MacLeish, Archibald (1892–1982)

US poet. He made his name with the long narrative poem Conquistador (1932), which describes Cortés' march to the Aztec capital, but his later plays in verse, Panic (1935) and Air Raid (1938), deal with contemporary problems.

Born in Illinois, he went to France 1923, and during his expatriate years there published his most personal poetry, including Ars Poetica 1926. He was assistant secretary of state 1944–45, and helped to draft the constitution of UNESCO. From 1949 to 1962 he was Boylston Professor of Rhetoric at Harvard, and his essays in Poetry and Opinion 1950 reflect his feeling that a poet should be ‘committed’, expressing his outlook in his verse.