William Jay Smith
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William Jay Smith | |
|---|---|
| Born | 22 April 1918 Winnfield, Louisiana, USA |
| Died | 18 August 2015 (aged 97) Lenox, Massachusetts, USA |
| Occupation | Poet |
| Nationality | United States |
| Alma mater | Washington University in St. Louis Columbia University Oxford University |
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 was born in Winnfield, Louisiana. He was raised in Jackson Barracks, Missouri. Smith studied at Washington University in St. Louis.
He was of Choctaw tribal descent and penned poetry reflecting that heritage making him the first Native American to become the U.S. poet laureate.[2]
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.[3]
Smith died in Lenox, Massachusetts at the age of 97.
Related pages
References
- ↑ Poet Laureate Timeline: 1961–1970 (2008)Library of Congress. Retrieved 2008-12-19.
- ↑ Mall, © Stanford University 450 Serra. William Jay Smith was the first Native American poet laureate – and we’re still waiting for the Library of Congress to acknowledge it. (in en). The Book Haven. Retrieved 2025-02-18.
- ↑ William Jay WilliamsAmherst.edu. Retrieved 27 December 2013.
Other websites
- "The CPR Interview: William Jay Smith", The Contemporary Poetry Review
- The William Jay Smith Papers at Washington University in St. Louis Archived 2013-01-05 at the Wayback Machine
- "William Jay Smith", 2004 National Book Festival
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