Poetry Society of Vermont

The Poetry Society of Vermont (PSOV) was envisioned by Mary Newton Baldwin and founded on May 15, 1947, in Burlington, Vermont. The organization's first workshop meeting was held at the Wood Art Gallery in Montpelier on January 24, 1948. The organization attracted many prominent members including folk song collector Helen Hartness Flanders and Arthur Wallace Peach, English professor at Norwich University.

Two publications grew out statewide poetry readings and meetings. The Mountain Troubadour was first published in 1949 as a four-page newsletter and was later reformatted in 1956 as a poetry journal to showcase the work of PSOV members. First Harvest, a 74-page collection of poems by PSOV members, was published in 1954; Second Harvest followed in 1982. A Poetry Society of Vermont Anthology was published in 2007.

Part of the PSOV's mission is to encourage young poets. PSOV-sponsored annual High School Poetry Contests began in 1960 and have been run in cooperation with WCAX-TV ever since. Another educational program of the PSOV is the Creative Writing Contest for students in grades 1- 8, who participate through their schools.

In 1961 the PSOV recommended that the Vermont legislature honor Robert Frost as Poet Laureate of Vermont, a position he held until his death in 1963. Twenty-eight years later Galway Kinnell was appointed Vermont State Poet instead of the PSOV-backed William Daniel Mundell. A controversy ensued, complete with newspaper coverage, and eventually Mundell was crowned Poet Laureate of the PSOV.

The organization holds semi-annual meetings at which poems are critiqued and a winning poem is selected. The PSOV council, the governing and policy-making body of the organization, meets at least three times a year. Summer workshops have been offered in Fayston, Vermont, since 1970. The PSOV sponsors several contests during the year in which monies and certificates are awarded for winning poems; these poems are published in The Troubadour and on the organization's web site.

From the description of Poetry Society of Vermont records, 1947- (Vermont Historical Society). WorldCat record id: 191701962