poet laureate

noun

plural poets laureate or poet laureates

: a poet honored for achievement

: a poet appointed for life by an English sovereign as a member of the royal household and formerly expected to compose poems for court and national occasions

: a poet appointed annually by the U.S. Library of Congress as a consultant and typically involved in the promotion of poetry

: one regarded by a country or region as its most eminent or representative poet

Examples of poet laureate in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Ray Davies was one of rock’s great eccentric wits, the poet laureate of London’s dead-end streets, always rooting for the losers and the outsiders. —

Rob Sheffield, Rolling Stone, 26 June 2024 The new poet laureate took the stage at Newlab at Michigan Central in the most Moore way — by poetically thanking officials for her position and reading a poem. —

Dana Afana, Detroit Free Press, 30 Apr. 2024 On the South Rim, which is the most popular side of the Grand Canyon, enjoy evening programs in front of the visitor center, including a talk from Lauren Camp, the poet laureate of New Mexico, and a lecture on planet formation by Taylor Kutra, an astronomer at Arizona’s Lowell Observatory. —

Sarah Kuta, Smithsonian Magazine, 6 June 2024 An astonishing collection about interconnectedness between the human and nonhuman, ancestors,and ourselves, from a National Book Critics Circle Award winner and a poet laureate. —

Martha Yesowitch, Charlotte Observer, 6 June 2024 See all Example Sentences for poet laureate

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'poet laureate.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.