Poetry has been part of human expression since the invention of the written word. In fact, the oldest piece of literature ever found was written over 7000 years ago in Sumerian, entitled The Epic Of Gilgamesh. As mankind has gotten better at preserving writings, we now have the ability to read the works written long ago and learn more about the poet as well. This article looks at a small handful of the incredible poets whose work and legacy are still revered today.
Homer – The Epic Storyteller
Little is known about Homer and his life, except that he was born and lived sometime during the 8th century. He is considered the first major poet in Western literature, but his identity is debated. Some scholars debate that he may not have been a single person, but a group of poets all writing in a specific style.
Regardless, based on the information we have today, we consider the man named Homer to be the author of two pivotal works: The Iliad and The Odyssey. These epic poems were passed down orally before finally being transcribed at some point between the 8th and 6th centuries BCE.
They are amongst the most famous poems on Earth.
An epic is a novel-length narrative poem that tells the story of a person or group of people as they embark on a perilous journey, often overcoming great danger. They usually involve gods, mythology, and war. Epics are written in verse, not prose.
The Iliad tells the story of the siege of the city of Troy during the Trojan Wars. It's a tale mixing historical facts, Greek mythology, and legend. An epic ancient Greek poem in the dactylic hexameter style (verse of six feet, each foot being one long and two short syllables).
The Odyssey focuses on the ancient King Odysseus (known as Ulysses) and his ten-year journey back to his kingdom of Ithaca after the Trojan Wars.
Though the poems are thousands of years old, the fact that the works have persevered all this time and have been translated hundreds of times and into dozens of languages is why Homer remains one of the most famous poets of all time.
Like the generations of leaves, the lives of mortal men. Now the wind scatters the old leaves across the earth, now the living timber bursts with the new buds and spring comes round again. And so with men: as one generation comes to life, another dies away
Homer, The Iliad
Virgil – Rome's National Poet
One of the main figures in poetry during the rule of Augustus of Rome, Virgil is best known today for his major work, The Aeneid. The epic follows Aeneas, a Trojan hero, as he travels to Italy found a new homeland. His epic poem was written to give Rome a heroic origin story and touches on contemporary political themes.
The poetic tale was seen by many as a celebration of the imperial dynasty, while others thought it to be critical and pessimistic about Augustus.
Virgil often wrote about the countryside and the simple life one can live there in a romantic, reminiscing way. This is the essence of bucolic art.
In these poems, he also often wrote in a traditional Greek form called “didactism,” which is like a “how-to” instructional format.
He was influenced and inspired by Homer, but infused the Roman values of sacrifice and duty into his work.
Virgil’s writings were foundational, used by medieval writers like Dante as a source of inspiration.
From whence the race of Alban fathers come, And the long glories of majestic Rome. O Muse! the causes and the crimes relate,— What goddess was provok’d, and whence her hate; For what offense the Queen of Heav’n began To persecute so brave, so just a man;
Virgil, Aeneid (translated by Edward Fairfax Taylor)
William Shakespeare – The Bard of Avon
Perhaps the most famous author of British poetry and literature is William Shakespeare. He was not only known for being a playwright, actor and poet, he is also considered one of the world's most eminent dramatists.
Shakespeare is most famous for his numerous theatrical plays, like the romantic tragedy Romeo and Juliet, perhaps his most adapted play. It has been reworked countless times, for the Theatre, Broadway and Hollywood.
What made Shakespearean plays more interesting was that they were essentially dramaticized poetry. Lines of dialogue were written in iambic pentameter, a type of poetic verse.
English poetry and drama were often written in iambic pentameter. This means the rhythm (or meter) of each line consists of five sets of stressed and unstressed syllabic pairs.
Example: “Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks” (Sonnet #116) is read as “love AL-ters NOT with HIS brief HOURS and WEEKS”
Beyond his celebrated playwright work, Shakespeare was also a prolific poet. He wrote several narrative poems, which he published during his lifetime, especially when the bubonic plague ran rampant and forced the theatre to close. Near the end of his life, a collection of 154 sonnets was also published (it’s unclear if he gave permission or not).
His sonnets and narrative poems explored love, lust, and sexuality, as well as time, power, and identity. They are written in evocative, plain language that makes them easier to understand, even centuries later.
Many common phrases today come from the body of Shakespeare’s work, solidifying his place as one of the most world famous poets.
Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate
Shakespeare, Sonnet 18, lines 1–4
John Donne – Metaphysical Poet
John Donne was most well-known as a metaphysical poet, one who wrote poetry that combines emotion with intellectual argument. His poems often addressed themes like love, faith, and death. Donne’s ideas stood out for his use of conceits, unusual comparisons, and for exploring complex ideas. For example, human love compared to geometry or astronomy.
While on his deathbed in 1631, Donne managed to get up and deliver a sermon: Death’s Duel. The poetic sermon explored death as merely another stage in life, and hope is seen in salvation. It was afterward described as his own funeral sermon.
He consistently explored multiple angles of his subjects over the course of his life’s writings. He often satirized the problems in Elizabethan society, used elegies to explore topics like sensuality, and expressed both faith and doubt in his religious poems.
Over his lifetime, many of his friends and his wife passed away, he was financially strained much of the time, and he suffered from illness. It’s speculated that these devastations caused his increased somberness in his later works. Still, he stands as firm in the world of poetry famous writers.
No man is an island, Entire of itself, Every man is a piece of the continent, A part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less. As well as if a promontory were. As well as if a manor of thy friend's Or of thine own were: Any man's death diminishes me, Because I am involved in mankind, And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; It tolls for thee.
John Donne, No Man Is An Island
William Wordsworth – Nature's Poet
Wordsworth was a pioneer in his time for writing poems that were less formal and more like everyday speech. He believed poetry should reflect common life.
He often wrote about childhood, memory, and nature. His poems suggest that the natural world can have an impact on emotions, such as in Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey, which describes the beauty of the landscape inspiring the ability to overcome life’s hardships.
Wordsworth was selected to be Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom in 1843 under Queen Victoria. He was aged by that time, and felt himself too old to write anything worthy of the position. The Prime Minister assured him he wouldn’t need to, and he became the only Poet Laureate not to write any official verses in office.
Wordsworth was greatly influenced by real-life events such as the French Revolution and the births of his own children. His works show a desire to find balance between idealism and reflection, examining how individuals reflect and respond to the world around them. Wordsworth’s poems asked readers to reflect carefully and deeply about their thoughts and feelings in everyday life.
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I wandered lonely as a cloud That floats on high o’er vales and hills, When all at once I saw a crowd, A host, of golden daffodils; Beside the lake, beneath the trees, Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
Wiliam Wordsworth, Lonely As A Cloud
John Keats – The Sensuous Poet
Keats was part of the second wave of Romantic poets, along with Byron and Shelley. This artistic movement was born in Europe towards the end of the 18th century.
His career was very short-lived, having succumbed at the age of 25 to tuberculosis. Although his critics did not appreciate his poems during his brief life, he would later become famous for his works only after his death, eventually becoming known as one of the most beloved English poets of all time. He lived most of his short life under financial duress, and his death in Italy, where he travelled in hopes of improving his condition, was laborious and painful.
At first, Keats studied and trained to be a medical doctor, studying extensively until he made the ultimate choice to switch to literature in his final year of studies, declaring he would die if he could not write.
Although he wrote in the style of the Romantic movement, Keats became known for the sensual imagery, nature and melancholy of his works.
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Tis not through envy of thy happy lot, But being too happy in thine happiness, That thou, light-wingèd Dryad of the trees, In some melodious plot Of beechen green, and shadows numberless, Singest of summer in full-throated ease.
John Keats, Ode to a Nightingale, lines 5 to 10
Edgar Allan Poe – Master of the Macabre
When asked to name a famous poet, Poe will probably be one of the first names that comes to mind. He was the first well-known American writer to support himself solely through writing, though his earnings were just enough to get by. Fortunately, he became instantly famous in 1945 when his poem, The Raven was published.
He wrote a rather wide variety of works: poetry, short stories, essays, and the occasional journalistic hoax. He was also a well-known, scathing literary critic.
Poe’s works were unique for the time period, and he is credited with contributing to the invention of genres like science fiction, detective stories, and psychological horror. His works also inspired others to explore things like cryptography. Poe’s essayist writings and poems even inspired other famous people, such as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and America’s foremost cryptologist, William Friedman.
He wrote mainly of heartbreak, death, mourning, macabre, and mystery. His approach to romance in his works was dark and forlorn. Woven into many of his stories were ideas about cryptology and pseudoscience.
The overarching theme of all of Poe’s work touched on the idea of the fragile mind and psyche. It’s no wonder that Poe is at the centre of all things ‘Gothic’ and spooky today.
