NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Lyric poem

Lyric poetry is the purest form of poetry, which does not attempt to tell a story, as do epic poetry and dramatic poetry. Rather than portraying characters and actions, the lyric poet addresses the reader directly, portraying his or her own feelings, states of mind, and perceptions. The epic is a broadly defined genre of poetry, which retells in a continuous narrative the life and works of a heroic or mythological person or group of persons. ... Verse drama is any drama written as verse to be spoken; another possible general terms is poetic drama. ...

Although its name, from the word lyre, implies that it is meant to be sung, this is not always the case. It certainly had its beginnings in song, but since the advent of mass literacy and the printing press, much lyric poetry is purely meant to be read. A Lyre is a stringed musical instrument well known for its use in Classical Antiquity. ...

History

The earliest surviving lyric poems in the Western tradition are arguably the Song of Solomon and the Psalms, but there are many fine examples in classical literature. Some of the best ancient lyric poets are Sappho, Catullus, and Horace. Song of Solomon is also the title of a novel by Toni Morrison. ... Psalms (Tehilim תהילים, in Hebrew) is a book of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh, and of the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. ... Ancient Greek bust of Sappho the Eresia. ... Gaius Valerius Catullus (c. ... Quintus Horatius Flaccus, (December 8, 65 BC - November 27, 8 BC), known in the English world as Horace, was the leading lyric poet in Latin. ...

During the Middle Ages, lyric poetry is dominated by the courtly love tradition in most European languages. This is upper-class poetry meant for the courts of the nobility, whether the poet is himself a prince, such as William IX of Aquitaine, or a lower-class troubador in the service of one prince or wandering from court to court. Court of Love in Provence in the 14th Century (after a manuscript in the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris). ... William IX of Aquitaine (October 22, 1071 - February 10, 1126, also Guillaume dAquitaine), nicknamed the Troubador was Duke of Aquitaine and Gascony and Count of Poitiers as William VII of Poitiers between 1086 and 1126. ... For the article about the night club in West Hollywood, California, see: Troubadour (nightclub). ...

Some non-courtly love lyric poetry has survived from the medieval period. Many of the poets who wrote in the courtly love tradition also produced other lyric poetry, and a few poets of the late Middle Ages and early Renaissance, such as François Villon, wrote outside the courtly milieu. François Villon (ca. ...

The turn from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance is best exemplified in the person of Francesco Petrarca, whose sonnets celebrating his love for Laura took Europe by storm and gave his name to one form of the sonnet, one of the most perennially popular forms of lyric poetry. The Renaissance, and particularly Elizabethan England, saw a great flowering of lyric poetry. With the new emphasis on the individual, rather than the community, the lyric poet, who addresses the reader directly in the first person, became a prominant figure on the literary scene. From the c. ... Francesco Petrarca or Petrarch, one of the best-known of the early Italian sonnet writers The term sonnet is derived from the Provençal word sonet and the Italian word sonetto, both meaning little song. ... The Elizabethan Era is the period associated with the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558 - 1603) and is often considered to be a golden age in English history. ...

Much of the lyric poetry of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries is little read today because of its dependence on classical mythology and standard forms. Notable exceptions are John Milton, who wrote lyric poetry in addition to his great epic poems, and the Metaphysical poets, such as Andrew Marvell and John Donne. Classical mythology usually refers to the religious legends and practices of classical antiquity: Greek mythology; Roman mythology; Greek religion; and Roman religion. ... John Milton John Milton (December 9, 1608 – November 8, 1674) was an English poet, most famous for his blank verse epic Paradise Lost. ... Andrew Marvell (March 31, 1621 – August 16, 1678) was an English metaphysical poet, and the son of an Anglican clergyman. ... John Donne John Donne (pronounced Dun; 1572 – March 31, 1631) was a major English poet and writer, and perhaps the greatest of the metaphysical poets. ...

