1781 in poetry
# 1781 in poetry

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

## Events

* George Crabbe writes to Edmund Burke asking for financial assistance. The outcome is the publication of Crabbe's poem The Library.

## Works published

### United Kingdom

* William Cowper, Anti-Thelyphthora, published anonymously (see also Martin Madan's Thelyphthora 1780)
* George Crabbe, The Library, published anonymously
* Anne Francis, A Poetical Translation of the Song of Solomon
* William Hayley, The Triumphs of Temper
* George Keate, Poetical Works
* Samuel Jackson Pratt, Sympathy; or, A Sketch of the Social Passion, published anonymously
* Anna Seward, Monody on Major André, on John André, hanged as a spy in the American Revolution

### United States

* Philip Freneau, The British Prison-Ship: A Poem
* William Hayley, "The Triumphs of Temper: A Poem"
* Francis Hopkinson, The Temple of Minerva
* Anna Seward, Monody on Major Andre

### Other

* Santa Rita Durão, Caramuru, Portuguese poem written in Brazil

## Births

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

* January 26 – Ludwig Achim von Arnim (died 1831), German poet and novelist
* March 17 – Ebenezer Elliott (died 1849), English poet, known as the Corn Law rhymer
* September 12 – John Grieve (died 1836), Scottish poet
* November 6 – Lucy Aikin (died 1864), English writer of histories, poetry and novels and translator
* November 29 – Andrés Bello (died 1865), Venezuelan humanist, diplomat, poet, legislator, philosopher, educator and philologist
* December 25? – Sydney, Lady Morgan, née Owenson (died 1859), Irish novelist and poet

## Deaths

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

* January 6 – Mirza Mazhar Jan-e-Janaan (born 1699), Indian, Urdu-language poet, shot
* February 15 – Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (born 1729), German poet
* March 17 – Johannes Ewald (born 1743), Danish national dramatist and poet
* May 8 – Richard Jago (born 1715), English clergyman and poet
* June 25 – Samuel Gotthold Lange (born 1711), German poet
* November 4 – Johann Nikolaus Götz (born 1721), German poet
* Azar Bigdeli (died 1722), Persian anthologist and poet
