Poets Laureate of Great Britain Poets Laureate of Great Britain Poets Laureate of Great Britain by J. Zimmerman Several of the other Laureates were famous poets, particularly Ted Hughes , Robert Southey , John Masefield , Sir John Betjeman , Cecil Day-Lewis , and the current Laureate, Andrew Motion . History and responsibilities. In Great Britain, the Poet Laureate is: The realm's official poet. A member of the royal household. Charged with writing verses for court and national occasions (such as for a Royal Wedding or the New Year). Awarded the position for life. Chosen by the British reigning monarch, from a list of nominees that the Prime Minister compiles after a poet laureate dies. Shortly after the 1668, the position became the Poet Laureate of Great Britain in 1707, when The Act of Union created "Great Britain" as the political name of England, Scotland, and Wales. The name Laureate derives from the Latin laureatus ("crowned with laurel"). It comes from an ancient Roman tradition of honoring a person (especially a poet) who has shown excellence of achievement.

The honor is signified by presenting the person with a wreath of laurel leaves. FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions) on the Poets Laureate of Great Britain. What does "Laureate" mean? Answer . Who was the best? Most frequently this is said to be Tennyson . John Dryden (1631-1700). Laureate 1668-88. Appointed in 1668 by King Charles II, who gave John Dryden a formal royal warrant that awarded him the official titles of Poet Laureate and Historiographer Royal. This role continued under King James II. As a powerful satirist, Dryden was a strong advocate and spokesman for his monarch, and "the best poet, dramatist, translator and critic of the age" [ Levin in Verses of the Poets Laureate] In 1689, sacked [or fired] by William III for failing to take an oath of allegiance. Thomas Shadwell (1643?-1692). Laureate 1689-92.

The successful dramatist Thomas Shadwell was chosen in large part because he was a Protestant Whig, essential to replace the Catholic Dryden. met an inglorious end in 1693, A weak poet, a heavy drinker, and an opium user, Shadwell died from an overdose of opium, which he took in part to relieve his gout. He was said to have found the laureateship unimportant. Disrespected by John Dryden , among others, for his poetry as well as for his politics. Shadwell wrote a yearly ode on the monarch's birthday, and introduced the tradition of writing a New Year ode; his odes are crashingly uninspired and mechanistic, as if written by an unusually dimwitted computer program. Nahum Tate (1652-1715). Laureate 1692-1715. Born in Dublin, Tate was awarded the Poet Laureate position (and its £100 per year) but the post of Historiographer Royal (and its annual £200) became a separate assignment.

Tate is most known today for his authorship of the widely loved Christmas carol "While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks By Night". He is notorious for his (creative?) revision of Shakespeare's tragedy King Lear, giving it a happy ending. In response to public events, Tate wrote poems for victories against the French (1704), the Act of Union between the Parliaments of England and Scotland (1707), and the signing of the Peace of Utrecht with France (1713). Nicholas Rowe (1674-1718). Laureate 1715-18. Nicholas Rowe was celebrated as a dramatist rather than as a poet. The Poet Laureate's role was now general praise of the sovereign, rather than political and historical. In addition to the annual New Year ode, the Laureate acquired the duty of writing a birthday ode to the monarch, a practice which was to last over 100 years. Laurence Eusden (1688-1730). Eusden never published a book of poetry. His work is mediocre. Colley Cibber (1671-1757).

The poetry of dramatist Colley Cibber was conscientious but not inspired. William Whitehead (1715-85). Laureate 1757-85. [The appointment was first offered to and declined by Thomas Gray.] William Whitehead (a respectable though perhaps dull dramatist) was good humored and amiable. For example, he defended the poetry of Laureates in a comic poem "A Pathetic Apology For All Laureates, Past, Present, And To Come". Whitehead was conscientious, and saw himself as a non-partisan spokesman for the whole country. Astonishingly for a political appointee, he appeared to see no requirement "to defend the King or support the government". Sadly, this reflects the idea that the Laureate's influence had weakened so much that the official poems were unlikely to influence opinions, even though the times were important politically, with rebellion in the American colonies and war in Europe. Thomas Wharton (1728-90). Laureate 1785-90. Professor of Poetry at Oxford, Wharton was the only eighteenth-century laureate who was not primarily a dramatist.

William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge admired his work. Henry James Pye (1745-1813). Laureate 1790-1813. Before Pye's appointment, the Sovereign or the Lord Chamberlain (a member of the Royal Household) awarded the Poet Laureateship directly. William Pitt (the first Prime Minister involved in appointing a Laureate) offered the position to Henry James Pye, a politician more than a poet. Thereafter, the Prime Minister submits names for royal approval. Then the monarch commands the Lord Chamberlain to issue a warrant of appointment. Robert Southey (1774-1843). Laureate 1813-43. [In a bizarre double-offer the appointment was offered to two writers concurrently. Fortunately, Sir Walter Scott turned down the approach by Prime Minister, Lord Liverpool.] Robert Southey accepted the suggestion of the post from the Prince Regent. When Scott declined the offer, he suggested Southey also, so the situation ended well. During Southey's tenure, George IV became monarch in 1820, and abandoned the requirement for regular odes to the monarch.

William Wordsworth (1770-1850). Laureate 1843-50. William Wordsworth, at 73, was the oldest Poet Laureate to be appointed. He accepted the position on the agreement that he would not have obligations to write poetry on demand. Since Wordsworth, the job of Poet Laureate has been purely honorary, and appointees have been able to interpret the role as they wish. Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809-92). Laureate 1850-92. [The appointment was first offered to and (to our benefit) declined by Samuel Rogers.] Alfred Tennyson raised the stature of the Poet Laureate hugely. His laureate poems include The Charge Of The Light Brigade (the suicidal charge by the Light Brigade down a valley at Balaclava during the Crimean war). Tennyson's death was mourned publicly by millions. In respect, no appointment was made to the post of Poet Laureate for four years. Alfred Austin (1835-1913). A pompous man, least successful of the Poets Laureate.

