Pulitzer Prize |
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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.
Year | Poet | Title |
---|---|---|
1918 | Sara Teasdale | Love Songs |
1919 | Carl Sandburg | Cornhuskers |
1919 | Margaret Widdemer | The Old Road to Paradise |
In 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 | 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 |
Year | 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 |
Year | 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 |
Year | Poet | Title | Result | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
2010 | Rae Armantrout | Versed | Winner | [30] [31] |
Angie Estes | Tryst | Finalist | ||
Lucia Perillo | Inseminating the Elephant | Finalist | ||
2011 | Kay Ryan | The Best of It: New and Selected Poems | Winner | [32] [33] |
Maurice Manning | The Common Man | Finalist | ||
Jean Valentine | Break the Glass | Finalist | [34] | |
2012 | Tracy K. Smith | Life on Mars | Winner | [35] [36] [37] |
Forrest Gander | Core Samples from the World | Finalist | [36] | |
Ron Padgett | How Long | Finalist | [36] | |
2013 | Sharon Olds | Stag's Leap | Winner | [38] |
Jack Gilbert | Collected Poems | Finalist | [38] | |
Bruce Weigl | The Abundance of Nothing | Finalist | [38] | |
2014 | Vijay Seshadri | 3 Sections | Winner | [39] [40] |
Morri Creech | The Sleep of Reason | Finalist | ||
Adrian Matejka | The Big Smoke | Finalist | ||
2015 | Gregory Pardlo | Digest | Winner | [41] [42] |
Alan Shapiro | Reel to Reel | Finalist | ||
Arthur Sze | Compass Rose | Finalist | ||
2016 | Peter Balakian | Ozone Journal | Winner | [43] [44] |
Diane Seuss | Four-Legged Girl | Finalist | ||
Elizabeth Willis | Alive: New and Selected Poems | Finalist | ||
2017 | Tyehimba Jess | Olio | Winner | [45] [46] [47] |
Campbell McGrath | XX | Finalist | ||
Adrienne Rich | Collected Poems: 1950-2012 | Finalist | ||
2018 | Frank Bidart | Half-light: Collected Poems 1965–2016 | Winner | [48] [49] [50] |
Evie Shockley | semiautomatic, | Finalist | [48] | |
Patricia Smith | Incendiary Art | Finalist | [48] | |
2019 | Forrest Gander | Be With | Winner | [51] [52] [53] |
Jos Charles | feeld | Finalist | [51] [52] | |
A.E. Stallings | Like | Finalist | [51] [52] |
Year | 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] |
The 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 three women have had multiple nominations: Adrienne Rich with 4, and Louise Glück and Diane Seuss with 2 each.
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The Griffin Poetry Prize is Canada's poetry award. It was founded in 2000 by businessman and philanthropist Scott Griffin.
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