[Robert J. Clawson]

I've not seen the job description of the Poet Laureate of the United States (nor of the P. L. of Maine, or Brooklyn), but Pinsky's effort seemed to make me more aware of a poet laureate actually working.

Currently, Billy Collins is coming under fire from some quarters, but surely the jury has to be out on what he'll DO as a laureate.

How long has the office been available? What poets have held it, and more importantly, what poets have made it a useful post, not just a sinecure, a chance to browse the stacks in the Library of Congress.

Bob

[Richard Wakefield]

Bob:
Maybe someone out there can fill us in. As far as I know the position has been called Poet Laureate for ten years or so (no more than twenty, surely), and before that was, I think, Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress, a position that Frost held at least once and that I think did not have the same one-year time limit, maybe had no built-in limit at all. It also isn't at all clear to me whether the position is primarily honory -- to recognize a specific poet's achievement -- or mainly to get someone to promote poetry.
Anyone out there with more specific info?
RPW

[Curtis Gale Weeks]

This might be a useful link:

<u>Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry</u>

--C.

[Robert J. Clawson]

[quote]Originally posted by Richard Wakefield:
Bob:

"Anyone out there with more specific info?"

That's what I'm looking for, Richard. A kind of baseline for judgement, before we go hacking at a poet because of his/her apparent non-achievement.

Maybe Parisi of POETRY would be a good candidate, not a poet, actually, but a powerful judge.

Maybe Helen Vendler, or Richard Moore. Who knows? I'm too new at this art to understand the Great Gig.

I do, however, claim to be the Poet Laureate of West Acton. Joan Houlihan is the Poet Laureate of South Acton. And Robert Creeley is the Poet Laureate of All the Actons. So far, I've worked to stack Acton Memorial Library with good poetry and regular readings by recognized poets (like the Poet Laureate of West Acton). Seriously, we now do November and April readings now and offer the Creeley Award to a "ticket" poet. I've got it growing. I wonder what the Grand Poet Laureate is supposed to do to heat up the national audience.

Bob

[Robert J. Clawson]

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."

[Robert J. Clawson]

I regret that I've yet learned to use this submission system well enough to delete my duplicated (I think triplicated) copies of the laureate info Curtis lead us to.

I've also posted Billy Collins's title poem from his "Picnic, Lightning" as a peculiar commentary on the laureate being a "lightning rod." Not a "funny" poem. I find it worthy.

Bob

[graywyvern]

i have a couple of Auslander's books, & he
was a pretty good maker of old-fashioned sonnets...

[Richard Wakefield]

Many thanks for the information. As soon as I figure out how to do it, I'll delete the duplicate postings -- I'm pretty sure that moderators are empowered to do such magic.
RPW

[Curtis Gale Weeks]

From a press release at the Library of Congress, dated March 20, 1997:

Poetry's Catbird Seat: The Consultantship in Poetry in the English Language at the Library of Congress, 1937-1987, by William McGuire. Mr. McGuire's title came from a statement by Reed Whittemore: "The job is such a rare and special one in the library world and the federal bureaucracy, as well as within the world of poetry, that it is a job of opportunity, a catbird seat."


The original chair of poetry (1937) was converted to an annually appointed Consultantship in 1943 by Archibald MacLeish when he was Librarian of Congress.

[Robert J. Clawson]

Remarkable that the job description should include "lightning rod," in that Collins’ 1998 book is "Picnic, Lightning." The title poem takes off with an epigraph from Nabokov:

"My very photogenic mother died in a freak accident (picnic, lightning) when I was three." Lolita.


It is possible to be struck by a meteor
or a single-engine plane
while reading in a chair at home.
Safes drop from rooftops
and flatten the odd pedestrian
mostly within the panels of the comics,
but still, we know it is possible,
as well as the flash of summer lightning,
the thermos toppling over,
spilling out on the grass.

And we know the message
can be delivered from within.
The heart, no valentine,
decides to quit after lunch,
the power shut off like a switch,
or a tiny dark ship is unmoored
into the flow of the body’s rivers,
the brain a monastery,
defenseless on the shore.

This is what I think about
when I shovel compost
into a wheelbarrow,
and when I fill the long flower boxes,
then press into rows
the limp roots of red impatiens –
the instant hand of Death
always ready to burst forth
from the sleeve of his voluminous cloak.

Then the soil is full of marvels,
bits of leaf like flakes off a fresco,
red-brown pine needles, a beetle quick
to burrow back under the loam.
Then the wheelbarrow is a wilder blue,
the clouds a brighter white,

and all I hear is the rasp of the steel edge
against a round of stone,
the small plants singing
with lifted faces, and the click
of the sundial
as one hour sweeps into the next.


Billy Collins