Poet Laureates UK & US

From:

http://www.cftech.com/BrainBank/OTHERREFERENCE/LITERATURE/PoetLaurt.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poet_Laureate#List_of_Poets_Laureate_of_England

http://www.loc.gov/poetry/laureate-2001-present.html

English Poet Laureates

In 1616 Ben Jonson was named England's first poet laureate; however, the title did not become an official royal office until 1668, when John Dryden assumed the honored post. Since that time, the office has been awarded for life. The poet laureate is responsible for composing poems for court and national occasions. At the time of each laureate's death, it is the duty of the prime minister to nominate successors from which the reigning sovereign will choose. It is the Lord Chamberlain who appoints the poet laureate by issuing a warrant to the laureate-elect. The life appointment is always announced in the London Gazette .

Mediæval

Gulielmus Peregrinus employed by Richard Coeur de Lion
Master Henry was Versificator Regis, or King's Poet employed by Henry III (according to Thomas Warton)
Geoffrey Chaucer (1340-1400)
John Kay in the reign of Edward IV, 1461-1483

Tudor

Bernard Andre of Toulouse (1450-1522), author of Vita regis Henrici Septimi called himself Poet Laureate under Henry VII
John Skelton was the Poet Laureate under Henry VIII
Edmund Spenser died in 1599

Stuart

After Spenser's death, the office was awarded on a more regular basis. Once chosen, poets laureate would serve for life. They received an annual pension, and were expected to write poetry for formal occasions.

1599 Samuel Daniel
1619 Ben Jonson
1637 Sir William Davenant (a godson of William Shakespeare)

Laureateship	Poet	Birth - Death Dates
1668-88	John Dryden	1631-1700
1689-92	Thomas Shadwell	1643?-92
1692-1715	Nahum Tate	1652-1715
1715-18	Nicholas Rowe	1674-1718
1718-30	Laurence Eusden	1688-1730
1730-57	Colley Cibber	1671-1757
* 1757-85	William Whitehead, on the refusal of Thomas Gray	1715-85
1785-90	Thomas Warton, on the refusal of William Mason	1728-90
1790-1813	Henry James Pye	1745-1813
1813-43	Robert Southey, on the refusal of Sir Walter Scott	1774-1843
1843-50	William Wordsworth	1770-1850
** 1850-92	Alfred, Lord Tennyson	1809-92
1896-1913	Alfred Austin, on the refusal of William Morris	1835-1913
1913-30	Robert Bridges	1844-1930
1930-67	John Masefield, OM	1878-1967
1968-72	Cecil Day-Lewis, CBE	1904-72
1972-84	Sir John Betjeman, CBE	1906-84
1984-98	Ted Hughes, OM, on the refusal of Philip Larkin	1930-98
1999	Andrew Motion	1999-

* The 1757 appointment was declined by Thomas Gray.

** The 1850 appointment was declined by Samuel Rogers.

American Poet Laureates

From: http://lcweb.loc.gov/poetry/laureate.html & http://www.loc.gov/poetry/laureate-2001-present.html

Poets Who Have Held the Library of Congress Poetry Position, 1937-Present

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 Bicentennial Consultants, 1999-2000: Rita Dove, Louise Glück, and W.S. Merwin)
Stanley Kunitz, 2000-2001
Billy Collins, 2001-2002
Louise Glück, 2003-2004
Ted Kooser, 2004-2006
Donald Hall, 2006-

Poet Laureates of other countries:

· Poet Laureate of Canada

· Poet Laureate of the United Nations

· Poets Laureate of South Africa

· Poet Laureate for San Francisco 2002

· Poet Laureate of Queens, New York

· Parliamentary Poet Laureate of Canada

· Arts Wales press release on appointment of Gwyneth Lewis

· Daphnaides: On the English Laurel, from Chaucer to Tennyson History of the Laureates, in Atlantic Monthly, Volume 2, Issue 11, September, 1858, from Project Gutenberg

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