Robert Bridges (1844-1930). Uninterested in fame and praise, Bridges wrote little and destroyed his papers before his death. John Masefield (1878-1967). Laureate 1930-67. Born in Ledbury, Herefordshire, England, Masefield apprenticed to be a merchant marine officer. While training, he became ill in Chile, returned to England, then worked in factories and bars in the United States. In 1897 he returned to England, working on newspapers and his own writing (poems, stories, and plays). Masefield published his first volume of poems in 1902. He served during World War I in the Red Cross in France and on a hospital ship at Gallipoli. His simple and moving poems include the famous Sea Fever. Cecil Day-Lewis (1904-72). Laureate 1968-72. Anglo-Irish Cecil Day-Lewis was a poet, critic, and educator who enjoyed the honor of being the Poet Laureate. A student at Oxford with Auden. A committed Communist though naive politically.

Hi poetry are often romantic and melancholy. Also he wrote detective stories (using the pseudonym Nicholas Blake). Sir John Betjeman (1906-84). Laureate 1972-84. Born in Highgate (North London). Sir John Betjeman wrote humorous and accessible poetry. Betjeman commemorated royal events such as The Queen's Silver Jubilee in 1977. Ted Hughes (1930-98). Laureate 1984-1998. [Appointed on the refusal of poet Philip Larkin .] Born in Yorkshire. A fierce, sometimes ferocious, poet of the natural and the mythological worlds, of "the struggle in the soil as well as in the soul" [ Levin in Verses of the Poets Laureate] . Also authored poetry and plays for children. Despite the "no obligations" clause, Hughes did write in commemoration of royal events, such as the christening of Prince Henry of Wales in 1985. Andrew Motion (1952-present). Laureate 1999-2012.

Buy Verses of the Poets Laureate: from John Dryden to Andrew Motion , by Phillis Levin (Editor) and Andrew Motion (Introduction): describes and shows the work of the first 19 poets appointed as Poet Laureate since Charles II created the first in 1668. Andrew Motion, an acclaimed poet and biographer, teaches creative writing at the University of East Anglia. He promotes poetry among young people. His poems addressing many public events as well and royal occasions, including the 100th birthday of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother. A critic, and a free-form poet who interweaves the personal, the historical, the legendary, and the political. Carol Ann Duffy (1955-present). Buy Selected Poems by Carol Ann Duffy , first female Poet Laureate. Carol Ann Duffy (poet, university professor, playwright, and freelance writer) is the first woman and the first Scottish-born poetry to be appointed Poet Laureate. She graduated with a degree in philosophy from the University of Liverpool in 1977.

Her books like Feminine Gospels (2002) and Mrs Scrooge show her skill in long narrative poems, written in an accessible style and often including surreal imagery. Other work, like Rapture (2005) are poems of passion and love. She also writes poetry (such as The Hat, 2007) for children. Not-quite Poets Laureate of Great Britain. These poets were not Poets Laureate, for the reasons given. Ben Jonson (1573-1637), a playwright and poet, a volatile satirist of explosive temperament and "a great lover and praiser of himself", was not formally appointed as Poet Laureate. John Dryden was the first appointed Poet Laureate, as shown by the official royal record (starts in a new window). At best, Jonson was a "common law" poet laureate (as in "common law" husband). Some believe Jonson to be the greatest English poet and dramatist of the seventeenth century. Many praise his charm and good humor. His vigor and productivity is clear.

Jonson learned the trade of bricklayer, fought with English troops in Flanders, then returned to London to become an actor and playwright, a writer of masques (short pageant-like plays), and a tutor to Sir Walter Raleigh's son. In 1597 Jonson was imprisoned for involvement in the satire The Isle of Dogs, which authorities found seditious. He was tried for killing a fellow actor in a duel in 1598. Imprisioned for this, he converted to Catholicism to be spared death for murder. He was released provided that he forfeit all his possessions, and that he receive a felon's brand on his thumb. Charged with treason for his tragedy Sejanus, His Fall (1603) and then briefly imprisoned for views in Eastward Ho (1604), Jonson (a Catholic) was under deep suspicion after Guy Fawkes' Gunpowder Plot (1605). This situation may have motivated him, shortly thereafter, to reconvert to Anglicanism. He did become court poet to King James I. One of Jonson's most famous poems, "To Celia", begins "Drink to me, only, with thine eyes...".

Buried upright in Westminster Abbey, standing on his feet in the northern aisle of the Nave (and not in Poets' Corner) beneath the inscription "O Rare Ben Johnson" William Davenant, or Sir William D'Avenant. After Jonson's death, dramatist Davenant [D'Avenant] inherited Jonson's office and pension, again as an unofficial appointment. Links Poets Laureate of the United States of America . Books about the Poets Laureate of Great Britain. Buy Verses of the Poets Laureate: from John Dryden to Andrew Motion , by Phillis Levin (Editor) and Andrew Motion (Introduction): describes and shows the work of the first 19 poets appointed as Poet Laureate since Charles II created the first in 1668. Related Books. Top 10 Greatest British Poet Laureates - TheTopTens® Top 10 Greatest British Poet Laureates MikeFuller This is a list of the British Poet Laureates I consider to be best. It is not a list of the best poets to be given the post.

