Richard Wilbur, whose meticulous, urbane poems earned him two Pulitzer Prizes and selection as the national poet laureate, died on Saturday in Belmont, Mass. He was 96.<\/p>\n
His son Christopher confirmed his death, in a nursing home.<\/p>\n
Across more than 60 years as an acclaimed American poet, Mr. Wilbur followed a muse who prized traditional virtuosity over self-dramatization; as a consequence he often found himself out of favor with the literary authorities who preferred the heat of artists like Sylvia Plath and Allen Ginsberg.<\/p>\n
He received his first Pulitzer in 1957, and a National Book Award as well, for \u201cThings of This World.\u201d The collection included\u00a0\u201cA Baroque Wall-Fountain in the Villa Sciarra,\u201d<\/a>\u00a0which the poet and critic Randall Jarrell called \u201cone of the most marvelously beautiful, one of the most nearly perfect poems any American has written.\u201d<\/p>\n Read it all<\/a>.<\/p>\n Love Calls Us to the Things of This World BY RICHARD WILBUR https:\/\/t.co\/j0Smnc168y<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/5SviUpfgZf<\/a><\/p>\n — Int'l Arts Movement (@IntlArtsMvmnt) September 17, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n