1001 Poet Biographies
                                             
A
                                             
Dannie Abse (born 1923), English poet
Aeschylus (525-456 BC), Athenian tragedian
Luigi Alamanni, (1495–1556)
Jalal al-Din Muhammad Rumi, (1207-1273)
Alcman (fl. 7th cent. BC), Ancient Greek lyric poet
Dante Alighieri, (1265-1321), Italian poet
Amara Sinha (fl. circa AD 375), Sanskrit grammarian and poet
Anacreon (570 BC-488 BC), Greek lyric poet
Aneirin, medieval (6th century) epic poet
Brother Antoninus
Apollonius of Rhodes (270-after 245 BC)
Louis Aragon, (1897-1982)
Archilochus, (ca.680-ca.645 BC), ancient Greek lyric poet
Hugh Antoine d'Arcy (1843-1925)
Walter Conrad Arensberg (1878-1954), American Dada-ist
Tudor Arghezi (Romanian poet)
Ludovico Ariosto, (1474-1533)
Rae Armantrout, (1947-)
Simon Armitage, (born 1963)
Ernst Moritz Arndt
Achim von Arnim, (1781-1831)
Bettina von Arnim, (1785-1859)
Matthew Arnold, (1822-1888)
Jean Arp, (1886-1966), sculptor, painter, and poet
Antonin Artaud, (1896-1948), actor, playwright, poet, essayist
John Ashbery, (born 1927)
Anton Askerc, (1856-1912)
Farid al-Din Attar, (c. 1130-c. 1230)
Margaret Atwood, (born 1939), poet, novelist, essayist
W. H. Auden, (1907-1973)
Ausiàs March, (1397-1459)
Ausonius, (c. 310-395)
Margaret Avison (born 1918)
Robert Ayton (1570-1638)
Ashok Chakradhar (Born 8th February 1951)
 
B
 
Ken Babstock, Canadian
Bacchylides, (died c. 467 BC)
Ingeborg Bachmann, (1926-1973)
Sutardji Calzoum Bachri, The President of Indonesian Poet
George Bacovia, Romanian poet
Janos Bacsanyi, (1763-1845)
Krzysztof Kamil Baczyński, (1921-1944)
Julio Baghy
Bai Juyi
Joanna Baillie, (1762-1851)
Jesse Ball American poet
Amiri Baraka (aka Leroi Jones)
Anna Laetitia Barbauld, (1743-1825)
Porfirio Barba-Jacob
John Barbour, (c. 1316-1395)
George Barker, (1913-1991)
Les Barker
Richard Barnefield, (1574-1627)
William Barnes, (1801-1886)
Elizabeth Barrett(March 6, 1806 – June 29, 1861)
Charles Baudelaire, (1821-1867)
James K. Baxter, (1926-1972)
Francis Beaumont, (1586-1616)
Joshua Beckman
Gustavo Adolfo Becquer, (1836-1870)
Thomas Lovell Beddoes, (1803-1849) (English writer in Germany)
Aphra Behn, (1640-1689)
Marvin Bell, (1937-?)
Gioconda Belli, (born 1948)
Hilaire Belloc
Andrey Bely, (1880-1934)
Gottfried Ben
Stephen Vincent Benét, (1898-1943)
William Rose Benét, (1886-1950)
Gwendolyn B. Bennett
Daniel Berrigan
Wendell Berry
John Berryman
John Betjeman, (1906-1984)
Helen Bevington (Dr. Johnson's Waterfall)
Laurence Binyon, (1879-1943)
Earle Birney, (1904-1995), anti-conventional poet, also wrote novels, short stories, drama
Nevin Birsa, (born 1947)
Elizabeth Bishop, (1911-1979)
Bill Bissett, (born 1939), poet, famous for incorporating sound and the visual into poetry
Lucian Blaga, Romanian poet
Don Blanding, (fl. mid 20th cen.), American,
William Blake, (1757-1827), English painter, poet
Aleksandr Blok, (1880-1921)
Benjamin Paul Blood, (1832-1919)
Michael Blumenthal
Roy Blumenthal, (born 1968)
Edmund Blunden
Wilfrid Scawen Blunt
Robert Bly
Jean Bodel
Louise Bogan
Matteo Maria Boiardo, Italian poet
Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux, (1636-1711)
Eavan Boland, (born 1944)
Heinrich Böll, (1917-1985)
Arna Wendell Bontemps
Jorge Luis Borges, (1899-1986)
Tadeusz Borowski
Mark Alexander Boyd, (1563-1601)
Kay Boyle (A Glad Day)
James Brock, (born 1958)
Joseph Brodsky, (1940-1996)
Wladyslaw Broniewski
William Bronk, (died 1999)
Anne Brontë, (1820-1849)
Charlotte Brontë, (1816-1855)
Emily Brontë, (1818-1848), British author
Rupert Brooke, (1887-1915)
Gwendolyn Brooks, (born 1917)
Joan Brossa, (1919-1998)
Flora Brovina
Thomas Edward Brown, (1830-1897)
George Mackay Brown
William Browne, (1588-1643)
Elizabeth Barrett Browning, (1806-1861)
Robert Browning, (1812-1889)
William Cullen Bryant, (1794-1878)
Bryher
Valeri Bryusov, (1873-1924), poet, novelist, critic
Georg Büchner
Vincent Buckley, (1927-1988)
Charles Bukowski, (1920-1994) poet, novelist
Basil Bunting
Anthony Burgess (1917-1993): Byrne, Revolutionary Sonnets, etc.
Stanley Burnshaw
Robert Burns, (1759-1796)
William S. Burroughs, (1914-1997)
Edwin G. Burrows
Andrzej Bursa
Raegan Butcher
Ray Buttigieg, (born 1955) poet, composer, musician
Ignazio Buttitta, (Sicilian dialect)
Witter Bynner (also under Emanuel Morgan)
Lord Byron, (1788-1824)
 
