Poets Laureate of the United States
Updated June 14, 2021 |
Infoplease Staff
The National Poets
The Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress is appointed by the Librarian of Congress and serves from October to May. The position has existed under two separate titles: from 1937 to 1986 as “Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress” and from 1986 forward as “Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry.” The name was changed by an act of Congress in 1985. The current Poet Laureate is Joy Harjo.
| Consultants in Poetry | |
| Joseph Auslander | 1937-1941 |
| 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 |
| William Carlos Williams | 1952 |
| Randall Jarrell | 1953-1960 |
| 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 |
| Reed Whittemore | 1984-1985 |
| Gwendolyn Brooks | 1985-1986 |
| Poets Laureate | |
| Robert Penn Warren | 1986-1987 |
| 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 |
| Stanley Kunitz | 2000-2001 |
| Billy Collins | 2001-2003 |
| Louise Glück | 2003-2004 |
| Ted Kooser | 2004-2006 |
| Donald Hall | 2006-2007 |
| Charles Simic | 2007-2008 |
| Kay Ryan | 2008-2010 |
| W.S. Merwin | 2010-2011 |
| Philip Levine | 2011-2012 |
| Natasha Trethewey | 2012-2014 |
| Charles Wright | 2014-2015 |
| Juan Felipe Herrera | 2015-2017 |
| Tracy K. Smith | 2017-2019 |
| Joy Harjo | 2019- |
NOTE: The post was established in 1985. Appointment is for a one-year term, but is renewable.
| Best American Journalism of the 20th Century | Literature and Books | Poets Laureate of England |
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