Poets Laureate

The position of Poet Laureate, established in 1937, has been held by
thirty-two Guggenheim Fellows. (The official title was changed in 1985 by an
act of Congress from "Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress" to
"Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry.") Selected each year by the Librarian
of Congress in consultation with the current Laureate, past appointees, and
poetry critics, the Poet Laureate gives an annual lecture and poetry
reading, introduces other poets in the Library's annual poetry series, and
tries in various ways to raise Americans' awareness and appreciation of
poetry. Although the Poet Laureate has few official duties, five are
singled out on the Library of Congress website as having put their own stamp
on the position, and four of these are Guggenheim alumni: Joseph Brodsky,
Gwendolyn Brooks, Rita Dove, and Robert Hass.

Kay Ryan, a 2004 Guggenheim Fellow in Poetry, has been named the country's Poet Laureate for 2008-2009.

Allen Tate 1943-44 (1928, 1929)	Robert Penn Warren 1944-45 Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry 1986-87 (1939, 1947)
Louise Bogan 1945-46 (1933)	Karl Shapiro 1946-47 (1944, 1953)
Robert Lowell 1947-48 (1947)	Leonie Adams 1948-49 (1928, 1929)
Elizabeth Bishop 1949-50 (1947, 1978)	Conrad Aiken 1950-52 (1934)
Randall Jarrell 1956-58 (1946)	Howard Nemerov 1963-64, 1988-90 (1968)
Reed Whittemore 1964-65 Interim Appointment 1984-85 [to help Robert Fitzgerald] (1974)	James Dickey 1966-68 (1961)
William Stafford 1970-71 (1966)	Daniel Hoffman 1973-74 (1983)
Stanley Kunitz 1974-76, 2000-01 (1945)	William Meredith 1978-80 (1975)
Anthony Hecht 1982-84 (1954, 1959)	Robert Fitzgerald 1984-85 (1952, 1971)
Gwendolyn Brooks 1985-86 (1946, 1947)	Richard Wilbur 1987-88 (1952, 1963)
Mark Strand 1990-91 (1974)	Joseph Brodsky 1991-92 (1977)
Mona Van Duyn 1992-93 (1972)	Rita Dove 1993-95 Special Bicentennial Consultant 1999-2000 (1983)
Robert Hass 1995-97 (1979)	Robert Pinsky 1997-2000 (1980)
Louise Glück 2003-04 Special Bicentennial Consultant 1999-2000 (1975-1987)	W. S. Merwin Special Bicentennial Consultant 1999-2000 (1973, 1983)
Billy Collins 2001-03 (1993)	Donald Hall 2006-07 (1963, 1972)
Charles Simic 2006-07 (1972)	Kay Ryan 2007- (2004).

Group map obtained using functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging of the brain regions recruited by face detection and face individuation, superimposed on the brain. Submitted by Michael J. Tarr, 2007, Fellow, appointed to study statistical models of structural visual object recognition in humans. Image provided courtesy of Nestor, Vettell & Tarr, In Press, PLoS ONE.

Albert Maysles, Fellow, 1965, Film. Photograph by Kendall Mesick.