Thanks, Curtis, this is indeed useful. Here's most of the dope on that link.
The Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress serves as the nation’s official lightning rod for the poetic impulse of Americans. During his or her term, the Poet Laureate seeks to raise the national consciousness to a greater appreciation of the reading and writing of poetry.
Archer M. Huntington
(1870-1955) The Poet Laureate is appointed annually by the Librarian of Congress and serves from October to May. In making the appointment, the Librarian consults with former appointees, the current Laureate and distinguished poetry critics. 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 Laureate receives a $35,000 annual stipend funded by a gift from Archer M. Huntington. The Library keeps to a minimum the specific duties in order to afford incumbents maximum freedom to work on their own projects while at the Library. The Laureate gives an annual lecture and reading of his or her poetry and usually introduces poets in the Library's annual poetry series, the oldest in the Washington area, and among the oldest in the United States. This annual series of public poetry and fiction readings, lectures, symposia, and occasional dramatic performances began in the 1940s. Collectively the Laureates have brought more than 2,000 poets and authors to the Library to read for the Archive of Recorded Poetry and Literature.
Each Laureate brings a different emphasis to the position. Joseph Brodsky initiated the idea of providing poetry in airports, supermarkets and hotel rooms. Maxine Kumin started a popular series of poetry workshops for women at the Library of Congress. Gwendolyn Brooks met with elementary school students to encourage them to write poetry. Rita Dove brought together writers to explore the African diaspora through the eyes of its artists. She also championed children's poetry and jazz with poetry events. Robert Hass organized the "Watershed" conference that brought together noted novelists, poets and storytellers to talk about writing, nature and community.
Those interested in reading a more detailed history of the poetry consultantship at the Library of Congress should refer to William McGuire’s Poetry’s Catbird Seat: The Consultantship in Poetry in the English Language at the Library of Congress, 1937-1987 (Washington: Library of Congress, 1988. LC Call No.: Z733.U6M38 1988).
Robert Frost and Carl Sandburg
in the Library of Congress'
Whittall Pavilion, May 2, 1960.
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
Of his appointment, Dr. Billington said, "Stanley Kunitz is a creative poet in his 95th year, having published his first volume of poetry in 1930. He continues to be a mentor and model for several generations of poets, and he brings to the office of Poet Laureate a lifetime of commitment to poetry that is a source of inspiration and admiration for us all. We derive enormous pleasure from his willingness to serve as the nation’s 10th Poet Laureate, bringing to bear his unparalleled knowledge of 20th-century poetry as we enter the 21st century."
Stanley Kunitz, Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the
Library of Congress, 2000-2001.
Photo courtesy of Ted Rosenberg Stanley Kunitz, who occupied the Chair of Poetry at the Library from 1974 through 1976 as Consultant in Poetry (before the title was changed to "Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry" with the passage in 1985 of P.L. 99-194), was born in Worcester, Massachusetts, in 1905. His ten books of poetry include Passing Through: The Later Poems, New and Selected (W.W. Norton, 1995), which won the National Book Award; Next-to-Last Things: New Poems and Essays (1985); The Poems of Stanley Kunitz, 1928-1978, which won the Pulitzer Prize; The Testing-Tree (1971); and Intellectual Things (1930). He also co-translated Orchard Lamps by Ivan Drach (1978), Story under Full Sail by Andrei Voznesensky (1974), and Poems of Akhmatova (1973), and edited The Essential Blake (1987), Poems of John Keats (1964), and The Yale Series of Younger Poets (1969-77).
His other honors include the National Medal of the Arts (presented to him by President Clinton in 1993), the Bollingen Prize, a Ford Foundation grant, a Guggenheim Foundation fellowship, Harvard’s Centennial Medal, the Levinson Prize, the Harriet Monroe Poetry Award, a senior fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Shelley Memorial Award. He was designated State Poet of New York, and is a Chancellor Emeritus of the Academy of American Poets. A founder of the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, Massachusetts, and Poets House in New York City, he taught for many years in the graduate writing program at Columbia University. He lives in New York City and in Provincetown, Massachusetts.
Robert Pinsky was first appointed by Librarian of Congress James H. Billington in 1997, to be the ninth Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry and the 39th person to occupy the Library’s poetry seat. He was then reappointed for a second term in 1998. A versatile scholar known for his probing poetry, Mr. Pinsky has wide interests and accomplishments in translation and in making poetry accessible through digital technology on the Internet. In commenting on his own appointment, Mr. Pinsky said: "American poetry has been one of our great national achievements. Along with the honor of following the American poets who have held this post, I have an opportunity to continue our appreciation of that treasure. I am very pleased."
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