Poetry is a literary genre that goes back as old as some of the most ancient texts archaeologists have ever found. Some of the earliest poetry writers can be traced all the way back to Ancient Greece, almost 3000 years ago. Since then, poetry has flourished, evolved and developed in many different styles, all over the world, from Japanese short haikus to major romantic British poets like Percy Bysshe Shelley and American poetry figures such as Charles Bukowski, or Ralph Waldo Emerson.
Below is a list of fifteen of the most famous poets of all time whose work influenced their poet peers forever.
| Poet | Active Period (Century) | Famous Poems |
|---|---|---|
| Homer | 8th Century BCE | Iliad, Odyssey |
| William Shakespeare | 16th–17th Century (1500s–1600s) | Sonnet 18, Sonnet 116 |
| Matsuo Bashō | 17th Century (1600s) | Old Pond (Furu ike ya) In Kyoto |
| William Wordsworth | 19th Century (1800s) | I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud, The Prelude |
| John Keats | 19th Century (1800s) | Ode to a Nightingale, Bright Star |
| Edgar Allan Poe | 19th Century (1800s) | The Raven, Annabel Lee |
| Elizabeth Barrett Browning | 19th Century (1800s) | How Do I Love Thee?, The Cry of the Children |
| Emily Dickinson | 19th Century (1800s) | Because I could not stop for Death, Hope is the thing with feathers |
| Alfred Tennyson | 19th Century (1800s) | The Charge of the Light Brigade, Ulysses |
| Christina Rossetti | 19th Century (1800s) | Goblin Market, Remember |
| Robert Frost | 20th Century (1900s) | Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening, The Road Not Taken |
| Pablo Neruda | 20th Century (1900s) | Tonight I Can Write, If You Forget Me |
| Gwendolyn Brooks | 20th Century (1900s) | The Bean Eaters, We Real Cool |
| Maya Angelou | 20th–21st Century (1900s–2000s) | I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Still I Rise |
| Louise Glück | 20th–21st Century (1900s–2000s) | The Triumph of Achilles, The Wild Iris |
👨Homer
The origins of Homer are so unclear that some scholar describes him as a myth. Many legends about this ancient Greek author circulated; one of the most common is that he was a blind wandering bard from Chios, a city on the Anatolian coast of what is now Turkey.
Nonetheless, his two poems, the Iliad and the Odyssey, are seen today as timeless classics, taught in most Western school curricula, still inspiring writers, artists, and even movie directors to this day.
Iliad
- Form: Epic poem in the dactylic hexameter rhythm
- Centred around the siege of the city of Troy during the Trojan War
Odyssey
- Form: Epic poem in the dactylic hexameter rhythm
- Centred around the ten-year journey of the king of Ithaca, Odysseus, back to his kingdom
A movie adaptation of The Odyssey by Christopher Nolan, starring Matt Damon as the title character, is scheduled to release in 2026.
👨William Shakespeare
Maybe the most famous author of all English literature, Shakespeare was a poet, playwright and actor. He is still regarded today as the world's most eminent dramatist.
While he is mainly known by the public for his numerous theatre plays, among which Romeo and Juliet, the most famous romantic tragedy of all time, he is also a talented poet who has penned many sonnets and narrative poems.
👨Matsuo Bashō
Bashō is widely recognised by poetry lovers for his revolutionary use of simple words and form to create the haiku — a three-line poem with a 5-7-5 syllable structure.
Born to a samurai family, Bashō did not choose to continue his family's legacy but opted to live a life which centred around travelling, writing, and teaching. Until today, the Bashō Festival is held annually in Iga City to commemorate his literary contributions.
👨William Wordsworth
Wordsworth is famously known as the co-founder of the English Romantic Movement alongside Samuel Taylor Coleridge. His poetry often centres around nature and happenings in everyday life, inspired by his introspective observations and also time spent with his family, especially his sister, Dorothy.
For instance, his most famous poem, I Wandered Lonely As A Cloud was written after he and his sister Dorothy came across a long belt of indigenous Welsh flowers while walking in the forest.
Wordsworth was one of the few Poet Laureates who was not required to produce any work upon his appointment in 1843. His appointment was seen as a symbolic presence and also a nod to the influence of Romanticism in England.
👨John Keats
Born in 1795, Keats was part of the second wave of Romantic poets, the artistic movement born in Europe towards the end of the 18th century.
Keats originally trained to become a surgeon, but decided to give up practising to devote his time to his literary ambitions. His career was short-lived as he died at the age of 25 years old from tuberculosis. Even though critics did not receive his poems very well during his lifetime, his fame came after his death, and he eventually became one of the most beloved of all English poets.
Of the most famous pieces of poetry he wrote, the "Ode to a Nightingale" is probably the most well-known.
👨Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe was one of the first American writers to try to live solely from his writings. He only succeeded in doing so in his late 20s after joining the Southern Literary Messenger.
Poe had a tumultuous life. He was abandoned by his father when he was one year old, and his mother died a year later. He was adopted by the Allan family, with whom he had a rocky relationship. Maybe because of his tragic background or because the genre pleases his public tastes, his work often approached themes such as death, the reanimation of the dead and mourning.
