John Orley Allen Tate (November 19, 1899 - February 9, 1979), known professionally as Allen Tate, was an American poet, essayist, social commentator, and Poet Laur...view moreJohn Orley Allen Tate (November 19, 1899 - February 9, 1979), known professionally as Allen Tate, was an American poet, essayist, social commentator, and Poet Laureate from 1943 to 1944. Widely regarded as a well-known man of letters from the American South, a central figure in the fields of poetry, criticism, and ideas, Tate authored numerous poems, translations, and literary works of fiction in the course of a career spanning the middle decades of the twentieth century.view less