Poetry Society of America
Encyclopedia
The Poetry Society of America is a literary organization founded in 1910 by poets, editors, and artists including Witter Bynner
. It is the oldest poetry organization in the United States. Past members of the Society have included such renowned writers as Robert Frost
, Langston Hughes
, Edna St. Vincent Millay
, Marianne Moore
, and Wallace Stevens
. Current members include John Ashbery
, Louise Glück
, Rita Dove
, Stanley Kunitz
, Robert Pinsky
, Molly Peacock
, Billy Collins
and James Tate
.
in Manhattan
, which is still home to the organization today. Jesse Rittenhouse, a founding member and Secretary of the PSA, documented the founding of the Poetry Society of America in her autobiography My House of Life writing "It was not, however, to be an organization in the formal sense of the word, but founded upon the salon idea, a place where poets would gather to read and discuss their work and that of their contemporaries, the group to be united largely through the hospitality of our hosts at whose apartments it was proposed we should continue to meet...When, after much enthusiastic speech-making, a committee was appointed to retire and discuss the details, I had no hesitancy in saying—though at the risk of seeming ungrateful to our hosts—that it was much too big an idea to be narrowed down to a social function, into which it would inevitably deteriorate, and if the Society were developed at all, it ought to be along national lines, and should meet in a public rather than a private place."
Within the first few years, poets such as Amy Lowell
, Ezra Pound
and W.B. Yeats regularly attended meetings.
along with the New York City MTA
in the New York City subway system, a program which has since placed poetry in the transit systems of over 20 cities throughout the country such as: Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, New Orleans, Portland, and Salt Lake City. The program has been honored with numerous awards including a Design for Transportation Merit Award, the New York Municipal Society's Certificate of Merit, and in 2000 a proclamation from the Council of the City of New York that honored the program for its "invaluable contribution to the people of New York City."
. In 1917, after the fist Pulitzer prizes were awarded, Society member Edward J. Wheeler petitioned the President of Columbia University to include poetry as an award category. After receiving a reply from the President that there had been no funds allocated to award a prize in poetry, Wheeler secured $500 on behalf of the Society from a New York City art patron in order to establish the prize. The Poetry Society continued to provide this support until 1922 when Columbia University as well as the Pulitzer Board, voted to regularize a Pulitzer Prize in Poetry.
for lifetime achievement in American poetry and the Shelley Memorial Award
and stipend to a living American poet selected with reference to genius and need. In 1984 the Frost Medal became an annual award. The Shelley has been awarded every year since 1930, except for 1933.
Chapbook Fellowships
Beginning in 2003, the Society began sponsoring an annual chapbook contest, awarding four fellowships to poets who have not yet published a full-length poetry collection. These fellowships include:
Annual Awards
In addition to the Frost Medal and Shelley Award, the Poetry Society gives out the following awards.
Witter Bynner
Harold Witter Bynner was an American poet, writer and scholar, known for his long residence in Santa Fe, New Mexico, at what is now the Inn of the Turquoise Bear.-Early life:...
. It is the oldest poetry organization in the United States. Past members of the Society have included such renowned writers as Robert Frost
Robert Frost
Robert Lee Frost was an American poet. He is highly regarded for his realistic depictions of rural life and his command of American colloquial speech. His work frequently employed settings from rural life in New England in the early twentieth century, using them to examine complex social and...
, Langston Hughes
Langston Hughes
James Mercer Langston Hughes was an American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist. He was one of the earliest innovators of the then-new literary art form jazz poetry. Hughes is best known for his work during the Harlem Renaissance...
, Edna St. Vincent Millay
Edna St. Vincent Millay
Edna St. Vincent Millay was an American lyrical poet, playwright and feminist. She received the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, and was known for her activism and her many love affairs. She used the pseudonym Nancy Boyd for her prose work...
, Marianne Moore
Marianne Moore
Marianne Moore was an American Modernist poet and writer noted for her irony and wit.- Life :Moore was born in Kirkwood, Missouri, in the manse of the Presbyterian church where her maternal grandfather, John Riddle Warner, served as pastor. She was the daughter of mechanical engineer and inventor...
, and Wallace Stevens
Wallace Stevens
Wallace Stevens was an American Modernist poet. He was born in Reading, Pennsylvania, educated at Harvard and then New York Law School, and spent most of his life working as a lawyer for the Hartford insurance company in Connecticut.His best-known poems include "Anecdote of the Jar",...
. Current members include John Ashbery
John Ashbery
John Lawrence Ashbery is an American poet. He has published more than twenty volumes of poetry and won nearly every major American award for poetry, including a Pulitzer Prize in 1976 for his collection Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror. But Ashbery's work still proves controversial...
, Louise Glück
Louise Glück
Louise Elisabeth Glück is an American poet of Hungarian Jewish heritage. She was appointed Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress in 2003, after serving as a Special Bicentennial Consultant three years prior in 2000....
, Rita Dove
Rita Dove
Rita Frances Dove is an American poet and author. From 1993-1995 she served as Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress, a position now popularly known as "U.S. Poet Laureate"...