C
 
Lydia Cabrera (Cuban poet - anthropoetry)
Caedmon (old English)
Cali Xuseen Xirsi
Barry Callaghan, (born 1937)
Callimachus (c.305-c.240 BC), Hellenistic poet
Robert Calvert, (1945-1988)
Roy Campbell (1901-1957)
Jan Campert,(1902-1943), Dutch poet and journalist
Remco Campert (born 1929), son of Jan, Dutch poet and novelist
Thomas Campion, (1567-1619), composer, poet
Thomas Campbell, (1774-1844)
Melville Henry Cane, (1879-1980)
Ivan Cankar, (1876-1918), author, poet, storyteller, dramatist and essayist
Mary Wedderburn Cannan, (1893-1973)
Edip Cansever
Cao Cao, (155 AD-220 AD)
Cao Pi
Cao Zhi, (192-232)
Ernesto Cardenal, (born 1925)
Giosuè Carducci, (1835-1907)
Thomas Carew, (1595-1639)
Henry Carey, (1693-1743)
Bliss Carman, (1861-1929) (Low Tide on Grand Pre)
Lewis Carroll, (1832-1898)
Hayden Carruth
Anne Carson, (born 1950)
Jared Carter (born 1939)
William Cartwright, (1611-1643)
Cyrus Cassells, (born 1957)
Catullus, (c. 84BC-54BC), Roman poet
Charles Causley
C. P. Cavafy, (1863-1933)
Paul Celan, (1920-1970)
Anica Cernej, (1900-1944)
Luis Cernuda, (1903-1963)
John Chalkhill
Jean Chapelain, (1595-1674)
Arthur Chapman, (1873-1935)
George Chapman, (1560-1634)
René Char, (1907-1998)
Thomas Chatterton
Billy Childish
Dario Chioli, Italian poet, born 1956
Henri Chopin, (born 1922)
Ralph Chubb, (1892-1960), poet, painter, printer
Amy Clampitt
John Clare, (1793-1864)
Paul Claudel, (1868-1955)
Matthias Claudius
Michelle Cliff
Lucille Clifton,
Arthur Hugh Clough, (1819-1861)
Jean Cocteau, (1889-1963), French writer
Leonard Cohen, (born 1934), poet/singer
Hartley Coleridge, (1796-1849)
Mary Elizabeth Coleridge, (1861-1907)
Samuel Taylor Coleridge, (1772-1834), English poet
Billy Collins (U.S. Poet Laureate)
William Collins, (1721-1759)
William Congreve, (1670-1729), English poet
Robert Conquest, historian and poet
Henry Constable, (1562-1613)
Clark Coolidge
Wendy Cope
Tristan Corbière, (1845-1875)
Gregory Corso, Beat poet, "Gasoline", "Bomb".
Jayne Cortez
Malcolm Cowley, (1898-1989), (Dada)
Abraham Cowley, (1618-1667)
William Cowper, (1731-1800)
George Crabbe, (1754-1832)
Hart Crane, (1899-1932), (The Bridge)
Stephen Crane, (1871-1900), USA writer
Richard Crashaw, (1613-1649)
Robert Creeley, (born 1926), (A Form of Women - Black Mountain School)
Octave Crémazie
Charles Cros, (1842-1888), French poet and inventor
Aleister Crowley, (1875-1947), English Occultist and poet
Cui Hao, Tang Dynasty, Chinese poet
Countee Cullen, (died 1946)
Necati Cumalı
E. E. Cummings, (1894-1962)
Allan Cunningham, (1784-1842)
Allen Curnow, (1911-2001)
Ivor Cutler, Scottish poet, musician and thinker
 
