Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress

The Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress is appointed by the United States Librarian of Congress and earns a stipend of $35,000 a year. Originally the title was "Consultant in Poetry", but that was changed in 1986 to be "Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry". The idea was modeled on the Poet Laureate of England. These poets and their terms of service are given below.

Poets who have held the Library of Congress poetry position, 1937-present

• 1937-41 Joseph Auslander
• 1943-44 Allen Tate
• 1944-45 Robert Penn Warren
• 1945-46 Louise Bogan
• 1946-47 Karl Shapiro
• 1947-48 Robert Lowell
• 1948-49 Leonie Adams
• 1949-50 Elizabeth Bishop
• 1950-52 Conrad Aiken (First to serve two terms)
• 1952 William Carlos Williams (appointed but did not serve)
• 1956-58 Randall Jarrell
• 1958-59 Robert Frost
• 1959-61 Richard Eberhart
• 1961-63 Louis Untermeyer
• 1963-64 Howard Nemerov
• 1964-65 Reed Whittemore
• 1965-66 Stephen Spender
• 1966-68 James Dickey
• 1968-70 William Jay Smith
• 1970-71 William Stafford
• 1971-73 Josephine Jacobson
• 1973-74 Daniel Hoffman
• 1974-76 Stanley Kunitz
• 1976-78 Robert Hayden
• 1978-80 William Meredith
• 1981-82 Maxine Kumin
• 1982-84 Anthony Hecht
• 1984-85 Robert Fitzgerald (Appointed and served in a health-limited capacity, but did not come to LC)
• 1984-85 Reed Whittemore (Interim Consultant in Poetry)
• 1985-86 Gwendolyn Brooks
• 1986-87 Robert Penn Warren (First to be designated Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry)
• 1987-88 Richard Wilbur
• 1988-90 Howard Nemerov
• 1990-91 Mark Strand
• 1991-92 Joseph Brodsky
• 1992-93 Mona Van Duyn
• 1993-95 Rita Dove
• 1995-97 Robert Hass
• 1997-99 Robert Pinsky
• 1999-2000 Special Bicentennial Consultants: Rita Dove, Louise Glück, and W.S. Merwin
• 2000-01 Stanley Kunitz
• 2001-03 Billy Collins
• 2003-04 Louise Glück
• 2004-06 Ted Kooser