Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry

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The Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry is a British literary prize awarded for an individual or complete poetic work by a poet from the United Kingdom or the Commonwealth . Originally, only subjects of the British Crown who lived in the United Kingdom were eligible for the award. In 1985 this limitation was lifted to include authors from across the Commonwealth of Nations.

A committee of eminent literary scholars and writers, headed by the Poet Laureate, makes recommendations to the Queen of England for the award of the prize . The award winner is often announced on April 23, the (now generally accepted) birthday of William Shakespeare .

The medal was donated in 1933 as the King's Gold Medal for Poetry by George V at the suggestion of the English court poet John Masefield . The obverse shows the crowned head of the queen. The reverse, designed by Edmund Dulac , refers to the motto "Truth is emerging from her well and holding in her right hand the divine flame of inspiration - Beauty is Truth and Truth Beauty" , the latter a (not quite literal) quote from John Keats ' Ode on a Grecian urn .

Award winners

Web links