D
 
Roque Dalton, (1935-1975) Salvadoran poet
Sapardi Djoko Damono, Indonesian Poet
David Daniels, (1933- ) Visual Poet
Jeffrey Daniels, African-American Poet
Gabriele D'Annunzio, (1863-1938), revolutionary
Jia Dao
Rubén Darío, (1867-1916)
Erasmus Darwin, (1731-1802), British poet and herbalist
Jibanananda Das,(1899-1954), Bengali poet and author
René Daumal, (1908-1944)
Jean Daurat, (1508-1588)
Alan Davies, American poet
W. H. Davies
William Davenant, (1606-1668)
Donald Davidson, (1893-1968)
John Davies, (1569-1626), historian
Edward Davison, (organized Colorado Writers 1937 conference)
Peter Davison, (born 1951), (son of Edward)
Denis Davydov, (1784-1839)
Cecil Day-Lewis
James Deahl
Aurora de Albornoz, (1926-1990) 20th century Spanish poet
Aleš Debeljak, (born 1961)
Walter de la Mare, author, poet
Thomas Dekker, (1575-1641)
François de Malherbe, (1555-1628),
Alfred de Musset, (1810-1857), 19th century poet
Gérard de Nerval, (1808-1855)
Baltasar del Alcázar, (1530-1606)
Tory Dent, (1958- ), (What Silence Equals, HIV Mon Amour)
Regina Derieva, (born 1949)
Toi Derricotte, (born 1941), African American Poet
Babette Deutsch (1895-1982)
Aubrey de Vere
William F. DeVault, (1955-), American Author
Alfred de Vigny, (1797-1863), 19th century poet
Diane Di Prima (Memoirs of a Beatnik)
Souéloum Diagho (contemporary Tuareg poet)
Jennifer K Dick, (b 1970), American Poet
Emily Dickinson, (1830-1886), American poet
James Dickey, (1923-1997)
Blaga Dimitrova
Paul Dirmeikis, (1954- ), French poet
Thomas M. Disch, (1940- ), American poet, novelist
Henry Austin Dobson
Stephen Dobyns, American author, novelist, poet
Antonia Donatiello, (born 1950), Italian writer and poet
John Donne, (1572-1631)
Keith Douglas, (1920-1944)
Rita Dove
Ernest Dowson, (1867-1900)
Jane Draycott
Michael Drayton, (1563-1631)
Aleksander Stavre Drenova, (1872-1947), Albanian poet
John Drinkwater, (1882-1937)
Annette von Droste-Hülshoff, (1797-1848), German poet
William Drummond, (1585-1649)
William Henry Drummond, (1854-1907), poet, The habitant
John Dryden, (1631-1700), poet and playwright
Joachim du Bellay, (c. 1522-1560)
W.E.B. DuBois, (1868-1963), writer, activist
Du Fu, the Poet Saint
Du Mu, (803-852), Chinese poet
Alan Dugan
Carol Ann Duffy, (born 1955)
Paul Laurence Dunbar, (1872-1906)
William Dunbar, (1465-1520)
Robert Duncan (Black Mountain School)
Douglas Dunn, (born 1942)
Stephen Dunn
Helen Dunmore, poet, novelist
Edward Plunkett, Baron Dunsany, (1878-1957), Irish poet
Lawrence Durrell, (1912-1990), (A Private Country: Poems)
Stuart Dybek
Bob Dylan, born 1941
 
E
 
Richard Eberhart
Russell Edson
Joseph von Eichendorff, (1788-1857)
George Eliot, (1819-1880), (Mary Ann Evans)
T. S. Eliot, (1888-1965), writer
Ebenezer Elliott, (1781-1849)
Royston Ellis, English poet inspired by Beat Generation
Ana Elsner, multi-lingual American poet
Paul Eluard, French poet
Claudia Emerson, (born 1957) American poet
Ralph Waldo Emerson, (1803-1882), American author
Gevorg Emin, (1918-1998), Armenian poet
Mihai Eminescu, Romanian poet
William Empson, (1906-1984)
Yunus Emre
Michael Ende, (1929-1995), German poet
R.M. Engelhardt, (born 1964), American poet
Paul Engle
Ennius
Hans Magnus Enzensberger, (born 1929), German poet
Louise Erdrich, (born 1954), author
Haydar Ergülen
Max Ernst, (1891-1976), (Dada)
Mehmet Erte
Maggie Estep, American slam poet
Wolfram von Eschenbach, (died 1220)
Clayton Eshleman (Antiphonal Swing)
Florbela Espanca, (poet)
Salvador Espriu, writer
Euripides (480-406 BC), Athenian tragedian
Mari Evans
William Everson (In The Fictive Wish)
Gavin Ewart
 
