List of poets

This is a list of poets. It lists notable poets.

Alphabetical list

A

Ab–Ak

Chris Abani

• Jonathan Aaron (born 1941), American poet
• Chris Abani (born 1966), Nigerian poet
• Henry Abbey (1842–1911), American poet
• Eleanor Hallowell Abbott (1872–1958), American poet, novelist and short story writer
• Lascelles Abercrombie (1881–1938), English poet and literary critic, one of the "Dymock poets"
• Arthur Talmage Abernethy (1872–1956), journalist, minister, scholar; first North Carolina Poet Laureate
• Abhay K (born 1980), Indian poet-diplomat
• Sam Abrams (born 1935), American poet
• Seth Abramson (born 1976), American poet, editor, literary critic, and freelance journalist
• Kosta Abrašević (1879–1898), Serbian poet
• Dannie Abse (born 1923), Welsh poet
• Kathy Acker (1947–1997), American experimental novelist, punk poet, playwright, essayist, postmodernist and sex-positive feminist writer
• Diane Ackerman (born 1948), American author, poet, and naturalist
• Duane Ackerson (born 1942), American writer of speculative poetry and fiction
• Milton Acorn (1923–1986), Canadian poet, writer, and playwright
• Harold Acton (1904–1994), English writer, scholar and dilettante
• Gilbert Adair (1944–2011), Scottish novelist, poet, film critic and journalist
• Virginia Hamilton Adair (1919–2004), American poet
• Helen Adam (1909–1993), Scottish-American poet, collagist and photographer; active in the San Francisco Renaissance
• Draginja Adamović (1925–2000), Serbian poet
• John Adams (1704–1740), American poet
• Léonie Adams (1899–1988), American poet
• Ryan Adams (born 1974), singer-songwriter with Whiskeytown and The Cardinals who had his first book Infinity Blues published in 2009
• Hendrik Adamson (1891–1946), Estonian poet
• Fleur Adcock (born 1934), poet and New Zealand native who has spent most of her life in England
• Joseph Addison (1672–1719), English essayist, poet, writer and politician
• Kim Addonizio (born 1954) American poet, novelist
• Artur Adson (1889–1977), Estonian poet
• Endre Ady (1877–1919), Hungarian poet
• Aeschylus (525–456 BC), Athenian tragedian
• Lucius Afranius (fl. c. 94 BC), Roman comic poet
• John Agard (born 1949), Afro-Guyanese poet and children's writer
• James Agee (1909–1955), American novelist, screenwriter, journalist, poet, film critic
• Deborah Ager (born 1977), American poet, editor
• Kelli Russell Agodon (born 1969), American poet
• Dritëro Agolli (born 1931), Albanian poet
• Delmira Agustini (1886–1914), Uruguayan poet
• Ai (1947–2010), American poet whose original name was Florence Anthony
• Ama Ata Aidoo (born 1940), Ghanaian novelist, poet, playwright and academic
• Conrad Aiken (1889–1973), American poet and author
• Akazome Emon (956–1041), Japanese poet and historian
• Mark Akenside (1721–1770), English poet and physician
• Rachel Akerman (1522–1544), Austrian Jewish poet writing in German
• Bella Akhmadulina (1937–2010), Russian poet
• Anna Akhmatova (1889–1966), Russian poet
• Jan Nisar Akhtar (1914–1976), Indian poet of Urdu ghazals and nazms; associated with the Progressive Writers' Movement
• Javed Akhtar (born 1945), Indian poet, lyricist and scriptwriter
• Salman Akhtar (born 1946), Indian American psychoanalyst, professor, and poet; writes in English and Urdu

Al–Am

• Luigi Alamanni (1495–1556), Italian poet and statesman
• Alasdair mac Mhaighstir Alasdair (c.1698–1770), Scots poet, perhaps the finest Gaelic poet of the 18th century
• Ave Alavainu (1942), Estonian poet
• Gillebríghde Albanach (fl.1200–1230), medieval Scottish Gaelic poet and crusader
• Alcaeus (4th century BC), Athenian comic poet whose comedies marked the transition between Old Comedy and Middle Comedy
• Alcaeus of Messene (fl. late 3rd/early 2nd century BC), Greek author of a number of epigrams in the Greek Anthology
• Alcaeus of Mytilene (c. 620 – 6th century BC), Greek lyric poet from Lesbos Island
• Guru Amar Das (1479–1574), Sikh Guru and Punjabi Poet
• Ammiel Alcalay (born 1956), American poet, scholar, critic, translator, and prose stylist
• Alcman (fl. 7th century BC), Ancient Greek lyric poet
• Amos Bronson Alcott (1799–1888), American teacher, writer, philosopher, and reformer
• Richard Aldington (1892–1962), English writer and poet
• Vasile Alecsandri (1821–1890), Romanian poet
• Claribel Alegría (born 1924), Central American poet
• Vicente Aleixandre (1898–1984), Spanish poet, Nobel Laureate 1977
• Josip Murn Aleksandrov (1879–1901), Slovene symbolist poet
• Sherman Alexie (born 1966), American poet, writer, filmmaker, and occasional comedian
• Felipe Alfau (1902–1999), Catalan American novelist and poet
• Agha Shahid Ali Indian, Kashmiri, American poet
• Muhammad Ali, (born 1942), boxer, war protester, civil rights protester, and poet
• Dante Alighieri (1265–1321), Italian poet
• James Alexander Allan (1889–1956), Australian poet
• August Alle (1899–1952), Estonian poet
• William Allegrezza (born 1974), American poet, professor, and editor
• Dick Allen (born 1939), American poet, literary critic and academic
• Donald Allen (1912–2004), American poet, publisher, editor, and translator
• Elizabeth Chase Allen (1832–1911), American author, journalist and poet
• Ron Allen (1947–2010), American playwright and poet
• Zamounde S. Allie Jr. (born 1965), American poet
• Artur Alliksaar (1923–1966), Estonian poet
• William Allingham (1824 or 1828–1889), Irish man of letters and poet
• Washington Allston (1779–1843), American painter and poet
• Damaso Alonso (1898–1990), Spanish poet, philologist, and literary critic
• Alta (Alta Gerrey; born 1942), American poet, prose writer, and publisher
• Natan Alterman (1910–1970), Israeli poet, journalist, and translator
• Alurista (born 1947), Chicano poet and activist
• Al Alvarez (born 1929), English poet
• Julia Alvarez (born 1950), Dominican-American poet, novelist, and essayist
• Betti Alver (1906–1989), Estonian poet
• Amara Sinha (fl. c. AD 375), Sanskrit grammarian and poet
• Ambroise (fl. c. 1190), Norman-French poet of the Third Crusade
• Yehuda Amichai (1924–2000), Israeli poet
• Indran Amirthanayagam (born 1960), Sri Lankan American poet, essayist and translator
• Kingsley Amis (1922–1995), English author and poet
• A. R. Ammons (1926–2001), American author and poet

An–Aq

• Anacreon (570 BC–488 BC), Greek lyric poet
• Alfred Andersch (1914–1980), German writer, publisher.
• Hans Christian Andersen (1805–1875), Danish poet and children's writer
• Victor Henry Anderson (1917–2001), American poet, kahuna, and leader and teacher of the Feri Tradition
• Mário de Andrade (1893–1945), Brazilian poet, novelist, musicologist, art historian and critic, and photographer
• Bernard André (1450–1522), French Augustinian poet, poet laureate for Henry VII of England
• Peter Andrej (born 1959), Slovenian poet, musician, guitar player, and producer
• Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen (1919–2004), award-winning Portuguese poet and writer
• Bruce Andrews (born 1948), American Language poet
• Kevin Andrews (1924–1989), philhellene, writer and archaeologist
• Ron Androla (born 1954), American poet
• Guru Angad (1504–1552), Sikh Guru and Punjabi Poet
• Aneirin (6th century), Brythonic epic poet
• Ralph Angel (born 1951), American poet and translator
• Maya Angelou (1928–2014), American poet
• Marion Angus (1865–1946), Scottish poet who wrote in Scots
• J. K. Annand (1908–1993), Scots poet, best known for his children's poems
• Mika Antić (1932–1986), Serbian poet
• David Antin (born 1932), American poet and critic
• Antler (born 1946), American poet
• Susanne Antonetta (born 1956), American poet and author
• Brother Antoninus (1912–1994), American poet
• Chairil Anwar (1922–1949), Indonesian poet
• Johannes Anyuru (born 1979), Swedish poet
• Guillaume Apollinaire (1880–1918), French poet
• Apollonius of Rhodes (270–after 245 BC), poet and librarian at the Library of Alexandria
• Maja Apostoloska (born 1976), Macedonian poet
• Philip Appleman (born 1926), American poet and professor
• Pawlu Aquilina (1929–2009), Maltese poet

Ar

John Ashbery

W. H. Auden

• Louis Aragon (1897–1982), French poet, novelist and editor
• Archilochus (c. 680 – c. 645 BC), ancient Greek lyric poet
• Walter Conrad Arensberg (1878–1954), American Dadaist, art collector, critic and poet
• Tudor Arghezi (1880–1967), Romanian poet
• Ludovico Ariosto (1474–1533), Italian poet
• Aristophanes (c. 446 – c. 386 BC), Greek dramatic poet
• Guru Arjan (1563–1606), Sikh Guru and Punjabi Poet
• Rae Armantrout (born 1947), American Language poet
• Simon Armitage (born 1963), English poet, playwright, and novelist
• Richard Armour (1906–1989), American poet and author
• Ernst Moritz Arndt (1769–1860), German patriotic author and poet
• Bettina von Arnim (1785–1859), German writer, publisher, composer, singer and visual artist
• Ludwig Achim von Arnim (1781–1831), German poet and novelist
• Craig Arnold (1967–2009), American poet and professor
• Matthew Arnold (1822–1888), English poet and cultural critic
• Arnórr Þórðarson jarlaskáld (Poet of Earls) (c. 1012 – 1070s), Icelandic skald
• Jean Arp (1886–1966), German-French sculptor, painter, and poet
• Antonin Artaud (1896–1948), French actor, playwright, poet, essayist
• Robert P. Arthur (born 1943), American poet, novelist, short story writer, playwright, critic, director, and professor