It is not until the end of the eighteenth century, with such poets as Goethe and Wordsworth, that another flowering of great lyric poetry began. Poetry of the Romantic period has retained its freshness and popularity. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (pronounced [gø tə]) (August 28, 1749–March 22, 1832) was a German writer, politician, humanist, scientist, and philosopher. ... William Wordsworth, English poet William Wordsworth (April 7, 1770 - April 23, 1850) was an English poet who with Samuel Taylor Coleridge launched the Romantic Age in English literature with the 1798 publication of Lyrical Ballads. ... Romantic music is defined as the period of European classical music that runs roughly from the early 1800s to the first decade of the 20th century, as well as music written according to the norms and styles of that period. ...

The nineteenth century also brought a rise in darker, more realistic poetry with such poets as Baudelaire. The set forms of lyric poetry also begin to be dissolved and broken, so that much twentieth-centry lyric poetry is not dependent on rhyme or regular meter. Charles Baudelaire Charles Pierre Baudelaire (April 9, 1821–August 31, 1867) was one of the most influential French poets. ...

Themes

Although lyric poetry has a long and close association with love, and European lyric poetry in the vernacular arose with the courtly love tradition, it is not exclusively love poetry. Many of the courtly love poets (whether troubadors, trouvères, or Minnesänger) also wrote lyric poems about war and peace, nature and nostalgia, grief and loss. Notable among these are Christine de Pisan and Charles, Duke of Orléans, two of the great French lyric poets of the fifteenth century. Trouvère is the Northern French (langue doïl) version of troubador (langue doc), and refers to poet-composers who were roughly contemporary with and influenced by the troubadors but who composed their works in the northern dialects of France. ... The Minnesänger were the troubadours who wrote love poetry in the courtly love tradition in Middle High German in the high middle ages. ... Christine de Pizan, showing the interior of an apartment at the end of the 14th or commencement of the 15th century Christine de Pizan (circa 1365 - circa French poet and arguably the first female author in Europe to make a living from being a writer (Marie de France being the... Charles of Valois, Duc dOrléans (November 24, 1394 – January 5, 1465) became Duke of Orléans in 1407, following the murder of his father, Louis of Valois. ...

Spiritual themes are also prominent in lyric poetry. Some of the best medieval poets wrote exclusively religious poetry. Prominant among these are such poets as St. John of the Cross and Teresa of Avila. Note that it is sometimes hard to distinguish love poetry and religious poetry, since God and especially the Virgin Mary are often addressed in much the same terms as an earthly lover, and particularly like the noble lady in the courtly love tradition. Such modern poets as John Donne, Gerard Manley Hopkins, and T. S. Eliot have continued the tradition of fine literary poetry based on spiritual or noumenous experience. Saint John of the Cross (Juan de la Cruz) was a Spanish Carmelite friar, born on June 24, 1542 at Fontiveros, a small village near Avila. ... Teresa of Avila by Peter Paul Rubens Saint Teresa of Avila (known in religion as Teresa de Jesús, baptised as Teresa de Cepeda y Ahumada) was a Spanish Roman Catholic mystic and monastic reformer; born at Avila (53 miles north-west of Madrid), Old Castile, March 28, 1515; died... John Donne John Donne (pronounced Dun; 1572 – March 31, 1631) was a major English poet and writer, and perhaps the greatest of the metaphysical poets. ... Gerard Manley Hopkins (July 28, 1844 - June 8, 1889) was a British Victorian poet and Jesuit priest, whose verse has been widely admired for the vividness of its expression. ... T.S. Eliot (by E.O. Hoppe, 1919) Thomas Stearns Eliot (September 26, 1888 – January 4, 1965), Anglo-American poet, dramatist, and critic. ...

Nature is also a common theme of lyrical poetry, often being portrayed as a reflection of (or contrast to) the poet's state of mind.