, Stanley Kunitz
Stanley Kunitz
Stanley Jasspon Kunitz was an American poet. He was appointed Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress twice, first in 1974 and then again in 2000.-Biography:...
, Robert Pinsky
Robert Pinsky
Robert Pinsky is an American poet, essayist, literary critic, and translator. From 1997 to 2000, he served as Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress. Pinsky is the author of nineteen books, most of which are collections of his own poetry...
, Molly Peacock
Molly Peacock
Molly Peacock is an American-Canadian poet, essayist and creative nonfiction writer. She is an alumna of Binghamton University.-Career:...
, Billy Collins
Billy Collins
Billy Collins is an American poet, appointed as Poet Laureate of the United States from 2001 to 2003. He is a Distinguished Professor at Lehman College of the City University of New York and is the Senior Distinguished Fellow of the Winter Park Institute, Florida...
and James Tate
James Tate (writer)
James Tate is an American poet whose work has earned him the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. He is a professor of English at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters...
.
History
In 1910, the Poetry Society of America held its first official meeting in the National Arts ClubNational Arts Club
The National Arts Club is a private club in Gramercy Park, New York City, New York, USA. It was founded in 1898 to "stimulate, foster, and promote public interest in the arts and to educate the American people in the fine arts". Since 1906 the organization has occupied the Samuel J...
in Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
, which is still home to the organization today. Jesse Rittenhouse, a founding member and Secretary of the PSA, documented the founding of the Poetry Society of America in her autobiography My House of Life writing "It was not, however, to be an organization in the formal sense of the word, but founded upon the salon idea, a place where poets would gather to read and discuss their work and that of their contemporaries, the group to be united largely through the hospitality of our hosts at whose apartments it was proposed we should continue to meet...When, after much enthusiastic speech-making, a committee was appointed to retire and discuss the details, I had no hesitancy in saying—though at the risk of seeming ungrateful to our hosts—that it was much too big an idea to be narrowed down to a social function, into which it would inevitably deteriorate, and if the Society were developed at all, it ought to be along national lines, and should meet in a public rather than a private place."
Within the first few years, poets such as Amy Lowell
Amy Lowell
Amy Lawrence Lowell was an American poet of the imagist school from Brookline, Massachusetts who posthumously won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1926.- Personal life:...
, Ezra Pound
Ezra Pound
Ezra Weston Loomis Pound was an American expatriate poet and critic and a major figure in the early modernist movement in poetry...
and W.B. Yeats regularly attended meetings.
Poetry In Motion
In 1992 the Poetry Society launched Poetry in MotionPoetry in Motion (arts program)
Poetry in Motion is an arts program collaborative which displays poems by prominent authors in advertising space on the buses and subways. The program was launched by New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority and the Poetry Society of America, based on the success of the Streetfare Journal...
along with the New York City MTA
Metropolitan Transportation Authority (New York)
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority of the State of New York is a public benefit corporation responsible for public transportation in the U.S...
in the New York City subway system, a program which has since placed poetry in the transit systems of over 20 cities throughout the country such as: Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, New Orleans, Portland, and Salt Lake City. The program has been honored with numerous awards including a Design for Transportation Merit Award, the New York Municipal Society's Certificate of Merit, and in 2000 a proclamation from the Council of the City of New York that honored the program for its "invaluable contribution to the people of New York City."
Establishment of the Pulitzer Prize
The Poetry Society was instrumental in the establishment of a Pulitzer Prize for PoetryPulitzer Prize for Poetry
The Pulitzer Prize in Poetry has been presented since 1922 for a distinguished volume of original verse by an American author. However, special citations for poetry were presented in 1918 and 1919.-Winners:...
. In 1917, after the fist Pulitzer prizes were awarded, Society member Edward J. Wheeler petitioned the President of Columbia University to include poetry as an award category. After receiving a reply from the President that there had been no funds allocated to award a prize in poetry, Wheeler secured $500 on behalf of the Society from a New York City art patron in order to establish the prize. The Poetry Society continued to provide this support until 1922 when Columbia University as well as the Pulitzer Board, voted to regularize a Pulitzer Prize in Poetry.
Awards given by the Society
In 1915 the Society began conferring awards honoring innovation and mastery of the form by emerging and established American poets. By 1930 the Society began awarding the Frost MedalFrost Medal
The Robert Frost Medal is an award of the Poetry Society of America for "distinguished lifetime service to American poetry." Medalists receive a prize purse of $2,500....
for lifetime achievement in American poetry and the Shelley Memorial Award
Shelley Memorial Award
The Shelley Memorial Award of more than $3,500, given out by the Poetry Society of America, was established by the will of the late Mary P. Sears, and named after the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley. The prize is given to a living American poet selected with reference to genius and need. The selection is...
and stipend to a living American poet selected with reference to genius and need. In 1984 the Frost Medal became an annual award. The Shelley has been awarded every year since 1930, except for 1933.
- Frost MedalFrost MedalThe Robert Frost Medal is an award of the Poetry Society of America for "distinguished lifetime service to American poetry." Medalists receive a prize purse of $2,500....
