The Yale Series of Younger Poets is an annual event of

Yale University Press Yale University Press is the university press of Yale University. It was founded in 1908 by George Parmly Day, and became an official department of Yale University in 1961, but it remains financially and operationally autonomous. , Yale Univers ...

aiming to publish the debut collection of a promising American poet. Established in 1918, the Younger Poets Prize is the longest-running annual literary award in the United States. Each year, the Younger Poets Competition accepts submissions from American poets who have not previously published a book of poetry. Once the judge has chosen a winner, the Press publishes a book-length manuscript of the winner's poetry as the next volume in the series. All poems must be original, and only one manuscript may be entered at a time.

Rules and eligibility

Contest requirements were first articulated in the summer of 1920. The series had already published four books, all written by Yale students, and the judges sought to attract a nationwide pool of applicants. A promotional statement gave the following, somewhat vague eligibility requirements: "Anyone is eligible provided he (or she) is young and comparatively unknown. The age limit is understood to be about thirty." A formal set of rules was adopted in 1924. In addition to specifying page limits and other manuscript requirements, these new rules limited the contest to American citizens younger than 30. Although the contest was briefly opened to any writer of English-language poetry under Auden's judgeship, it has remained limited to American citizens ever since.

History

The Younger Poets Series was established in 1919 by Clarence Day, whose brother George Parmly Day had founded Yale University Press with his wife Wilhelmine in 1908. The competition's first judge,

Charlton Miner Lewis Charlton Miner Lewis (March 4, 1866 – March 12, 1923) was an American scholar of English literature. Having attended Yale University and studied law, he worked as a lawyer for a few years before returning to Yale as a teacher, getting his ...

, was a prominent professor in Yale's English department. The inaugural competition took place after the end of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

, just as an influx of young veterans returned from fighting in Europe and entered college.

Modernist poetry Modernist poetry refers to poetry written between 1890 and 1950 in the tradition of modernist literature, but the dates of the term depend upon a number of factors, including the nation of origin, the particular school in question, and the biases ...

emerged in this period, but early entries in the series reflected the neoclassical tastes of the older generation adjudicating the competition, all men who had received degrees from Yale in the late-19th century. The

anglophilic An Anglophile is a person who admires or loves England, its people, its culture, its language, and/or its various accents. Etymology The word is derived from the Latin word ''Anglii'' and Ancient Greek word φίλος ''philos'', meaning "fr ...

publishers were heavily influenced by

English poetry This article focuses on poetry from the United Kingdom written in the English language. The article does not cover poetry from other countries where the English language is spoken, including Republican Ireland after December 1922. The earliest ...

, especially the contemporary

Georgian poetry Georgian Poetry refers to a series of anthologies showcasing the work of a school of English poetry that established itself during the early years of the reign of King George V of the United Kingdom. The Georgian poets were, by the strictest d ...

, and the competition itself was directly influenced by the similar "Adventures All" poetry series of

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print book ...

. The contest solidified its importance in

American literature American literature is literature written or produced in the United States of America and in the colonies that preceded it. The American literary tradition thus is part of the broader tradition of English-language literature, but also inc ...

under the judgeship of

Stephen Vincent Benét Stephen Vincent Benét (; July 22, 1898 – March 13, 1943) was an American poet, short story writer, and novelist. He is best known for his book-length narrative poem of the American Civil War, '' John Brown's Body'' (1928), for which he receiv ...

. Benet was judge from 1933 to 1942, followed by Archibald MacLeish from 1944 to 1946.

Margaret Walker Margaret Walker (Margaret Abigail Walker Alexander by marriage; July 7, 1915 – November 30, 1998) was an American poet and writer. She was part of the African-American literary movement in Chicago, known as the Chicago Black Renaissance. ...

's ''For My People'' was the last volume selected by Benet. Auden assumed the judgeship after MacLeish. The contest is regarded by some to have been at its height from 1947 to 1959, when W. H. Auden was choosing the winners. His then-young poets included

Adrienne Rich Adrienne Cecile Rich ( ; May 16, 1929 – March 27, 2012) was an American poet, essayist and feminist. She was called "one of the most widely read and influential poets of the second half of the 20th century", and was credited with bringing "the ...

