The Pulitzer Prize for Poetry is one of the seven American Pulitzer Prizes awarded annually for Letters, Drama, and Music. It was first presented in 1922, and is given for a distinguished volume of original verse by an American author, published during the preceding calendar year.
Finalists have been announced since 1980, ordinarily two others beside the winner.[1]
Before the establishment of the award, the 1918 and 1919 Pulitzer cycles included three Pulitzer Prize Special Citations and Awards (called at the time the Columbia University Poetry Prize) for poetry books funded by "a special grant from The Poetry Society."[1] See Special Pulitzers for Letters.
Winners
editIn its first 92 years to 2013, the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry was awarded 92 times. Two were given in 2008, none in 1946.[1] Robert Frost won the prize four times and several others won it more than once (below).
Year | Poet | Title |
---|---|---|
1918 | Sara Teasdale | Love Songs |
1919 | Carl Sandburg | Cornhuskers |
1919 | Margaret Widdemer | The Old Road to Paradise |
1920s–1970s
edit1980s
editYear | Poet | Title | Result | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
1980 | Donald Justice | Selected Poems | Winner | |
Richard Hugo | Selected Poems | Finalist | ||
Dave Smith | Goshawk, Antelope | Finalist | ||
1981 | James Schuyler | The Morning of the Poem | Winner | |
Richard Hugo | The Right Madness on Skye | Finalist | ||
Mark Strand | Selected Poems | Finalist | ||
1982 | Sylvia Plath | The Collected Poems | Winner | |
Dave Smith | Dream Flights | Finalist | ||
Charles Wright | The Southern Cross | Finalist | ||
1983 | Galway Kinnell | Selected Poems | Winner | [10] |
Jack Gilbert | Monolithos, Poems 1962 and 1982 | Finalist | ||
Charles Wright | Country Music, Selected Early Poems | Finalist | ||
1984 | Mary Oliver | American Primitive | Winner | [11][12] |
John Engels | Weather-Fear: New and Selected Poems | Finalist | ||
Josephine Miles | Collected Poems, 1930-1982 | Finalist | ||
1985 | Carolyn Kizer | Yin | Winner | |
Robert Duncan | Ground Work | Finalist | ||
Charles Wright | The Other Side of the River | Finalist | ||
1986 | Henry S. Taylor | The Flying Change | Winner | |
Andrew Hudgins | Saints and Strangers | Finalist | ||
Charles Simic | Selected Poems, 1963-1983 | Finalist | ||
1987 | Rita Dove | Thomas and Beulah | Winner | |
Hayden Carruth | The Selected Poetry of Hayden Carruth | Finalist | ||
Charles Simic | Unending Blues | Finalist | ||
1988 | William Meredith | Partial Accounts: New and Selected Poems | Winner | |
Lucille Clifton | Good Woman: Poems and a Memoir 1969-1980 and Next: New Poems | Finalist | ||
C.K. Williams | Flesh and Blood | Finalist | ||
1989 | Richard Wilbur | New and Collected Poems | Winner | |
Donald Hall | The One Day | Finalist | [13] | |
Garrett Hongo | The River of Heaven | Finalist |
1990s
editYear | Poet | Title | Result | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
1990 | Charles Simic | The World Doesn't End | Winner | [14][15] |
Adrienne Rich | Time's Power | Finalist | ||
Paul Zweig | Selected and Last Poems | Finalist | ||
1991 | Mona Van Duyn | Near Changes | Winner | |
Anthony Hecht | The Transparent Man | Finalist | ||
Gerald Stern | Leaving Another Kingdom | Finalist | ||
