The Bollingen Prize for Poetry is a literary honor bestowed on an American poet. Every two years, the award recognizes a poet for best new volume of work or lifetime achievement. It is awarded without nominations or submissions by the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library of Yale University.
Inception and controversy The prize was established in 1948 by Paul Mellon, funded by a US $10,000 grant from the Bollingen Foundation to the Library of Congress. Both the prize and the foundation are named after the village of Bollingen, Switzerland and the Bollingen Tower, where Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung had his home. The inaugural prize, chosen by a jury of Fellows in American Letters of the Library of Congress, was first awarded to Ezra Pound for his collection of poems The Pisan Cantos.
The choice of a work by Ezra Pound who had been a committed fascist sympathizer and who was then under indictment for treason in World War II for his antisemitic broadcasts infuriated many. A bitter controversy ensued in the press, and a congressional committee requested the Library of Congress disassociate itself from the award.Britannica online. The unused portion of the grant was returned to the Bollingen Foundation in 1949.McGuire, William (1982). Bollingen: An Adventure in Collecting the Past (Princeton University Press:Bollingen Series, New Jersey).McGuire, William (1988). "Ezra Pound and Bollingen Prize controversy," in Poetry's Catbird Seat (the consultantship in poetry in the English language at the Library of Congress, 1937–1987) (Library of Congress, Washington, D. C.). . Online version retrieved November 10, 2007.
Continuance through the Yale University Library The Bollingen Foundation decided to continue the program with the administrative tasks being handled by the Yale University Library. The prize was awarded annually from 1948 to 1963. In 1963, the amount of the award was increased to $5,000. After 1963, it was given every other year. The Bollingen Foundation was dissolved in 1968, and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation took over funding. In 1973, the Mellon Foundation established an endowment of $100,000 to enable the Yale Library to continue awarding the prize in perpetuity.
In 1961, a similar prize was set up by the Bollingen Foundation for best translation. The prize for best translation was given out only from 1961–1968. It was first won by Robert Fitzgerald for his translation of the Odyssey. It has also been won by Walter W. Arndt for his translation of Eugene Onegin, and in 1963 by Richard Wilbur and Mona Van Duyn jointly.
Recipients
1948 – Ezra Pound 1949 – Wallace Stevens 1950 – John Crowe Ransom 1951 – Marianne Moore 1952 – William Carlos Williams 1953 – W. H. Auden 1954 – Louise Bogan and Leonie Adams 1955 – Conrad Aiken 1956 – Allen Tate 1957 – E. E. Cummings 1958 – Theodore Roethke 1959 – Delmore Schwartz 1960 – Yvor Winters 1961 – John Hall Wheelock and Richard Eberhart 1962 – Robert Frost frequency changed—one award every two years going forward 1965 – Horace Gregory 1967 – Robert Penn Warren 1969 – John Berryman and Karl Shapiro 1971 – Richard Wilbur and Mona Van Duyn 1973 – James Merrill 1975 – A. R. Ammons 1977 – David Ignatow 1979 – W. S. Merwin 1981 – Howard Nemerov and May Swenson 1983 – Anthony Hecht and John Hollander 1985 – John Ashbery and Fred Chappell 1987 – Stanley Kunitz 1989 – Edgar Bowers 1991 – Laura Riding Jackson and Donald Justice 1993 – Mark Strand 1995 – Kenneth Koch 1997 – Gary Snyder 1999 – Robert Creeley 2001 – Louise Glück 2003 – Adrienne Rich 2005 – Jay Wright 2007 – Frank Bidart 2009 – Allen Grossman 2011 – Susan Howe 2013 – Charles Wright 2015 – Nathaniel Mackey 2017 – Jean Valentine 2019 – Charles Bernstein 2021 – Mei-mei Berssenbrugge 2023 – Joy Harjo 2025 – Arthur Sze
See also American poetry Bollingen Foundation Bollingen Tower Carl Jung
Lists List of American literary awards List of literary awards List of poetry awards List of years in literature List of years in poetry
References
External links