Richard Purdy Wilbur

Richard Wilbur was among the only American poets to have won the Pulitzer Prize twice. The second Poet Laureate of the United States and recipient of countless honors and awards, including the Bollingen Prize, two PEN translation awards, and two Guggenheim Fellowships, he displayed consistent eloquence and artistry over a career that spanned more than half a century. Wilbur’s first book, The Beautiful Changes, was published in 1947 to much critical acclaim; the publication of the second, Ceremony and Other Poems, cemented his reputation as America’s finest poet writing in traditional meters and forms. Wilbur’s varied literary output of over thirty-five books included poetry, prose, children’s books, a collection of essays, plays, translations, and editorial work on the collected poems of Shakespeare and Poe. The most prolific and gifted translator of Molière worldwide, Wilbur is credited with the explosive revival of his plays in North America, beginning in 1955 with The Misanthrope. Wilbur’s translations of Molière, Racine, Apollinaire, and others, are widely praised for incorporating the spirit of both language and author, while maintaining the original form and rhyme scheme. Having served on the faculties of Harvard, Wellesley, Wesleyan, and Smith (where he is Poet Emeritus), spent his final years in Massachusetts and in Key West, Florida.