The Poetry Society of America is a non-profit membership organization which supports poets and poetry through awards, fellowships and events. Its first formal meeting occurred in December of 1910 at the National Arts Club in Gramercy Park, New York City, and among its first members were many prominent American writers and artists of the era. Guest poets who attended in the early years of the society included Ezra Pound, Amy Lowell, and William Butler Yeats.

In 1929, the Poetry Society established the Shelley Memorial Award, named for Percy Bysshe Shelley, to honor mid-career achievement in poetry. The Shelley Award is granted by nomination of a jury of poets, and, as of 2025, has become one of the Poetry Society’s two most prominent awards. The other, the Frost Medal, was initially established in 1930 as the Gold Medal for Distinguished Achievement as a discretionary award to honor, by nomination, lifetime achievement in poetry. Some time after Robert Frost won the Gold Medal in 1941, the award was named for him, and since 1984, it has been awarded annually. Since 1995, the Frost Medalist has delivered the Frost Medal Lecture at the annual awards ceremony of the Poetry Society of America.

Programs run by the Poetry Society to promote poetry to readers include: the Poetry in Motion program, established in 1992, which sponsors printed displays of poetry inside New York City subway cars; Poems on Wheels, established in 2018, which distributes poems with Citymeals on Wheels to homebound seniors in New York City; and Poetry in Parks, established in 2024, which funds poetry installations throughout the New York State park system.

In 1995, the Poetry Society of America co-sponsored a two-day event with the Adult Division of The New School for Social Research (later, Schools of Public Engagement) entitled "Narrative Impulse Poetry Festival,” at which a diverse group of writers held readings and panel discussions. The Festival was one of the first proposed collaborations between The New School and prominent external literary organizations which were designed to integrate into a new graduate writing program at The New School, which became a reality there in 1996 under its first director, faculty member Robert Polito.

The Narrative Impulse festival was followed by numerous collaborations between the Poetry Society and The New School MFA in Creative Writing Program. These included the Writing Lives conference in 2001 on biographical writing, and the Festival of New American Poets in 2005 and 2007.

In 2003, the Poetry Society established its Chapbook Fellowship Program, which produces published poetry collections for selected poets who had previously not had their collected works published. The initial award readings of the Chapbook Fellowship Program were held at The New School, which continued until the Poetry Society established a two-day Chapbook Festival in 2009, with the award readings held at the Graduate Center of City University of New York. The Annual Awards ceremonies for the Society were also held at The New School between 2003 and 2007; in 2008, awards ceremonies for the Society began to be held at the National Arts Club, where the organization had first started.

References

“About: History.” Poetry Society of America. Accessed September 16, 2025. https://poetrysociety.org/about/our-history.

“Awards: Chapbook Fellowships.” Poetry Society of America. Accessed September 16, 2025. https://poetrysociety.org/awards/chapbook-fellowships/chapbook-fellowship-2026.

“Awards: Frost and Shelley Awards.” Poetry Society of America. Accessed September 16, 2025. https://poetrysociety.org/awards/frost-shelley-awards/frost-medalist-2026.

Course Catalogs, 1919-2017, New School Course Catalog Collection, NS.05.01.01, The New School Archives Digital Collections, New York, New York.

“Frost Medal.” Encyclopedia Britannica. Last updated December 17, 2024. Accessed September 16, 2025. https://www.britannica.com/art/Frost-Medal/additional-info#history.

“Poets’ Circle and Syndicate Open.” New York Times January 2, 1911: 7. https://www.proquest.com/docview/97215208/6C04897DBA784D50PQ/3?sourcetype=Newspapers.

“Programs.” Poetry Society of America. Accessed September 16, 2025. https://poetrysociety.org/programs.

Proposal for Registration of a Program in Creative Writing Leading to the Degree of Master of Fine Arts. November 1994. The New School Schools of Public Engagement Executive Dean's Office Records, NS.02.01.04, unprocessed collection, New School Archives, The New School, New York, New York. https://digital.archives.newschool.edu/index.php/Detail/objects/NS020104_000005.

“PSA National Events: Spring 2008.” Poetry Society of America. Last updated February 22, 2008. Accessed September 16, 2025. https://web.archive.org/web/20080222222423/http://www.poetrysociety.org/psa-calendar.php.

“PSA National Events: Spring 2009.” Poetry Society of America. Last updated April 17, 2009. Accessed September 16, 2025. https://web.archive.org/web/20090417002348/http://www.poetrysociety.org/psa-calendar.php.