— From Lewis Carroll's "Jabberwocky", published as part of Through the Looking Glass

'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves

Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

"Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun

The frumious Bandersnatch!"

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

• April – French author Victor Hugo moves to Brussels to take care of the family of his son, who has just died, but closely follows events in the Paris Commune, on April 21 publishing the poem "Pas de représailles" (No reprisals) and on June 11 writing the poem "Sur une barricade" (On the barricade).

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

• February 3 – Francis Joseph Sherman (died 1926), Canadian
• February 25 (February 13 Old Style) – Lesya Ukrainka, born Larysa Kosach (died 1913), Ukrainian
• April 16 – John Millington Synge (died 1909), Irish dramatist, poet, prose writer, collector of folklore, a prominent figure in the Irish Literary Revival and a co-founder of the Abbey Theatre
• June 17 – James Weldon Johnson (died 1938), African-American author, poet, early civil rights activist and prominent figure in the Harlem Renaissance
• July 3 – W. H. Davies (died 1940), Welsh-born poet and writer who spends most of his life as a tramp in the United States and United Kingdom, but becomes known as one of the most popular poets of his time
• July 15 – Kunikida Doppo 國木田 獨歩 (died 1908), Japanese, Meiji period romantic poet and one of the novelists who pioneers naturalism in Japan (surname: Kunikida)
• September 2 – John Le Gay Brereton (died 1933), Australian poet, critic and academic
• September 9 – Ralph Hodgson (died 1962), British
• October 30 – Paul Valéry (died 1945), French philosopher, author and Symbolist poet who also writes essays and aphorisms on art, history, letters, music and current events
• November 1 – Stephen Crane (died 1900), American novelist, poet and journalist
• Date not known
  • Hafez Ibrahim (died 1932), Egyptian, Arabic-language "poet of the Nile"
  • Madhavanuj, pen name of Kashinath Hari Modak (died 1917), Indian, Marathi-language poet and translator; a physician^[4]

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

• February 12 – Alice Cary (born 1820), American poet
• April 23 – James Monroe Whitfield (born 1822), African-American barber, poet and abolitionist
• May 11
  • John Herschel (born 1792), English polymath
  • Thomas Buchanan Read (born 1822), American poet and portrait painter
• July 31 – Phoebe Cary (born 1824), sister of Alice, American poet
• September 22 – Charlotte Elliott (born 1789), English religious poet

• 19th century in poetry
• 19th century in literature
• List of years in poetry
• List of years in literature
• Victorian literature
• French literature of the 19th century
• Poetry