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The Poet Laureate

Library of Congress Poets Since 1937
 More of this Feature
• 1: About the Poet Laureate Position
 
 From Other Guides
• Survivor Poet
• Poetry of Business
• Teaching Poetry to Kids
• African American Poets
Many More Poetry Articles
Poet Laureate Reference Page
 
 Elsewhere on the Web
• LOC Archive of Poetry & Literature
• National Endowment for the Arts
Agencies That Fund the Arts
 
 

On the following is a list of persons who have held the Library of Congress Poetry Position, or Poet Laureate since 1937. [Also see: The Laureates With Links to Their Poems]

  • Joseph Auslander, 1937-1941 (Auslander's appointment to the Poetry chair had no fixed term)
  • Allen Tate, 1943-1944
  • Robert Penn Warren, 1944-1945
  • Louise Bogan, 1945-1946
  • Karl Shapiro, 1946-1947
  • Robert Lowell, 1947-1948
  • Leonie Adams, 1948-1949
  • Elizabeth Bishop, 1949-1950
  • Conrad Aiken, 1950-1952 (First to serve two terms)
  • William Carlos Williams (Appointed in 1952 but did not serve)
  • Randall Jarrell, 1956-1958
  • Robert Frost, 1958-1959
  • Richard Eberhart, 1959-1961
  • 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
  • Josephine Jacobsen, 1971-1973
  • Daniel Hoffman, 1973-1974
  • Stanley Kunitz, 1974-1976
  • Robert Hayden, 1976-1978
  • William Meredith, 1978-1980
  • Maxine Kumin,1981-1982
  • Anthony Hecht, 1982-1984
  • Robert Fitzgerald, 1984-1985 (Appointed and served in a health-limited capacity, but did not come to the Library of Congress)
  • Reed Whittemore, 1984-1985 (Interim Consultant in Poetry)
  • Gwendolyn Brooks, 1985-1986
  • Robert Penn Warren, 1986-1987 (First to be designated Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry)
  • Richard Wilbur, 1987-1988
  • Howard Nemerov, 1988-1990
  • Mark Strand, 1990-1991
  • Joseph Brodsky, 1991-1992
  • Mona Van Duyn, 1992-1993
  • Rita Dove, 1993-1995
  • Robert Hass, 1995-1997
  • Robert Pinsky, 1997-2000 (First to serve three consecutive terms. Special Consultants in 1999-2000: Rita Dove, Louise Glück, and W.S. Merwin) 
  • Stanley Kunitz, 2000-2001

[The Laureates With Links to Their Poems]

Archive of Recorded Poetry and Literature
From the Library of Congress

 

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