WRITER

Richard Wilbur

1921 - 2017

Photo of Richard Wilbur

Icon of person Richard Wilbur

Richard Purdy Wilbur (March 1, 1921 – October 14, 2017) was an American poet and literary translator. One of the foremost poets, along with his friend Anthony Hecht, of the World War II generation, Wilbur's work, often employing rhyme, and composed primarily in traditional forms, was marked by its wit, charm, and gentlemanly elegance. He was acclaimed in his youth as the heir to Robert Frost, translated the verse dramas of Moliere, Corneille, and Racine into rhymed English, collaborated with Leonard Bernstein as the lyricist for the opera Candide, and in his old age acted, particularly through his role in the annual West Chester University Poetry Conference, as a mentor to the younger poets of the New Formalist movement. He was appointed the second Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress in 1987 and received the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry twice, in 1957 and 1989. Read more on Wikipedia

His biography is available in different languages on Wikipedia. Richard Wilbur is the 6,331st most popular writer (down from 6,328th in 2019), the 11,643rd most popular biography from United States (down from 11,417th in 2019) and the 844th most popular American Writer.

Memorability Metrics

Loading...

Page views of Richard Wilbur by language

Loading...

Among WRITERS

Among writers, Richard Wilbur ranks 6,331 out of 7,302Before him are Andreas Eschbach, Adam Elliot, Marit Paulsen, Albert Maltz, China Miéville, and Lascelles Abercrombie. After him are Leïla Slimani, Gay Talese, Khushwant Singh, Alastair Reynolds, Malcolm Gladwell, and Tsai Chih-chung.

Most Popular Writers in Wikipedia

Go to all Rankings

Contemporaries

Among people born in 1921, Richard Wilbur ranks 437Before him are Gene Saks, Peter Sallis, Johnny Otis, Ruth Barcan Marcus, Art Clokey, and Marilyn Maxwell. After him are Ion Negoițescu, Wilbur Thompson, Horace Gould, Chen Muhua, Yevgeni Babich, and Terence Cooke. Among people deceased in 2017, Richard Wilbur ranks 572Before him are Erin Moran, William H. Gass, Carlos Gómez, Aleksandr Salnikov, Molly Peters, and Lika Kavzharadze. After him are Ricardo Vidal, Steve Sumner, Simon Dickie, Howard Hodgkin, John B. Anderson, and Boris Nikolov.

Others Born in 1921

Go to all Rankings

Others Deceased in 2017

Go to all Rankings

In United States

Among people born in United States, Richard Wilbur ranks 11,645 out of 20,380Before him are Frank Kameny (1925), Timothy Kopra (1963), Clayton Stanley (1978), Henry Ossawa Tanner (1859), Madison Keys (1995), and Tianna Bartoletta (1985). After him are Debi Mazar (1964), Justin Henry (1971), Karen McDougal (1971), Michael E. Mann (1965), Neil Hamilton (1899), and Lona Andre (1915).

Among WRITERS In United States

Among writers born in United States, Richard Wilbur ranks 844Before him are Eric Van Lustbader (1946), John Clellon Holmes (1926), Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings (1896), Stephen Vincent Benét (1898), Stephen R. Donaldson (1947), and Albert Maltz (1908). After him are Gay Talese (1932), Ellen Glasgow (1873), George Alec Effinger (1947), Alvah Bessie (1904), Cynthia Ozick (1928), and Gregory S. Paul (1954).