1820 in literature

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This article presents lists of the literary events and publications in 1820.

Events

January 16 - Poems Descriptive of Rural Life and Scenery by "Northamptonshire peasant poet" John Clare is published in England by John Taylor.^[1]
April 22 - Walter Scott is created 1st baronet of Abbotsford in the County of Roxburgh in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom.^[2]
September - Poet John Keats, suffering from tuberculosis, leaves London to take up residence in the house on the Spanish Steps in Rome where he will die in 1821.
November 20 - An 80-ton sperm whale attacks the Essex, a whaleship from Nantucket, Massachusetts, 2,000 miles off the western coast of South America. Herman Melville's 1851 novel Moby-Dick is in part inspired by this story.
Robert Chambers's publishing company publishes The Songs of Robert Burns.
Thomas Kendall has the first book printed in the Māori language, A korao no New Zealand; or, the New Zealander's first book; being an attempt to compose some lessons for the instruction of the natives, published in Sydney, Australia.^[3]
First translation of the Old English epic poem Beowulf into a modern language, Danish, Bjovulfs Drape, made by N. F. S. Grundtvig.
The Cambridge Apostles, an intellectual discussion group, is established at the University of Cambridge in England.

January 17 – Anne Brontë, English novelist and poet (died 1849)
February 28 – John Tenniel, English illustrator and cartoonist (died 1914)
March 17 – Jean Ingelow, English poet and novelist (died 1897)
March 30 – Anna Sewell, English novelist (died 1878)
April 26 – Alice Cary, American poet and short-story writer (died 1871)
June 21 – James Halliwell-Phillipps, English bibliophile (died 1889)
August 13 – Sir George Grove, English writer and lexicographer on music (died 1900)
September 17 – Émile Augier, French dramatist (died 1889)
October 14 – John Harris, English poet (died 1884)
November 23 – Afanasy Fet, Russian poet, essayist and short-story writer (died 1892)
November 28 – Friedrich Engels, German socialist writer (died 1895)

February 5 – William Drennan, Irish poet, radical and educationalist (born 1754)
March 20 – Eaton Stannard Barrett, Irish satirical poet and novelist (born 1786)
May 1 – Richmal Mangnall, English schoolbook writer (born 1769)
July 16 – William Hazlitt Sr., Irish writer, radical and Unitarian minister (born 1737)
November 12 – William Hayley, English poet and biographer (born 1745)
Unknown date – Nguyễn Du, Vietnamese poet (born 1766)

↑ [Gilchrist, Octavius] (1820). "Some Account of John Clare, an Agricultural Labourer and Poet". The London Magazine.
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