Forms

Although arguably the most popular form of lyric poetry in the Western tradition is the 14-line sonnet, either in its Petrarchan or its Shakespearean form, lyric poetry appears in a bewildering variety of forms. Francesco Petrarca or Petrarch, one of the best-known of the early Italian sonnet writers The term sonnet is derived from the Provençal word sonet and the Italian word sonetto, both meaning little song. ... A Petrarchan sonnet, also called the Italian sonnet, is a sonnet comprising an octave and a closing sestet. ... The Shakespearean sonnet, also called the Elizabethan or English sonnet, is a sonnet comprising three quatrains and a final couplet in iambic pentameter with the rhyme scheme abab cdcd efef gg. ...

Ancient Hebrew poetry relied on repetition and chiasmus for many of its effects. Although much Greek and Roman classical poetry was written in forms with set meters and strophes, Pindar's odes seem as formless to the ear accustomed to rhyme and meter as such modern poetry as Rilke's Duino Elegies. Chiasmus is a figure of speech based on inverted parallelism. ... metre or meter, see meter (disambiguation) The metre is the basic unit of length in the International System of Units. ... Strophe (Greek, to turn) is a term in versification which properly means a turn, as from one foot to another, or from one side of a chorus to the other. ... Pindar (or Pindarus) (522 BC – 443 BC), the greatest lyric poet of ancient Greece, was born at Cynoscephalae, a village in Thebes. ... Ode is a form of stately and elaborate lyrical verse. ... A rhyme is the association of words with similar sounds, a technique most often used in poetry. ... Rainer Maria Rilke (born 4 December 1875 in Prague; died 29 December 1926 in Val-Mont (Switzerland)) was an important poet in the German language. ...

In some cases, the form and theme are wed, as in the courtly love aubade or dawn song in which lovers are forced to part after a night of love, often with the watchman's refrain telling them it is time to go. In other cases, the theme and form are at odds, and part of the interest of the poetry is in how and whether the poet can bring a successful union between two apparent opposites. An aubade is a poem or song of or about lovers separating at dawn. ...

A common feature of lyric forms is the refrain, whether just one line or several, that ends or follows each strophe. The refrain is repeated throughout the poem, either exactly or with slight variation. A refrain (from the Old French refraindre to repeat, likely from Vulgar Latin refringere) is the line or lines that are repeated in music or in verse; the chorus of a song. ...

Metrics

Much lyric poetry depends on regular meter based either on number of syllables or on stress. The most common meters are as follows:

Some forms have a combination of meters, often using a different meter for the refrain. An iamb is a metrical foot used in formal poetry. ... A trochee is a metrical foot used in formal poetry. ... ... Dactyl may mean: A dactyl, a creature in Greek mythology. ...

Each meter can have any number of elements, called feet. The most common meter in English is iambic pentameter, with five iambs per line. The most common in French is the alexandrin, with twelve syllables. In English, the alexandrine is iambic hexameter. Alternate meaning: Alexandrine of Denmark An alexandrine is a metrical verse of iambic hexameter - a line of six feet or measures (iambs), each of which has two syllables with an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable, or a short syllable followed by a long syllable, as in the word...

Rhyme and alliteration

These two elements are common to structuring lyric poetry in the Western tradition and make poetry difficult to translate effectively. Old Norse poetry depended heavily on alliteration. Continental Europe and England developed complex rhyme schemes and used alliteration as an auxiliary device. Old Norse or Danish tongue is the Germanic language once spoken by the inhabitants of the Nordic countries (for instance during the Viking Age). ...

Although to the lay ear, rhyme is the hallmark of poetry, it has become less and less common in the twentieth century.

Principal lyric poets by period and language

This list includes the important lyric poets of each period, grouped together by language.

Classical

Greek poets

Pindar (or Pindarus) (522 BC – 443 BC), the greatest lyric poet of ancient Greece, was born at Cynoscephalae, a village in Thebes. ... Ancient Greek bust of Sappho the Eresia. ...

Roman poets

Gaius Valerius Catullus (c. ... Quintus Horatius Flaccus, (December 8, 65 BC - November 27, 8 BC), known in the English world as Horace, was the leading lyric poet in Latin. ... Engraved frontispiece of George Sandyss 1632 London edition of Publius Ovidius Naso, (March 20, 43 BC – AD 17) Roman poet known to the English-speaking world as Ovid, wrote on topics of love, abandoned women, and mythological transformations. ...