As–Ay

• M. K. Asante (born 1982), American author, poet, filmmaker, and professor
• John Ashbery (born 1927), American poet; 1976 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry
• Cliff Ashby (1919–2012), English poet and novelist
• Renée Ashley, American poet and novelist.
• Anton Aškerc (1856–1912), Slovenian poet and Roman Catholic priest
• Margaret Atwood (born 1939), poet, novelist, essayist
• W. H. Auden (1907–1973), Anglo-American poet, essayist
• Joseph Auslander (1897–1965), American poet, anthologist, translator of poems, and novelist; US Poet Laureate, 1937–1941
• Ausonius (c. 310 – 395), Latin poet and teacher of rhetoric at Burdigala (Bordeaux, France)
• Paul Auster (born 1947), American author, poet, playwright, and essayist
• James Avery (born 1948), American actor, poet, and screenwriter
• Margaret Avison (1918–2007), Canadian poet
• Krayem Awad (born 1948), Vienna-based painter, sculptor and poet of Syrian origin
• Gennady Aygi (1934–2006), Russian poet
• Pam Ayres (born 1947), English humorous poet
• Robert Aytoun (1570–1638), Scottish poet
• Jody Azzouni (born 1954), American philosopher, professor, poet, writer

B

Ba

Bab–Ban

• Ken Babstock (born 1970), Canadian poet
• Jimmy Santiago Baca (born 1952), American poet and writer of Apache and Chicano descent
• Bacchylides (fl. 5th century BC), Ancient Greek lyric poet
• Bellamy Bach, pseudonym used by a group of writers of fiction, poetry, short stories
• Joseph M. Bachelor (aka Joseph Morris; 1889–1947), American author, poet, editor and educator
• Harivansh Rai Bachchan 20th century, Hindi poet
• Ingeborg Bachmann (1926–1973), Austrian poet and author
• Sutardji Calzoum Bachri (born 1941), Indonesian Poet
• George Bacovia (1881–1957), Romanian poet
• Krzysztof Kamil Baczyński (1921–1944), Polish poet and soldier
• Mahnaz Badihian (aka Oba), Iranian-American poet
• Julio Baghy (1891–1967), Hungarian actor and one of the leading authors of the Esperanto movement; wrote Esperanto poetry
• Bai Juyi (772–846), Chinese poet of the Tang dynasty
• Joanna Baillie (1762–1851), Scottish poet and dramatist
• Vyt Bakaitis (born 1940), Lithuanian-American translator, editor, and poet
• David Baker (born 1954), American poet
• Bâkî (1526–1600), Ottoman poet (pen name of Mahmud Abdülbâkî)
• John Balaban (born 1943), American poet and translator
• Jesse Ball (born 1978), American poet and novelist
• Addie L. Ballou (1837–1916), American poet and suffragist
• Konstantin Balmont (1867–1942), Russian symbolist poet and translator
• Russell Banks (born 1940), American writer of fiction and poetry

Bar–Bax

• Amiri Baraka (aka Leroi Jones) (1934–2014), American writer, poet, dramatist, essayist and music critic
• Anna Laetitia Barbauld (1743–1825), English poet, essayist, literary critic, editor, and children's author
• Porfirio Barba-Jacob (1883–1942), Colombian poet and writer
• John Barbour (c. 1320 – 1395), Scottish poet and the first major named literary figure to write in Scots
• Alexander Barclay (c. 1476 – 1552), English/Scottish poet
• George Barker (1913–1991), English poet and author
• Les Barker (born 1947), English poet
• Coleman Barks (born 1937), American poet
• Mary Barnard (1909–2001), American poet, biographer and translator
• Djuna Barnes (1892–1982), American writer
• William Barnes (1801–1886), English writer, poet, minister, and philologist
• Catherine Barnett (born 1960), American poet and educator
• Richard Barnfield (1574–1620), English poet
• Willis Barnstone (born 1927), American poet and literary translator
• Laird Barron (born 1970), American poet, author
• Bertha Hirsch Baruch, late 18th- to early 19th-century American writer, poet and suffragette
• Todd Bash (born 1965), American avant-garde playwright, poet and writer
• Matsuo Bashō (1644–1694), Japanese renku and haiku poet
• Michael Basinski (born 1950), American text, visual and sound poet
• Ellen Bass (born 1947), American poet
• Arlo Bates (1850–1918), American author, poet, educator and newspaperman
• David Bates (1809–1870), American poet
• Joseph Bathanti (born 1953), American poet, writer, professor; North Carolina Poet Laureate
• János Batsányi (1763–1845), Hungarian poet
• Dawn-Michelle Baude (born 1959), American poet, journalist and educator
• Charles Baudelaire (1821–1867), French poet, essayist, art critic and translator
• Eric Baus (born 1975), American poet
• Cirilo Bautista (born 1941), Filipino poet, writer and critic
• Charles Baxter (born 1947), American author of fiction, nonfiction and poetry
• James K. Baxter (1926–1972), New Zealand poet

Be

• Jan Beatty, American poet
• Francis Beaumont (1584–1616), poet, dramatist in the English Renaissance theatre
• Samuel Beckett (1906–1989), Irish avant-garde playwright, novelist, and poet
• Joshua Beckman, American poet
• Matija Bećković (born 1939), Serbian writer and poet
• Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer (1836–1870), Spanish post-romanticist writer of poetry and short stories
• Thomas Lovell Beddoes (1803–1849), English poet, dramatist and physician
• Patricia Beer (1919–1999), English poet and critic
• Aphra Behn (1640–1689), English Restoration dramatist; one of first English professional female writers
• Erin Belieu (born 1967), American poet
• Marvin Bell (born 1937), American poet and teacher who was the first Poet Laureate of the State of Iowa
• Gioconda Belli (born 1948), Nicaraguan poet and novelist
• Giuseppe Gioachino Belli (1791–1863), Italian poet, famous for his sonnets in Romanesco
• Xuan Bello (born 1965), best-known Asturian language poet
• Hilaire Belloc (1870–1953), Anglo-French writer and historian
• Andrei Bely (1880–1934), Russian novelist, poet, theorist and literary critic
• Stephen Vincent Benét (1898–1943), American author, poet, short story writer, and novelist
• William Rose Benét (1886–1950), American poet, writer, and editor
• Gottfried Benn (1886–1956), German essayist, novelist, and expressionist poet
• Gwendolyn B. Bennett (1902–1981), African-American writer and poet
• Jim Bennett (born 1951), Liverpool poet best known for his work during the era of punk.
• Bo Bergman (1869–1967), Swedish writer, literary critic and member of the Swedish Academy
• İlhan Berk (1918–2008), Turkish poet
• Charles Bernstein, (born 1950), American poet, theorist, editor, and literary scholar; prominent Language poet
• Béroul (12th century), Norman poet who wrote the episodic poem Tristan
• Daniel Berrigan (born 1921), American Catholic priest, peace activist, and poet
• Ted Berrigan (1934–1983), American poet
• James Berry (born 1924), Jamaican poet, based in England
• Wendell Berry (born 1934), American man of letters, academic, cultural and economic critic, and farmer
• John Berryman (1914–1972), American poet and scholar
• Mary Ursula Bethell (1874–1945), New Zealand social worker and poet, born in Horsell, Surrey, England
• John Betjeman (1906–1984), English poet, writer and broadcaster
• Elizabeth Beverley (fl. 1815–30), English poet, writer and entertainer
• Helen Bevington (1906–2001), American poet, prose writer and educator
• L. S. Bevington (1845–1895), English anarchist poet and essayist

Bh–Bl

William Blake

• Subramanya Bharathi (1882–1921), Tamil writer, poet, journalist, social reformer, and Indian independence activist
• Sujata Bhatt (born 1956), Indian poet; native speaker of Gujarati
• Źmitrok Biadula (1886–1941), Jewish Belarusian poet, prose writer, cultural worker, and political activist in the Belarusian independence movement
• Laurence Binyon (1879–1943), English poet, dramatist and art scholar
• Earle Birney (1904–1995), Canadian anti-conventional poet, also wrote novels, short stories, drama
• Nevin Birsa (1947–2003), Slovene poet
• Elizabeth Bishop (1911–1979), American poet and short-story writer; US Poet Laureate
• Ram Prasad Bismil (1897–1927), Urdu-Hindi poet and revolutionary
• Bill Bissett (born 1939), Canadian anti-conventional poet
• Sherwin Bitsui (born 1975), American Navajo poet
• Paul Blackburn (1926–1971) American poet
• Richard Palmer Blackmur (1904–1965), American literary critic and poet.

