William Jay Smith

William Jay Smith (22 April 1918 – 18 August 2015) was an American poet. He was the 19th Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 1968 to 1970.[1]

William Jay Smith
Born(1918-04-22)22 April 1918
Winnfield, Louisiana, USA
Died18 August 2015(2015-08-18) (aged 97)
Lenox, Massachusetts, USA
OccupationPoet
NationalityUnited States
Alma materWashington University in St. Louis
Columbia University
Oxford University

William Jay Smith was born in Winnfield, Louisiana. He was raised in Jackson Barracks, Missouri. Smith studied at Washington University in St. Louis.

Smith married Barbara Howes in 1947. They had two children. Howes and Smith divorced during the mid-1960s. As of 2008, he lived in two houses, one in Cummington, Massachusetts and the other in Paris.[2]

Smith died in Lenox, Massachusetts at the age of 97.

References

  1. "Poet Laureate Timeline: 1961–1970". Library of Congress. 2008. Retrieved 2008-12-19.
  2. "William Jay Williams". Amherst.edu. Archived from the original on 2 September 2013. Retrieved 27 December 2013.

Other websites