Middle Ages and Renaissance

English poets

Chaucer: Illustration from Cassells History of England, circa 1902 Geoffrey Chaucer (c. ...

French poets

William IX of Aquitaine (October 22, 1071 - February 10, 1126, also Guillaume dAquitaine), nicknamed the Troubador was Duke of Aquitaine and Gascony and Count of Poitiers as William VII of Poitiers between 1086 and 1126. ... Bertran de Born (c. ... Arnaut Daniel was a Provençal troubadour of the 13th century, praised by Dante and called Grand Master of Love by Petrarch. ... Charles of Valois, Duc dOrléans (November 24, 1394 – January 5, 1465) became Duke of Orléans in 1407, following the murder of his father, Louis of Valois. ... Christine de Pizan, showing the interior of an apartment at the end of the 14th or commencement of the 15th century Christine de Pizan (circa 1365 - circa French poet and arguably the first female author in Europe to make a living from being a writer (Marie de France being the... Jaufré Rudel was a troubador, probably living in the mid-12th century. ... Bernart de Ventadorn (1130-1140 – 1190-1200) was a troubador composer and poet. ... François Villon (ca. ...

German poets

Portrait of Walther von der Vogelweide. ... Portrait of Wolfram from the Codex Manesse. ...

Italian poets

Dante in a fresco series of famous men by Andrea del Castagno, ca. ... Categories: Literature stubs | Italian poets ... From the c. ...

Sixteenth century

English 16th-century poets

Thomas Campion, sometimes Campian (February 12, 1567 – March 1, 1620) was an English composer, poet and physician. ... Alternatively, Professor Walter Raleigh was a scholar and author circa 1900. ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... Philip Sidney Sir Philip Sidney (November 30, 1554 - October 17, 1586) became one of the Elizabethan Ages most prominent figures. ... Edmund Spenser Edmund Spenser (c. ...

French 16th-century poets

Joachim du Bellay (c. ... Pierre de Ronsard, commonly referred to as Ronsard (September 11, 1524 – December, 1585), was a French poet and prince of poets (as his own generation in France called him). ...

Spanish 16th-century poets

Teresa of Avila by Peter Paul Rubens Saint Teresa of Avila (known in religion as Teresa de Jesús, baptised as Teresa de Cepeda y Ahumada) was a Spanish Roman Catholic mystic and monastic reformer; born at Avila (53 miles north-west of Madrid), Old Castile, March 28, 1515; died... Saint John of the Cross (Juan de la Cruz) was a Spanish Carmelite friar, born on June 24, 1542 at Fontiveros, a small village near Avila. ... For the Peruvian writer, Garcilaso de la Vega, see Inca Garcilaso de la Vega Garcilaso de la Vega (b. ... Lope de Vega (also Félix Lope de Vega Carpio or Lope Félix de Vega Carpio) (25 November 1562 – 27 August 1635) was a Spanish playwright and poet. ...

Seventeenth century

English 17th-century poets

John Donne John Donne (pronounced Dun; 1572 – March 31, 1631) was a major English poet and writer, and perhaps the greatest of the metaphysical poets. ... John Dryden John Dryden (August 19, 1631 – May 12, 1700) was an influential English poet, literary critic, and playwright. ... George Herbert (April 3, 1593 - March 1, 1633) was an English poet and orator. ... Robert Herrick is the name of two major literary figures: Robert Herrick (poet) (1591-1674) Robert Herrick (novelist) (1868-1938) This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Benjamin Jonson (June 11, 1572 – August 6, 1637) was an English Renaissance dramatist, poet and actor. ... Andrew Marvell (March 31, 1621 – August 16, 1678) was an English metaphysical poet, and the son of an Anglican clergyman. ... John Milton John Milton (December 9, 1608 – November 8, 1674) was an English poet, most famous for his blank verse epic Paradise Lost. ... Henry Vaughan (1621 - April 28, 1695) was a Welsh Metaphysical poet and a doctor, the twin brother of the philosopher Thomas Vaughan. ...