Źmitrok Biadula

• Lucian Blaga (1895–1961), Romanian philosopher, poet and playwright
• William Blake (1757–1827), English painter, poet and printmaker
• Don Blanding (1894–1957), American poet, journalist, writer and speaker
• Adrian Blevins (born 1964), American poet
• Alexander Blok (1880–1921), Russian lyrical poet
• Benjamin Paul Blood (1832–1919), American philosopher and poet
• Robert Bloomfield (1766–1823),English laboring class poet
• Roy Blumenthal (born 1968), South African poet
• Edmund Blunden (1896–1974), English poet, author and literary critic
• Wilfrid Scawen Blunt (1840–1922), English poet and writer
• Robert Bly (born 1926), American poet, author, activist and leader of the mythopoetic men's movement

Bo

• Giovanni Boccaccio (1313–1375), Italian author and poet
• Jean Bodel (1165–1210), Old French poet
• Louise Bogan (1897–1970), American poet; fourth US Poet Laureate
• Matteo Maria Boiardo (1440/1–1494), Italian Renaissance poet
• Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux (1636–1711), French poet and critic
• Eavan Boland (born 1944), Irish poet
• Alan Bold (1943–1998), Scots poet, biographer, and journalist
• Christian Bök (born 1966), experimental Canadian poet
• Heinrich Böll (1917–1985), one of Germany's foremost post-World War II writers
• Edmund Bolton (c. 1575 – c. 1633), English historian and poet
• Nozawa Bonchō (c. 1640 – 1714), Japanese haikai poet
• Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906–1945), German Lutheran pastor, theologian, dissident anti-Nazi, and poet
• Arna Wendell Bontemps (1902–1973), American poet and a noted member of the Harlem Renaissance
• Kurt Boone, American published poet
• Jorge Luis Borges (1899–1986), Argentine short-story writer, essayist, poet and translator
• Tadeusz Borowski (1922–1951), Polish writer and journalist
• Hristo Botev (1848–1876), Bulgarian poet and revolutionary
• Gordon Bottomley (1874–1948), was an English poet, known particularly for verse drama
• David Bottoms (born 1949), American poet; Georgia Poet Laureate
• Cathy Smith Bowers (born 1949), American poet; North Carolina Poet Laureate 2010–2012
• Edgar Bowers (1924–2000), American poet who won Bollingen Prize in Poetry in 1989
• Mark Alexander Boyd (1562–1601), Scottish poet and soldier of fortune
• Kay Boyle (1902–1992), American writer, educator, and political activist

Br

Bra–Bri

• Alison Brackenbury (born 1953), English poet from Lincolnshire
• Anne (Dudley) Bradstreet (c. 1612 – 1672), landed in Salem, Massachusetts, June 14, 1630; America's first published poet
• Di Brandt (born 1952), Canadian poet and literary critic
• Kamau Brathwaite (born 1930), of Bridgetown, Barbados a major voice in Caribbean literature
• Richard Brautigan (1935–1984), American novelist, poet, and short story writer
• Bertolt Brecht (1898–1956), German playwright, poet, lyricist, notable work: the Threepenny Opera
• Gerbrand Adriaensz Bredero (1585–1618), Dutch poet and playwright
• Radovan Brenkus (born 1974), Slovak writer and poet
• Christopher Brennan (1870–1932), Australian poet and scholar
• Joseph Payne Brennan (1918–1990), American poet, writer of fantasy and horror fiction
• Clemens Brentano (1778–1842), German poet and novelist
• André Breton (1896–1966), French writer and poet; a founder of Surrealism
• Nicholas Breton (1545–1626), English poet and novelist
• Ken Brewer (1941–2006), American poet and scholar; a Utah Poet Laureate
• Robert Bridges (1844–1930), English poet; a Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom
• Robert Bringhurst (born 1946), Canadian poet, typographer and author

Bro–Bry

• Geoffrey Brock (born 1964), American poet and translator
• James Brock (born 1958), American poet
• Joseph Brodsky (1940–1996), Russian poet and essayist
• Wladyslaw Broniewski (1897–1962), Polish poet and soldier
• William Bronk (1918–1999), American poet
• Anne Brontë (1820–1849), British novelist and poet, the youngest member of the Brontë literary family
• Charlotte Brontë (1816–1855), English novelist and poet, the eldest of the three Brontë sisters
• Emily Brontë (1818–1848), English novelist and poet, best remembered for her solitary novel Wuthering Heights
• Rupert Brooke (1887–1915), English poet
• Gwendolyn Brooks (1917–2000), African-American poet; 30th US Poet Laureate
• Hans Adolph Brorson (1694–1764), Danish Pietist bishop and poet.
• Joan Brossa (1919–1998), Catalan poet, playwright and plastic artist
• Nicole Brossard (born 1943), French Canadian formalist poet and novelist
• Olga Broumas (born 1949), Greek poet, living in the United States
• Flora Brovina (born 1949), Kosovar Albanian poet, pediatrician and women’s rights activist
• Petrus Brovka (aka Pyotr Ustinovich Brovka) (1905–1980), Soviet Belarusian poet
• George Mackay Brown (1921–1996), Scottish poet, author and dramatist
• James Brown known as J. B. Selkirk (1832–1904), Scots poet and essayist
• Sterling Brown (1901–1989), African-American professor, author of works on folklore, poet and literary critic
• Thomas Edward Brown (1830–1897), Manx poet, scholar and theologian
• Frances Browne (1816–1887), Irish poet and novelist
• William Browne (1590–1643), English poet
• Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806–1861), English poet, among the prominent poets of the Victorian era
• Robert Browning (1812–1889), English poet and playwright, prominent Victorian era poet
• William Cullen Bryant (1794–1878), American romantic poet, journalist and long-time editor of the New York Evening Post
• Colette Bryce (born 1970), poet from Northern Ireland
• Bryher (aka Annie Winifred Ellerman) (1894–1983), English novelist, poet, memoirist, and magazine editor
• Valeri Bryusov (1873–1924), Russian poet, novelist, critic

Bu–By

• Dugald Buchanan (Dùghall Bochanan) (1716–1768), Scots poet writing in Scot and Scottish Gaelic.
• Robert Williams Buchanan (1841–1901), Scottish poet, novelist and dramatist
• Georg Büchner (1813–1837), German dramatist and writer of poetry and prose
• Vincent Buckley (1927–1988), Australian poet, teacher, editor, essayist and critic
• David Budbill (born 1940), American poet, and playwright
• Arun Budhathoki (born 1986), Nepalese poet (aka Daniel Song)
• Andrea Hollander Budy (born 1947), American poet
• Charles Bukowski (1920–1994), American poet, novelist and short story writer
• Ivan Bunin (1870–1953) Russian poet and novelist
• Basil Bunting (1900–1985), English modernist poet
• Anthony Burgess (1917–1993), English author, poet, playwright, composer, linguist, translator and critic
• Robert Burns (1759–1796), Scottish poet and a lyricist
• Stanley Burnshaw (1906–2005), American poet
• John Burnside (born 1955), Scottish writer, born in Dunfermline, winner of T. S. Eliot Prize and Forward Poetry Prize
• William S. Burroughs (1914–1997), American novelist, poet, essayist and spoken word performer
• Andrzej Bursa (1932–1957), Polish poet and writer
• Yosa Buson (1716–1783), Japanese haikai poet and painter
• Raegan Butcher (born 1969), American poet and singer
• Ray Buttigieg (born 1955), poet, composer, musician
• Ignazio Buttitta (1899–1997), Sicilian language poet
• Anthony Butts, (born 1969), American poet
• Kathryn Stripling Byer (born 1944), American poet and teacher; North Carolina Poet Laureate 2005–09
• Witter Bynner (aka Emanuel Morgan) (1881–1968), American poet, writer and scholar
• George Gordon Byron, Lord Byron (1788–1824), English poet and a leading figure in Romanticism

C

Ca

Cab–Cap

• Lydia Cabrera (1899–1991), Cuban anthropologist and poet
• Cædmon (fl. 7th century), earliest English (Northumbrian) poet whose name is known
• Maoilios Caimbeul (b. 1944), Scots poet and children's writer (in Gaelic)
• Scott Cairns (born 1954), American poet, memoirist and essayist
• Alison Calder, Canadian poet and educator
• Angus Calder (1942–2008), Scots poet, academic, writer, historian, educator and literary editor
• Pedro Calderón de la Barca y Barreda González de Henao Ruiz de Blasco y Riaño (1600–1681), dramatist, poet and writer of the Spanish Golden Age
• Musa Cälil (1906–1944), Soviet Tatar poet and resistance fighter
• Barry Callaghan (born 1937), Canadian author, poet and anthologist
• Michael Feeney Callan (born 1955), Irish poet, novelist, biographer, filmmaker and painter
• Callimachus (c. 305 – c. 240 BC), Hellenistic poet; noted poet, critic and scholar at the Library of Alexandria
• Robert Calvert (1944–1988), South African writer, poet and musician
• Norman Cameron (1905–1953), Scottish poet
• Luís de Camões (c. 1524 – 1580), early Portuguese poet (author of Os Lusíadas)
• Angus Peter Campbell (aka Aonghas P(h) àdraig Caimbeul), Scottish award-winning poet, novelist, journalist, broadcaster and actor
• David Campbell (1915–1979), Australian poet and wartime pilot, who was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for service in New Guinea
• Roy Campbell (1901–1957), South African poet and satirist
• Thomas Campbell (1777–1844), Scottish poet
• Jan Campert (1902–1943), Dutch poet and journalist
• Remco Campert (born 1929), son of Jan; Dutch poet and novelist
• Thomas Campion (1567–1619), English composer, poet and physician
• Matilde Camus (born 1919), Spanish poet and researcher
• Melville Henry Cane (1879–1980), American poet and lawyer
• Ivan Cankar (1876–1918), Slovene writer, playwright, essayist, poet and political activist
• May Wedderburn Cannan (1893–1973), British poet
• Edip Cansever (1928–1986) Turkish poet
• Cao Cao (155 AD – 220 AD), warlord, poet
• Cao Pi (formally Emperor Wen of Wei) (187–226), Chinese poet; first emperor of the state of Cao Wei; second son of Cao Cao
• Cao Zhi (192–232), Chinese poet; third son of Cao Cao
• Vahni Capildeo (born 1973), Trinidadian poet

