Poet Laureate

A Poet Laureate is a poet officially appointed by a government and often expected to compose poems for state occasions and other government events.

List of Poets Laureate

British Poets Laureate

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 (1340-1400)
• John Kay in the reign of Edward IV, 1461-1483

Tudor

• Bernard Andre 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

Stuart

After Spenser's death, the office was awarded on a more regular basis. Once chosen, poets laureate would serve for life. They received an annual pension, and were expected to write poetry for formal occasions.

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• 1599 Samuel Daniel
• 1619 Ben Jonson
• 1637 Sir William Davenant (a godson of William Shakespeare)

Appointed by letters patent

• 1670 John Dryden
• 1689 Thomas Shadwell
• 1692 Nahum Tate
• 1715 Nicholas Rowe
• 1718 Rev'd Laurence Eusden
• 1730 Colley Cibber
• 1757 William Whitehead, on the refusal of Thomas Gray
• 1785 Rev'd 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
• 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, OBE (widower of Sylvia Plath), on the refusal of Philip Larkin
• 1999 Professor Andrew Motion

Scotland and Wales

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.

Related Topics:
Makar - Scotland - 16 February - 2004 - Edwin Morgan

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It was announced in February 2005 that Wales is to have its own national poet. The Arts Council of Wales gave a £5,000 lottery grant for the role.

Related Topics:
2005 - Wales - Arts Council of Wales - Lottery

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