German 17th-century poets

Martin Opitz von Boberfeld (December 23, 1597 - August 20, 1639), German poet, was born at Bunzlau/Boleslawiec in Silesia, the son of a prosperous citizen. ...

Eighteenth century

English 18th-century poets

Robert Burns, preeminent Scottish poet Robert Burns (January 25, 1759 – July 21, 1796) is the best known of the poets who have written in Lowland Scots. ... Crazy Kate, illustration for Cowpers The Task. ... For the recipient of the Victoria Cross, see Thomas Gray (VC) Thomas Gray (December 26, 1716 - July 30, 1771), English poet, classical scholar, and professor of History at Cambridge University. ... Oliver Goldsmith Oliver Goldsmith (November 10, 1730(?) – April 4, 1774) was an Irish writer and physician known for his novel The Vicar of Wakefield (1766), his pastoral poem The Deserted Village (1770) (written in memory of his brother), and his plays The Good-naturd Man (1768) and She Stoops...

German 18th-century poets

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (pronounced [gø tə]) (August 26, 1749–March 22, 1832) was a German writer, politician, humanist, scientist, and philosopher. ... Novalis was the pseudonym of Friedrich Leopold, Freiherr von Hardenberg (May 2, 1772 - March 25, 1801), a German poet and novelist. ... Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller (November 10, 1759 – May 9, 1805), usually known as Friedrich Schiller, was a German poet, philosopher, historian, and dramatist. ... Johann Heinrich Voß (Voss) (February 20, 1751 – March 29, 1826), German poet and translator, was born at Sommersdorf in Mecklenburg-Strelitz, the son of a farmer. ...

Nineteenth century

English 19th-century poets

id="French_19th-century_poets"> Caricature from Punch, 1881: Admit that Homer sometimes nods, That poets do write trash, Our Bard has written Balder Dead, And also Balder-dash Matthew Arnold (24 December 1822 – 15 April 1888) was an English poet and cultural critic, who worked as an inspector of schools. ... William Blake (November 28, 1757 – August 12, 1827) was an English poet, painter and printmaker, or Author & Printer, as he signed many of his books. ... Elizabeth Barrett Browning Elizabeth Barrett Browning (Moulton) (March 6, 1806 – June 29, 1861) was the most respected poetess of the Victorian era. ... Robert Browning Robert Browning (May 7, 1812 – December 12, 1889) was an English poet and playwright. ... Lord Byron, English poet Lord Byron (1803), as painted by Elisabeth Vigee-Lebrun George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron, (January 22, 1788 – April 19, 1824) was the most widely read English language poet of his day. ... Samuel Taylor Coleridge, English poet, 1795 Samuel Taylor Coleridge (October 21, 1772 – July 25, 1834) was an English poet, critic, and philosopher and, along with his friend William Wordsworth, one of the founders of the Romantic Movement in England and as one of the Lake Poets. ... A young Emily Dickinson, sometime around 1846-1847, the only known photograph of her. ... Ralph Waldo Emerson Ralph Waldo Emerson (May 25, 1803 – April 27, 1882) was a famous American essayist and one of Americas most influential thinkers and writers. ... Photograph of Hardy Thomas Hardy, OM (2 June 1840 – 11 January 1928) was a novelist and poet, generally regarded as one of the greatest figures in English literature. ... Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. ... Gerard Manley Hopkins (July 28, 1844 - June 8, 1889) was a British Victorian poet and Jesuit priest, whose verse has been widely admired for the vividness of its expression. ... John Keats John Keats (October 31, 1795 – February 23, 1821) was one of the principal poets in the English Romantic movement. ... Rudyard Kipling, British author Joseph Rudyard Kipling (December 30, 1865 – January 18, 1936) was a British author and poet, born in India. ... D. H. Lawrence David Herbert Lawrence (11 September 1885 – 2 March 1930) was one of the most important, certainly one of the most controversial, English writers of the 20th century, who wrote novels, short stories, poems, plays, essays, travel books, and letters. ... Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (February 27, 1807 – March 24, 1882) was an American poet who wrote many poems that are still famous today, including The Song of Hiawatha and Evangeline. ... George Meredith (February 12, 1828 - May 18, 1909) was an English novelist and poet. ... This daguerreotype of Poe was taken less than a year before his death at the age of 40. ... Christina Georgina Rossetti Christina Georgina Rossetti (December 5, 1830 - December 29, 1894) was an English poet and the sister of Dante Gabriel Rossetti. ... Dante Gabriel Rossetti (May 12, 1828 - April 10, 1882) was an English poet, painter and translator. ... Percy Bysshe Shelley Percy Bysshe Shelley (August 4, 1792 – July 8, 1822) was one of the major English Romantic poets. ... Algernon Charles Swinburne (April 5, 1837 _ April 10, 1909) was a Victorian era English poet. ... Lord Tennyson, Poet Laureate Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson (August 6, 1809 - October 6, 1892) is generally regarded as one of the greatest English poets. ... Walt Whitman (May 31, 1819 – March 26, 1892) was an American poet and humanist born on Long Island, New York. ... John Greenleaf Whittier (Haverhill, Massachusetts, December 17, 1807 – September 7, 1892 in Hampton Falls, New Hampshire) was an American Quaker poet, and an advocate of the abolition of slavery in the United States. ... William Wordsworth, English poet William Wordsworth (April 7, 1770 – April 23, 1850) was an English poet who with Samuel Taylor Coleridge launched the Romantic Age in English literature with the 1798 publication of Lyrical Ballads. ...