F
 
Faruk Iremet (1965-), Swedish, Zazaish and Turkish poet
Fenggan
Lawrence Ferlinghetti (1919-)
Leandro Fernández de Moratín (1760-1828)
Ian Hamilton Finlay, (born 1925)
Annie Finch, American poet, librettist, translator, born 1956
Edward Fitzgerald, (1809-1883)
Robert Fitzgerald (1910 - 1985)
John Fletcher, (1579-1625)
F. S. Flint (Imagist manifestos)
Theodor Fontane, (1819-1898)
John Forbes, (1950-1998), Australian poet
Carolyn Forché, born 1950
Ford Madox Ford, (1873-1939), promoter of many other writers.
John Ford, (1586-1639), playwright and poet.
John M. Ford, (1957-2006), novelist and poet.
Ugo Foscolo, (1778-1827)
Hristo Fotev, (1934-2002), Bulgarian poet
Fazil Jamili, (born 1968), Urdu Poet, Journalist from Pakistan
Janet Frame, (born 1924)
Robert Francis, (1901-1987)
Veronica Franco, (1546-1591)
Naim Frashëri (May 25, 1846 Frashër, south Albania—October 20, 1900
Louis Fréchette, (1839-1908), poet, essayist, journalist, dramatist
Erich Fried, (1921-1988)
Max Frisch, (1911-1991), Swiss poet
Robert Frost, (1874-1963), American poet
Gene Frumkin, (1928-2007), American poet
Fazil Jamili, (born 1968), Urdu Poet, Journalist from Pakistan
 
G
 
Asadulla Khan Ghalib Urdu & Persian Poet (1796-1869)
Etienne-Paulin Gagne (1808-1876)
Jean Garrigue (1914 - 1972)
Samuel Garth (1661 - 1719)
George Gascoigne, (1525-1577)
David Gascoyne (October 10, 1916 - November 25, 2001)
Théophile Gautier, (1811-1872)
John Gay, (1685-1732), songwriter, poet
Stefan George, (1868-1933)
Paul Gerhardt, (c. 1606-1676)
Aaref Ghazvini, (1882- 1934)
Charles Ghigna (Father Goose) (born 1946)
Wilfred Wilson Gibson (October 2, 1878 - May 26, 1962)
Allen Ginsberg, (1926-1997)
Dana Gioia (essays on poetry)
Nikki Giovanni, (born 1943)
Giuseppe Giusti, (1809-1850)
Denis Glover, (1912-1980)
Gérald Godin, (1938-1994), Quebec poet and politician
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, (1749-1832), (part-time;)
Octavian Goga (1881-1938) Romanian poet
Lea Goldberg, (1911-1970)
Rumer Godden (In Noahs Ark)
Ziya Gökalp
Oliver Goldsmith, (1730-1774), The History of Little Goody Two-Shoes
Pavel Golia (1887-1959)
Luis de Gongora, Spanish poet
Lorna Goodison (born 1947) Jamaican poet
Sergei Gorodetsky (1884-1967)
Herman Gorter (1864-1927), Dutch poet
Günter Grass, (born 1927), author
Richard Graves, (1715-1804), British poet and essayist
Robert Graves, (1895-1985), British author
Thomas Gray, (1716-1771), British poet
Robert Greene, (1558-1592)
Horace Gregory
Eamon Grennan
Fulk Greville, (1554-1628)
Bill Griffiths, (born 1948)
Franz Grillparzer
Nicholas Grimald, (1519-1562)
Angelina Weld Grimke
Charlotte Forten Grimke
Stanisław Grochowiak
Philip Gross
Ghulam rasool dadda, (1921-1999)
Igo Gruden, (1893-1948)
Edgar Guest, (American poet of the 1920s)
Jorge Guillen, (1893-1984)
Nicolas Guillén, (1902-1989), (Cuban poet)
Guido Guinizelli
Guiot de Provins, (French poet of the 12th century)
Gül Baba
Nikolay Gumilyov, (1886-1921)
Dživo Gundulić - Giovanni Gondola, (1589-1638)
Thom Gunn, (born 1929)
Ivor Gurney, (1890-1937)
Brion Gysin, (1916-1986)
 
H
 
Mohamed Ibrahim Warsame 'Hadrawi'
Hafez
Han Yu
Han-Shan
Thomas Hardy, (1840-1928), English poet
Tony Harrison, (born 1937)
Carla Harryman, (born 1952)
Gwen Harwood
Alamgir Hashmi
Ahmet Haşim
Gerhart Hauptmann, (1862-1946)
Stephen Hawes, (died 1523)
Robert Stephen Hawker, (1803-1875), Cornish poet/vicar
Robert Hayden
John Heath-Stubbs
Anne Hébert, poet and novelist
Anthony Hecht, (1923-2004)
Jennifer Michael Hecht
John Hegley, also performs as half of the &qu