, James Wright, W. S. Merwin,

John Ashbery John Lawrence Ashbery (July 28, 1927 – September 3, 2017) was an American poet and art critic. Ashbery is considered the most influential American poet of his time. Oxford University literary critic John Bayley wrote that Ashbery "sounded, in ...

, and

John Hollander John Hollander (October 28, 1929 – August 17, 2013) was an American poet and literary critic. At the time of his death, he was Sterling Professor Emeritus of English at Yale University, having previously taught at Connecticut College, Hunter ...

. The period was also notable for the two-time refusal of

Sylvia Plath Sylvia Plath (; October 27, 1932 – February 11, 1963) was an American poet, novelist, and short story writer. She is credited with advancing the genre of confessional poetry and is best known for two of her published collections, '' Th ...

's manuscript ''Two Lovers'', and ''Colossus'' which was subsequently published in England. The 1969–1977 period, overseen by Stanley Kunitz, included volumes by

Carolyn Forché Carolyn Forché (born April 28, 1950) is an American poet, editor, professor, translator, and human rights advocate. She has received many awards for her literary work. Biography Forché was born in Detroit, Michigan, to Michael Joseph and Louis ...

and Robert Hass; Hass later became the Poet Laureate of the United States. The judgeship of W. S. Merwin, from 1998 to 2003, was fraught with controversy, as he refused to select a winner the first year that he was judge.

Louise Glück Louise Elisabeth Glück ( ; born April 22, 1943) is an American poet and essayist. She won the 2020 Nobel Prize in Literature, whose judges praised "her unmistakable poetic voice that with austere beauty makes individual existence universal". H ...

, who is widely considered to have revived the prize's stature, judged the award from 2003 to 2010. Carl Phillips is the current judge.

Judges

File:Charlton M Lewis portrait, 1899.jpg, Charlton M. Lewis
File:Frederick Erastus Pierce.jpg, Frederick E. Pierce
File:Edward Bliss Reed.jpg, Edward Bliss Reed
File:William Alexander Percy circa 1941.jpg,

William Alexander Percy William Alexander Percy (May 14, 1885 – January 21, 1942), was a lawyer, planter, and poet from Greenville, Mississippi. His autobiography ''Lanterns on the Levee'' ( Knopf 1941) became a bestseller. His father LeRoy Percy was the last United ...

File:Stephen Vincent Benét Yale College BA 1919.jpg,

File:Archibaldmacleish.jpeg, Archibald MacLeish
File:English-poet-W-H-Auden-142365632626.jpg, W. H. Auden
File:Dudley Fitts.jpg, Dudley Fitts
File:Stanley Kunitz, 1985.jpg, Stanley Kunitz
File:Richard Hugo.jpg, Richard Hugo
File:James Merrill (1973) (cropped).jpg, James Merrill
File:James Dickey (cropped).jpg,

James Dickey James Lafayette Dickey (February 2, 1923 January 19, 1997) was an American poet and novelist. He was appointed the eighteenth United States Poet Laureate in 1966. He also received the Order of the South award. Dickey is best known for his n ...

File:W. S. Merwin.jpg, W. S. Merwin
File:Louise Glück circa 1977.jpg,

File:Carl Phillips by David Shankbone (cropped).jpg, alt=Carl Phillips(2011–2020), Carl Phillips
File:Rae Armantrout 4.28.14 (14067931394).jpg, alt=Rae Armantrout(2021–present),

Rae Armantrout Rae Armantrout (born April 13, 1947) is an American poet generally associated with the Language poets. She has published ten books of poetry and has also been featured in a number of major anthologies. Armantrout currently teaches at the Unive ...

(2021–present)

Past winners

The year column provides the date of the competition. The winning poetry collections are published the following year.

References

Citations

Sources

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External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yale Series Of Younger Poets Competition American poetry awards Awards established in 1918 Publications established in 1919 1918 establishments in Connecticut Yale University Press books

Yale Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wor ...