Car–Cav

• Ernesto Cardenal (born 1925), Nicaraguan Roman Catholic priest, poet and politician
• Giosuè Carducci (1835–1907), Italian poet and teacher
• Thomas Carew (1595–1639), English Cavalier poet
• Henry Carey (1687–1743), English poet, dramatist and songwriter
• Bliss Carman (1861–1929), Canadian-American poet associated with the Confederation Poets
• Jim Carroll (1949–2009), author, poet, autobiographer, and punk musician
• Lewis Carroll (born Charles Lutwidge Dodgson) (1832–1898), English author, mathematician, logician, Anglican deacon and photographer
• Hayden Carruth (1921–2008), American poet and literary critic
• Ann Elizabeth Carson (born 1929), Canadian poet, author, artist, sculptor, feminist, and psychotherapist
• Anne Carson (born 1950), Canadian poet, essayist, translator and professor
• Jared Carter (born 1939), American poet and editor
• William Cartwright (1611–1643), English dramatist and churchman
• Neal Cassady (1926–1968), a major figure of the Beat Generation of the 1950s and the psychedelic movement of the 1960s
• Cyrus Cassells (born 1957), American poet and professor
• Catullus (c. 84 – 54 BC), Latin poet of the Roman Republic
• Charles Causley (1917–2003), Cornish poet, schoolmaster and writer
• C. P. Cavafy (1863–1933), Greek poet, journalist and civil servant
• Guido Cavalcanti (1250s–1300), Florentine poet, and friend of Dante Alighieri
• Nick Cave (born 1957), Australian musician, songwriter, author, screenwriter, composer and occasional film actor
• Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle-upon-Tyne (1623–1673), English aristocrat, writer, and scientist

Ce–Ci

• Paul Celan (1920–1970) Romanian-born Jewish poet and translator
• Thomas Centolella, American poet
• Blaise Cendrars (1887–1961), French poet and author
• Anica Černej (1900–1944), Slovene author and poet
• Luis Cernuda (1903–1963), Spanish poet and literary critic
• Aimé Césaire (1913–2008), French poet, author and politician from Martinique
• Mário Cesariny de Vasconcelos (1923–2006), Portuguese surrealist poet
• Ashok Chakradhar (born 1951), Hindi author and poet
• John Chalkhill (fl. 1600), English poet
• Jean Chapelain (1595–1674), French poet and critic during the Grand Siècle; known for his role as an organizer and founding member of the Académie française
• Arthur Chapman (1873–1935), American cowboy poet and newspaper columnist
• George Chapman (1559–1634), English dramatist, translator, and poet
• Fred Chappell (born 1936), American author and poet; North Carolina Poet Laureate 1997–2002
• René Char (1907–1998), French poet
• Charles, Duke of Orléans (1394–1465), Duke of Orléans from 1407, medieval poet of more than five hundred poems, mostly written during his time as a prisoner of war
• Craig Charles (born 1964), English actor, comedian, author, poet, television presenter and radio DJ
• Thomas Chatterton (1752–1770), English poet and forger of pseudo-medieval poetry
• Geoffrey Chaucer (c. 1343 – 1400), author, philosopher, alchemist and astronomer; Father of English literature
• Reverend Fr. Fray Angelico Chavez (1910–1996), American Franciscan priest, historian, author, poet, and painter.
• Susana Chávez (1974–2011), Mexican poet and human rights activist
• Syl Cheney-Coker (born 1945), Sierra Leonean poet and novelist
• Kelly Cherry (born 1940), American writer, Poet Laureate of Virginia,
• G. K. Chesterton, (1874–1936) was an English writer in a wide range of genres, including poetry
• Choe Chiwon (born 857), Korean (Silla) poet
• Fukuda Chiyo-ni (1703–1775), Japanese poet of the Edo period; one of the great female haiku poets
• Henri Chopin (1922–2008), avant-garde poet and musician
• Jean Chopinel (or Jean de Meun) (c. 1240 – c. 1305), French author best known for his continuation of the Roman de la Rose
• Chrétien de Troyes (fl. 12th century), French poet and trouvère
• Ralph Chubb (1892–1960), poet, painter, printer
• Charles Churchill (1732–1764), English poet and satirist.
• John Ciardi, (1916–1986) Italian-American poet, translator, and etymologist
• Colley Cibber (16711757), English actor-manager, playwright and Poet Laureate
• Jovan Ćirilov (born 1931), Serbian theater expert, philosopher, writer, theatre selector, poet
• Carson Cistulli (born 1979), American poet, essayist and English professor
• Hélène Cixous (born 1937), French feminist writer, professor, poet, playwright, philosopher and literary critic

Cl

• Amy Clampitt (1920–1994), American poet and author
• Kate Clanchy (born 1965), Scottish poet and writer
• John Clare (1793–1864), English poet
• Elizabeth Clark (1918–1978), Scottish poet and playwright
• Austin Clarke (1896–1974), leading Irish poets
• George Elliott Clarke (born 1960), Poet, University of Toronto professor
• Gillian Clarke (born 1937), Welsh poet, playwright, editor, broadcaster, lecturer and translator from Welsh
• Paul Claudel (1868–1955), French poet, dramatist and diplomat
• Claudian (c. 370 – 404 AD), Latin poet associated with the court of the emperor Honorius
• Matthias Claudius (1740–1815), German poet, also known by the penname of "Asmus".
• Brian P. Cleary (born 1959), American humorist, poet, and author
• Jack Clemo (1916–1994), English Christian poet, drawing particular inspiration from Cornwall
• Michelle Cliff (born 1946), Jamaican-American author of short stories, prose poems and works of literary criticism
• Lucille Clifton (1936–2010), educator and Poets Laureate of Maryland
• Arthur Hugh Clough (1819–1861), English poet, an educationalist, and assistant to Florence Nightingale

Co

Coa–Con

• Grace Stone Coates (1881–1976), Montana writer
• Alison Cockburn(1712–1794), Scottish poet, wit and socialite
• Jean Cocteau (1889–1963), French writer
• Judith Ortiz Cofer, (born 1952), Puerto Rican poet and author
• Leonard Cohen, (born 1934), Canadian singer-songwriter, musician, poet, and novelist
• Wanda Coleman (born 1946), African-American poet
• Hartley Coleridge (1796–1849), English poet, biographer, essayist, and teacher
• Mary Elizabeth Coleridge (1861–1907), British novelist, essayist, and poet
• Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834), English poet
• Edward Coletti, (born 1944), Italian-American poet
• Billy Collins (born 1941), American poet, appointed as United States Poet Laureate 2001–03
• William Collins (1721–1759), English poet
• William Congreve (1670–1729), English playwright and poet
• Stewart Conn (born 1936), Scottish poet and playwright
• Paul Conneally, (born 1959), English poet, artist and musician based in Loughborough
• Robert Conquest (born 1917), Anglo-American historian and poet best known for his influential works of Soviet history
• Henry Constable (1562–1613), English poet
• David Constantine (born 1944), English, Lancashire-born poet and translator.

Coo–Cow

• Clark Coolidge (born 1939, American poet
• Wendy Cope (born 1945), English poet
• Robert Copland (fl. 1515), English printer, author and translator
• Tristan Corbière (1845–1875), French poet of the Brittany region
• Cid Corman (1924–2004), American poet, translator and editor
• Alfred Corn (born 1943), American poet and essayist
• Frances Cornford (1886–1960), English poet; wife to F. M. Cornford
• F. M. Cornford (1874–1943), English classical scholar and poet; husband to Frances Cornford
• Joe Corrie (1894 - 1968), Scottish miner, poet and playwright.
• Gregory Corso (1930–2001), American Beat poet, "Gasoline", "Bomb"
• Jayne Cortez (born 1936), American poet, and performance artist
• George Coșbuc (1866–1918), Romanian poet, translator, teacher, and journalist
• Charles Cotton (1630–1687), English poet, author and translator
• Abraham Cowley (1618–1667), leading English poet of the 17th century
• Malcolm Cowley (1898–1989), American novelist, poet, literary critic, and journalist
• William Cowper (1731–1800), English poet and hymnodist

Cr–Cz

• George Crabbe (1754–1832), English poet, surgeon, and clergyman
• Hart Crane (1899–1932), American modernist poet
• Stephen Crane (1871–1900), American novelist, short story writer, poet and journalist
• Richard Crashaw (1613–1649), English poet; central figure among the Metaphysical poets
• Robert Creeley (born 1926), American poet and author; usually associated with the Black Mountain poets
• Octave Crémazie (1827–1879), "father of French Canadian poetry"
• Miloš Crnjanski, poet of the expressionist wing of Serbian modernism, author, and a diplomat
• Ann Batten Cristall (1769–1848), English poet
• Charles Cros (1842–1888), French poet and inventor
• Aleister Crowley (1875–1947), English occultist and poet
• Andrew Crozier (1943–2008), English poet associated with the British Poetry Revival
• Cui Hao, Tang Dynasty, Chinese poet
• Countee Cullen (1903–1946), American poet, a leading figure in the Harlem Renaissance
• Necati Cumalı (1921–2001), Turkish writer of novels, short-stories, essays and poetry
• E. E. Cummings (1894–1962), American poet, painter, essayist, author, and playwright
• Allan Cunningham (1784–1842), Scottish poet and author
• James Vincent Cunningham (1911–1985), American poet, literary critic, and teacher
• Allen Curnow (1911–2001), New Zealand poet and journalist
• Ivor Cutler (1923–2006), Scottish poet, musician, songwriter and humorist

