Poets Laureate of the United States

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.

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–

NOTE: The post was established in 1985. Appointment is for a one-year term, but is renewable.

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