Example Wordsworth (1770 - 1850) British Poet Laureate 1843-1850 wrote nothing for the post of British Poet Laureate. The Top Ten 1 Alfred Lord, Tennyson (1809 - 1892) Hmm... I prefer prose to poetry. I would certainly be more enthusiastic if you made a list about novels and writers. To be honest from your list I have only read Tennyson and Ted Hughes and I'm not very fond of them. Guilty! British Poet Laureate 1850 - 1892 The poem 'The Charge Of The Light Brigade' by Tennyson is perhaps the most notable ever Laureate poem! He chronicled events so well, and did such a great job! He held the post for 42 years, the longest legnth of time on the post. There was about 4 years gap in respect before Austin was given the post in 1896.

- MikeFuller 2 John Masefield (1878 - 1967) British Poet Laureate 1930 - 1967 He was a great poet who represented so well the working classes! He stood for people and working labour and was a great laureate! - MikeFuller 3 Dryden (1631 - 1700) British Poet Laureate 1668 - 1688 Despite being sacked from the post he was a great poet who wrote fantastic verse for the laureateship! - MikeFuller I love his One Happy Moment poem. The emotion just floats from it and into your heart. The verse: "I can die with her, but not live without her..." Just beautiful. Poetry at the Library of Congress (November 2004) - Library of Congress Information Bulletin From Frost to Fragonard: Renovating the Poetry Room The newly-refurbished Poetry Room in the Library's Thomas Jefferson Building.

- Lynne Hammette The Poetry Room in the Thomas Jefferson Building is a small space in the northwest corner of the third floor of the building that commands one of the best views of the city, overlooking the east front of the Capitol and beyond to the towers of Virginia. One of the last spaces in the building to be renovated, it is the home of the Library's Poetry and Literature Center, which includes an administrative office and a small working office for the resident Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry, in addition to the elegant Poetry Room. This third (or "attic") floor of the Jefferson Building, which houses the Congressional Page School in addition to the Poetry and Literature Center, is now closed to the public. The Poetry Room was formally dedicated on April 23, 1951, William Shakespeare's birthday. The guest of honor was Library benefactor Gertrude Clarke Whittall, who gave the funds for the development of a poetry center in December 1950. The Gertrude Clarke Whittall Poetry Fund was to be used to "promote the appreciation and understanding of poetry," primarily through a series of lectures on poetry and poetry readings. These funds also supported the original decoration and furnishing of the Poetry Room.

This Asian screen and Buddha grace the redecorated Poetry Room. - Lynne Hammette The Poetry Room recently underwent a complete renovation, including furnishings, lighting fixtures and window treatments. The furniture in the Poetry Room was donated by Whittall and includes pieces from the English Edwardian and American Colonial Revival periods, the majority in the Neoclassical style. All of the furnishings were refurbished or treated, and structural repairs were made when needed. Reversible adhesives and coatings were used whenever possible to maintain the furnishings' integrity. In the case of a four-panel Edwardian screen, the original fabric was preserved by keeping it on the frame and covering the old fabric with new. A candelabrum, original to the room, was also restored. Working from photos of details of the furniture, a rug manufacturer designed a new carpet, and new drapes were styled by Library designer LynneHammette, working with the upholsterer. Four framed prints by the French Rococo-era painter Jean-Honoré Fragonard were cleaned and restored. Prior to the renovation, the poetry room was cluttered with an odd assortment of chairs and tables, with wall-to-wall carpeting and water stains on the floors from the radiators.

The renovation began in May 2002 and was completed in the summer of 2003. The Consultant in Poetry "The Consultant in Poetry is a very busy man, chiefly because he spends so much time talking with people who want to know what the Consultant in Poetry does." So begins Howard Nemerov's 1963 essay "What Does The Consultant in Poetry Do?" in William McGuire's 1988 book, "Poetry's Catbird Seat: The Consultantship in Poetry in the English Language at the Library of Congress," the definitive reference book for the history of the consultantship.

Consultants in Poetry and Poets Laureate Consultants in Poetry at the Library of Congress, 1937-present: Joseph Auslander, 1937-1941; Allen Tate, 1943-1944; Robert Penn Warren, 1944-1945, 1986-1987; Louise Bogan, 1945-1946; Karl Shapiro, 1946-1947 Renamed Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry through legislation passed in 1985, the poet laureate today is a very busy man or woman, but the time spent explaining the position has probably remained the same. Ted Kooser, the current poet laureate whose appointment was announced in August, has been fielding calls and questions about this and other matters since then. His usual quiet lifestyle has been disrupted by requests from reporters for interviews and photographs.

Through it all, he has remained mellow and patient, in part because he's an easygoing Nebraskan, but also, he says, due to the "shell shock" of being appointed to the prestigious position of Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress, the keystone of the Library's Poetry and Literature Center. Background On Feb. 19, 1872, the congressional Joint Committee on the Library of Congress considered a petition by T.N. Hornsby, a private citizen, asking Congress to establish a "bureau of poets and poesy." No action was taken, and the position of poet laureate at the Library as it is known today would not exist had the committee agreed to establish such a bureau. The Consultantship in Poetry in the English Language, also known as the Chair of Poetry, was conceived by Herbert Putnam, the Librarian of Congress from 1899 to 1939, and created by a gift fund in 1936. Putnam appointed Joseph Auslander, lecturer on poetry at Columbia University and poetry editor of the North American Review, as the first consultant on July 7, 1937.

