Portal:Poets Laureate of the United Kingdom

Medieval period
In the medieval period, the royal poet was called the Versificator Regis, and the dates are not exactly known.


 * Richard Canonicus employed by Richard I (reigned 1189–99)
 * Gulielmus Peregrinus (d. c. 1207) employed by Richard I
 * Master Henry employed by Henry III (reigned 1216–72) (according to Thomas Warton)
 * Andrew Baston
 * Geoffrey Chaucer (c. 1343–1400)
 * John Kay in the reign of Edward IV, 1461–83

1500 onwards

 * ?–1522: Bernard André
 * 1522–1529: John Skelton
 * ?–1599: Edmund Spenser
 * 1599–?: Samuel Daniel
 * 1616–1637: Ben Jonson
 * 1638–1668: William Davenant
 * 1668: John Dryden
 * 1689–1692: Thomas Shadwell
 * 1692–1715: Nahum Tate
 * 1715–1718: Nicholas Rowe
 * 1718–1730: Laurence Eusden
 * 1730–1757: Colley Cibber
 * 1757-1785: William Whitehead
 * 1785–1790: Thomas Warton
 * 1790–1813: Henry James Pye
 * 1813–1843: Robert Southey
 * 1843–1850: William Wordsworth
 * 1850–1892: Alfred, Lord Tennyson
 * 1896–1913: Alfred Austin
 * 1913–1930: Robert Bridges
 * 1930–1967: John Masefield
 * 1968–1972: Cecil Day-Lewis
 * 1972–1984: John Betjeman
 * 1984–1998: Ted Hughes
 * 1999–2009: Andrew Motion
 * 2009–present: Carol Ann Duffy

Refused
The following poets turned down the post and others were selected in their places.


 * 1757: Thomas Gray
 * 1785: William Mason
 * 1813: Walter Scott
 * 1850: Samuel Rogers
 * 1896: William Morris
 * 1984: Philip Larkin