1992 | James Tate | Selected Poems | Winner | [16] |
Robert Creeley | Selected Poems | Finalist | ||
Adrienne Rich | An Atlas of the Difficult World | Finalist | ||
1993 | Louise Glück | The Wild Iris | Winner | [17] |
John Ashbery | Hotel Lautreamont | Finalist | ||
James Merrill | Selected Poems 1946-1985 | Finalist | ||
1994 | Yusef Komunyakaa | Neon Vernacular: New and Selected Poems | Winner | |
Brenda Hillman | Bright Existence | Finalist | ||
Allen Mandelbaum | The Metamorphoses of Ovid | Finalist | ||
1995 | Philip Levine | The Simple Truth | Winner | [18] |
Allen Ginsberg | Cosmopolitan Greetings: Poems 1986-1992 | Finalist | ||
Kenneth Koch | On the Great Atlantic Rainway: Selected Poems 1950-1988 and One Train | Finalist | ||
1996 | Jorie Graham | The Dream of the Unified Field | Winner | |
Donald Justice | New and Selected Poems | Finalist | ||
Charles Wright | Chickamauga | Finalist | ||
1997 | Lisel Mueller | Alive Together: New and Selected Poems | Winner | [19] |
Robert Pinsky | The Figured Wheel | Finalist | ||
Laurie Sheck | The Willow Grove | Finalist | ||
1998 | Charles Wright | Black Zodiac | Winner | |
Frank Bidart | Desire | Finalist | ||
C.K. Williams | The Vigil | Finalist | ||
1999 | Mark Strand | Blizzard of One | Winner | [20] |
Alice Notley | Mysteries of Small Houses | Finalist | ||
Frederick Seidel | Going Fast | Finalist |
2000s
editYear | Poet | Title | Result | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
2000 | C. K. Williams | Repair | Winner | [21] |
Rodney Jones | Elegy for the Southern Drawl | Finalist | ||
Adrienne Rich | Midnight Salvage: Poems 1995-1998 | Finalist | ||
2001 | Stephen Dunn | Different Hours | Winner | [22][23] |
Sydney Lea | Pursuit of a Wound | Finalist | ||
Bruce Smith | The Other Lover | Finalist | ||
2002 | Carl Dennis | Practical Gods | Winner | |
Louise Glück | The Seven Ages | Finalist | ||
Franz Wright | The Beforelife | Finalist | ||
2003 | Paul Muldoon | Moy Sand and Gravel | Winner | [24] |
Frank Bidart | Music Like Dirt | Finalist | ||
J. D. McClatchy | Hazmat | Finalist | [25] | |
2004 | Franz Wright | Walking to Martha's Vineyard | Winner | |
Henri Cole | Middle Earth | Finalist | ||
Heather McHugh | Eyeshot | Finalist | ||
2005 | Ted Kooser | Delights & Shadows | Winner | |
William Matthews | Search Party: Collected Poems | Finalist | ||
Brigit Pegeen Kelly | The Orchard | Finalist | [26] | |
2006 | Claudia Emerson | Late Wife | Winner | |
Elizabeth Alexander | American Sublime | Finalist | ||
Dean Young | Elegy on Toy Piano | Finalist | [27] | |
2007 | Natasha Trethewey | Native Guard | Winner | |
Martín Espada | The Republic of Poetry | Finalist | ||
David Wojahn | Interrogation Palace: New & Selected Poems 1982-2004 | Finalist | ||
2008 | Robert Hass | Time and Materials | Winner | |
Philip Schultz | Failure | Winner | ||
Ellen Bryant Voigt | Messenger: New and Selected Poems, 1976-2006 | Finalist | ||
2009 | W. S. Merwin | The Shadow of Sirius | Winner | [28][29] |
Frank Bidart | Watching the Spring Festival | Finalist | ||
Ruth Stone | What Love Comes To: New & Selected Poems | Finalist |
2010s
edit2020s
editYear | Poet | Title | Result | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
2020 | Jericho Brown | The Tradition | Winner | [54][55][56][57] |