His annual stipend was $3,000. Robert Lowell, 1947-1948; Leonie Adams, 1948-1949; Elizabeth Bishop, 1949-1950; Conrad Aiken, 1950-1952; William Carlos Williams, 1952 The consultantship was funded in large part by Archer Milton Huntington, the son of Collis P. Huntington, the railroad builder and principal organizer of the Central Pacific Railroad. Huntington's friendship with Librarian Putnam led to Huntington's donation of funds to maintain a "Chair of Poetry in the English Language," which consisted of a 1936 deed of trust of 5,000 shares of Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co. stock. Half of the income was earmarked for the maintenance of a Hispanic Society Room, which is now the Hispanic Reading Room.

Another fund, the Henry Kirke Porter Memorial Fund, derived from half the proceeds of the sale of a valuable piece of real estate in downtown Washington, was given to the Library in 1938 by Annie-May Hegeman and named for her stepfather, who was a founder of the YMCA and a former member of Congress. The Porter Fund provided additional funds to support the Chair of Poetry. Auslander, handpicked by Huntington to be the consultant with no definite term of office, was a man who came from humble means and studied at Harvard, eventually teaching at Columbia College. He published often in small magazines, but his work was not looked upon kindly by some of his peers, such as Archibald MacLeish, an established poet himself, who became Librarian of Congress just two years later. MacLeish assumed the duties of Librarian of Congress on Oct. 2, 1939. And in 1941, after serving the Library as Chair of Poetry for four years, Auslander left the position and assumed the duties of gifts officer, a position created especially for him, in order to continue his work to secure private donations for the Library's literature collections.

Auslander's tenure under MacLeish was marked by some turbulent times, including disagreements about establishing a poetry room. Coupled with MacLeish's lack of admiration for Auslander's work, this may have led MacLeish to force Auslander out of the position. Randall Jarrell, 1956-1958; Robert Frost, 1958-1959; Richard Eberhart, 1959-1961; Louis Untermeyer, 1961-1963; Howard Nemerov, 1963-1964, 1988-1990 As John Broderick, former assistant librarian for research services at the Library of Congress has written: "Auslander was definitely not his [MacLeish's] idea of who should occupy the highly visible, though not yet prestigious, position of Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress.

MacLeish terminated Auslander's appointment, intending to use the position to bring distinguished American poets to the Library for one-year terms." In a letter to the poet Stephen Vincent Benet, excerpted in "Poetry's Catbird Seat," MacLeish described the post of Consultant in Poetry as "a practicing poet able and willing to answer the inquiries about American and English poetry which occasional readers may bring in, and to have general supervision of the collection in a non-technical way, and, secondly, to offer to practicing poets a place where for a period of a year or two a man may have time and access to the Library for the purposes of his work." Two years passed before MacLeish was able to fill the poetry chair, and Allen Tate was inducted as the second consultant in 1943. "I Crown Thee…Poet Laureate!" The process of appointing the consultant has always been without much pomp or bureaucratic circumstance; since the early 1950s he or she is appointed by the Librarian of Congress, who may consider recommendations from a variety of sources, such as present and former consultants.

The formal duties and requirements of the consultant are also modest; regular office hours or full-time residency in Washington are not compulsory. Only two readings, one at the beginning and one at the end of the year's consultantship, are required. Reed Whittemore, 1964-1965, 1984-1985; Stephen Spender, 1965-1966; James Dickey, 1966-1968; William Jay Smith, 1968-1970; William Stafford, 1970-1971 Currently, the consultant receives a privately funded, taxable stipend of $35,000. The title of the consultant's position was officially changed by Public Law 99-194 to Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry in 1985 after an effort of many years by former Sen. Spark M. Matsunaga (D-Hawaii) to create a position of Poet Laureate of the United States, who would be appointed by the President upon recommendations of the then National Council on the Arts.

The Library opposed the legislation for three principal reasons, which Broderick enumerated in his 1986 article in the Yearbook of the Dictionary of Literary Biography: "1) the inappropriateness of such a position in a democratic society; 2) the politicization of such a position if filled by Presidential appointment; and 3) the confusion with and detraction from the Library's Consultant in Poetry." The 1985 law as passed represented a compromise, with a change in title and some funding from the National Endowment for the Arts, but with the position still appointed by the Librarian of Congress. It resulted in the rather awkward title of Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress, but it seemed to greatly enhance the public perception of the position. As Broderick notes: "The national media greeted the appointment of Robert Penn Warren [the first holder of the position with the new title] with coverage unmatched since the days of Robert Frost.

If Senator Matsunaga wanted to increase the visibility of the national poetry position he succeeded immeasurably." Josephine Jacobsen, 1971-1973; Daniel Hoffman, 1973-1974; Stanley Kunitz, 1974-1976, 2000-2001; Robert Hayden, 1976-1978; William Meredith, 1978-1980 The law established the "Authority for Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry," in effect recognizing the consultant position and its literary contributions.

The law also recognized the position as "equivalent to that of Poet Laureate of the United States" and encouraged federal government use of the services of the Poet Laureate as long as this "does not impair the continuation of the work of the individual chosen to fill the position." The change in name was announced at the end of Gwendolyn Brooks' appointment, and she assuaged any fears about the title change during her last lecture as consultant: "The administration of the Library of Congress in the past has shown great intelligence in selecting sane, talented and discriminating people to this post—after all, it selected me, didn't it?—and it will continue to do so. It will not select people who will consent to write celebrations for sanitary installations. There is nothing to fear." Warren had the distinction of serving under both titles when he was appointed the first Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry in 1986, 42 years after his first term as Consultant in Poetry in 1944.