— awarded annually for distinguished lifetime achievement in American poetry. - Shelley Memorial AwardShelley Memorial AwardThe Shelley Memorial Award of more than $3,500, given out by the Poetry Society of America, was established by the will of the late Mary P. Sears, and named after the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley. The prize is given to a living American poet selected with reference to genius and need. The selection is...
— offered by the society to a poet living in the United States who is chosen on the basis of "genius and need."
Chapbook Fellowships
Beginning in 2003, the Society began sponsoring an annual chapbook contest, awarding four fellowships to poets who have not yet published a full-length poetry collection. These fellowships include:
- The National Chapbook FellowshipNational Chapbook FellowshipThe Poetry Society of America's National Chapbook Fellowship is awarded once a year to two American poets under 30 years of age who have yet to publish a first book of poems. Two renowned poets select and introduce a winning manuscript for publication...
— given to two US poets who have yet to publish a first book of poems. - The New York Chapbook FellowshipNew York Chapbook FellowshipThe Poetry Society of America's New York Chapbook Fellowship is awarded once a year to two New York poets under 30 years of age who have yet to publish a first book of poems. Two renowned poets select and introduce a winning manuscript for publication...
— given to two New York poets under 30 years of age who have yet to publish a first book of poems.
Annual Awards
In addition to the Frost Medal and Shelley Award, the Poetry Society gives out the following awards.
- Writer Magazine/Emily Dickinson AwardWriter Magazine/Emily Dickinson AwardThe Writer Magazine/Emily Dickinson Award is given once a year to a member of the Poetry Society of America "to honor the memory and poetry of Emily Dickinson, for a poem inspired by Dickinson though not necessarily in her style." The winner receives a $250 prize.-Winners:*2010: Marlene Rosen Fine,...
— awarded for a poem inspired by Emily Dickinson. - Cecil Hemley Memorial AwardCecil Hemley Memorial AwardThe Cecil Hemley Memorial Award is given once a year to a member of the Poetry Society of America "for a lyric poem that addresses a philosophical or epistemological concern."...
— awarded for a lyric poem that addresses a philosophical or epistemological concern. - Lyric Poetry AwardLyric Poetry AwardThe Lyric Poetry Award is given once a year to a member of the Poetry Society of America and was "established under the will of PSA member Mrs. Consuelo Ford , and also in memory of Mary Carolyn Davies, for a lyric poem on any subject."...
— awarded for a lyric poem on any subject. - Lucille Medwick Memorial AwardLucille Medwick Memorial AwardThe Lucille Medwick Memorial Award is given once a year to a member of the Poetry Society of America. It was "established by Maury Medwick in memory of his wife, the poet and editor, for an original poem in any form on a humanitarian theme."...
— awarded for an original poem in any form on a humanitarian theme. - Alice Fay di Castagnola Award — given annually to a poet who is recognized at a crucial stage in his or her work.
- Louise Louis/Emily F. Bourne Student Poetry AwardLouise Louis/Emily F. Bourne Student Poetry AwardThe Louise Louis/Emily F. Bourne Student Poetry Award is given "for the best unpublished poem by a student in grades 9 through 12 from the United States. Teachers or administrators may submit an unlimited number of their students' poems."...
— awarded for the best unpublished poem by a student in grades 9 through 12 from the United States. - George Bogin Memorial AwardGeorge Bogin Memorial AwardThe Poetry Society of America's George Bogin Memorial Award is given "by the family and friends of George Bogin for a selection of four or five poems that use language in an original way to reflect the encounter of the ordinary and the extraordinary and to take a stand against oppression in any of...
— awarded for a selection of four or five poems that use language in an original way to reflect the encounter of the ordinary and the extraordinary and to take a stand against oppression in any of its forms. - Robert H. Winner Memorial AwardRobert H. Winner Memorial AwardThe Poetry Society of America's Robert H. Winner Memorial Award is given "by the family and friends of Robert H. Winner, whose first book of poems appeared when he was almost fifty years old...
— awarded to original work being done in mid-career by a poet who has not had substantial recognition. - Louis Hammer Memorial AwardLouis Hammer Memorial AwardThe Poetry Society of America's Louis Hammer Memorial Award is given "in memory of Louis Hammer, established by friends of the poet, translator, and editor, for a distinguished poem in the surrealist manner." Each winner receives a $250 prize.-Winners:...
— awarded for a distinguished poem in the surrealist manner. - Norma Farber First Book AwardNorma Farber First Book AwardThe Norma Farber First Book Award is given by the Poetry Society of America "for a first book of original poetry written by an American and published in either a hard or soft cover in a standard edition during the calendar year"....
— for a first book of original poetry written by an American and published in either a hard or soft cover in a standard edition. - William Carlos Williams AwardWilliam Carlos Williams AwardThe William Carlos Williams Award is given out by the Poetry Society of America for a poetry book published by a small press, non-profit, or university press....
— offered by the society for the best book of poetry published by a small, non-profit, or university press.