“Though thy crest be shorn and shaven, thou,” I said, “art sure no craven, Ghastly grim and ancient Raven wandering from the Nightly shore— TeAllen Poeme what thy lordly name is on the Night’s Plutonian shore!” Quoth the Raven “Nevermore.”
Edgar Allan Poe, The Raven
Walt Whitman – The Voice of Democracy
Whitman is one of the most renowned poets and novelists in the US and worldwide, producing some of the most innovative work of his time. A common theme running through many of his works was the democratic spirit of America, which earned him recognition as one of the most influential American poets of all time.
Transcendentalism developed in the 1820s and 30s in America’s Northeast region. It was one of the first philosophical ideas to arise in the United States. In essence, it is the opposite of realism; it imagines divinity in every mundane moment and emphasizes intuition over empirical evidence. Whitman utilized both ways of thinking in his works, bringing a sense of deep spirituality to mundanity.
Dropping out of school at the age of eleven to begin working, Whitman was the very definition of a self-taught man. He was a strong proponent of democratic values and imagined America as a place of freedom, imagination and pioneering spirits from all nations.
Whitman is perhaps most famous for his collection of poems titled Leaves of Grass which he began writing in 1850 and continued writing and revising until his death. His focus for the collection was to write an American epic, which employed free verse and inspiration from the Bible. By many (including Whitman himself), it was and is still hailed as a magnum opus. For others, it was seen as obscene to talk about sensuality too directly. Either way, it has been immensely influential for over 150 years.
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O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done, The ship has weather’d every rack, the prize we sought is won, The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting, While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring; But O heart! heart! heart! O the bleeding drops of red, Where on the deck my Captain lies, Fallen cold and dead.
Walt Whitman, O Captain! My Captain!
Maya Angelou – A Voice for Civil Rights
Angelou lived an extraordinary life and found a deep love of poetry at a young age. She is mostly known for her autobiographic books and essays, but her poems are just as important and impactful.
Her poems were less about creating a work that challenged the reader and more about creating inspiration. Her essays and books could be analyzed more in an academic sense, and while her poems are objectively substantial and moving, they weren’t created with literary analysis in mind.
This makes Angelou’s poems all the more approachable, accessible, and easy to read. She often performed the poems as speeches, which added to the experience.
Angelous is one of the most well-known poets famous for activism. In the 1960s, Maya Angelou participated in the Civil Rights Movement as an activist. She led organizations and clubs, helped leaders of the movement, Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X, and used her writing to take up space as a Black woman while inspiring others at the same time. Many of her writings and other endeavours celebrated Black history and contributed to contemporary Black art.
Angelou was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in 1971, for Just Give Me a Cool Drink of Water 'fore I Diiie, herfirst volume of poetry published in 1971.
She recited On the Pulse of Morning for Bill Clinton's Presidential inauguration, for which she would win a Grammy Award the following year for "Best Spoken Words.” She is definitely one of the most famous female poets of all time.
In her autobiographies, Angelou reveals that she was greatly affected and influenced by the works of Edgar Allan Poe, Charles Dickens and Douglas Johnson during her childhood when she became a prolific reader and developed her extraordinary memory and observational mind during her period of silence.
You may write me down in history With your bitter, twisted lies, You may trod me in the very dirt But still, like dust, I'll rise. Still I Rise.
Maya Angelou, Still I Rise
Celebrated Canadian Poets
Canada is home to many accomplished poets. Much of Canadian poetry approaches nature as a more indifferent or isolating force, rather than the romantic approach by most other authors on this list. It takes on a distinct tone that differs from British romanticism and American expansionism regarding nature.
Here are some of the most famous Canadian poets who have written about nature, love, life, and more.
Margaret Atwood – Canadian Literary Icon
Margaret Atwood is considered one of Canada’s most eminent novelists, poets, essayists, literary critics and environmental activists. Atwood’s writing career is decorated with numerous awards, including several Book Prize awards, the Governor General’s award, and the National Book Critics awards.
Born in Ottawa, she graduated from Victoria College at the University of Toronto with a Bachelor of Arts and earned her MA at Harvard. She has written 15 books of poetry, including Dearly (2020), about the death of her husband from dementia. Along with numerous short stories, children’s books and works of fiction, her novels include the acclaimed The Handmaid's Tale (1985), about a dystopian society where women are cruelly subjugated, which has now been adapted to an award-winning television series.
