Stanley Kunitz was born in Worcester, Massachusetts, in 1905. His first collection, Intellectual Things, appeared when he was twenty-five. Passing Through: The Later Poems, New and Selected, published in 1995, his ninetieth year, won the National Book Award. His appointment as Poet Laureate of the United States in the year 2000 coincided with the publication of The Collected Poems. He has been the recipient of many awards and honors, including the Pulitzer Prize, National Endowment for the Arts Senior Fellowship, Brandeis Medal of Achievement, Harriet Monroe Award, Guggenheim Fellowship, and the Frost Medal. In 1993, President Clinton awarded him the National Medal of Arts at a White House Ceremony. He had a long and various career as a poet, essayist, translator, horticulturalist, teacher, advocate for poetry, and mentor of young poets.