D

Da

• Roque Dalton (1935–1975), Salvadoran poet
• Sapardi Djoko Damono (born 1940), Indonesian poet
• Samuel Daniel (1562–1619), English poet and historian
• David Daniels (1933–2008), American visual poet
• Jeffrey Daniels, African-American poet
• Thomas d'Angleterre, 12th-century poet, who wrote in Old French
• Gabriele D'Annunzio (1863–1938), Italian poet, journalist, novelist, dramatist, and soldier during World War I
• Hugh Antoine d'Arcy (1843–1925), French-born poet and writer; pioneer executive in the American motion picture industry
• Rubén Darío (1867–1916), Nicaraguan poet who initiated the Spanish-American literary movement known as modernismo
• Keki Daruwalla (born 1937), major Indian poet and short story writer, writing in English
• Erasmus Darwin (1731–1802), British poet and herbalist
• Mahmoud Darwish (1941–2008), Palestinian poet and author; known as Palestinian national poet
• Elizabeth Daryush (1887–1977), English poet, daughter of Robert Bridges
• Jibanananda Das (1899–1954), Bengali poet and author
• René Daumal (1908–1944), French spiritual para-surrealist writer and poet
• Jean Daurat (1508–1588), French poet, scholar, and a member of 'La Pléiade
• William Davenant (1606–1668), English poet and playwright
• Guy Davenport (1927–2005), American writer, translator, illustrator, painter, and teacher
• Donald Davidson (1893–1968) American poet, essayist, social and literary critic, and author
• John Davidson (1857–1909), Scottish poet, playwright and novelist, best known for ballads
• Lucretia Maria Davidson (1808–1825), American poet
• Donald Davie (1922–1995), English Movement poet, and literary critic
• Alan Davies (born 1951), American poet, critic and editor
• Hugh Sykes Davies (1909–1984), English poet, novelist, communist and British surrealist
• Sir John Davies (1569–1626), English poet, lawyer, and politician
• W. H. Davies (1871–1940), Welsh poet and writer
• Jon Davis, American poet
• Edward Davison (1898–1970), Scottish American poet and critic; father of poet Peter Davison
• Peter Davison, (1928–2004), American poet, essayist, teacher, lecturer, editor, and publisher; son of poet Edward Davison
• Denis Davydov (1784–1839), Russian soldier-poet of the Napoleonic Wars noted for hussar poetry
• Cecil Day-Lewis (1904–1972), Anglo-Irish poet; Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom 1968–72

De–Dh

• James Deahl (born 1945), Canadian poet and publisher
• Aurora de Albornoz (1926–1990), 20th-century Spanish poet
• John F. Deane (born 1943), Irish poet and novelist
• Aleš Debeljak (born 1961), Slovenian cultural critic, poet and essayist
• Jean Louis De Esque (born 1879), American poet and author of Betelguese, a trip through hell.
• Daniel Defoe (1659/61?–1731) English writer, journalist, pamphleteer and spy, author of Robinson Crusoe
• Madeline DeFrees (born 1919), American poet
• Thomas Dekker (1572–1641), English Elizabethan dramatist and pamphleteer
• Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz (1651–1695), 17th-century Mexican poet
• Baltasar del Alcázar (1530–1606), Spanish poet
• Walter de la Mare (1873–1956), English poet, short story writer and novelist
• Leconte de Lisle (1818–1894), French poet of the Parnassian movement
• Christine De Luca (born 1947), Scottish poet, writing in English and Shetland dialect
• François de Malherbe (1555–1628), French poet, critic, and translator
• Alfred de Musset (1810–1857), 19th-century poet
• Gérard de Nerval (1808–1855), French poet, essayist and translator
• Sir John Denham (c1614–1669), English poet and courtier
• Tory Dent (1958–2005), American poet, art critic and commentator on the AIDS crisis
• Évariste de Parny (1753–1814), French poet
• Regina Derieva (born 1949), Russian poet and writer
• Johan Andreas Dèr Mouw (1863–1919), Dutch poet and philosopher
• Toi Derricotte (born 1941), African-American poet
• Eustache Deschamps (1346–1406), medieval French poet
• Lord de Tabley (1835–1895), poet and botanist
• Babette Deutsch (1895–1982), American poet, critic, translator, and novelist
• Félix Lope de Vega y Carpio (1562–1635), Spanish playwright and poet
• Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford, courtier poet, praised also for lost plays
• Alfred de Vigny (1797–1863), French poet, playwright and novelist
• Phillippa Yaa de Villiers (born 1966), South African poet and performance artist

Di–Do

• Souéloum Diagho, contemporary Tuareg poet
• Pier Giorgio Di Cicco (born 1949), Italian-Canadian poet; second Poet Laureate of Toronto
• Jennifer K Dick, (born 1970), American poet
• James Dickey (1923–1997), American poet and novelist; 18thPoet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress
• Emily Dickinson (1830–1886), American poet
• Matthew Dickman (born 1975), American poet; twin of Michael Dickman
• Michael Dickman (born 1975), American poet; twin of Matthew Dickman
• Blaga Dimitrova (1922–2003), Bulgarian poet and Vice President
• Ramdhari Singh Dinkar (1908–1974), Indian Hindi poet, essayist and academic
• Diane di Prima (born 1934), American poet
• Paul Dirmeikis (born 1954), French poet
• Vladislav Petković Dis (1880–1917), Serbian poet
• Thomas M. Disch (1940–2008), American poet, novelist
• Tim Dlugos (1950–1990), American poet
• Henry Austin Dobson (1840–1921), English poet and essayist
• Stephen Dobyns (born 1941), American author, novelist, poet
• Gojko Đogo, Serbian poet
• Pete Doherty, (born 1979), English musician, songwriter, poet
• Digby Mackworth Dolben (1848–1867), English poet
• Joe Dolce, (born 1947), Australian musician, songwriter, poet and essayist
• John Donne (1572–1631), English poet, satirist, lawyer and Anglican cleric
• H.D., Hilda Doolittle (1886–1961), American Imagist poet
• Edward Dorn (1929—1999), American poet and teacher
• Mark Doty (born 1953), American poet and memoirist
• Charles Montagu Doughty (1843–1926), English poet, writer, and traveller
• Gavin Douglas (1474–1522), Scottish bishop, makar and translator
• Keith Douglas (1920–1944), English war poet
• Rita Dove (born 1952), American poet and author; US Poet Laureate
• Ernest Dowson (1867–1900), English poet, novelist and writer of short stories, associated with Decadent movement

Dr

• Jane Draycott, English poet
• Michael Drayton (1563–1631), English poet of the Elizabethan era
• Aleksander Stavre Drenova (1872–1947), Albanian poet
• John Drinkwater (1882–1937), English poet and dramatist
• Annette von Droste-Hülshoff (1797–1848), German poet
• William Drummond (1585–1649), Scottish poet
• William Henry Drummond (1854–1907), Irish-born Canadian poet
• John Dryden (1631–1700), English Restoration poet, literary critic, translator, and playwright

Du–Dy

• Guillaume de Salluste Du Bartas (1544–1590), French Huguenot poet
• Joachim du Bellay (c. 1522 – 1560), French poet, critic, and a member of La Pléiade
• W. E. B. Du Bois (1868–1963), writer, activist
• Norman Dubie (born 1945), American poet
• Jovan Dučić (1871–1943), Bosnian Serb poet, writer and diplomat
• Du Fu (712–770), prominent Chinese poet of the Tang Dynasty
• Du Mu (803–852), leading Chinese poet of the late Tang Dynasty
• Carol Ann Duffy (born 1955), Scottish poet and playwright; first female and first Scottish Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom
• Alan Dugan (1923–2003), American poet
• Richard Duke (1658–1711), English clergyman and poet, associated with Tory writers of Restoration era
• Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872–1906), African-American poet, novelist, and playwright
• William Dunbar (c. 1460 – c. 1520), Scots makar
• Robert Duncan (1919–1988), American poet associated with New American Poetry, Black Mountain poets, and San Francisco Renaissance
• Camille Dungy (born 1972), American poet, academic, essayist, and critic
• Douglas Dunn (born 1942), Scottish poet, academic, and critic
• Stephen Dunn (born 1939), American poet
• Helen Dunmore (born 1952), English poet, novelist and children's writer
• Edward Plunkett, Baron Dunsany (1878–1957), Irish poet
• Lawrence Durrell (1912–1990), expatriate English novelist, poet, dramatist and travel writer
• Stuart Dybek (born 1942), American poet, writer
• Sir Edward Dyer (1543–1607), English courtier and poet.
• Bob Dylan (born 1941), American singer-songwriter, musician, writer and artist

E

Ea–En

• Richard Eberhart (1904–2005), Pulitzer Prize for Poetry and National Book Award for Poetry winner
• Russell Edson (born 1935), American poet, novelist, writer and illustrator
• Terry Ehret (born 1955), American poet
• Joseph Freiherr von Eichendorff (1788–1857), German poet and novelist of later German romanticism
• George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) (1819–1880), English novelist, journalist and translator; leading writer of the Victorian era
• T. S. Eliot (1888–1965), American-English publisher, playwright, literary and social critic
• Ebenezer Elliott (1781–1849), English poet, known as "Corn Law rhymer"
• Royston Ellis (born 1941), English poet inspired by Beat Generation
• Paul Éluard (1895–1952), French poet among founders of surrealism
• Odysseus Elytis (1911–1996) Greek poet
• Claudia Emerson (born 1957) American poet, Poet Laureate of Virginia
• Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882), American essayist, lecturer and poet, who led the Transcendentalist movement
• Gevorg Emin (1918–1998), Armenian poet, essayist, and translator
• Mihai Eminescu (1850–1889), Romanian Romantic poet, novelist and journalist
• William Empson (1906–1984), English literary critic and poet; key figure in New Criticism
• Yunus Emre (1240?–1321?), Turkish poet and Sufi mystic
• Michael Ende (1929–1995), German author of fantasy, poetry and children's literature
• Paul Engle (1908–1991), American poet, editor, teacher, literary critic, novelist, and playwright
• Ennius (c. 239 – c. 169 BC), considered the father of Roman poetry
• D J Enright (1920–2002), British academic, poet, novelist and critic
• Hans Magnus Enzensberger (born 1929), German author, poet, translator and editor