Maxine Kumin, 1981-1982; Anthony Hecht, 1982-1984; Robert Fitzgerald, 1984-1985; Gwendolyn Brooks, 1985-1986; Richard Wilbur, 1987-1988 The informality and minimal workload of the position are designed to encourage the poet to write or promote poetry for the period of the consultantship. The methods with which to do one or both of these things vary according to artistic temperaments. Poets Laureate Programs and Projects Recently appointed Poet Laureate Ted Kooser has already had a busy introduction to the life of Poet Laureate. He's been interviewed, videotaped, photographed and recorded, and he has appeared in print, on television and on broadcast and satellite radio. Kooser marked the official start of his appointment at his first reading on Oct. 7.

During that first visit to Washington as the new Poet Laureate, he also participated in the Library's National Book Festival on the National Mall, where he read his poetry and signed copies of his recent book, "Delights and Shadows." Born in Iowa, Kooser lives in Garland, Neb., and is the first consultant from the Plains states. At Kooser's first reading, Librarian of Congress James H. Billington, in introducing the Poet Laureate, said that Kooser's poetry "makes us think differently about what we take for granted in everyday life"; and described Kooser's style as "spare simplicity." Mark Strand, 1990-1991; Joseph Brodsky, 1991-1992; Mona Van Duyn, 1992-1993; Rita Dove, 1993-1995; Robert Hass, 1995-1997 Kooser, a plain-speaking man of 65, plans to focus his efforts during his term on making poetry accessible to more people and by promoting the reading of poetry.

As he said in an early interview, "Poetry can offer readers fresh new ways of looking at the ordinary, everyday world. … Seeing a very ordinary thing through new eyes. That's what poetry can do for people, for everybody who will give it a chance." Billy Collins, Poet Laureate from 2001 to 2003, had a similar idea in mind during his two-term tenure. He founded the Web site "Poetry 180," a poem-a-day program to promote the reading of poetry in high schools. The project has been very popular, and the Web site ( ) continues to be updated and maintained by the Library's Public Affairs Office. Other Poets Laureate have quietly championed the work of other, less-established poets. Louise Glück, Poet Laureate from 2003 to 2004, promoted the work of younger artists through her choices for the Library-organized Rebekah Johnson Bobbitt National Prize for Poetry and the Witter Bynner Foundation fellowship. Readings for these award-winning poets were organized and widely promoted by Glück and the Library.

Women as Poetry Consultants Louise Bogan, the fourth consultant, was the first woman named to the post in 1945. Bogan was known to be outspoken and merciless in her reviews of many fellow poets, notably Auslander and MacLeish. Proud of her independent stance against the literary establishment, Bogan became more obliging after she was appointed consultant. She oversaw the production of literary recordings and convinced W.H. Auden and T.S. Eliot to record their poetry for the Library's poetry archives. Bogan also recorded her own poetry to great success. Robert Pinsky, 1997-2000; Billy Collins, 2001-2003; Louise Glück, 2003-2004; Ted Kooser, 2004- Léonie Adams' appointment was slated to follow Bogan's, but Karl Shapiro was chosen instead.

When Shapiro wrote to Tate about the selection, Tate responded that "a man might do this particular job this year better than any woman that could be selected." As "Poetry's Catbird Seat" notes, it is unclear why gender played such an important role in selecting the consultant that year, considering Adams' distinction and that most of the Library's Fellows in American Letters (who played a major role in recommending poets for the job under Librarian Luther Evans) considered her the best poet for the job. Nonetheless, she was chosen two years later, in 1948, and was the first poet to inaugurate the tradition of a reading early in the consultancy. In total, there have been nine women who have filled the poetry consultant position. Some have chosen to emphasize and promote the work of other women writers, such as Maxine Kumin, who initiated a popular women's series of poetry workshops at the Poetry and Literature Center. Gwendolyn Brooks was known for her affability and the personal attention she gave to every letter or request to read. Her generosity was legendary.

Brooks continued the tradition of hosting "brown bag" noontime poetry readings with one exception; she picked up the lunch tab (sometimes for as many as 20 people) and gave the poets who read $200 for their time and travel. In a tribute to Brooks, poet Rita Dove pondered Brooks' influence and impact as a writer: "How does one begin to convey the influence Gwendolyn Brooks has had on generations—not only writers, but people from all walks of life? How can one describe the fiercely personal connection her poems make, how to chronicle her enormous impact on recent literary, social and political history? … Though I never dreamed of following in her footsteps as far as the Pulitzer Prize, her shining example opened up new possibilities for me and generations of younger artists." Rita Dove, in turn, also carried out notable projects during her tenure. The seventh Poet Laureate and Pulitzer Prize-winner organized a literary season so exemplary that the Librarian asked her to remain a second term. As reported in a 1995 Information Bulletin article, Dove was a bit overwhelmed and curious by the free rein she was given. "Nothing was ever questioned.

… When I came in, they said, ‘We have these dates and what would you like to do?' At first this is very disconcerting." But she rose to the occasion during her two-year appointment, featuring a variety of authors and programs at the Library, such as young poets from Montana's Crow Nation and a jazz and poetry evening during which poets read while musicians accompanied them. Audio and Video Poetry Archives A continuing activity of the Poetry and Literature Center is the invitation of poets and writers to record for the Library's Archives of Recorded Poetry and Literature. Most incumbent Poets Laureate have furthered the development of the Library's archives of recorded literature, and the center's Web site features video recording and audio files. Recently, some episodes of "Poet Vision," which features poets reading and talking intimately about their work, have been added to the center's Web site. The 12 episodes in the series, videotaped from 1988 to 1990 in Philadelphia and broadcast on television in that area, were donated to the Library of Congress in 2000 and now are held by the Library's Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Division.

