U.S. Poet Laureates

Here is the list of past Consultants in Poetry and Poets Laureate Consultants in Poetry:

Joseph Auslander, 1937-1941
Allen Tate, 1943-1944
Robert Penn Warren, 1944-1945
Louise Bogan, 1945-1946
Karl Shapiro, 1946-1947
Robert Lowell, 1947-1948
Leonie Adams, 1948-1949
Elizabeth Bishop, 1949-1950
Conrad Aiken, 1950-1952 (first to serve two terms)
William Carlos Williams, (appointed in 1952 but did not serve)
Randall Jarrell, 1956-1958
Robert Frost, 1958-1959
Richard Eberhart, 1959-1961
Louis Untermeyer, 1961-1963
Howard Nemerov, 1963-1964
Reed Whittemore, 1964-1965
Stephen Spender, 1965-1966
James Dickey, 1966-1968
William Jay Smith, 1968-1970
William Stafford, 1970-1971
Josephine Jacobsen, 1971-1973
Daniel Hoffman, 1973-1974
Stanley Kunitz, 1974-1976
Robert Hayden, 1976-1978
William Meredith, 1978-1980
Maxine Kumin, 1981-1982
Anthony Hecht, 1982-1984
Robert Fitzgerald, 1984-1985
Reed Whittemore, 1984-1985 (interim Consultant in Poetry)
Gwendolyn Brooks, 1985-1986
Robert Penn Warren, 1986-1987 (first to be designated Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry)
Richard Wilbur, 1987-1988
Howard Nemerov, 1988-1990
Mark Strand, 1990-1991
Joseph Brodsky, 1991-1992
Mona Van Duyn, 1992-1993
Rita Dove, 1993-1995
Robert Hass, 1995-1997
Robert Pinsky, 1997-2000
Stanley Kunitz, 2000-2001
Billy Collins, 2001-2003
Louise Gluck, 2003-2004
Ted Kooser, 2004-2006
Donald Hall, 2006-2007
Charles Simic, 2007-2008
Kay Ryan, 2008-2010
W.S. Merwin, 2010-2011
Philip Levine, 2011-2012
Natasha Trethewey, 2012-2014
Charles Wright, 2014-2015
Juan Felipe Herrera, 2015-2017
Tracy K. Smith, 2017-


The Library of Congress has information about the position of Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry here. It includes a history of the position and information about the duties and projects associated with the position.