Er–Ew

• Louise Erdrich (born 1954), American author of novels, poetry, and children's books featuring Native American heritage
• Haydar Ergülen (born 1956), Turkish poet
• Max Ernst (1891–1976), German painter, sculptor, graphic artist, and poet; a pioneer of the Dada movement and Surrealism
• Wolfram von Eschenbach (c. 1170 – c. 1220), German knight and poet; Minnesinger
• Clayton Eshleman (born 1935), American poet, translator and editor
• Martín Espada (born 1957), American poet and teacher
• Florbela Espanca (1894–1930), Portuguese poet
• Salvador Espriu (1913–1985), Catalan poet
• Jill Alexander Essbaum, Christian erotic poet
• Alter Esselin (1889–1974), Yiddish American carpenter, poet
• Claude Esteban (1935–2006), French poet
• Maggie Estep (born 1963), American writer, musician, slam poet
• Jerry Estrin (1947–1993), American poet and magazine editor
• Euripides (480–406 BC), Athenian tragedian
• Mari Evans (born 1923), African-American poet
• William Everson (Brother Antoninus) (1912–1994), American poet of the San Francisco Renaissance; literary critic, printer
• Gavin Ewart (1916–1995), English poet

F

Fa–Fn

• Frederick William Faber (1814—1863), English poet, hymn writer and theologian
• Padraic Fallon (1905–1974), Irish poet
• Christian Falster (1690–1752), Danish poet and philologist
• U. A. Fanthorpe, CBE (1929–2009), English poet
• Eleanor Farjeon (1881–1965), English author of children's stories and plays, poetry, biography, history and satire
• J.P. Farrell (born 1968), American poet and musician
• Elaine Feinstein (born 1930), English a poet, novelist, short-story writer, playwright, biographer and translator
• Fenggan (fl. 9th century), Chinese Zen monk-poet under the Tang Dynasty
• Elijah Fenton (1683–1730), English poet, biographer and translator
• James Fenton (born 1931), Northern Irish linguist and poet who writes in Ulster Scots
• James Martin Fenton (born 1949), English poet, journalist and literary critic; former Oxford Professor of Poetry.
• Ferdowsi (935–1020), Persian poet
• Robert Fergusson (1750–1774), Scots poet, and influence on Robert Burns
• Lawrence Ferlinghetti (born 1919), American poet, painter, liberal activist
• Leandro Fernández de Moratín (1760–1828), Spanish dramatist, translator and Spanish Enlightenment poet
• David Fernández Rivera (born 1986), Spanish poet, playwright, musician and theatre director
• Henry Fielding (1707–1754), English novelist, dramatist and poet
• Anne Finch, Countess of Winchilsea (1661–1720), English poet whose nature poetry was praised by William Wordsworth
• Annie Finch (born 1956), American poet, librettist, translator
• Ian Hamilton Finlay (1925–2006), Scottish poet, writer, artist and gardener
• Roy Fisher (born 1930), English poet and jazz pianist
• Edward Fitzgerald (1809–1883), English poet and writer famous for English translation of Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam
• Robert Fitzgerald (1910–1985), American poet, critic and translator
• Giles Fletcher the Elder (c. 1548 – 1611), English poet and diplomat, member of the English Parliament
• Giles Fletcher the Younger (c. 1586 – 1623), English poet, chiefly known for Christ's Victorie and Triumph
• John Fletcher (1579–1625), Jacobean era English playwright, poet
• John Gould Fletcher (1886–1950), Imagist poet
• Phineas Fletcher (1582–1650), English poet, elder son of Giles Fletcher the elder, and brother of Giles the younger
• F. S. Flint (1885–1960), English poet and translator prominent in the Imagist group

Fo–Fu

• Jean Follain (1903–1971), French author, poet, and corporate lawyer
• Theodor Fontane (1819–1898), German novelist and poet; German language realist writer
• John Forbes (1950–1998), Australian poet
• Carolyn Forché (born 1950), American poet, editor, translator, and human rights advocate
• Ford Madox Ford (1873–1939), English novelist, poet, critic, and editor
• John Ford (1586–1639), English Jacobean and Caroline playwright and poet
• John M. Ford (1957–2006), American science fiction and fantasy writer, game designer, and poet
• Veronica Forrest-Thomson (1947–1975), Scots poet and critical theorist
• Ugo Foscolo (1778–1827), Italian writer, revolutionary and poet
• William Fowler (c. 1560–1612), Scottish poet, writer, courtier, and translator
• Janet Frame (1924–2004), New Zealand author
• Anatole France (1844–1924), French poet, journalist, and novelist
• Robert Francis (1901–1987), American poet
• Veronica Franco (1546–1591), Italian poet and courtesan in 16th-century Venice
• G S Fraser (1915–1980), Scots poet, literary critic and academic
• Gregory Fraser (born 1963), American poet, editor, and professor
• Naim Frashëri (1846–1900), Albanian poet and writer; regarded as the national poet of Albania
• Louis-Honoré Fréchette (1839–1908), Canadian poet, politician, playwright, and short story writer
• Grace Beacham Freeman (1916–2002), American poet, columnist, short story writer; South Carolina Poet Laureate 1985–86
• Erich Fried (1921–1988), Austrian-born British poet, writer, and translator
• Jean Froissart (c. 1337 – c. 1405), French chronicler and court poet
• Robert Frost (1874–1963), American poet; received four Pulitzer Prizes for Poetry
• Gene Frumkin (1928–2007), American poet and teacher
• John Fuller (born 1937), English poet and author, son of Roy Fuller
• Roy Fuller (1912–1991), English poet
• Alice Fulton, (born 1952), American author of poetry, fiction, and nonfiction; Bobbitt National Prize for Poetry winner
• Fuzûlî (1483?–1556), Azerbaijani and Ottoman poet

G

Ga–Gl

• Karina Galvez (born 1964), Ecuadorian poet
• James Galvin (born 1951), American poet
• Etienne-Paulin Gagne (1808–1876), French poet, essayist, lawyer, politician, inventor, and eccentric
• Robert Garioch (1909–1981), pen name of Robert Garioch Sutherland, Scots poet and translator
• Hamlin Garland (1860–1940), American novelist, poet, psychical researcher, essayist and short-story writer
• Raymond Garlick (1926–2011), Anglo-Welsh poet and first editor of Anglo-Welsh Review
• Richard Garnett (1835–1906), English scholar, librarian, biographer and poet
• Jean Garrigue (1914–1972), American poet
• Samuel Garth (1661–1719), English physician and poet
• George Gascoigne (1535–1577), English poet, soldier, artist, and unsuccessful courtier
• David Gascoyne (1916–2001), English poet associated with the Surrealist movement
• Théophile Gautier (1811–1872), French poet, dramatist, novelist, journalist, art critic and literary critic
• John Gay (1685–1732), English poet and dramatist and member of the Scriblerus Club
• Theodor Seuss Geisel (Dr. Seuss) (1904–1991), American writer, poet, and cartoonist
• Juan Gelman (born 1930), Argentinian poet, writer, translator
• Stefan George (1868–1933), German poet, editor, and translator
• Dan Gerber (born 1940), American poet
• Paul Gerhardt (1607–1676), German hymn writer
• Mirza Asadulla Khan Ghalib (1797–1869) Urdu and Persian poet from Subcontinent India
• Charles Ghigna (Father Goose) (born 1946), American children's author, poet, speaker, and nationally syndicated feature writer
• Reginald Gibbons (born 1947), American poet, fiction writer, translator, literary critic and artist
• Khalil Gibran (1883–1931), Lebanese-American artist, poet, and writer
• Wilfrid Wilson Gibson (1878–1962), English Georgian poet
• Jack Gilbert (born 1925), American poet
• Allen Ginsberg (1926–1997), American poet; leading figure of Beat Generation
• Dana Gioia (born 1950), American writer, critic, poet and businessman
• Nikki Giovanni (born 1943), American poet, writer, commentator, activist, and educator
• Zinaida Gippius (1869–1945), Russian poet, playwright, editor, short story writer and religious thinker
• Giglio Gregorio Giraldi (1479–1552), Italian scholar and poet
• Giuseppe Giusti (1809–1850), Italian poet
• Denis Glover (1912–1980), New Zealand poet and publisher
• Louise Glück (born 1943), American poet; US Poet Laureate

Go

• Guru Gobind Singh (1666–1708), Sikh Guru, founder of Khalsa, and Punjabi, Urdu, Hindi, Sanskrit, Brij Bhasha, and Farsi Poet
• Gérald Godin (1938–1994), Quebec poet and politician
• Patricia Goedicke (1931–2006), American poet
• Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832), German writer, artist, and politician
• Octavian Goga (1881–1938), Romanian politician, poet, playwright, journalist, and translator
• Leah Goldberg (1911–1970), prolific Hebrew-language poet, author, playwright, literary translator, and researcher
• Rumer Godden (1907–1998), English writer, poet
• Ziya Gökalp Turkish sociologist, writer, poet, and political activist
• Oliver Goldsmith (1730–1774), Anglo-Irish writer and poet
• Pavel Golia (1887–1959), Slovenian poet and playwright
• Luis de Góngora (1561–1627), Spanish Baroque lyric poet
• Lorna Goodison (born 1947), Jamaican poet
• Paul Goodman (1911–1972), American novelist, playwright, poet and psychotherapist
• Barnabe Googe or Gooche (1540–1594), English pastoral poet, and translator
• Adam Lindsay Gordon (1833–1870), Australian poet, jockey and politician.
• Sergei Gorodetsky (1884–1967), Russian poet
• Hedwig Gorski (born 1949), American performance poet and avant-garde artist
• Herman Gorter (1864–1927), Dutch poet and socialist
• Sir Edmund William Gosse (1849–1928), English poet, author and critic
• Remy de Gourmont (1858–1915), French Symbolist poet, novelist, and critic
• John Gower (c. 1330 – 1408), English poet and friend of Geoffrey Chaucer

