1857 in poetry

• Commissioned with other Hungarian poets to write a poem of praise for a visit of Franz Joseph I of Austria to his country, János Arany instead produces the subversive ballad The Bards of Wales (A walesi bárdok), unpublished until 1863.

• Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Aurora Leigh, dated this year but first published at the end of 1856
• Edward Bulwer-Lytton, writing under the pen name "Owen Meredith", The Wanderer^[1]
• Elizabeth Gaskell, The Life of Charlotte Brontë, Smith, Elder & Co., biography
• Frederick Locker, London Lyrics (12 re-editions to 1893)
• Denis MacCarthy, Underglimpses, and Other Poems^[1]
• Theodore Martin, translated from Adam Oehlenschlager, Aladdin; or, The Wonderful Lamp

• William Allen Butler, Nothing to Wear, published posthumously (first published anonymously in Harper's Weekly);^[2] the poem sold well, despite the financial panic; when a woman declared she was the author, the resulting controversy helped sales (see Mortimer Thomson's poem describing the controversy, below)^[3]
• Paul Hamilton Hayne, Sonnets and Other Poems^[2]
• Francis Scott Key, Poems^[2]
• James Lawson, Poems^[2]
• Alexander Beaufort Meek, Songs and Poems of the South^[2]
• Mortimer Thomson, writing under the pen name "Q. K. Philander Doesticks, P. B." (Without the pen name's abbreviations: "Queer Kritter Philander Doesticks, Perfect Brick"),^[4] Nothing to Say: A Slight Slap at Mobocratic Snobbery, Which Has "Nothing to Do" with "Nothing to Wear"^[2] on the controversy over the authorship of William Allen Butler's poem Nothing to Wear; Thomson was offered a dollar a line for a poem on the subject, submitted an 800-line poem and was paid in full; illustrated by John McLenan; the book sold well^[3]
• Richard Henry Stoddard, Songs of Summer^[2]
• John Greenleaf Whittier:
  • The Sycamores^[2]
  • The Poetical Works of John Greenleaf Whittier^[2]

• Charles Heavysege, Saul: A Drama in Three Parts, first edition (second edition, 1869); Canada^[5]
• James Lionel Michael, Songs without Music, lyrics, Australia

• Théodore de Banville, Odes funambulesques, France
• Charles Baudelaire, Les Fleurs du mal ("Flowers of Evil"), France
• Giosuè Carducci, Rime, Italy
• Rosalia de Castro, La Flor, Galician Spanish poet, writing in Spanish
• Friedrich Reinhold Kreutzwald, Kalevipoeg, Estonia, revised version begins first publication
• Jan Neruda, Hřbitovní kvítí ("Cemetery Flowers"), Czech

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

• February 27 – Agnes Mary Frances Duclaux, née Robinson (died 1944), English-born poet and biographer
• March 17 – Benjamin Franklin King, Jr. (died 1894), American poet
• April 11 – John Davidson (suicide 1909), Scottish poet and playwright
• April 17 – Jane Barlow (died 1917), Irish poet and novelist
• June 13 – Hubert Church (died 1932), Australian poet
• September 22 – James Hebblethwaite (died 1921), Australian poet and clergyman
• Undated – Kaikobad (কায়কোবাদ) (also spelt "Kaykobad" and also known as Mohakobi Kaikobad ("Kaikobad the great poet"), pen name of Kazem Al Quereshi (died 1951), Bengali poet

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

• February 9 – Dionysios Solomos Διονύσιος Σολωμός (born 1798), Greek poet best known for the Hymn to Liberty, the first two stanzas of which became the Greek national anthem
• March 11 – Manuel José Quintana (born 1772), Spanish
• April 11 – John Davidson (died 1909), Scottish poet and playwright
• May 2 – Alfred de Musset (born 1810), French poet and novelist
• June 25 – Isabella Kelly (born 1759), Scottish-born novelist and poet
• October 14 – Alexander Laing (born 1787), Scottish poet
• November 26 – Joseph von Eichendorff (born 1788), German poet and novelist
• December 13 – Richard Furness, "The Poet of Eyam" (born 1791), English
• Undated – Anna Ehrenström (born 1786), Swedish poet

• 19th century in poetry
• 19th century in literature
• List of years in poetry
• List of years in literature
• Victorian literature
• French literature of the 19th century
• Poetry