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.

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