Gr

• Anders Abraham Grafström (1790–1870), Swedish historian, priest and poet
• James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose (1612–1650), Scottish nobleman, soldier and poet
• Jorie Graham (1950), American poet, the first woman to be appointed Boylston Professor at Harvard
• W S Graham (1918–1986), Scottish poet
• Mark Granier (born 1957), Irish poet and photographer
• Alex Grant, Scottish American poet, teacher
• Günter Grass (born 1927), German novelist, poet, playwright, illustrator, graphic artist and sculptor; 1999 Nobel Prize in Literature
• Richard Graves (1715–1804), British poet and essayist
• Robert Graves (1895–1985), British author, scholar
• Sir Alexander Gray (1882–1968), Scottish civil servant, economist, academic, translator, writer and poet
• Thomas Gray (1716–1771), British poet
• Robert Greene (1558–1592), English author, poet
• Dora Greenwell (1821–1882), English poet
• Linda Gregg (born 1945) American poet
• Horace Gregory (1898–1982), American poet, translator, literary critic and professor
• Eamon Grennan (born 1941), Irish poet
• Fulke Greville, 1st Baron Brooke (1554–1628), Elizabethan poet, dramatist, and statesman
• Susan Griffin (born 1943), American ecofeminist poet, writer
• Bill Griffiths (1948–2007), English poet and Anglo-Saxon scholar associated with the British Poetry Revival
• Mariela Griffor (born 1961), Chilean journalist, poet, short-story writer, activist, columnist and scholar
• Geoffrey Grigson (1905–1985), British poet and critic
• Franz Grillparzer (1791–1872), Austrian writer, poet, dramatist
• Nicholas Grimald (1519–1562), English poet and dramatist
• Angelina Weld Grimké (1880–1958), African-American journalist, teacher, playwright and poet who was part of the Harlem Renaissance
• Charlotte Forten Grimké (1835–1914), African-American anti-slavery activist, poet, and educator
• Rufus W. Griswold (1815–1857) was an American anthologist, editor, poet, and critic
• Nikanor Grujić (1810–1887), Serbian Bishop, statesman, writer, poet, orator and translator
• Stanisław Grochowiak (1934–1976), Polish poet and dramatist
• Philip Gross (born 1952), English poet, novelist, playwright and academic
• Igo Gruden (1893–1948), Slovene poet and translator
• Nikolai Frederik Severin Grundtvig (1783–1872), Danish poet, pastor, philosopher and historian

Gu–Gy

• Barbara Guest (1920–2006), American poet and prose stylist
• Edgar Guest (1881–1959), English-born American poet
• Paul Guest, American quadriplegic poet and memoirist
• Bimal Guha (born 1952), leading Bangladeshi modern poet
• Guillaume de Lorris (c. 1200 – c. 1240), French scholar and poet from Lorris, the author of the first section of the Roman de la Rose
• Jorge Guillén (1893–1984), Spanish poet, a member of the Generation of '27
• Nicolás Guillén (1902–1989), Cuban poet, journalist, political activist, and writer
• Guido Guinizelli (c. 1230 – 1276), Italian poet and ostensible founder of Dolce Stil Novo
• Guiot de Provins (died after 1208), French poet and trouvère
• Gül Baba (died 1541), Ottoman Bektashi dervish poet and companion of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent
• Nikolay Gumilyov (1886–1921), Russian poet who founded the acmeism movement
• Ivan Gundulić (Gianfrancesco Gondola) (1589–1638), Croatian Baroque poet
• Thom Gunn (1929–2004), Anglo-American poet associated with The Movement
• Lee Gurga (born 1949), American haiku poet
• Ivor Gurney (1890–1937), English composer and poet
• Lars Gustafsson (born 1936), Swedish poet, novelist and scholar
• Pedro Juan Gutiérrez (born 1950), Cuban novelist, poet
• Beth Gylys (born 1964), American poet and professor.
• Brion Gysin (1916–1986), English painter, writer, sound poet, and performance artist

H

Ha

• Rafey Habib, Indian-born Muslim poet and scholar
• Marilyn Hacker (born 1942), American poet, translator and critic
• Hadraawi (born 1943), Somali poet and songwriter
• Hafez (1315–1390), Persian poet
• Hai Zi (1964–1989), Chinese poet
• John Haines (1924–2011), American poet and educator
• Donald Hall (born 1928), 2006 US Poet Laureate
• Arthur Hallam (1811–1833), English poet, subject of In Memoriam A.H.H. by his friend Alfred Tennyson
• Michael Hamburger (1924–2007), English translator, poet, critic, and academic
• Han Yu (768–824), Chinese essayist and poet under Tang dynasty
• Hanshan (fl. 9th century), Chinese poet of Tang dynasty
• Thomas Hardy (1840–1928), English novelist and poet
• Charles Harpur (1813–1868), Australian poet
• Sir Theodore Wilson Harris (born 1921), Guyanese poet, novelist and essayist
• Jim Harrison (born 1937), American author; poetry, fiction, reviews, and essays
• Tony Harrison (born 1937), English poet and playwright
• Carla Harryman (born 1952), American poet, essayist, and playwright often associated with Language poets
• David Harsent (born 1942), English poet and TV scriptwriter
• Peter Härtling (born 1933), German writer and poet
• Michael Hartnett (1941–1999), Irish poet, who wrote in both English and Irish
• Gwen Harwood (1920–1995), Australian poet and librettist
• Alamgir Hashmi (born 1951), English poet of Pakistani origin
• Ahmet Haşim (1884?–1933), influential Turkish poet
• Robert Hass (born 1941) American poet, and former Poet Laureate
• Olav H. Hauge (1908–1994), Norwegian poet
• Gerhart Hauptmann (1862–1946), German dramatist, poet, and novelist; Nobel Prize in Literature in 1912
• Stephen Hawes (died 1523), popular English poet during the Tudor period
• Robert Stephen Hawker (1803–1875), Anglican priest, poet, antiquarian of Cornwall
• George Campbell Hay (1915–1984), Scots poet and translator, who wrote in Scottish Gaelic, Lowland Scots and English
• Gilbert Hay (fl. 15th century), Scots poet and translator
• Robert Hayden (1930–1980), American poet, essayist, educator; 1976 US Poet Laureate
• William Hayley (1745–1820), English writer, friend of Cowper
• Tony Haynes (born 1960) American poet, songwriter, author, lyricist

He

• Seamus Heaney (1939–2013), Irish poet, playwright, translator, lecturer; 1995 Nobel Prize in Literature
• Josephine D. Heard (1861 – c. 1921), American teacher, poet
• John Heath-Stubbs (1918–2006), English poet and translator
• Anne Hébert (1916–2000), Canadian poet and novelist
• Anthony Hecht (1923–2004), American poet
• Jennifer Michael Hecht (born 1965), American poet, historian, philosopher, and author
• Allison Hedge Coke (born 1958), American poet, writer, performer
• Markus Hediger (born 1959), Swiss writer and translator
• John Hegley (born 1953), English performance poet, comedian, musician and songwriter
• Heinrich Heine (1797–1856), German poet, journalist, essayist, and literary critic
• Lyn Hejinian (1941), American poet, essayist, translator and publisher
• Acharya Hemachandra (1089–1172), Jain scholar, poet, and polymath
• Felicia Hemans (1793–1835), English poet
• Essex Hemphill (1957–1995), American poet and activist
• Hamish Henderson (1919–2002); Scottish poet, songwriter, soldier, and catalyst for folk revival in Scotland
• William Ernest Henley (1849–1903), English poet, critic and editor
• Adrian Henri (1932–2000), English poet and painter
• Robert Henryson (died c. 1500), Scottish poet
• Edward Herbert, 1st Baron Herbert of Cherbury (1583–1648) Anglo-Welsh soldier, diplomat, historian, poet and religious philosopher; brother of George Herbert
• George Herbert (1593–1633), public orator and poet
• Mary Herbert, Countess of Pembroke (1561–1621), (née Sidney) one of the first English women to achieve a major reputation for her literary works, poetry, and poetic translations
• Zbigniew Herbert (1924–1998), Polish poet, essayist, drama writer, author of plays, and moralist
• Johann Gottfried Herder (1744–1803), German philosopher, theologian, poet, and literary critic
• Miguel Hernández (1910–1942), Spanish poet and playwright associated with Generation of '27 and Generation of '36 movements
• Herodas or Herondas (3rd century BC), Greek poet and author of short humorous dramatic scenes in verse
• Antoine Héroet, (died 1568), French poet
• Robert Herrick (1591–1674), English poet
• Hesiod (fl. 750–650 BC), Ancient Greek poet
• Phoebe Hesketh (1909–2005), English poet
• Hermann Hesse (1877–1962), German-Swiss poet, novelist, and painter
• Dorothy Hewett (1923–2002), Australian feminist poet, novelist, librettist and playwright
• John Harold Hewitt (1907–1987), Northern Ireland-born poet
• William Heyen (born 1940), American poet, literary critic, novelist
• Thomas Heywood (c. 1570s – 1641), English playwright, actor, and author

