1919      Born January 9 in New York City to William Morris and Nelly Atkin (Keyser) Meredith. Sister Katherine born 1917.

1936      Graduation from the Lenox School, Lenox, Massachusetts.

1940      Graduation from Princeton University with an A.B. in English, Magna Cum Laude. Wrote senior thesis on Robert Frost. Met friend and future Connecticut College president Charles Shain.

1940-41  Copy boy and later reporter for The New York Times

1941-42  U.S. Army Air Force

1942-46  U.S. Navy as a carrier pilot; achieved rank of lieutenant. Served in the Aleutian Islands and Pacific Theater.

1944      Love Letter From an Impossible Land chosen for the Yale Series of Younger Poets Award by Librarian of Congress Archibald MacLeish. Published by Yale University Press, with an introduction by MacLeish.

1944      Harriet Monroe Prize for poetry published in Poetry magazine.

1946-52  U.S. Navy Reserves.

1946-50  Instructor in English, Woodrow Wilson Fellow in Writing, and Resident Fellow in Creative Writing, Princeton University.

1948      Ships and Other Figures; Princeton University Press.

1948      Rockefeller grant for criticism.

1949      Met friend and artist Robert Drew.

1950-51  Associate professor of English, University of Hawaii at Honolulu.

1952-54  U.S. Navy pilot in Korean War. Achieved rank of Lieutenant Commander and was awarded two Air Medals.

1953      Oscar Blumenthal Prize for poems published in Poetry magazine.

1955-65  Associate Professor of English, Connecticut College.

1955-56  Opera Critic for The Hudson Review.

1956      Hudson Review Fellowship for poetry.

1958      The Open Sea and Other Poems; Alfred A. Knopf.

1958-62  Instructor, Bread Loaf School of English, Middlebury College

1958      Libretto for opera The Bottle Imp, with music by Peter Whiton. Produced by Wilton Players, Wilton, CT.

1958      National Institute of Arts and Letters grant for literature.

1959-60  Ford Foundation Fellowship for Drama. Worked with Robert Lowell to study and improve the language of libretti

1962      Editor and Compiler, Laurel Poetry Series: Shelley, General Editor Richard Wilbur; Dell Publishing Company.

1963      The Wreck of the Thresher and Other Poems; Alfred A. Knopf.

1963-65  Served on Connecticut Commission of the Arts.

1964      Elected Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets

1964      First Prize in the Borestone Mountain Poetry Awards for "The Wreck of the Thresher."

1964      Translation of Apollinaire's Alcools; Doubleday and Company.

1964-71  Instructor, Bread Loaf Writer's Conference

1964-68  Founded Upward Bound Program at Connecticut College.

1965-83  Professor of English, Connecticut College.

1965      Resident Fellow in Creative Writing, Princeton University.

1966      Loines Prize from the National Institute of Arts and Letters.

1968      Hudson Review Fellowship.

1968      Rockefeller grant for poetry.

1968      The Laurel Poetry Series: Seventeenth Century Minor English Poets, Co-edited with Mackie Jarrell, General Editor Richard Wilbur; Dell Publishing Company.

1970      Earth Walk: New And Selected Poems; Alfred A. Knopf.

William Meredith and Richard Harteis at their home in Uncasville, Connecticut.

1971      Van Wyck Brooks Award.

1971      Met Richard Harteis at the Bread Loaf Writer's Conference.

1972      National Endowment for the Arts grant.

1972      Honorary Doctoral Degree, Carnegie-Mellon University.

1975-76  Guggenheim Fellowship.

1975-76  Secretary, National Institute of Arts and letters.

1975      Hazard, The Painter; Alfred A. Knopf.

1978-80  Poetry Consultant, Library of Congress

1979      International Vaptsarov Prize for Literature.

1979      Carl Sandburg Award for Outstanding Poet of the Year.

1980      Effort At Speech; Bilingual English and Bulgarian Collection, Orpheus House.

1980      The Cheer; Alfred A. Knopf.

1984      National Endowment for the Arts Senior Fellowship in recognition of life's work.

1987      Partial Accounts:New And Selected Poems, Alfred A. Knopf.

1987      Los Angeles Times Book Award.

1988      Pulitzer Prize on March 8 for Partial Accounts: New And Selected Poems.

1988      Honorary doctoral degree from Connecticut College.

1996      Connecticut College Medal.

1996      Creation of William Meredith Endowed Professorship; Connecticut College.

1996      Granted honorary Bulgarian citizenship, with Richard Harteis, by decree of President Zhelev.

1997      Effort at Speech, TriQuarterly Books, Northwestern University Press.

1997      National Book Award on November 13 for Effort at Speech

1998      Honorary doctoral degree from The American University in Bulgaria.

1998      The White Island; Sofia, E. Niagolova.