In 1940, the Australian academic and poet Michael Thwaites became the third recipient (after Laurence Whistler in 1934 and W. H. Auden in 1937) of the King's Gold Medal for Poetry for his blank-verse poem Milton Blind. The poem, written during his residence at Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar, was also awarded the prestigious Newdigate Prize in 1938.
The King's Gold Medal for Poetry, known as the Queen's Gold Medal when the monarch is female, was instituted by King George V in 1933 at the suggestion of the Poet Laureate, John Masefield. It was created to celebrate the verse works of poets and translators from across the Commonwealth. It was only awarded three times before the accession of Queen Elizabeth II in 1952 and has been awarded annually since 2000.