William Stafford

William Stafford served as Poet Laureate from 1970 to 1971. His poetry has been set to music by Samuel Adler as well as several other American composers.

Photo: William Stafford, from Aubrey R. Watzek Library, Lewis & Clark College, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division

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About

“Stafford, born in Hutchison, Kansas, received a bachelor’s and a master’s from the University of Kansas at Lawrence and, in 1954, a Ph.D. from the University of Iowa. Ordinary life was the subject of much of his poetry. He published more than 65 volumes of poetry and prose, and won many awards and honors, including a Shelley Memorial Award and a Guggenheim Fellowship. He won the National Book Award in 1963 for Traveling Through the Dark. Stafford taught at Lewis and Clark College in Oregon from 1948 to 1980.”

–Library of Congress Poets Laureate page

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