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"What is a poem ...

but a hazardous attempt at self understanding? It is the deepest part of autobiography." — Robert Penn Warren

On this date in 1985, the U.S. Congress established the "Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry" to the Library of Congress. The poet laureate serves as the nation's official lightning rod for the poetic impulse of Americans. During his or her term, the laureate seeks to raise the national consciousness to a greater appreciation of the reading and writing of poetry.

The poet laureate is appointed annually by the Librarian of Congress and serves from October to May. In 1986, Robert Penn Warren was named the first official poet laureate. Warren won two Pulitzer Prizes for poetry as well as the Pulitzer Prize for fiction with his novel All the King's Men. Oak Alley Plantation recalls Warren's native South and his early focus on southern writers and values.

Pictured: Allen Hess, born 1950, Oak Alley Plantation, River Road, Vacherie, Louisiana, 1983/printed 1989, selenium toned contact print on paper, 7 9/16 x 9 1/2 in., Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Consolidated Natural Gas Company Foundation.