Poet Laureate
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
This article does not cite any references or sources. (April 2008) Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed. |
A Poet Laureate is a poet officially appointed by a government and is often expected to compose poems for State occasions and other government events. The plural form is poets laureate.
In England, the term has for centuries been the title of the official poet of the monarch, appointed for life since the time of Charles II. Poets laureate are appointed by many countries. In Britain there is also a Children's Laureate.
Contents |
[edit] Origin of the term
In ancient Greece the laurel was sacred to the god Apollo, and was used to form a crown or wreath of honour for poets and heroes. This custom has since become widespread, both in fact and as a metaphor. The word laureate or laureated thus came in English to signify eminence or association with glory. Laureate letters were once the despatches announcing a victory. The term laureate became associated with degrees awarded by European universities (the term baccalaureate for the degree of bachelor reflects this idea). As a royal degree in rhetoric, poet laureate was awarded at European universities in the Middle Ages. The term might also refer to the holder of such a degree, which recognised skill in rhetoric, grammar and language.
According to the historian Edward Gibbon, Petrarch (Francesco Petrarca, 1304–74) of Rome, perhaps best known for his sonnets to the fair-haired, blue-eyed Laura, took the title of "poet laureate" in 1341.
[edit] History
From the more general use of the term "poet laureate" arose its restriction in England to an official office of Poet Laureate, attached to the royal household. James I essentially created the position as it is known today for Ben Jonson in 1617, although Jonson's appointment does not seem to have been formally made. The office was a development from the practice of earlier times when minstrels and versifiers formed part of the King's retinue. Richard Coeur de Lion had a versificator Regis (King's Poet), Gulielmus Peregrinus, and Henry III had a versificator named (Master Henry). In the 15th century, John Kay, also a "versifier", described himself as Edward IV's "humble poet laureate".
No single authentic definitive record exists of the office of Poet Laureate of England. According to Wharton, Henry I paid 10 shillings a year to a Versificator Regis. Geoffrey Chaucer 1340–1400 was called Poet Laureate, being granted in 1389 an annual allowance of wine. W. Hamilton classes Chaucer, Gower, Kay, Andrew Bernard, Skelton, Robert Whittington, Richard Edwards, Spenser and Samuel Daniel, as "volunteer Laureates".
John Skelton studied at Oxford University in the early 1480s, and was advanced to the degree of "poet laureate" in 1488. The title of laureate was also conferred on him by the University of Louvain in 1492, and by Cambridge University in 1492–3. He soon became famous for rhetoric, satire and translations. In 1488 Skelton joined the court of Henry VII, tutored Henry VIII and was the official royal poet for most of the next 40 years. He was held in high esteem: "But I pray mayster John Skelton, late created poete laureate in the unyversite of Oxenforde, to oversee and correct this sayd booke" — Caxton in the preface to The Boke of Eneydos compyled by Vargyle 1490.
The title of Poet Laureate, as a royal office, was first conferred by letters patent on John Dryden in 1670, two years after Davenant's death. The post then became a regular institution. Dryden's successor Shadwell originated annual birthday and New Year odes. The poet laureate became responsible for writing and presenting official verses to commemorate both personal occasions, such as the monarch's birthday or royal births and marriages, and public occasions, such as coronations and military victories. His activity in this respect has varied according to circumstances, and the custom ceased to be obligatory after Pye's death. The office fell into some contempt before Southey, but took on a new lustre from his personal distinction and that of Wordsworth and Tennyson. Wordsworth stipulated, before accepting the honour, that no formal effusions from him should be considered a necessity; but Tennyson was generally happy in his numerous poems of this class.
On Tennyson's death there was a considerable feeling that no possible successor was acceptable, William Morris and Swinburne being hardly suitable as court poets. Eventually, however, the undesirability of breaking with tradition for temporary reasons, and thus severing the one official link between literature and the state, prevailed over the protests against allowing anyone of inferior genius to follow Tennyson. It may be noted that abolition had been similarly advocated when Warton and Wordsworth died. Edward Gibbon had condemned the position's artificial approach to poetry:
From Augustus to Louis, the muse has too often been false and venal: but I much doubt whether any age or court can produce a similar establishment of a stipendiary poet, who in every reign, and at all events, is bound to furnish twice a year a measure of praise and verse, such as may be sung in the chapel, and, I believe, in the presence, of the sovereign. I speak the more freely, as the best time for abolishing this ridiculous custom is while the prince is a man of virtue and the poet a man of genius.
