomas Gray, Elegy Written in a Country Church-Yard, published this year

List of years in poetry (table)
… 1741 1742 1743 1744 1745 1746 1747 1748 1749 1750 1751 1752 1753 1754 1755 1756 1757 1758 1759 1760 1761 …
In literature 1748 1749 1750 1751 1752 1753 1754
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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.

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

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

See also

• Poetry
• List of years in poetry

Notes

1. Cox, Michael, editor, The Concise Oxford Chronology of English Literature, Oxford University Press, 2004, ISBN 0-19-860634-6
2. Thomas, Calvin, A History of German Literature, New York: D. Appleton & Company, 1909, retrieved December 14, 2009