Not many copies of Poe's first book survived, and one of them reached a price of $662,500 in 2009 during an auction in New York. It is believed to be the highest price ever paid for a work of American literature.
👩🦰Elizabeth Browning
Elizabeth Browning is undeniably one of the most beloved female poets of all time. Her gift in writing, paired with her sensitivity to the social happenings during the Victorian era, such as poverty, abolition of slavery and child labour, made her a well-respected poet by local and even international poets like Emily Dickinson.
Despite her health struggles and strained relationship with her father, she found comfort through her writings and marriage to another fellow poet, Robert Browning.
👩🦰Emily Dickinson
Emily Dickinson is one of the few poets whose most of her works remained hidden until she died in 1886. She is well known for her unique writing style, which includes an extensive use of em dashes and exploratory themes of death.
“Hope” is the thing with feathers - That perches in the soul - And sings the tune without the words - And never stops - at all -
Exerpt of poem taken from “Hope” is the thing with feathers
While she was fond of crafting poetry and letters, only 10 of her poems were published while she was still alive. Her love for writing letters and staying at home in Amherst earned her the nickname "The Myth", but she dotes on gardening and botany.
👨Alfred Lord Tennyson
Alfred Lord Tennyson is widely regarded as the greatest poet of the Victorian era for his balanced nuance of writing technicality and emotional depth. His poem was reportedly read and loved by Queen Victoria herself. Tennyson's skilful mastery of various poetic devices and subject matter makes his poetry appealing to the ears and also to the hearts of those who read it.
Alfred Tennyson was the next Poet Laureate to be appointed after William Wordsworth. Until today, he is the longest-serving Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom, holding the position for 42 years.
👩🦰Christina Rossetti
Christina Rossetti is one of the few female poets who is well-versed in different poetry genres, ranging from children's poetry, fantasy, and even religious poetry. Born to a family of Italian-English descent with a rich artistic pursuit, Rossetti was no stranger to literary and cultural exposure.
Her religious upbringing and her sensitive outlook in life played a huge role in shaping her writings, which centred around the theme of faith and morality with emotional subtlety.
👨Robert Frost
Robert Frost is known as a master of weaving deep philosophical ideas behind his simple words and analogies.
Two roads diverged in a wood and I – I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.
Robert Frost's most famous quote about life choices
His farming experience in New Hampshire deeply influenced his poetic imagery and themes, and he later ventured into teaching, where he mentored many students in writing.
As of this date of writing, Frost is the only poet to win four Pulitzers for Poetry, in 1924, 1931, 1937, and 1943. He was also appointed United States Poet Laureate in 1958.
👨Pablo Neruda
Pablo Neruda is considered one of the most politically engaged poets of the 20th century due to his career as a diplomat and politician.
He primarily writes in Spanish, and the subjects of his poems often revolve around social injustice and happenings in Latin America while bridging romance and revolution. Neuda was awarded the 1971 Nobel Prize in Literature and considered a national literary icon in Chile.
👩🦰Gwendolyn Brooks
Gwendolyn Brooks is widely respected as the pioneer of female African American poets who made a name for themselves in the literary world. She was also the first African American to Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1950.
Witty and lyrical, her poetry captures the essence of everyday life in the Black community, especially during the height of the Civil Rights Movement.
👩🦰Maya Angelou
Born in 1928, in the Southern state of Missouri, Maya Angelou recounted her troubled childhood in her autobiography and international best-seller, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, published in 1969.
Her book, the first of a seven-volume series, described how she overcame racism and trauma through love and determination. She mentioned in her autobiographies that she was greatly affected by the work of William Shakespeare, Edgar Allan Poe during her childhood.
Maya Angelou has won three Grammy Awards for the Best Spoken Word Album in 1994, 1996, and 2003.
👩🦰Louise Glück
Before winning the Nobel Prize in Literature (2020), Louise Glück was rejected 28 times before her first poetry collection was published at age 23. In terms of writing style, Glück was said to be inspired by Emily Dickinson, which is reflected in her usage of em dashes in her poem.
There was an apple tree in the yard— this would have been forty years ago—behind, only meadow.
Exerpt of Nostos by Louise Glück
She is also best known for her creative depiction of connecting classical myths and everyday human experiences in her writings.
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I find that Rabindranath Tagore is missing from the list. He got Nobel prize in literature in 1913. His poem ‘Where mind is without any fear’ is one of the most read and discussed poems.
Most famous of all time is a ridiculous notion. You omitted
Whitman, Basho, Dickinson, Tagore, Shelley. Cummings, Hughes, and others. Try a list of 50 and you.might have more luck. Your list is misleading, especially for educators.
Shocked that Sappho isn’t here, she was a queer poet in the 7th century BCE and the terms sapphic and lesbian came from her. Sapphic being based off her name (Sappho) and lesbian being based off where she lived (Lesbos). I love Sappho and it’s such a same that only 650 (roughly) lines survived to today out of the 10,000 lines we presume she wrote.