Poet Laureate
Quick answer: A poet laureate is a poet officially appointed by a government or institution to write and champion poetry in public life. Explore the role and its history.
A poet laureate is a poet officially appointed by a government, monarch or institution to represent poetry in public life. The laureate may be asked to write poems for national occasions, to lead projects that bring poetry to new audiences, or simply to serve as the art form's most visible ambassador for a fixed term. The title descends from the ancient practice of crowning honoured poets with laurel leaves, the wreath of Apollo.
You will meet the term at every scale, from the British Poet Laureate and the United States Poet Laureate down to state, county, city and even school laureateships. Wherever a community wants an official voice for poetry, it borrows this old title.
A Short History
Britain formalised the role first: John Dryden became the first official Poet Laureate in 1668, and the post has continued through Wordsworth, Tennyson and Ted Hughes to Simon Armitage, appointed in 2019 for a ten-year term. Historically the laureate wrote verses for royal events, a duty that produced some famously dutiful poetry; modern laureates are given far more freedom, and most use the platform for public projects rather than court flattery.
The traditional payment famously includes a butt of sack, a barrel of sherry, alongside the stipend. Poets enjoy reporting that the sherry is real.
The Role Around the World
The United States created its version at the Library of Congress in 1937 under the title Consultant in Poetry, renamed Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry in 1986. Holders serve short renewable terms and design their own outreach projects; recent laureates such as Joy Harjo and Ada Limón have carried poetry into places as varied as tribal communities and the space programme. Many other countries, and countless regions and cities, now appoint laureates of their own, including children's laureates and young people's laureates.
What Laureates Actually Do
The job is less about writing to order than about widening the audience. A laureate might commission new work, tour schools, edit anthologies, or write the occasional public poem for a coronation, an inauguration or a disaster. For working poets, laureates matter as proof that poetry holds a public office at all: someone is paid, in money and sherry, to insist that the art belongs to everyone. Local laureateships are also surprisingly reachable; many city and county posts go to committed community poets, not celebrities.
What poets can take from this
- Follow your national or state laureate's projects; they often create open opportunities for unknown poets.
- If your town lacks a laureate, propose one to the council or library; many local posts began exactly that way.
- Study occasional poems by laureates past to learn how public verse balances ceremony with honesty.
- Treat local laureateships as career milestones worth applying for once you have community work to show.
- Remember the role is service; committees choose poets who show up for other people's poems, not only their own.
Try it yourself
Imagine you have been appointed laureate of your street for one year. Write the official poem for an occasion your street actually has: the bins collected in the rain, a neighbour moving out, the first barbecue smell of summer.
Questions
How does someone become a poet laureate?
By appointment, not application, at national level: committees or officials select an established poet. Local and regional laureateships often do take applications, and typically ask for a portfolio plus a record of community work such as readings, workshops or teaching.
Is a poet laureate paid?
Usually, though rarely lavishly. The British post carries a stipend and the traditional barrel of sherry; the US position pays a modest annual sum funded by an endowment. Local laureates may receive a small honorarium or serve as volunteers.
Does a poet laureate have to write poems about royalty or the government?
Not any more. Modern laureates choose their own subjects, and many have skipped official occasions entirely. The role today centres on advocacy, education and public projects rather than commissioned praise.
By the Writory editorial team, reviewed by working poets. Updated July 2026.
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