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.
 
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