Famous Poets a to z

A.E. Housman was an English scholar and poet whose poems were based on classical models and expressed a Romantic pessimism in a spare, simple style. He published two volumes of poetry: A Shropshire Lad and Last Poems.

Langston Hughes was an American poet, novelist, and playwright whose African-American themes made him a primary contributor to the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s.

Writer Ted Hughes wrote poetry, non-fiction and children’s books. He was married to poet Sylvia Plath who committed suicide a year after he left her.

Poet, playwright and novelist Victor Hugo was the heart of French Romanticism, with works such as The Hunchback of Notre-Dame and Les Misérables.

English Romantic lyric poet John Keats was dedicated to the perfection of poetry marked by vivid imagery that expressed a philosophy through classical legend.

Jack Kerouac was an American writer best known for the novel On the Road, which became an American classic, pioneering the Beat Generation in the 1950s.

Francis Scott Key was an attorney and poet who wrote the lyrics to "The Star-Spangled Banner," the U.S. national anthem.

Stanley Kunitz was an American poet who served as Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress (1974; 2000). He won the Pulitzer Prize for his work Selected Poems 1928-1958 (1958).

Irish dramatist Lady Gregory, also known as Isabella Augusta, collaborated with William Butler Yeats and J.M. Synge to found the Irish National Theater and the Abbey Theater company.

Charles Lamb was an English poet and essayist who wrote Tales from Shakespeare and "Essays of Elia."

D.H. Lawrence is best known for his infamous novel Lady Chatterley's Lover, which was banned in the United States until 1959, and is widely regarded as one of the most influential writers of the 20th century.

Henry Lawson was a revered Australian writer of short stories and poetry.

Italian Jewish chemist Primo Levi survived a year at Auschwitz against all odds. He is best known his moving memoir, If This Is a Man.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was a famed 19th century scholar, novelist and poet known for works like Voices of the Night, Evangeline and The Song of Hiawatha.

Audre Lorde wrote the poetry collections From a Land Where Other People Live (1973) and The Black Unicorn (1978), as well as memoirs like A Burst of Light (1988).

Dora Maar was a French artist and poet best known as Pablo Picasso's lover and muse.

Playwright, poet. Christopher Marlowe was a poet and playwright at the forefront of the 16th-century dramatic renaissance. His works influenced William Shakespeare and generations of writers to follow.

A poet and a journalist, José Martí spent his short life fighting for Cuban independence. He died in 1895 during a failed attempt to win freedom for Cuba.

Claude McKay was a Jamaican-born poet and novelist whose Home to Harlem (1928) was the most popular novel written by an American black to that time.

Herman Melville wrote the classic American novel Moby-Dick (1851), a whaling adventure which regarded as one of the greatest literary works of all time.

Michelangelo is widely regarded as the most famous artist of the Italian Renaissance. Among his works are the David and Pieta statues and the Sistine Chapel frescoes. 

Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Edna St. Vincent Millay was such a bright young thing of the jazz age that she coined the term "my candle burns at both ends."

Thomas Moore was an Irish poet, satirist, composer, singer and close friend of Lord Byron.

Jim Morrison was the charismatic singer and songwriter for the 1960 rock group the Doors until his death in a Paris bathtub at age 27.

Sarojini Naidu was an India political leader best known as the first female President of the India National Congress.

Twice appointed the United States' poet laureate, Howard Nemerov was a writer with wit and illuminating irony.

As Roman emperor, Nero’s reign was lavish and tyrannical. He killed his mother, persecuted Christians and is said to have "fiddled while Rome burned."

Pablo Neruda was a Nobel Prize–winning Chilean poet who was once called “the greatest poet of the 20th century in any language.”

St. John of the Cross was a Spanish poet whose work is considered the summit of mystical Spanish literature. He was glorified as a saint in 1726 by Pope Bendict XIII.

Dorothy Parker was the sharpest wit of the Algonquin Round Table, as well as a master of short fiction and a blacklisted screenwriter.

Charles Perrault was a French poet and author known for writing the Mother Goose fairy tales.

American poet and critic Robert Pinksy is best known for writing about the significance of every-day experiences.

Harold Pinter is a renowned British playwright who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2005.

Sylvia Plath was a gifted, troubled poet, known for the confessional style of her work. She wrote the novel The Bell Jar.

Poet Ezra Pond authored more than 70 books and promoted many other now-famous writers, including James Joyce and T.S. Eliot.

Canadian poet E.J. Pratt is the author of several collections of verse, including The Titans (1926) and Brébeuf and His Brethren (1940).

Adrienne Rich is a U.S. poet, scholar and critic whose work exhibits her commitment to the women's movement and a lesbian/feminist aesthetic influence.

Poet and professor Theodore Roethke was best known for winning the 1953 Pulitzer Prize for his poetry volume The Wakening. His other works include "Open House" and "The Far Field."

Sonia Sanchez formed the Broadside Quartet. She was an activist for racial equality, pioneered black studies and has written poetry, plays and kids’ books.

Ancient Greek lyric poet Sappho lived on the island of Lesbos, from which the term lesbian was derived, and wrote poetry expressing her love of women.

May Sarton was a writer of poetry, novels and memoirs including her Journal of a Solitude.

Alice Sebold is an American writer and best-selling author of the book, The Lovely Bones, which has been hailed the most successful debut novel since Gone with the Wind.

Poet Anne Sexton wrote the collections To Bedlam and Part Way Back, as well as Live or Die, for which she won the Pulitzer Prize. She committed suicide in 1974.

William Shakespeare, often called the English national poet, is widely considered the greatest dramatist of all time.

Known for his lyrical and long-form verse, Percy Bysshe Shelley is one of the most highly regarded English Romantic poets of the 19th century. His works include The Masque of Anarchy and Queen Mab.

Shel Silverstein was a poet and musician known for children’s books such as The Giving Tree and Where the Sidewalk Ends.

Dame Edith Sitwell was an English poet was famous for her formidable personality, Elizabethan dress, and eccentric opinions.

Patti Smith is a highly influential figure in the New York City punk rock scene, starting with her 1975 album Horses. Her biggest hit is the single "Because the Night."

Greek statesman and poet Solon is considered one of the Seven Wise Men of Greece. He created a code of laws that became the basis of Athenian democracy.

Dame Muriel Spark was a Scottish novelist, poet and literary critic best known for her novel The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie.

Gertrude Stein was an American author and poet best known for her modernist writings, extensive art collecting and literary salon in 1920s Paris.

Writer Dylan Thomas is best known for the poem "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night," the play "Under Milk Wood," and for his heavy drinking.

American essayist, poet, and practical philosopher, Henry David Thoreau was a New England Transcendentalist and author of the book Walden.

Mona Jane Van Duyn was a National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize-winning poet and academic.

Famed Roman poet Virgil is  best known for his national epic, the Aeneid.