Word: laureateship
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...poet laureateship may be a title in name only, but certainly no one is begrudging Warren's selection. He is a familiar name to the general public, probably best known for his novel All the King's Men (1946). He is the only person ever to win Pulitzer prizes for both poetry and fiction. His distinguished career seems to have made the introduction of a regal tradition into a democratic society easy for everyone involved. "I think he is such an obvious choice," says Librarian Boorstin, who made the appointment. "We were fortunate to have Robert Penn Warren with...
Poetry has long been regarded in America as unprofitable and sissy. A laureateship would be a way to give the craft some livelier hormones. It might also serve to draw poetry more into public realms, out of the excruciating and quivering privacy in which it now abides. To avoid the English laureate's hobbling obsequiousness, an American laureate would have to be guaranteed his independence. But beware of a lifelong appointment, like one to the Supreme Court; it might make a poet fatuous, "official" and eventually senile...