W. S. Merwin is the 2010-11 Poet Laureate of the United States.
(Photo: Matt Valentine, Library of Congress)
W.S. Merwin appointed Poet Laureate of the United States, 2010-2011 - James H. Billington, Librarian of Congress, today announced the appointment of W. S. Merwin as the 17th Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry for 2010-2011. The role of the Poet Laureate is to suggest writers for the library's literary series as well as plan and carry out other literary projects or events throughout the year.
In a statement, Mr. Billington said:
"William Merwin’s poems are often profound and, at the same time, accessible to a vast audience. He leads us upstream from the flow of everyday things in life to
half-hidden headwaters of wisdom about life itself. In his poem ‘Heartland,’ Merwin seems to suggest that a land of the heart within us might help map the heartland beyond—and that this ‘map’ might be rediscovered in something like a library, where ‘it survived beyond/ what could
be known at the time/ in its archaic/ untaught language/ that brings the bees to the rosemary.'"
William Stanley Merwin has written poetry for well over 60 years and is the author of more than 30 books of poetry and prose. One of the signatures of his aesthetic comes from a decision he made in the 1960s to abandon punctuation in his poems. About that decision he wrote in the introduction to The Second Four Books of Poems, "I wanted the poems to evoke the spoken language, and wanted the hearing of them to be essential to taking them in."
Mr. Merwin has lived in Hawaii with his wife Paula since 1976. There, he tends to his garden that includes exotic tropical plants, and he continues to be inspired by nature for his writing.
The poet will assume his duties as Poet Laureate in the fall. On October 25, he will kick off the library's literary series with a reading from his works.
Scroll down to see a short video of W.S. Merwin from The Poet's View DVD.
See a listing of previous poet laureates below.
Consultants in Poetry and Poets Laureate Consultants in Poetry and their terms of service:
• 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, the 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 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
• 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
SEE ALSO:
Herta Muller, Nobel Prize winner for Literature gives Nobel Lecture speech
National Book Award winners 2009 - complete list (VIDEO)
Katherine Paterson appointed National Ambassador for Young People's Literature
Young Adult Pop Culture Examiner
Connie Ann Kirk is the author of 10 books and has a Ph.D. in English. She is currently at work on a novel and a screenplay. Check out all of her Examiner pages: National Literature; National Books on Film and National Young Adult Pop Culture. Feel free any time to visit Connie's website.
Email Connie at: ConnieAnnKirkOnExaminer@gmail.com.
Comments