French 19th-century poets

Charles Baudelaire Charles Pierre Baudelaire (April 9, 1821 – August 31, 1867) was one of the most influential French poets. ... Tristan Corbière (July 18, 1845 – March 1, 1875), born Édouard-Joachim Corbière, a poet from Brittany who wrote in the French language, was born at Coat-Congar, where he lived most of his life and where he died. ... Pierre Jules Théophile Gautier (August 31, 1811 – October 23, 1872) was a French poet, dramatist, novelist, journalist and literary critic. ... Victor Hugo Victor Hugo (February 26, 1802 – May 22, 1885) was a French author, the most important of the Romantic authors in the French language. ... Jules Laforgue (August 16, 1860 – August 20, 1887) was a French poet born in Montevideo, Uruguay. ... Stéphane Mallarmé (March 18, 1842 – September 9, 1898) was a French poet and critic. ... Alfred Louis Charles de Musset, (December 11, 1810 – May 2, 1857) was a French dramatist, poet, and novelist. ... Gérard de Nerval (May 22, 1808 - January 26, 1855) was the nom-de-plume of the French poet, essayist and translator Gérard Labrunie, the most essentially Romantic among French poets. ... Photo of Arthur Rimbaud Rimbaud redirects here. ... Paul Verlaine (March 30, 1844 - January 8, 1896) is one of the greatest and most popular of French poets. ... Alfred Victor de Vigny (March 27, 1797 – September 17, 1863) was a French poet, playwright, and novelist. ...

German 19th-century poets

Ludwig Achim (or Joachim) von Arnim (January 26, 1781 – January 21, 1831), German poet and novelist, was born at Berlin. ... Clemens Brentano, or Klemens Brentano (September 8, 1778 - July 28, German poet and novelist. ... Freiherr Joseph von Eichendorff (March 10, 1788 - November 26, 1857), German lyricist and narrator. ... August Heinrich Hoffmann, who used Hoffmann von Fallersleben as his pen name, was a German poet. ... Christian Johann Heinrich Heine (born as Harry Heine December 13, 1797 – February 17, 1856) was one of the most significant German romantic poets. ... Friedrich Hölderlin Johann Christian Friedrich Hölderlin (March 20, 1770 – June 6, 1843) was a major German lyric poet. ... Gottfried Keller (July 19, 1819 – July 15, 1890) was a Swiss writer who is best known as the master of the Novelle. ... Eduard Mörike (Ludwigsburg, September 8, 1804 – June 4, 1875 in Stuttgart) was a German romantic poet. ... Johann Ludwig Tieck (May 31, 1773 - April 28, 1853) was a German poet, translator, editor, novelist and critic, who was part of the Romantic movement of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. ... Johann Ludwig Uhland (April 26, 1787 - November 13, 1862), was a German poet. ...

