1961-1963

Louis Untermeyer

Untermeyer (1885-1977) was born in New York City. An especially prolific writer, he began publishing collections of poetry, essays, and criticism in the 1910s. His career spanned nearly seven decades, and he was the recipient of the Poetry Society of America’s Gold Medal. He also produced a series of books for the Golden Treasury of Children’s Literature. Much of his work is preserved at Indiana University.

1963-1964

Howard Nemerov

Nemerov (1920-1991) was born in New York City and educated at Harvard University. He served as a pilot in both the Royal Canadian Air Force and the U. S. armed forces during World War II. His published works include The Collected Poems of Howard Nemerov, which won the National Book Award, the Pulitzer Prize, and the Bollingen Prize. He was the Edward Mallinckrodt Distinguished University Professor of English and Distinguished Poet in Residence at Washington University in St. Louis from 1969 until his death. Nemerov served as Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress twice: once from 1963 to 1964, and again from 1988-1990 as Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry.

1964-1965

Reed Whittemore

Whittemore (1919-2012) was born in New Haven, Connecticut, and received his bachelor’s degree from Yale University. He is the author of 11 poetry collections and nine prose works, including his 2007 memoir Against the Grain: The Literary Life of a Poet. He taught at the University of Maryland from 1967 to 1984, and served as Maryland’s Poet Laureate. Whittemore served as Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress twice: once from 1964 to 1965, and again from 1984-1985.

1965-1966

Sir Stephen Harold Spender CBE

Spender (1909-1995) was born in London and educated at the University College School in London and at Oxford University. He published numerous collections of poetry and criticism, as well as several novels and a memoir. Spender was knighted in 1983 and received the Golden PEN Award in 1995. While living in the United States he taught at various American institutions, and subsequently taught English at University College, London from 1970 to 1977.

1966-1968

James Dickey

Dickey (1923-1997) was born in Atlanta, Georgia. He earned both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree at Vanderbilt University. He taught English at Rice University and the University of Florida before publishing his first collection, Into the Stone and Other Poems, in 1960. He went on to publish more than 25 poetry collections, including Buckdancer’s Choice, which won the 1966 National Book Award. Dickey is perhaps best known for his 1970 novel Deliverance, and for writing the acclaimed screenplay for its film adaptation.

1968-1970

William Jay Smith

Smith (1918-2015) was born in Louisiana and grew up in Missouri. He was educated at Washington University in St. Louis, and continued his studies at Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar. In addition to his 10 collections of poetry, two of which were finalists for the National Book Award, Smith published volumes of criticism, translation, and children’s literature. Smith was a poet in residence at Williams College for nearly a decade, and later taught at Columbia University and Hollins University.

1970-1971

William Stafford

Stafford (1914-1993) was born in Kansas and received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Kansas. While pursuing his master’s degree at the same institution, he was drafted into the armed forces and declared himself a conscientious objector. He later finished the degree. In 1954, he received a Ph.D. from the University of Iowa. Stafford’s first major collection of poetry, Traveling through the Dark, won the 1963 National Book Award for Poetry. He went on receive many awards and honors, including a Shelley Memorial Award and a Guggenheim Fellowship. Stafford taught at Lewis & Clark College from 1948 to 1980.

Top