Reed Whittemore, Former Poet Laureate, Dies At 92

The poet was a UMD emeritus professor of English, author of nearly a dozen poetry collections, and critic.

The poet was a UMD emeritus professor of English, author of nearly a dozen poetry collections, and critic.

By Margalit Fox, New York Times

Reed Whittemore, a former poet laureate of the United States whose work’s calm, unruffled surface belied deep subversion below, died on Friday in Kensington, Md. He was 92.

His family confirmed the death. A longtime resident of Washington, Mr. Whittemore was emeritus professor of English at the University of Maryland, where he had taught from 1968 to 1984.

Mr. Whittemore was the author of nearly a dozen volumes of poetry, as well as essays, criticism and a well-received biography of William Carlos Williams. Widely anthologized, his poems were published in The New Yorker and elsewhere.
 He served twice as poet laureate (the post was then known as consultant in poetry to the Library of Congress): first from 1964 to 1965 and again from 1984 to 1985, filling in for an ailing Robert Fitzgerald.

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