The+Poets+Laureate

=// ** The U. S. Poets Laureate ** //=




 * “Background of the Poet Laureateship” from The Library of Congress website** (Find links below to the last 11 Laureates.)

A **Poet Laureate** is a [|poet] officially appointed by a government and is often expected to compose poems for State occasions and other government events. In [|England], the term has for centuries been the title of the official poet of the [|monarch] , appointed for life since the time of [|Charles II]. Poets laureate are appointed by many countries.

The Library of Congress keeps to a minimum the specific duties required of the Poet Laureate in order to permit incumbents to work on their own projects while at the Library. Each brings a new emphasis to the position. In the period prior to 1986 when the library’s Consultant in Poetry was designated Laureate by the Congress, Allen Tate served in 1943-44 as editor of the Library’s publication, //The Quarterly Journal of the Library of Congress//, and edited the compilation "Sixty American Poets, 1896-1944." Some consultants have suggested and chaired literary festivals and conferences; others have spoken in a number of schools and universities.



Increasingly in recent years, the incumbents have sought new ways to broaden the role of poetry in our national life. Maxine Kumin initiated a popular women’s series of poetry workshops at the Library’s Poetry and Literature Center. Gwendolyn Brooks met with groups of elementary school children to encourage them to write poetry. Howard Nemerov conducted seminars at the Library for high school English classes. Most incumbents and many other poets reading at the Library of Congress have contributed to the Library’s Archive of Recorded Poetry and Literature. Joseph Brodsky initiated the idea of providing poetry in public places–supermarkets, hotels, airports and hospitals. Rita Dove brought a program of poetry and jazz to the Library’s literary series, along with a reading by young Crow Indian poets and a two-day conference titled "Oil on the Waters: The Black Diaspora," featuring panel discussions, readings and music.

Robert Hass sponsored a major conference on nature writing called "Watershed," which continues today as a national poetry competition for elementary and high school students, titled "River of Words." Robert Pinsky initiated his Favorite Poem Project, which energized a nation of poetry readers to share their favorite poems in readings across the country and in audio and video recordings. Billy Collins instituted the Web site Poetry180 ([|www.loc.gov/poetry/180]), which brought a poem a day into every high school classroom in all parts of the country via the central announcement system.

More recently, Ted Kooser created a free weekly newspaper column ([|www.americanlifeinpoetry.org]) that features a brief poem by a contemporary American poet and an introduction to the poem by Kooser. Donald Hall participated in the first-ever joint poetry readings of the U.S. Poet Laureate and British Poet Laureate Andrew Motion in a program called "Poetry Across the Atlantic," also sponsored by the Poetry Foundation. Charles Simic provided tips on writing at [|www.loc.gov/poetry] as well as a teaching a master class for accomplished poets at the Library of Congress.


 * Below are links to pages where you can learn about the last 10 U. S. Poets Laureate. Below the links is a complete list of the Laureates, from the first one in 1937 up through the ten featured here.** **You can find out lots more about each of the poets at Poetry.org, the website of //Poetry// Magazine.**


 * Rita Dove, 1993-1995
 * Robert Hass, 1995-1997


 * Robert Pinsky, 1997-2000


 * Stanley Kunitz, 2000-2001


 * Billy Collins, 2001-2003


 * Louise Glück, 2003-2004[[image:kay-ryan-niagara.jpg width="138" height="201" align="right" link="Kay Ryan, 2008-2009"]]


 * Ted Kooser, 2004-2006


 * Donald Hall, 2006-2007


 * Charles Simic, 2007-2008


 * Kay Ryan, 2008-2009


 * W. S. Merwin, 2010-2011

Review of Ryan's 2010 anthology in the New York Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/05/books/05book.html?ref=books


 * Consultants in Poetry and Poets Laureate, and their terms of service, are listed below.**
 * The work of the bolded poets you can find in your //Sound and Sense// books**.


 * Joseph Auslander, 1937-1941
 * Allen Tate, 1943-1944
 * Robert Penn Warren, 1944-1945 (his poem "Evening Hawk" was used on the 2006 exam)
 * Louise Bogan, 1945-1946
 * Karl Shapiro, 1946-1947
 * Robert Lowell, 1947-1948
 * Leonie Adams, 1948-1949
 * **Elizabeth Bishop**, 1949-1950 (pp. 53, 297, 347)
 * Conrad Aiken, 1950-1952, the first to serve two terms
 * **William Carlos Williams**, appointed in 1952 but did not serve (pp. 17, 60, 241, 413) [[image:dali_painting.jpg width="245" height="351" align="right" caption="Girl at the Window (Dali, 1925)"]]
 * **Randall Jarrell**, 1956-1958 (p. 378)
 * **Robert Frost**, 1958-1959 (featured poet)
 * **Richard Eberhart**, 1959-1961 (p. 165)
 * Louis Untermeyer, 1961-1963
 * Howard Nemerov, 1963-1964
 * Reed Whittemore, 1964-1965
 * Stephen Spender, 1965-1966
 * James Dickey, 1966-1968
 * William Jay Smith, 1968-1970
 * **William Stafford**, 1970-1971 (pp. 194, 216)
 * Josephine Jacobsen, 1971-1973
 * Daniel Hoffman, 1973-1974
 * Stanley Kunitz, 1974-1976
 * **Robert Hayden**, 1976-1978 (pp. 12, 66)
 * William Meredith, 1978-1980
 * Maxine Kumin, 1981-1982
 * Anthony Hecht, 1982-1984
 * Robert Fitzgerald, 1984-1985, appointed and served in a health-limited capacity
 * Reed Whittemore, 1984-1985, Interim Consultant in Poetry
 * **Gwendolyn Brooks**, 1985-1986 (pp. 16, 190, 348, 349)
 * Robert Penn Warren, 1986-1987, first to be Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry
 * **Richard Wilbur,** 1987-1988 (pp. 81, 102)
 * Howard Nemerov, 1988-1990
 * Mark Strand, 1990-1991
 * Joseph Brodsky, 1991-1992
 * Mona Van Duyn, 1992-1993