Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom The British Poet Laureate is an honorary position appointed by the monarch of the United Kingdom on the advice of the Prime Minister. The role does not entail any specific duties, but there is an expectation that the holder will write verse for significant national occasions. The origins of the laureateship date back to 1616 when a pension was provided to Ben Jonson, but the first official holder of the position was John Dryden, appointed in 1668 by Charles II. On the death of Alfred, Lord Tennyson, who held the post between November 1850
Poet laureate "Loved Laurel-Crowned Poet of California" by a 1919 state Senate resolution, retaining the title until her death in 1928. Juan Felipe Herrera was appointed by Gov. Jerry Brown in March, 2012. The State of Colorado appointed one of the most popular Poets Laureate of the late 20th century, singer/songwriter writer John Denver. Twin Poets, Nnamdi Chukwuocha and Albert Mills, were selected as 17th Poets Laureate of the State of Delaware on December 13, 2015. Edmund Skellings was selected as the poet laureate of Florida in 1980. He died in 2012. Illinois appointed its first poet laureate, Howard Austin, in 1936,