Dorianne Laux | Only as the Day Is Long: New and Selected Poems | Finalist | [56] | |
Mary Ruefle | Dunce | Finalist | [56] | |
2021 | Natalie Diaz | Postcolonial Love Poem | Winner | [56][58][59][60] |
Mei-mei Berssenbrugge | A Treatise on Stars | Finalist | [56] | |
Carolyn Forché | In the Lateness of the World | Finalist | [56] | |
2022 | Diane Seuss | frank: sonnets | Winner | [61][62][63] |
Will Alexander | Refractive Africa: Ballet of the Forgotten | Finalist | [61][62] | |
Mai Der Vang | Yellow Rain | Finalist | [61][62] | |
2023 | Carl Phillips | Then the War: And Selected Poems, 2007–2020 | Winner | [64][65][66][67] |
Jay Hopler | Still Life | Finalist | [64] | |
dg nanouk okpik | Blood Snow | Finalist | [64] | |
2024 | Brandon Som | Tripas: Poems | Winner | [68] |
Jorie Graham | To 2040 | Finalist | [68] | |
Robyn Schiff | Information Desk: An Epic | Finalist | [68] |
Multiple wins and nominations
editThe following individuals received two or more Pulitzer Prizes for Poetry (The 1918 and 1919 Special Prizes are included):
Wins | Poet | Years |
---|---|---|
4 | Robert Frost | 1924, 1931, 1937, 1943 |
3 | Edwin Arlington Robinson | 1922, 1925, 1928 |
2 | Stephen Vincent Benét | 1929, 1944 |
Robert Lowell | 1947, 1974 | |
Archibald MacLeish | 1933, 1953 | |
William S. Merwin | 1971, 2009 | |
Carl Sandburg | 1919, 1951 | |
Robert Penn Warren | 1958, 1979 | |
Richard Wilbur | 1957, 1989 |
The following individuals received two or more nominations:
Bolded years are years that the poet won
Nominations | Poet | Years |
---|---|---|
5 | Charles Wright | 1982, 1983, 1985, 1996, 1998 |
4 | Frank Bidart | 1998, 2003, 2009, 2018 |
Robert Frost | 1924, 1931, 1937, 1943 | |
Adrienne Rich | 1990, 1992, 2000, 2017 | |
3 | Edwin Arlington Robinson | 1922, 1925, 1928 |
Charles Simic | 1986, 1987, 1990 | |
2 | John Ashbery | 1976, 1993 |
Stephen Vincent Benét | 1929, 1944 | |
Forrest Gander | 2012, 2019 | |
Jack Gilbert | 1983, 2013 | |
Louise Glück | 1993, 2002 | |
Anthony Hecht | 1968, 1991 | |
Richard Hugo | 1980, 1981 | |
Donald Justice | 1980, 1996 | |
Robert Lowell | 1947, 1974 | |
Archibald MacLeish | 1933, 1953 | |
James Merril | 1977, 1993 | |
William S. Merwin | 1971, 2009 | |
Carl Sandburg | 1919, 1951 | |
Diane Seuss | 2016, 2022 | |
Mark Strand | 1981, 1999 | |
Dave Smith | 1980, 1982 | |
Robert Penn Warren | 1958, 1979 | |
Richard Wilbur | 1957, 1989 | |
C.K. Williams | 1988, 1998 | |
Franz Wright | 2002, 2004 |
Robert Frost won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry four times from 1924 to 1943. Edwin Arlington Robinson won three prizes during the 1920s and several people, all male, have won two.
Carl Sandburg won one of the special prizes for his poetry in 1919 and won the Poetry Pulitzer in 1951.
Only four women have had multiple nominations: Adrienne Rich with 4, and Louise Glück, Jorie Graham and Diane Seuss with 2 each.
See also
editReferences
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- ^ a b c d "Robert Frost, Winner Of 4 Pulitzer Prizes, Is Dead at Age of 88". The Harvard Crimson. Harvard University. January 30, 1963. Archived from the original on April 3, 2023. Retrieved May 12, 2023.
- ^ a b c d "Robert Frost | The Bollingen Prize for Poetry". Yale University. Archived from the original on November 29, 2022. Retrieved May 12, 2023.
