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POETS LAUREATE
What the heck is a poet laureate?
PronouncE
POET LAUREATe
If you are a poet laureate
in England you are officially the top poet of the
country and, best of all, you get a salary from the
royal household.
Alfred
Tennyson was one of the lucky bastards. If you
are a poet laureate in the US you are also the
consultant in poetry for the Library of Congress and
have to show up at certain national ceremonies.
Why laureate you ask? The laurel was Apollo's
favorite tree. Apollo in turn was the god of music,
dance, rubber ducks, and poetry.
Here follows a
list of the all poets laureate.
|
Poets Laureate -
Britain
|
Poets Laureate
in the US |
|
|
Year |
Name |
Year |
Name |
|
1668
- 1689 |
John
Dryden |
1937
- 1941 |
Joseph Auslander |
|
1689
- 1692 |
Thomas Shadwell |
1943
- 1944 |
Allen
Tate |
|
1692
- 1715 |
Nahum
Tate |
1944
- 1945 |
Robert Penn Warren |
|
1715
- 1718 |
Nicholas Rowe |
1945
- 1946 |
Louise Bogan |
|
1718
- 1730 |
Laurence Eusden |
1946
- 1947 |
Karl
Shapiro |
|
1730
- 1757 |
Colley Cibber |
1947
- 1948 |
Robert Lowell |
|
1757
- 1785 |
William Whitehead |
1948
- 1949 |
Leonie Adams |
|
1785
- 1790 |
Thomas Warton |
1949
- 1950 |
Elizabeth Bishop |
|
1790
- 1813 |
Henry
James Pye |
1950
- 1952 |
Conrad Aiken |
|
1813
- 1843 |
Robert Southey |
(didn't serve) |
William Carlos Williams |
|
1843
- 1850 |
William Wordsworth |
1956
- 1958 |
Randall Jarrell |
|
1850
- 1892 |
Alfred Tennyson |
1958
- 1959 |
Robert Frost |
|
1896
- 1913 |
Alfred Austin |
1959
- 1961 |
Richard Eberhart |
|
1913
- 1930 |
Robert Bridges |
1961
- 1963 |
Louis
Untermeyer |
|
1930
- 1967 |
John
Masefield |
1963
- 1964 |
Howard Nemerov |
|
1968
- 1972 |
Cecil
Day-Lewis |
1964
- 1965 |
Reed
Whittemore |
|
1972
- 1984 |
Sir
John Betjeman |
1965
- 1966 |
Stephen Spender |
|
1984
- 1998 |
Ted
Hughes |
1966
- 1968 |
James
Dickey |
|
1999
- today |
Andrew Motion |
1968
- 1970 |
William Jay Smith |
|
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|
1970
- 1971 |
William Stafford |
|
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|
1971
- 1973 |
Josephine Jacobsen |
|
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|
1973
- 1974 |
Daniel Hoffman |
|
|
|
1974
- 1976 |
Stanley Kunitz |
|
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|
1976
- 1978 |
Robert Hayden |
|
|
|
1978
- 1980 |
William Meredith |
|
|
|
1981
- 1982 |
Maxine Kumin |
|
|
|
1982
- 1984 |
Anthony Hecht |
|
|
|
1984
- 1985 |
Robert Fitzgerald,
Reed Whittemore
(Bob was old and
needed some help) |
|
|
|
1985
- 1986 |
Gwendolyn Brooks |
|
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1986
- 1987 |
Robert Penn Warren |
|
|
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1987
- 1988 |
Richard Wilbur |
|
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|
1988
- 1990 |
Howard Nemerov |
|
|
|
1990
- 1991 |
Mark
Strand |
|
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1991
- 1992 |
Joseph Brodsky |
|
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1992
- 1993 |
Mona
Van Duyn |
|
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1993
- 1995 |
Rita
Dove |
|
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1995
- 1997 |
Robert Hass |
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1997
- 2000 |
Robert Pinsky |
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2000
- 2001 |
Stanley Kunitz |
|
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2001
- 2003 |
Billy
Collins |
|
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2003
- 2004 |
Louise Gluck |
|
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2004
- 2006 |
Ted
Kooser |
|
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2006
- today |
Donald Hall |
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