n ( pl Poets Laureate )
( in Britain ) a poet officially chosen to write poems on special state occasions such as royal weddings, births and funerals. The first Poet Laureate was Ben Jonson (from 1616). Others have included Dryden , Wordsworth and Tennyson , and more recently Masefield , Day-Lewis , Betjeman and Ted Hughes . Since 1999 the Poet Laureate has been Andrew Motion.
The US has had Poets Laureate since 1986 when Robert Penn Warren became the first. They are appointed by the Library of Congress but only serve for one or two years.