W.S. Merwin Named Poet Laureate of the U.S. 2010

Poet Laureate of the United States- what is that anyway? In the United States, the Poet Laureate is to raise the national consciousness to a greater appreciation of the reading and writing of poetry. That is the closest thing to an official description of his/ her job as one can find. The Poet Laureate is appointed annually and serves from October through May of each year. Making the choice of who will fill the position is never easy. Generally, the Librarian of Congress consults with former appointees, the current Laureate, and distinguished poetry critics.

Among the Laureate's duties are giving an annual lecture and reading of his or her poetry and usually must introduce poets in the Library's annual poetry series, the oldest in the Washington area, and among the oldest in the United States. The Laureate receives a $35,000 annual stipend funded by a gift from Archer M. Huntington. The Library keeps the specific duties to a minimum in order to afford Laureates maximum freedom to work on their own projects while at the Library.

The position has existed under two separate titles. Originally- from 1937 to 1986- the position was known as "Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress". More recently- from 1986 and continuing- it's official name is "Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry."

This year, that position has been given to W.S. Merwin. Merwin was born in 1927 in New York City and was raised in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. He attended Princeton University where he studied under R.P. Blackmur and John Berryman and graduated in 1948. He began translating poetry and working as a tutor while still a graduate student, one of his clients being the son of the poet Robert Graves.

Merwin's debut collection was entiled "A Mask for Janus" and was published in 1952 as part of The Yale Series of Younger Poets. At this point, he has published over a dozen collections and won a slew of very prestigious awards, including the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry twice (1971 and 2009, respectively).

Merwin has not yet announced what his unique project during his tenure as Laureate will be.