Editing Richard Wilbur (section)

==Literary career==
When only eight years old, Wilbur published his first poem in ''John Martin's Magazine''.<ref>{{citation | url = http://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/3509/the-art-of-poetry-no-22-richard-wilbur |title=Richard Wilbur, The Art of Poetry No. 22 |journal=[[The Paris Review]] |series=Interviews |date=Winter 1977 |volume=Winter 1977 |issue=72 |access-date=December 24, 2014}}.</ref> His first book, ''The Beautiful Changes and Other Poems'', appeared in 1947. Thereafter he published several volumes of poetry, including ''New and Collected Poems'' (Faber, 1989). Wilbur was also a translator, specializing in the 17th century French comedies of [[Molière]] and dramas of [[Jean Racine]]. His translation of ''[[Tartuffe]]'' has become the play's standard English version and has been presented on television twice (a 1978 production is available on DVD). Wilbur also published several children's books, including ''Opposites'', ''More Opposites'', and ''The Disappearing Alphabet.'' In 1959 he became the general editor of The Laurel Poetry Series ([[Dell Publishing]]).

Continuing the tradition of [[Robert Frost]] and [[W. H. Auden]], Wilbur's poetry finds illumination in everyday experiences. Less well-known is Wilbur's foray into writing theatre [[lyrics]]. He provided lyrics to several songs in [[Leonard Bernstein]]'s 1956 [[musical theater|musical]] ''[[Candide (musical)|Candide]]'', including the famous "[[Glitter and Be Gay]]" and "Make Our Garden Grow". He also produced several unpublished works, including "The Wing" and "To Beatrice".

His honors included the 1983 [[Drama Desk Special Award]] and the [[PEN Translation Prize]] for his translation of ''[[The Misanthrope]]'', the [[Pulitzer Prize for Poetry]] and the [[National Book Award]] for ''Things of This World'' (1956),<ref name=nba1957>
[https://www.nationalbook.org/awards-prizes/national-book-awards-1957 "National Book Awards – 1957"]. [[National Book Foundation]]. Retrieved 2012-03-02.
<br/>(With acceptance speech by Wilbur and essay by Patrick Rosal from the Awards 60-year anniversary blog.)</ref><!-- essay note does specify ''Things of This World'' for both Awards -->
the [[Edna St Vincent Millay]] award, the [[Bollingen Prize]], and the Chevalier, {{lang|fr|[[Ordre des Palmes Académiques]]}}. He was elected a Fellow of the [[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]] in 1959.<ref name=AAAS>{{cite web|title=Book of Members, 1780–2010: Chapter W| url= http://www.amacad.org/publications/BookofMembers/ChapterW.pdf | publisher =[[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]] | access-date = April 7, 2011}}</ref> In 1987 Wilbur became the second poet, after [[Robert Penn Warren]], to be named [[Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress|U.S. Poet Laureate]] after the position's title was changed from Poetry Consultant. In 1988 he won the [[Aiken Taylor Award for Modern American Poetry]] and in 1989 he won a second Pulitzer, for his ''New and Collected Poems.'' On October 14, 1994, he received the [[National Medal of Arts]] from President [[Bill Clinton]]. He also received the [[PEN/Ralph Manheim Medal for Translation]] in 1994. In 2003 Wilbur was inducted into the [[American Theater Hall of Fame]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.playbill.com/news/article/82135-2004-Inductees-of-Theatre-Hall-of-Fame-Announced|title=2004 Inductees of Theatre Hall of Fame Announced|publisher=www.playbill.com|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140331082301/http://www.playbill.com/news/article/82135-2004-Inductees-of-Theatre-Hall-of-Fame-Announced|archive-date=March 31, 2014|df=mdy-all}}</ref> In 2006 he won the [[Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize]]. In 2010 he won the [[National Translation Award]] for the translation of ''The Theatre of Illusion'' by [[Pierre Corneille]]. In 2012 [[Yale University]] conferred an honorary Doctor of Letters on Wilbur. He had a literary correspondence with Catholic nun, literary critic and poet [[M. Bernetta Quinn]].<ref name=":12">{{Cite book |last=Ripatrazone |first=Nick |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv2xkjp9p |title=The Habit of Poetry: The Literary Lives of Nuns in Mid-century America |date=2023 |publisher=1517 Media |isbn=978-1-5064-7112-9 |chapter=Sister Mary Bernetta Quinn: Woman of Letters |doi=10.2307/j.ctv2xkjp9p.7|jstor=j.ctv2xkjp9p }}</ref><ref name=":3">{{Cite web |title=Mary Bernetta Quinn Papers, 1937-1998 |url=https://finding-aids.lib.unc.edu/04307/ |access-date= |website=Wilson Special Collections Library of UNC-Chapel Hill}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Sister Mary Bernetta Quinn papers |url=https://archives.yale.edu/repositories/11/resources/1438 |url-status= |access-date= |website=Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library of Yale University}}</ref>

Wilbur died on October 14, 2017, at a nursing home in [[Belmont, Massachusetts]], from natural causes aged 96.<ref name="nytobit"/><ref>{{cite news | first=Mark | last = Ferney | url = https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/obituaries/2017/10/15/wilbur/n2ZJZF17OJGN1nHQOjUBWP/story.html |title=Richard Wilbur, Pulitzer-winning poet, dies at 96 |newspaper=[[The Boston Globe]]|date= October 15, 2017 |access-date= October 15, 2017}}</ref>