- ^ "Poetry to Comfort the Afflicted and Afflict the Comfortable". Shelf Awareness. March 30, 2021. Archived from the original on January 6, 2023. Retrieved May 12, 2023.
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- ^ Smith, Harrison (March 15, 2019). "W.S. Merwin, poet of austere lyricism who twice won the Pulitzer Prize, dies at 91". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on November 29, 2022. Retrieved May 11, 2023.
- ^ "Obituary Note: John Ashbery". Shelf Awareness. September 5, 2017. Archived from the original on April 18, 2023. Retrieved May 12, 2023.
- ^ "Obituary Note: Galway Kinnell". Shelf Awareness. October 30, 2014. Archived from the original on April 2, 2023. Retrieved May 12, 2023.
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- ^ "Review: One Thousand Things Worth Knowing". Shelf Awareness. January 2, 2015. Archived from the original on December 25, 2022. Retrieved May 12, 2023.
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- ^ "Obituary Note: Dean Young". Shelf Awareness. August 31, 2022. Archived from the original on April 18, 2023. Retrieved May 12, 2023.
- ^ "Awards: The Pulitzers; Orange Prize Shortlist". Shelf Awareness. April 21, 2009. Archived from the original on October 2, 2017. Retrieved May 10, 2023.
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- ^ "Obituary Note: Jean Valentine". Shelf Awareness. January 13, 2021. Archived from the original on February 8, 2023. Retrieved May 12, 2023.
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- ^ "Frank Bidart Wins 2018 Pulitzer Prize by Harriet Staff". Poetry Foundation. May 11, 2023. Retrieved May 12, 2023.
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- ^ Gander, Forrest (April 15, 2019). "A Poem from Forrest Gander's Be With, Winner of the Pulitzer Prize". Literary Hub. Archived from the original on December 5, 2022. Retrieved May 12, 2023.
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- ^ "Emory professor Jericho Brown wins Pulitzer Prize for Poetry". Emory University. May 4, 2020. Archived from the original on December 5, 2022. Retrieved May 12, 2023.
- ^ "2021 Pulitzer Prize Winners". Shelf Awareness. June 14, 2021. Archived from the original on January 23, 2023. Retrieved May 10, 2023.
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- ^ "Poet Natalie Diaz wins Pulitzer Prize". ASU News. Arizona State University. June 11, 2021. Archived from the original on December 7, 2022. Retrieved May 12, 2023.
- ^ a b c "2022 Pulitzer Prize Winners". Pulitzer Prize. Archived from the original on August 2, 2022. Retrieved May 12, 2022.
- ^ a b c Maher, John (May 9, 2022). "'The Netanyahus,' 'frank: sonnets' Among 2022 Pulitzer Prize Winners". Publishers Weekly. Archived from the original on November 29, 2022. Retrieved May 10, 2023.
- ^ "2022 Pulitzer Prize Winners". Shelf Awareness. May 10, 2022. Archived from the original on July 5, 2022. Retrieved May 10, 2023.
- ^ a b c Stewart, Sophia (May 8, 2023). "'Demon Copperhead,' 'Trust,' 'His Name Is George Floyd' Among 2023 Pulitzer Prize Winners". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved May 10, 2023.
- ^ "2023 Pulitzer Prize Winners Include Kingsolver's Demon Copperhead, Diaz's Trust". Shelf Awareness. May 9, 2023. Retrieved May 10, 2023.
- ^ Otten, Liam (May 9, 2023). "Phillips wins Pulitzer Prize in Poetry - The Source - Washington University in St. Louis". The Source. Washington University in St. Louis. Retrieved May 12, 2023.
- ^ Heffernan, Brian (May 8, 2023). "Wash U professor Carl Phillips wins Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. Hear him read 'Then the War'". STLPR. National Public Radio. Retrieved May 12, 2023.
- ^ a b c "2024 Pulitzer Prizes". The Pulitzer Prizes. Retrieved May 7, 2024.
External links
edit- Media related to Pulitzer Prize for Poetry winners at Wikimedia Commons