General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards. United Kingdom Cholmondeley Award: Patric Dickinson, Philip Larkin Eric Gregory Award: John Beynon, Ian Caws, James Fenton, Keith Harris, David Howarth, Philip Pacey Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry: John Heath-Stubbs United States Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress (later the post would be called "Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress"): Daniel Hoffman appointed this year. American Academy of Arts and Letters Gold Medal in Poetry, John Crowe Ransom Bollingen Prize: James Merrill National Book Award for Poetry: A. R. Ammons, Collected Poems, 1951-1971 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: Maxine Kumin, Up Country Fellowship of the Academy of American Poets: W. S. Merwin French language France Max Jacob prize: Hubert Juin for Le Cinquième Poème'' Guillaume Apollinaire prize: Marc Alyn Grand Priz of the French Academy: André Frénaud Grand Aigle d'Or: Eugène Guillevic Births January 1 – Bryan Thao Worra, Laotian-American author, poet, and playwright January 7 – Natalia Belchenko, Ukrainian poet and translator date not known: Ben Doyle (pen name: "Ben Dollar") Duo Yu, Chinese Sonnet L'Abbé, Canadian Paul Vermeersch, Canadian Deaths Birth years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article: March 26 – Noël Coward, 73, English actor, playwright, poet and composer of popular music, of a heart attack May 20 – Charles Brasch, 63, New Zealand poet, literary editor and arts patron June 4 – Arna Bontemps, 70 (born 1902), American poet and member of the Harlem Renaissance, of a heart attack August 17 – Conrad Aiken, 84, of a heart attack September 2 – J. R. R. Tolkien, 81, English novelist, poet and academic September 16 – Víctor Jara, 40, Chilean writer, poet and Communist politician, by political murder September 20 – William Plomer, 69, South African-born British poet, novelist and literary editor, sometimes writing as Robert Pagan September 23 – Pablo Neruda, 69, Chilean writer, poet and Communist politician, from leukemia September 28 – W. H. Auden, 66, English poet, often cited as one of the most influential of the century October 17 – Ingeborg Bachmann (born 1926) Austrian poet and author November 22 – Ramon Guthrie, 77, November 23 – Francis Webb, 48, Australian poet November 24 – John G. Neihardt (born 1881), American author and poet December 11 – May Wedderburn Cannan, 80 (born 1893), English war poet December 14 – Josef Magnus Wehner, 82