Grace Cavalieri and "The Poet and the Poem" "The Poet and the Poem at the Library of Congress," a series of radio interviews with a wide variety of poets, is a labor of love for Grace Cavalieri, an award-winning poet and playwright who founded the series in 1977. The show features poets' readings of their work along with discussions with Cavalieri of their craft and sources of inspiration, often peppered with personal stories and insights about their writing experience. The hour-long show first aired on WPFW-FM radio in Washington, D.C., where it ran, live on a weekly basis, for 20 years without interruption. After the show was retired from WPFW in 1998, the Witter Bynner Foundation funded an annual series from the Library, with seven one-hour programs recorded per year, which are fed by satellite to public radio stations. "The Poet and the Poem" will enter its 28th consecutive year in 2005 and is the longest-running program devoted exclusively to poetry in the history of broadcasting.

The series, which includes talks with several Poets Laureate and Witter Bynner fellows, is also available for listening on the Poetry Center's Web site at . Wide Angle: the Poetry Collections at the Library The Library's Manuscript Division maintains and acquires original manuscripts by poets, but a 1969 law preventing living artists from getting a full-market-value tax deduction of their donated works has made it more difficult for the Library to acquire donated literary works. Alice Birney, literary curator in the Library's Manuscript Division, suggests that ideally "there should be a poetry endowment for living artists." Such a cache would persuade poets to give their papers to the Library while receiving a respectable sum for their donation. Still, some very impressive original documents have made their way into the Library's collections, among them correspondence and poems of the Poets Laureate Robert Frost (1958-59) and Louis Untermeyer (1961-63).

The Untermeyer-Frost Collection, donated in 1962, contains 500 items and includes letters from Robert Frost to Untermeyer concerning poetry, Frost's philosophy, and their views and interests, together with photographs, published writings and other material by and about Frost, including galley proofs of "The Letters of Robert Frost to Louis Untermeyer (1963)." In addition, the papers of Poet Laureate Robert Penn Warren (1944-45, 1986-87) and a small group of Joseph Brodsky letters are also included in the division's holdings. The Edna St. Vincent Millay collection of some 40,000 items, including correspondence, diaries, notebooks, photographs, scrapbooks, financial records and family papers, is another important holding in the division. And the division is the world's largest repository of Walt Whitman's papers. The Manuscript Division also houses the Archives of the Library of Congress, which contains records and correspondence of the Consultants and Poets Laureate, a widely used source of research.

It is the policy of the Library of Congress to collect comprehensively works by both established and new American poets regarded as having literary merit or as representing current trends in writing. In addition to volumes of poems by individual authors, the Library's general collections include anthologies and periodicals whose contents consist primarily of poetry; new critical and authoritative collections of prominent poets' works; and historical, theoretical, critical, scholarly and bibliographical studies of poetry. For the most part, the Library attempts to maintain a research-level collection of poetry by and about authors from other countries. While most major American research libraries have strong collections in literature and language, and no single library holds every published work by every poet, the Library's collections are unrivaled for the breadth and depth of their coverage. The general collections of the Library of Congress contain published works of poetry from most of the countries of the world in most of the languages of the world. But—both because the Library of Congress (in addition to serving Congress) serves as the national library of the United States and because of the copyright deposit law—its holdings of American poetry are particularly strong.

Special credit in this regard must go to the sixth Librarian of Congress (1864-1897), Ainsworth Rand Spofford. It was Spofford who first recognized the importance of copyright deposit in developing a comprehensive collection of the nation's literature and who worked to obtain congressional approval of the Copyright Act of 1870, which centralized all copyright activities at the Library of Congress and required that anyone claiming a copyright for printed material send two copies of the item in question to the Library of Congress. With the passage of this act, the foundation was laid for the world's most extensive collection of Americana. The general collections of the Library of Congress, therefore, contain holdings of American literature and poetry unsurpassed in scope, along with works that analyze, criticize and interpret them. Although first editions of numerous prominent poets' works are sent to the Rare Book and Special Collections Division, additional copies and subsequent editions are added to the general collections. Poetry is very much at home in the Library of Congress. As Center for the Book Director John Y. Cole has written in "On These Walls": "The Library is steeped in poetry; indeed, the Jefferson Building's walls are covered with poets' words.

Quotes by Tennyson, Keats, Wordsworth, Emerson, Milton, Byron and Virgil, among others, grace the walls. Sculptures representing Shakespeare and Homer keep watch in the Main Reading Room. And a celebration of poets is depicted in Henry Oliver Walker's mural "Lyric Poetry." Joseph Auslander, on being named to the post of Poetry Consultant in 1936, penned his acceptance in poesy: The simple phrase of gratitude Is something rather felt than heard: Your quiet graces ruse The overstrident thought or word. Wherefore this letter I indite returns in but a meagre measure The courtesy that gave delight, The fellowship that furnished pleasure. Subsequent Poets Laureate, in their unique ways, have assumed the post with similar gratitude—and determination to increase the awareness and accessibility of poetry. Bibi Martí was a public affairs specialist in the Library's Public Affairs Office. Project MUSE - <i>Tennyson and Victorian Periodicals: Commodities in Context</i> (review) Rosemary T.

VanArsdel (bio) Kathryn Ledbetter, Tennyson and Victorian Periodicals: Commodities in Context (Aldershot and Burlington: Ashgate, 2007) pp. 244, £50, cloth. Queen Victoria reigned as the British monarch for 63 years (1837–1901), and for 42 of those years (1850–1892), Alfred, Lord Tennyson served as Poet Laureate, or poet of the nation. The two shared ideas about duty, steadfastness of character, heroism, and patriotism, qualities that endeared them both to the Victorian citizen. And they also shared an antipathy to the rise of periodical literature—he, because he feared loss of control over his work once it left his hands, and she, because she disliked “the aggressive production of texts and the resultant loss of control” (143). Yet neither could escape the inexorable march of periodical publication throughout the century, brought about by constantly improving technology and wide proliferation of a literate reading public.

