In 1944, MacLeish stepped down as Librarian and Tate's term expired. MacLeish's successor, non-poet Luther H. Evans (1945–1953), relied on Tate to serve as an ongoing consultant and recommend candidates to fill the Poetry Consultant position. Among those Tate recommended to become Consultant were his old friend and colleague Robert Penn Warren (1944–1945), Louise Bogan (1945–1946), Shapiro (1946–1947), Robert Lowell (1947–1948), Léonie Adams (1948–1949), Elizabeth Bishop (1949–1950), and Aiken (1950–1952). Most Consultants accepted invitations to become Fellows when their terms expired.
The Fellows may be best known for the controversy created in 1948-1949 over the newly established Bollingen Prize which was to be awarded by the Library of Congress upon the recommendation of a jury consisting of a committee of the Fellows. Eliot and other renowned poets who felt a great debt to Ezra Pound planned to use the prize to build a momentum to free Pound, then confined in St. Elizabeths Hospital in Washington, where he had been confined after being charged with treason but declared mentally unfit to stand trial.
Pound was awarded the prize for The Pisan Cantos in 1949, despite objections by juror Shapiro (who had originally favored the award but then withdrew his vote) over the anti-Semitic nature of many parts the work Pound began while incarcerated in an American military prison in Pisa. A firestorm followed, dividing the literary establishment. And the public outcry over the involvement of a public institution (the Library of Congress) in bestowing an award on a fascist sympathizer led Congress to end the Library's participation in the prize, which was subsequently awarded by the Yale University Library. The following year (1950), Yale awarded the prize to the thoroughly non-controversial Wallace Stevens.
External links
The Library of Congress website
February 20, 2023
fellows, american, letters, library, congress, awarded, library, congress, history, editin, 1943, during, tenure, librarian, congress, 1939, 1944, poet, archibald, macleish, appointed, poet, allen, tate, consultant, poetry, library, congress, 1941, 1986, prede. The Fellows in American Letters of the Library of Congress are awarded by the Library of Congress History EditIn 1943 during his tenure as Librarian of Congress 1939 1944 poet Archibald MacLeish appointed poet Allen Tate as Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress 1941 1986 the predecessor of the current Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress Tate in turn created an advisory panel of Fellows in American Letters which over the course of the next few years would include most of the pillars of English modernist literature Among them were T S Eliot W H Auden Mark Van Doren Van Wyck Brooks Carl Sandburg Willard Thorp Ted Spencer Conrad Aiken and Karl Shapiro Virtually all of the Fellows were friends of Tate several of them his proteges In 1944 MacLeish stepped down as Librarian and Tate s term expired MacLeish s successor non poet Luther H Evans 1945 1953 relied on Tate to serve as an ongoing consultant and recommend candidates to fill the Poetry Consultant position Among those Tate recommended to become Consultant were his old friend and colleague Robert Penn Warren 1944 1945 Louise Bogan 1945 1946 Shapiro 1946 1947 Robert Lowell 1947 1948 Leonie Adams 1948 1949 Elizabeth Bishop 1949 1950 and Aiken 1950 1952 Most Consultants accepted invitations to become Fellows when their terms expired The Fellows may be best known for the controversy created in 1948 1949 over the newly established Bollingen Prize which was to be awarded by the Library of Congress upon the recommendation of a jury consisting of a committee of the Fellows Eliot and other renowned poets who felt a great debt to Ezra Pound planned to use the prize to build a momentum to free Pound then confined in St Elizabeths Hospital in Washington where he had been confined after being charged with treason but declared mentally unfit to stand trial Pound was awarded the prize for The Pisan Cantos in 1949 despite objections by juror Shapiro who had originally favored the award but then withdrew his vote over the anti Semitic nature of many parts the work Pound began while incarcerated in an American military prison in Pisa A firestorm followed dividing the literary establishment And the public outcry over the involvement of a public institution the Library of Congress in bestowing an award on a fascist sympathizer led Congress to end the Library s participation in the prize which was subsequently awarded by the Yale University Library The following year 1950 Yale awarded the prize to the thoroughly non controversial Wallace Stevens External links EditThe Library of Congress website Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Fellows in American Letters of the Library of Congress amp oldid 965352937, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
