Compiled by Peter Armenti, Digital Reference Specialist
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Richard Wilbur
U.S. Poet Laureate, 1987-88
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On April 17, 1987, Librarian of Congress Daniel Boorstin
appointed Richard Wilbur the second Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress. In making the appointment, Boorstin described Wilbur as "a poet for us all, whose elegant words brim with wit and paradox. He is also a poet's poet, at home in the long tradition and traveled ways of the great poets of our language. And he is a cosmopolitan citizen of the world of letters, whose essays and translations help us to the poets of other languages. His poems are among the best our country has to offer." Wilbur served one term as poet laureate, ending his duties in spring 1988.
This guide compiles
links to resources on Richard Wilbur throughout the Library
of Congress Web site, as well as links to external Web sites
that include features on his life or selections
of his work. To suggest additions to this guide, please contact the Digital Reference Section.
Library of Congress Web Site
•Articles
•Print Resources
External
Web Sites
•Biographical Information, Poetry
•Interviews, Articles, and Conversations
•Audio Recordings
•Videos
•Articles and Essays by Richard Wilbur
•Literary Criticism
•Resources for Study and Teaching
•Book Reviews
•Richard Wilbur in the News
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Articles
"Richard Wilbur is Appointed New Poet Laureate" (PDF, 376 KB)
Library of Congress Information Bulletin, April 27, 1987
Print Resources
Works by Richard Wilbur in the Library of Congress online
catalog can be found under the following author heading:
Wilbur, Richard, 1921-
Works about Richard Wilbur can be found in the Library of
Congress online catalog under
the following subject headings:
Wilbur, Richard, 1921
Wilbur, Richard, 1921---Bibliography.
Wilbur, Richard, 1921---Correspondence.
Wilbur, Richard, 1921---Criticism and interpretation.
Wilbur, Richard, 1921---Criticism and interpretation--Handbooks, manuals, etc.
Wilbur, Richard, 1921- [from old catalog]
Wilbur, Richard, 1921---Interviews.
Wilbur, Richard, 1921---Musical Settings.
(Some links open RealAudio files. Download a free version of RealPlayer software.)
Biographical Information, Poetry
Academy of American Poets
Biography of Richard Wilbur, samples of his poetry,
and links to external resources.
Poetry Foundation
Biography of Richard Wilbur, bibliography of his writings, and links to more than 30 online poems.
Poetry Magazine
Seven early poems by Wilbur, as they appeared in Poetry.
Interviews, Articles, and Conversations
Q&A with ‘Candide’ Lyricist Richard Wilbur
The Philadelphia Inquirer, September 12, 2008
"Former Freight Hopper Makes Good"
Conversation with D. H. Tracy, Poetry Foundation, April 7, 2006
"A Poet Still: Richard Wilbur at 85"
Amherst, Summer 2005
"The Overlooked Master: How Poetic History Conspired against Richard Wilbur"
Slate, November 29, 2004
"Long Love and Constant Spirits: An Interview with Richard and Charlee Wilbur"
Literary Review, Summer 2002 (via findarticles.com)
"A {Certain} Logic"
Interviewed by Peter Davison, The Atlantic Online, September 9, 1999
"A Conversation with Richard Wilbur"
Interviewed by Paul Mariani, Image 12 (Winter 1995)
"Washington Talk: Poet Laureate; Avoiding the Pitfalls of Verse for Hire"
The New York Times, October 27, 1987
"Richard Wilbur is Named Nation's Poet Laureate"
The New York Times, April 18, 1987
"The Art of Poetry"
Interviewed by Helen McCloy Ellison, Ellesa Clay High, and Peter A. Stitt. The Paris Review, no. 72 (Winter 1977)
Audio Recordings
Al Filreis on Richard Wilbur's "Cottage Street, 1953" (Direct link; 7:41)
From PennSound
Atlantic Monthly Online - Wilbur Reads Selected Poems
Audio of Wilbur Reading Selected Poems
Internet Poetry Archive
Garrison Keillor Reads Selected Poems by Wilbur
The Writer's Almanac (audio available for poems from 2001-present)
The Poet Richard Wilbur (47:59)
The Connection, WBUR, July 15, 2005
Richard Wilbur Reads "The Prisoner of Zenda"
The Academy of American Poets
Richard Wilbur Reads "The Writer" (01:52)
NPR, May 26, 2006
Richard Wilbur Talks about his Translation of Mallarmé's "The Tomb of Edgar Poe" (10:43)
The Poetry Foundation, April 19, 2006
Videos
Animated Video of "Some Words Inside of Words" (02:59)
Poetry Everywhere
Video Interview and Readings (11 parts)
Peoples Archive, May 12, 2004
Articles and Essays by Richard Wilbur
Critical Introduction to Witter Bynner's Selected Poems (PDF; 284 KB) (catalog record)
New York: Farrar, Straus, Giroux, c1978.
Wilbur on "The Book That Changed My Life"
National Book Foundation
Literary Criticism
"Richard Wilbur: A Critical Survey of His Career"
Dana Gioia Online. First published in World Poets, v. 3 (Scribners, 2000)
"A Certain Slant of Light: Richard Wilbur as Translator of French" (PDF, 254 KB)
Meta 44, no. 2, 1999 (pp. 295-311).
"'Walking to Sleep' and Richard Wilbur's Quest for a Rational Imagination"
Twentieth Century Literature, Winter 1995 (via findarticles.com)
Resources for Study and Teaching
eNotes.com
Critical information on Wilbur from Thomson Gale's Poetry Criticism series.
Heath Online Instruction Guide for Richard Wilbur
Houghton Mifflin, HM WriteSPACE Web site
Modern American Poetry
Excerpts of criticism about Wilbur's poetry, biographical information, full-text of a 1995 interview, and links to external resources.
Reading Wilbur's "The Death of a Toad" (PDF, 176 KB)
Literary Cavalcade, September 2004
Book Reviews
Collected Poems, 1943-2004 (2005)
Christian Century
Commonweal
Expansive Poetry Online
The Guardian
The New York Times
The New Yorker
The Weekly Standard
The Pig in the Spigot (2000)
The New York Times
Mayflies: New Poems and Translations (2000)
Christian Century
The New York Times
Runaway Opposites (1995)
The New York Times
New and Collected Poems (1988)
National Review
The New York Times
Richard Wilbur in the News
Google
News search on Richard Wilbur
Blog entries on Richard Wilbur, via Technorati
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