William Morris Meredith ’40 *47

Bill’s death May 30, 2007, inspired headlines and four-column obituaries, including “Poet Who Wed Depth to Form” [The New York Times], and “Poet and friend of poets whose work combines a haunting ruminative quality with gentle sweetness” [The Independent, London]. Bill earned national recognition as a Pulitzer Prize winner, National Book Award winner, and United States poet laureate from 1978 to 1980.

Bill prepared at St. Luke’s School and Lenox School, then followed his father, William Morris Meredith ’11, his grand-

father, W.M. Meredith 1877, and his cousin, W.F. Meredith 1894, to Princeton.

He majored in English, graduating with high honors. He was on the cross-country team and was associate editor of the Nassau Lit, a Daily Princetonian columnist, and a member of Colonial Club.

Bill served in the Army Air Force from 1941 to 1942. In 1943, he enlisted in the Navy and was discharged in 1946 as a lieutenant. He returned to active duty during the Korean War as a lieutenant commander. He held two air medals.

He taught at Princeton, where he took graduate-level English courses, and other universities until 1955, when he joined the Connecticut College faculty. He retired in 1983. He authored a dozen books of poetry and was chancellor of the Academy of American Poets. He was unmarried.