1751 in poetry

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.

United Kingdom

 * Richard Owen Cambridge, The Scribleriad, in six books, first published separately from January through March
 * Thomas Cooke, An Ode on the Powers of Poetry, published anonymously
 * Nathaniel Cotton, Visions in Verse, published anonymously, a verse version for children of Gay's Fables 1727
 * 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); 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
 * Moses Mendes, The Seasons
 * Alexander Pope, The Works of Alexander Pope, edited by William Warburton, published posthumously

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

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