Tennyson, during his long career, maintained a love/hate relationship with periodical publication of his work, whether early in annuals or later in major journals, and whether in British or American publications. On the one hand, he needed the income and exposure to the public that journalism offered, while on the other he deplored loss of control that spasmodic publication threatened, as well as the ultimate commodification of his “art.” Ledbetter’s study offers the first book-length account of the poet’s relationship with the Victorian press, charting his career from the first prize-winning poem “Timbuctoo,” which was published in the Cambridge Chronicle and Journal on [End Page 177] July 10, 1829, to his last public utterance as Poet Laureate, “On the Death of the Duke of Clarence and Avondale” (son of Edward VII and heir apparent to the British throne), which was published in the Nineteenth Century in February 1892. Although a slender volume, every section of this book is just packed with new material, based on detailed and wide-ranging archival research.

The first chapter presents a definitive look at the history, evolution, and eventual disappearance of the literary annual (labeled by Tennyson as those “vapid” gift books), with their watered silk covers, tooled leather, and elaborate engravings, intended more for drawing room ornamentation than for serious reading. Nevertheless, nearly every important author of the 1820s and 1830s, Tennyson among them, appeared in this format, where editors paid high fees for contributions. Despite his scorn for the genre, Tennyson submitted his work for “much needed exposure to a burgeoning new middle class reader” and for preparation “for the [much later] role of Poet Laureate” (9). By the 1850s annuals were outdated but Tennyson had used them profitably to launch his career. Other chapters show the poet wrestling with commercialization of his work, and later, as his reputation grew, with the struggle between the public and private lives of a poet. His wife Emily, who took an active interest in the ethical and economic aspects of her husband’s work, disliked his publication in journals and preferred the slender volume instead, but she did not prevail.

Tennyson’s war poetry, often severely criticized by later commentators, nonetheless had the effect of dramatizing an event, such as “The Defense of Lucknow” or “The Charge of the Light Brigade,” and preserving it for posterity. Another segment of Tennyson’s work, what Ledbetter refers to as “laureate poetry,” addressed the royal family or their concerns, where he adopted the “poetic voice of the State” (143). In all of these roles Tennyson clearly felt connected to his readers in an heroic or patriotic way. In a final provocative chapter, Ledbetter examines Tennysonian fortunes in America, where all English authors in the nineteenth century struggled with absence of copyright restrictions. She suggests that in Tennyson’s case this worked in his favor, allowing editors endless cutting and pasting of his longer poems, such as The Princess or In Memoriam, thereby increasing his readership and reputation, and in some cases his pocketbook. Thus his work became even more widely beloved in America than in Britain due to a wider familiarity. One of the great strengths of this book is to be found in its indices, A, B, and C. In the course of his career...

Access options available: Victorian Age Timeline 1826—First photograph taken by Joseph Nicophore Niepce. 1829—Catholic Emancipation, ends most restrictions on Catholic civil rights, property ownership, & public service. 1832—Great Reform Act. 1834—Slavery banned in British colonies. 1837–67—Isambard Kingdom Brunel builds London to Bristol railway for the Great Western Railway. 1837—Victoria succeeds uncle, William IV, at age 18. Dickens’s Pickwick Papers and Oliver Twist. 1837–67—Construction of neo-Gothic Houses of Parliament. 1838—Dickens’s Nicholas Nickleby. 1840—Victoria marries first cousin Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, will have nine children. Penny postage insituted. Dickens’s Old Curiosity Shop. 1842—Founding of Mudie’s Library by Charles Mudie. 1843—Carlyle’s Past and Present. Dickens's A Christmas Carol. First volume of Ruskin’s Modern Painters. 1844—Irish potato famine begins.

1845—Brunel builds the S. S. Great Britain, the first propeller-driven steamship. 1846—Repeal of Corn Laws, beginning era of free trade. Dickens’s Dombey & Son. 1847—Ten Hours Act restricts working hours of children in factories. Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights. Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre. 1848—Founding of Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. Marx and Engels, Communist Manifesto. 1849—Dickens’s David Copperfield. 1850—First British Public Library Act, permitting the establishment of public libraries. Tennyson named Poet Laureate. Dickens’s Household Words started. 1851—First telegraph cable laid across the English Channel. Invention of instantaneous photography by William Fox Talbot. First cigarettes sold in Britain. Great Exhibition at the Crystal Palace. Half of population of Great Britain lives in cities. London population grows from 1.1 million in 1801 to 2.7 million; reaches 6.6 million in 1901. Dickens’s Bleak House.

1852—Opening of the Victoria and Albert Museum. Last duel fought in England at Priest Hill, Surrey (duels had been outlawed in 1840s). 1853—Livingstone discovers Victoria Falls. 1853–56—Crimean War. 1854—Florence Nightingale goes to Crimea and organizes nursing during the war. Cigarettes introduced into Britain. 1856—Henry Bessemer invents blast furnace, permitting mass production of steel. 1857—Founding of National Portrait Gallery. First telegraph cable laid across the Atlantic. Matrimonial Causes Act permits divorce for adultery (but women could not petition until 1923). Suppression of Indian mutiny against British rule in India. 1858—Government of India transferred to the Crown. Big Ben bell cast (April 10). John Speke discovers Lake Victoria. Launching of Brunel ’ s Great Eastern, largest ship yet built. 1859—Big Ben enters service (May 31). First women admitted to Royal Academy schools. Darwin’s Origin of the Species. Dickens’s Tale of Two Cities.