One of Atwood’s distinctive writing styles is to take ideas that already exist and explore them in unique ways. In her novels, she has done this through The Penelopiad (retelling of The Odyssey from Penelope’s perspective), Hag-Seed (retelling of The Tempest), The Handmaid’s Tale (combining real events in the world into one society), and Angel Catbird (a speculative fiction referencing real emerging technology).
Her works often include themes on gender and identity, myth and religion, power politics, and the power of language. Her poetry, in particular, is inspired by fairy tales and legends that have fascinated her since childhood. She is considered the quintessential Canadian author who is proud of her Canadian culture and identity.
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More and more frequently the edges of me dissolve and I become a wish to assimilate the world, including you, if possible through the skin like a cool plant's tricks with oxygen and live by a harmless green burning.
Margaret Atwood, More and More
Leonard Cohen – Poet and Songwriter
Leonard Cohen is most known as a musician, but what are lyrics if not poetry set to music? Before his musical career, he had established himself as a poet and novelist.
His style was mostly restrained, avoiding decorative language and flourish. Instead, he focused on rhythm and repetition. Cohen was often grouped with Bob Dylan and Paul Simon in terms of precise, evocative, poetic lines.
Cohen is more famous for his music than his poetry. Some of his most famous songs include "Hallalujah," "I'm Your Man," and "Lover Lover Lover."
Many of Cohen’s works explore faith, longing, and moral failure. They don’t offer answers; instead, they remain unsolved, reflecting the reality of such situations most of the time.
Doubt, sensuality, sexuality, and love are also common themes, along with religious imagery and questions of faith.
His best-known poetry comes from his published collections, The Spice-Box of Earth, Flowers for Hitler, Book of Mercy, and Book of Longing. He remains one of the most famous male poets of the modern era, and his famous love poems are considered some of the best of all time.
The autumn slipped across your skin Got something in my eye A light that doesn’t need to live And doesn’t need to die A riddle in the book of love Obscure and obsolete Till witnessed here in time and blood A thousand kisses deep.
Leonard Cohen, A Thousand Kisses Deep
Anne Carson – Innovator of Form
Trained as a classicist in her writing, Carson often uses stories and literary ideas from classical Greek literature in her poetry. As an author and essayistp, she uses ancient texts and mythology intertwined with modern scenes and personal reflection.
Her poetry is unique because it doesn’t adhere to any fixed form. Instead of writing purely in verse, she switches between poetry, essay, translation, prose, and criticism. Her writing often examines loss, desire, and the limits of language itself as a tool for understanding and communicating.
Carson’s poetry is interesting because it doesn’t exist for the sake of the art. It’s used as part of a discussion about intellectual and philosophical ideas, especially ancient texts. Rather than treat ancient texts as “dead” media, she discusses them as if they are contemporary works still open to new dissection and analysis.
Many poets seek to immerse the reader in the subject, but Carson creates a distance that allows the reader to more carefully examine what’s being said rather than be led by emotion and empathy. The style and structure of the poem convey part of the emotion and subtext.
She has published many collections of poems, as well as works that consist of poetry, essay, critique, and translation combined in a type of “mixed-media” approach to the subject matter.
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Eros is an issue of boundaries. He exists because certain boundaries do. In the interval between reach and grasp, between glance and counterglance, between ‘I love you’ and ‘I love you too,’ the absent presence of desire comes alive... Eros: the boundary of flesh and self between you and me. And it is only, suddenly, at the moment when I would dissolve that boundary, I realize I never can.
Anne Carson, Eros the Bittersweet
Over the centuries and millennia that poetry has existed, and that we today still have record of, there have surely been more talented artists than we can name. The poets here are some of the best, but they are far from the only incredible, pivotal artists who have inspired people and movements in the past and present. Be sure to explore the world of poetry fully to truly understand the world of the written word.
Who Is Your Favourite Poet? 📖
References
- Academy of American Poets. (n.d.). The Odyssey, Book I, Lines 1-20 by Homer - Poems. In Academy of American Poets. https://poets.org/poem/odyssey-book-i-lines-1-20
- Shakespeare’s Sonnets. (2025). In Folger Shakespeare Library. https://www.folger.edu/explore/shakespeares-works/shakespeares-sonnets
- Temple, E. (2019). The 32 Most Iconic Poems in the English Language. In Literary Hub. https://lithub.com/the-32-most-iconic-poems-in-the-english-language
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We need healing in a wounded nstion. Poetry removes loss, despair. What beauty there is in finding unity, peace and love through meaningful words straight from Gods heart.