Poet laureate the post became a regular institution. Dryden's successor Shadwell originated annual birthday and New Year odes. The poet laureate became responsible for writing and presenting official verses to commemorate both personal occasions, such as the monarch's birthday or royal births and marriages, and public occasions, such as coronations and military victories. His activity in this respect varied according to circumstances, and the custom ceased to be obligatory after Pye's death. The office fell into some contempt before Robert Southey, but took on a new lustre from his personal distinction and that of successors Wordsworth and Tennyson. Wordsworth stipulated before accepting
Poet Laureate of New Jersey the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1991 for his collection "Leaving Another Kingdom". Poet and Drew University literature professor Ross Gay described Stern's work, saying that his poems "feel to me, often, a bit like that story, or rather, his manner of telling it: here is my pain, here is my sorrow, here is the song I’ve made of it." Stern's last public reading as poet laureate was held on June 27, 2002 at a Summer Writer's Conference held at Rutgers Universitys Camden campus. Governor Jim McGreevey had announced the appointment of Newark-born poet Amiri Baraka (1934–2014) as the state's