Italian 19th-century poets

Twentieth century

English 20th-century poets

Christopher Isherwood and W.H. Auden, photographed by Carl Van Vechten, 1939 Wystan Hugh Auden (February 21, 1907 – September 29, 1973) was an English poet, widely regarded as among the most influential and important writers of the 20th century. ... Harold Hart Crane (July 21, 1899 in Garrettsville, Ohio, United States – April 26, 1932) was a U.S. poet. ... E. E. Cummings Edward Estlin Cummings (October 14, 1894 – September 3, 1962), typically abbreviated E. E. Cummings, was an American poet, painter, essayist, and playwright. ... T.S. Eliot (by E.O. Hoppe, 1919) Thomas Stearns Eliot (September 26, 1888 – January 4, 1965), Anglo-American poet, dramatist, and critic. ... Robert Frost Robert Lee Frost (March 26, 1874 – January 29, 1963) is, in the estimation of many, the greatest American poet of the 20th century and one of the greatest poets writing in English in the 20th century. ... Photo of Allen Ginsberg by Robert Birnbaum Irwin Allen Ginsberg (June 3, 1926 – April 5, 1997) was an American Beat poet born in Paterson, New Jersey. ... Portrait of Robert Graves (circa 1974) by Rab Shiell Robert von Ranke Graves (July 24, 1895–December 7, 1985) was an English scholar, best remembered for his work as a poet and novelist. ... Geoffrey Hill (b. ... Alfred Edward Housman (March 26, 1859 _ April 30, 1936) was an English poet and classical scholar, now best known for his cycle of poems A Shropshire Lad. ... Langston Hughes, photographed by Carl Van Vechten, 1936 Langston Hughes (February 1, 1902 – May 22, 1967) was an African American poet, novelist, playwright, and newspaper columnist. ... Edward James Hughes, referred to normally as Ted Hughes (August 17, 1930 – October 28, 1998) was an English poet and childrens writer. ... Cecil Day-Lewis (or Day Lewis) (27th April 1904-22nd May 1972) was a British poet. ... Robert Lowell Robert Lowell (March 1, 1917–September 12, 1977), born Robert Traill Spence Lowell, Jr. ... Archibald MacLeish Archibald MacLeish (May 7, 1892 - April 20, 1982) was an American poet, writer, and public servant. ... Frederick Louis MacNeice was born in Belfast and lived from 1907–1963; he was a notable British poet. ... Marianne Moore photographed by Carl Van Vechten, 1948 Marianne Moore (November 15, 1887 - February 5, 1972) was a Modernist American poet and writer. ... Wilfred Edward Salter Owen, MC (March 18, 1893–November 4, 1918) was an English poet. ... A self-portrait circa 1951. ... Ezra Pound in 1913. ... Edwin Arlington Robinson (December 22, 1869 - April 6, 1935) was an American poet, who won three Pulitzer Prizes for his work. ... Theodore Roethke (RET-kee) (May 25, 1908 - August 1, 1963) was a United States poet, who published several volumes of poetry. ... Edna St. ... Time magazine, December 4, 1939 Carl Sandburg (January 6, 1878 – July 22, 1967), American poet, historian, novelist, and folklorist. ... Siegfried Sassoon, 1916 Siegfried Loraine Sassoon (September 8, 1886 – September 1, 1967) was an English poet and author. ... Edith Sitwell (September 7, 1887 – December 9, 1964) was a British poet and critic. ... Sir Stephen Harold Spender (February 28, 1909 - July 16, 1995) was an English poet and essayist who concentrated on themes of social injustice and the class struggle in his work. ... Wallace Stevens Wallace Stevens (October 2, 1879 - August 2, 1955) was an American Modernist poet. ... Sara Teasdale (August 8, 1884 – January 29, 1933), was an American lyrical poet. ... Dylan Marlais Thomas, (Swansea, October 27, 1914 – November 9, 1953 in New York City) was a Welsh poet and writer. ... Robert Penn Warren (April 24, 1905 - September 15, 1989) was an American poet and writer. ... William Carlos Williams William Carlos Williams (sometimes known as WCW) (September 17, 1883 – March 4, 1963), was an American poet closely associated with Modernism. ... William Butler Yeats (June 13, 1865 – January 28, 1939) was an Irish poet, dramatist, mystic and public figure. ...

