Poets are appointed into the position of the Poet Laureate of England by the monarch (Panecka, 4). Today, the monarch receives advice on the appointment of a laureate from the Prime Minister. A poet laureate is not assigned with any specific roles but is expected to write for important state occasions. Although the poet Laureate position dates back to the recognition and allocation of pension to poet Ben Johnson by King James I, the royal office was established in 1668 after Charles II appointed John Dryden. Dryden was dismissed in 1689 for failing to take the oath of allegiance to Protestant William III and Mary II ascended to power. Apart from Dryden, all the other poets served for life until the death of Ted Hughes in 1998. In 1999 Andrew Motion was appointed the Poet Laureate and succeeded by Carol Duffy in 2009. Both Motion and Duffy served for a 10-year term each.
Poets do not apply for the position of laureate because it is an honorary award that is given to a poet of national reputation (Panecka, 28). In the events following the appointment of Duffy's successor, candidates were evaluated by a steering committee appointed secretary of culture. The steering committee includes representatives from literary and arts organizations. The head of the monarch must approve the candidate for appointment, currently her majesty, the queen. Other examples of poet laureates include; Thomas Shadwell (1689 –1692), Nahum Tate (1692 – 1715), Colley Cibber (1730 – 1757), John Masefield (1930 – 1967) and Cecil Day-Lewis (1968 –1972).
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Thomas Shadwell was a famous English dramatist who served as the poet laureate between 1689 and 1692. He was born 1640 at Santon Hall, in Norfolk England, and died in 1692 (Browne, 258). Shadwell was educated at Bury St Edmund's School and Caius College. He later joined Cambridge but then dropped without a degree to join Middle Temple. Shadwell later became a court wit after the Restoration of 1660. Shadwell wrote many plays, including The Royal Shepherdess (1669), The Enchanted Island (1674), Psyche (1674–75), and The Woman Captain (1680) (Browne, 267-268). After he was appointed laureate in 1689, he introduced the culture of writing poems during New Year and celebrations of monarch's birthdays. Examples of his poetry work include "Love In Their Little Veins Inspires," "Halcyon Days," and "Prepare, Prepare." Shadwell's move of introducing New Year and monarch birthdays poems shaped the roles of the laureate until it was later reviewed in 1843 after the appointment of William Wordsworth, making it an expectation that laureate would write a poem during national occasions rather than the responsibility.
Shadwell was a friend to his predecessor Laureate, Dryden, before they fell apart during the political crisis that lasted between 1678 and 1679 (Browne, 270). Dryden, a catholic, would later attack Shadwell, a protestant, for his allegiance to the comedy style used by the first laureate, Ben Johnson. Shadwell, however, adopted Ben Jonson's style of humor in most of his plays, creating a secure link between his works and those of Ben Johnson. After his death in November 1692, he was succeeded Nahum Tate as the laureate.
Work cited
Browne, Wm Hand. "Thomas Shadwell." The Sewanee Review 21.3 (1913): 257-276.
Panecka, Ewa. Literature and the Monarchy: The Traditional and the Modern Concept of the Office of Poet Laureate of England. Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2014.