— Gibbon: The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire: Chapter LXX (footnote)
The salary has varied, but traditionally includes some alcohol. Ben Jonson first received a pension of 100 marks, and later an annual "terse of Canary wine". Dryden had a pension of £300 and a butt of Canary wine. Pye received £27 instead of the wine. Tennyson drew £72 a year from the Lord Chamberlain's department, and £27 from the Lord Steward's "in lieu of the butt of sack".
[edit] List of Poets Laureate of England
[edit] Mediæval
- Gulielmus Peregrinus employed by Richard Coeur de Lion
- Master Henry was Versificator Regis, or King's Poet employed by Henry III (according to Thomas Warton)
- Geoffrey Chaucer (c. 1343–1400)
- John Kay in the reign of Edward IV, 1461–83
[edit] Under the Tudors
- Bernard André of Toulouse (1450–1522), author of Vita regis Henrici Septimi called himself Poet Laureate under Henry VII
- John Skelton was the Poet Laureate under Henry VIII
- Edmund Spenser died in 1599
[edit] From 1599 to the Present
- 1599: Samuel Daniel
- 1619: Ben Jonson
- 1637: Sir William Davenant (a godson of William Shakespeare)
- 1668: John Dryden
- 1688: Thomas Shadwell
- 1692: Nahum Tate
- 1715: Nicholas Rowe
- 1718: Reverend Laurence Eusden
- 1730: Colley Cibber
- 1757: William Whitehead, on the refusal of Thomas Gray
- 1785: Reverend Thomas Warton, on the refusal of William Mason
- 1790: Henry James Pye
- 1813: Robert Southey, on the refusal of Sir Walter Scott
- 1843: William Wordsworth
- 1850: Alfred, Lord Tennyson, on the refusal of Samuel Russell
Betjeman's City home
- 1896: Alfred Austin, on the refusal of William Morris
- 1913: Robert Bridges
- 1930: John Masefield, OM
- 1967: Cecil Day-Lewis, CBE
- 1972: Sir John Betjeman, CBE
- 1984: Ted Hughes, OM, on the refusal of Philip Larkin
- 1999: Andrew Motion (for a ten year period)
[edit] Poets Laureate in other countries
Other countries have established similar official posts.
[edit] Canada
The Canadian Parliamentary Poet Laureate is appointed as an officer of the Library of Parliament. Candidates must be able to write in both English and French, must have a substantial publication history (including poetry) displaying literary excellence and must have written work reflecting Canada, among other criteria.
The first ever Canadian Parliamentary Poet Laureate was awarded to George Bowering in 2002. In 2004, the title was transferred to Pauline Michel and in 2006 to John Steffler. His term ends on December 3, 2008.
[edit] Scotland
The Scots Makar is the unpaid equivalent of a poet laureate to represent and promote poetry in Scotland. On 16 February 2004, Professor Edwin Morgan was named to the post.
[edit] U.S.A.
The United States Library of Congress has since 1937 appointed an official Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress. An Act of Congress changed the name of the position in 1985 to Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress.
As of 2007, the U.S. Poet Laureate is Charles Simic. Previous U.S. Poets Laureate have included Rita Dove, Elizabeth Bishop, Robert Frost, Karl Shapiro, Robert Penn Warren, Joseph Brodsky, Stanley Kunitz, Robert Hass, Donald Hall, Robert Pinsky, Billy Collins, and Ted Kooser, among others. The incumbent receives a stipend ($35,000), oversees an ongoing series of poetry readings and lectures at the library, and is given the vague mandate of promoting poetry, but has no other specific duties and they are not necessarily expected to compose works for recitation at government events or in praise of government officials.
Many U.S. states also have official Poets Laureate. The fashion has also spread to some cities. Most holders of the title reach eminence by public competition; some have also inspired controversy by what they do in office and, as in the case of Amiri Baraka, have sometimes been removed.
[edit] Wales
Wales has had a long tradition of poets and bards under royal patronage, with extant writing from mediæval royal poets and earlier. An office of National Poet for Wales was established in April 2005. The first holder, Gwyneth Lewis, was followed by Gwyn Thomas.
[edit] Others
Kannadasan was the poet laureate of Tamil Nadu at the time of his death.
William Auld is sometimes considered the poet laureate of Esperantujo.
Hanns Johst was poet leaureate of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945.