French 20th-century poets

Guillaume Apollinaire Guillaume Apollinaire (August 26, 1880 – November 9, 1918) was a poet, writer, and art critic. ... Louis Aragon (October 3, 1897 - December 24, 1982), French historian, poet and novelist. ... André Breton (February 18, 1896 – September 28, 1966) was a French writer, poet, and surrealist theorist. ... Paul Éluard was the nom de plume of Eugène Grindel (December 14, 1895 - November 18, 1952), a French poet. ... Max Jacob (July 12, 1876 – March 5, 1944) was a French poet, painter, writer, and critic. ... Saint-John Perse (1887-1975) was a French poet and diplomat who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1960 for the soaring flight and evocative imagery of his poetry. ... Paul Valéry (October 30, 1871 – July 20, 1945) was a French author and poet of the Symbolist school. ...

German 20th-century poets

Gottfried Benn (May 2, 1886 - July 7, 1956) was a German author and poet. ... Bertolt Brecht (February 10, 1898 – August 14, 1956) was an influential German dramatist, stage director, and poet of the 20th century. ... Paul Celan Paul Celan was the most frequently used pseudonym of Paul Antschel (the pseudonymous adopts an anagram of his surname in Romanian, Ancel) (November 23, 1920 – approximately April 20, 1970), who is considered one of the few major poets of the post-World War II era. ... Stefan George (Bingen, Hesse, July 12, 1868 - Locarno, December 4, 1933) was a German poet and translator. ... Rainer Maria Rilke (born 4 December 1875 in Prague; died 29 December 1926 in Val-Mont (Switzerland)) was an important poet in the German language. ...

Italian 20th-century poets

Gabriele DAnnunzio (12 March 1863 – 1 March 1938) was an Italian poet, writer, dramatist, daredevil and war hero, who went on to have a controversial role in politics as a precursor of the fascist movement. ...

Spanish 20th-century poets

Categories: Literature | Poetry Categories: Literature stubs | Spanish-language poets | 1898 births | 1984 deaths | Nobel Prize in Literature winners ... Luis Cernuda (1902 - 1963), is widely recognized as one of the great Spanish poets of the 20th century. ... Federico García Lorca Federico García Lorca (June 5, 1898 – August 19, 1936) was a Spanish poet and dramatist, also remembered as a painter, pianist, and composer. ... Antonio Machado y Ruiz (July 26, 1875 – February 22, 1939) was a Spanish poet and one of the leading figures of the Spanish literary movement known as the Generation of 98. ... Gabriela Mistral Gabriela Mistral was the pseudonym of Lucila de María del Perpetuo Socorro Godoy Alcayaga (April 7, 1889 - January 10, 1957), Chilean poet, educator, diplomat and feminist, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1945. ... Pablo Neruda as a Presidential candidate in 1970 Pablo Neruda (July 12, 1904–September 23, 1973) was the pen name of the Chilean writer Ricardo Eliecer Neftalí Reyes Basualto, considered one of the greatest Spanish-language poets of the 20th century. ... Octavio Paz on the cover of his Selected Poems (1988) Octavio Paz (March 31, 1914 – April 19, 1998) was a Mexican writer, poet, and diplomat, and the winner of the 1990 Nobel Prize in Literature. ...

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