1860—Introduction of trams into England (August 30). Dickens’s Great Expectations. Nightingale publishes first definitive textbooks on nursing. 1861—Death of Prince Albert of typhoid fever at age 42. Founding of Morris’s design firm. 1862—Speke & Grant discover sources of the river Nile. 1863–65—Construction of St. Pancras train station. 1863–72—Construction of Albert Memorial. 1863—First underground railway, Metropolitan Railway in London between Paddington & Farringdon St. (opens Jan. 10). Marriage of Prince of Wales (Bertie, later King Edward VII) and Alexandra (March 10). Broadmoor criminal lunatic asylum opened (May 27). 1864—Cafe Royal founded in London (bombed in 1940). Dickens’s Our Mutual Friend. 1865—Founding of Salvation Army by William Booth (July 2). Joseph Bazalgette c ompletes metropolitan drainage system in London (began 1855).

National Association for Women’s Suffrage formed in Manchester; no voting rights until 1918. Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland. 1866—First Atlantic telegraph cable successfully laid by the SS Great Eastern (completed September 7). Swinburne’s Poems and Ballads. 1867–71—Construction of Royal Albert Hall. 1867—Second Reform Act, extending vote to tax-paying males of the urban working class. 1868—Disraeli becomes Prime Minister; defeated within several months in election. Last public execution (May 26); public hangings stopped because caused crime among spectators. Last shipment of convicts from England to Australia. Metropolitan District Railway between Mansion House and South Kensington opens in London . 1869—Ferdinand de Lesseps builds Suez Canal, dramatically cutting journey to & from Australia & Far East. 1870—Education Act, compulsory primary education until the age of 11. A 1p ($1) fee per day for the schooling. Married Women’s Property Act gives women the right to earn and keep money for their own use.

1871—Institution of practice of photographing prisoners (November 2). Publication completed of Encyclopedia Britannica (began 1768). Opening of Royal Albert Hall (March 29). 1872—Secret ballot made compulsory; G. Eliot’s Middlemarch . 1874—Disraeli becomes Prime Minister for second time, governs until 1880. 1875—First intelligible telephone communication made by Bell (June 5). Disraeli buys Britain controlling interest in Suez Canal. 1876—Victoria named Empress of India. 1877—Founding of Truth magazine. Telephones, invented by Scottish scientist Alexander Graham Bell, become available. American Thomas Edison invents the phonograph, recording "Mary had a little lamb." 1878—First electric street lighting in London. Whistler vs. Ruskin Trial. 1879—Edison invents the electric light bulb. 1880—St. James’s Gazette begins publication (absorbed by the Evening Standard in 1905). First telephone directory issued in Britain (January 15).

1881—Founding of TitBits periodical by George Newnes. Electric light first used domestically. First electric power station in England opened at Goldalming. 1883—Expansion of Married Women’s Property Act. Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island. 1884—Third Reform Act, extending voting rights to agricultural workers. Term “Industrial Revolution,” for the period of 1760 to 1840, coined by Arnold Toynbee. Completion of Revised Version of the Bible. 1885—Karl Benz invents the first automobile. 1885–89—Founding of the Men’s and Women’s Club 1886–89—Anatole Baju’s journal Le Décadent. 1887—Golden Jubilee, celebration of 50th anniversary of Victoria’s reign. Arthur Conan Doyle’s A Study in Scarlet, the first Sherlock Holmes story. 1888—Unsolved London murders of East End women by "Jack the Ripper." County Councils created in Britain. Founding of The Star (absorbed by The Evening News in 1960).

1889—Founding of Women’s Franchise League by Emmeline Pankhurst. Arthur Symons’s Days and Nights. 1890—Sir James Frazer’s The Golden Bough. First electric underground public railway line opens December 18: City & South London Railway between King William St. & Stockwell). First comic book, Comic Cuts. 1891—Completion of New Scotland Yard by Norman Shaw. Founding of the Romanes Lectures at Oxford University by George Romanes. Kelmscott Press founded by William Morris. Electrification of trams in England began in Leeds. Education made free for every child. Wilde’s Picture of Dorian Gray, Salome, “The Critic as Artist,” and “Soul of Man Under Socialism.” 1892—Founding of The Westminster Gazette (absorbed by The Daily News in 1928). Wilde’s Lady Windermere’s Fan. Symons’s Silhouettes . 1893—Wilde’s A Woman of No Importance. George Egerton’s Keynotes. Arthur Wing Pinero’s Second Mrs. Tanqueray, starring Mrs. Patrick Campbell.

Aubrey Beardsley’s Le Morte Darthur. Wilde’s Salome banned in London (staged in Paris in 1896). New Zealand becomes first country to give women the right to vote. 1894–97—The Yellow Book. 1894—Egerton’s Discords. Publication of Wilde’s Salome in English, with Beardsley’s illustrations. 1895—Founding of the London Promenade Concerts by Sir Henry Wood (October 6). Wireless telegraphy brought about by Marconi. Wilde’s The Ideal Husband and The Importance of Being Earnest . The three Wilde trials. 1896—Marconi patented wireless telegraphy (June 2). Speed limit for cars was increased from 4 to 20 mph. The Savoy ( January–September). 1897—Official opening of the Tate Gallery, founded by Sir Henry Tate (July 21). Bram Stoker’s Dracula. 1899—Symons’s Images of Good and Evil. 1901—Death of Queen Victoria at age 82 (January 22, 6:30 am).

Population of London reaches 6.6 million.

Question: Who was Poet Laureate for the longest period (42 years 1850-1892)?
Answer: Alfred Lord Tennyson