Hi–Hr

• Dick Higgins (1938–1998), Fluxus poet, and publisher
• Scott Hightower (born 1952), American poet and teacher
• Nâzım Hikmet (1902–19693), Turkish poet, playwright, novelist and memoirist
• Geoffrey Hill (born 1932), English poet and professor
• Hilda Hilst (1930–2004), Brazilian poet, playwright and novelist
• Ellen Hinsey (born 1960), American poet
• Hipponax (6th century BC), of Ephesus and later Clazomenae, Ancient Greek iambic poet
• Rozalie Hirs, (born 1965), Dutch poet
• Jane Hirshfield, (born 1953), American poet
• George Parks Hitchcock (1914–2010), American actor, poet, playwright, teacher, labor activist, publisher, and painter
• H. L. Hix (born 1960), American poet and academic
• Thomas Hoccleve or Occleve (c. 1368 – 1426), English poet and clerk
• Michael Hofmann (born 1957), German-born poet who writes in English, and translator
• Hugo von Hofmannsthal (1874–1929), Austrian novelist, librettist, poet, dramatist, narrator, and essayist
• James Hogg (1770–1835), Scottish poet and novelist
• David Holbrook (1923–2011), British writer, poet and academic
• Friedrich Hölderlin (1770–1843), German lyric poet associated with Romanticism
• Barbara Holland (born 1933), American author
• John Hollander (born 1929), Jewish-American poet and literary critic
• Matthew Hollis (born 1971), English poet
• Oliver Wendell Holmes (1809–1894), American physician, poet, professor, and author
• Homer (fl. 8th century BC), Greek epic poet, author of Iliad and Odyssey
• Thomas Hood (1799–1845), English humorist and poet; father of playwright and editor Tom Hood
• A. D. Hope (1907–2000), Australian poet and essayist known for his satirical slant
• Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844–1889), English poet, Roman Catholic convert, and Jesuit priest
• Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus) (65–08 BC), Roman lyric poet
• George Moses Horton (1797–1884), African-American poet
• Joan Houlihan, American poet
• A. E. Housman (1859–1936), English classical scholar and poet
• Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey (1517–1547), English aristocrat, and one of the founders of English Renaissance poetry
• Richard Howard (born 1929), American poet, literary critic, essayist, teacher and translator
• Fanny Howe (born 1940), American poet, novelist, and short story writer
• Susan Howe (born 1937), American poet, scholar, essayist and critic; associated with Language poetry
• Hrotsvitha (died c.1002), poet and playwright from Lower Saxony; first known woman dramatist in literature

Hu–Hy

• Mohammad Nurul Huda (born 1949), modern poet from Bangladesh
• Langston Hughes (1902–1967), American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright and columnist
• Ted Hughes (1930–1998), English poet and children's writer; Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom
• Richard Hugo (1923–1982), American poet
• Victor Hugo (1802–1885), French poet, novelist, and dramatist
• Vicente Huidobro (1893–1948), Chilean poet; exponent of artistic movement called Creacionismo
• Lynda Hull (1954–1994), American poet
• Thomas Ernest Hulme (1883–1917), English critic and poet
• Alexander Hume (1560–1609), Scottish poet
• Leigh Hunt (1784–1859), English critic, essayist, poet and writer
• Sam Hunt (born 1946), New Zealand poet.
• Hồ Xuân Hương (1772–1822), Vietnamese poet born at the end of Lê Dynasty
• Aldous Huxley (1894–1963), English novelist; writer of short stories, poetry, travel writing, film stories and scripts
• Helen von Kolnitz Hyer (1896–1983), American poet, writer; South Carolina Poet Laureate 1974–83

I

• Henrik Johan Ibsen (1828–1906) major Norwegian playwright, theatre director, and poet
• Ibycus (fl. second half 6th century BC), Ancient Greek lyric poet from Rhegium, numbered nine canonical lyric poets
• Ikkyu (1394–1481), Japanese Zen Buddhist monk and poet
• Vojislav Ilić (1860–1894), Serbian poet
• Sir Dr. Muhammad Iqbal, (1877–1938) Indian poet (Pakistan's national poet)
• Avetik Isahakyan (1875–1957), Armenian lyric poet
• Sabit Ince (1954-), Turkish lyric poet
• Sergey Izgiyaev (1922—1972), poet, playwright and translator of Mountain Jewish descent

J

• FP Jac (1955–2008), Danish poet
• Đura Jakšić (1832–1878), Serbian poet, painter, writer, dramatist, bohemian and patriot
• Rolf Jacobsen (1907–1994), Norwegian poet, writer
• Ada Jafarey (born 1924) Pakistani Urdu poet
• Richard Jago (1715–1781), English poet
• James I, King of Scots (1394–1437), author of The Kingis Quair
• James VI and I (1566–1625), King of Scots and King of England and Ireland from 1603
• Clive James (born 1939), Australian author, critic, broadcaster, poet and memoirist
• Ernst Jandl (1925–2000), Austrian writer, poet, and translator
• Patricia Janus (1932–2006), American poet and artist
• Mark F. Jarman (born 1952), American poet and critic
• Randall Jarrell (1914–1965), American poet, literary critic, children's author, essayist, novelist; US Poet Laureate
• Robinson Jeffers (1887–1962), American poet
• Vojin Jelić (1921–2004), Croatian Serb poet, writer
• Rod Jellema (born 1927), American poet, teacher, and translator
• Simon Jenko (1835–1869), Slovene poet, lyricist and writer
• Elizabeth Jennings (1926–2001), English poet
• Jia Dao (779–843), Chinese poet active under Tang Dynasty
• John of the Cross (1542–1591), Spanish mystic and poet
• Edmund John (1883–1917), English poet of the Uranian school
• Georgia Douglas Johnson (1880–1966), American poet of the Harlem Renaissance
• Helene Johnson (1906–1995), African-American poet of the Harlem Renaissance
• James Weldon Johnson (1871–1938), American author, poet, folklorist, and civil rights leader
• Lionel Johnson (1867–1902), English poet, essayist and critic
• Emily Pauline Johnson (in Mohawk: Tekahionwake) (1861–1913), Canadian writer and performer whose poems celebrate her First Nations heritage
• Samuel Johnson (1709–1784), English poet, essayist, moralist, critic, biographer, editor and lexicographer
• George Benson Johnston (1913–2004), Canadian poet, translator, and academic
• David Jones (1895–1974), English artist and poet
• Richard Jones, English American poet
• Ben Jonson (1573–1637), poet and dramatist
• June Jordan (1936–2002), American poet and educator
• Anthony Joseph, British-Trinidadian poet, novelist, musician and lecturer
• Jenny Joseph (born 1932), English poet
• Jovan Jovanović Zmaj (1833–1904), Serbian poet, physician
• James Joyce (1882–1941), Irish novelist and poet
• Frank Judge (born 1946), American editor and publisher, poet, translator and film critic
• Jamal Jumá, Iraqi poet and researcher
• Donald Justice (1925–2004), American poet; Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, 1980
• Juvenal (fl. 1st century – 2nd century CE), Roman poet, satirist
• Jumoke Verissimo (1979), Nigerian poet

K

Ka–Kh

• Kabir (1440–1518), mystic poet and sant of India
• Kālidāsa (fl. c. 4th century) Sanskrit poet
• Kambar (c. 1180 – 1250), Tamil poet
• Kannadasan (1927–1981),Tamil poet, author and lyricist
• Jim Kacian (born 1953), American haiku poet, editor, publisher, and public speaker
• Uuno Kailas (1901–1933), Finnish poet, author, and translator
• Chester Kallman (1921–1975), American poet, librettist, and translator, who collaborated with W. H. Auden and Igor Stravinsky
• Kálmán Kalocsay (1891–1976), Hungarian poet; foremost figure in Esperanto literature
• Anna Kamieńska (1920–1986), Polish poet, writer, translator and literary critic
• Ilya Kaminsky (born 1977), Russian-American poet, critic, translator and professor
• Orhan Veli Kanik (1914–1950), Turkish poet; a founder of the Garip Movement
• Jaan Kaplinski (born 1941), Estonian poet, philosopher, and culture critic
• Andreas Karavis, fictitious poet; hoax created by poet David Solway
• Mary Karr (born 1955), American poet, essayist and memoirist
• Vim Karenine (born 1933) American poet, essayist and novelist
• Julia Kasdorf (born 1962) American poet
• Laura Kasischke (born 1961) American poet, fiction writer
• Erich Kästner (1899–1974), German author, poet, screenwriter and satirist
• Bob Kaufman (1925–1986), American Beat poet and surrealist; coined the term "beatnik"
• Shirley Kaufman (born 1923), American poet and translator
• Patrick Kavanagh (1904–1967), Irish poet and novelist
• Nikos Kavvadias (1910–1975), Greek poet
• Kazi Nazrul Islam (1899–11976), Bengali poet, musician and revolutionary
• John Keats (1795–1821), English Romantic poet.
• Weldon Kees (1914–1955), American poet, painter, critic, novelist, playwright, pianist, and filmmaker
• Arthur Kelton (died 1549/1550), author who wrote in rhyme about Welsh history
• Miranda Kennedy (born 1975), American poet
• Walter Kennedy (c. 1455 – 1518), Scottish makar
• X. J. Kennedy (born 1929), American poet, translator, anthologist, and author of textbooks and children's literature
• Jane Kenyon (1947–1995), American poet and translator
• Jack Kerouac (1922–1969), American novelist and poet
• Sidney Keyes (1922–1943), English poet killed in action in Tunisia in World War II.
• Keorapetse Kgositsile (born 1938), South African poet and political activist
• Mimi Khalvati (born 1944), Iranian-born British poet
• Khushal Khan Khattak (1613–1689), Pashtun Afghan poet, warrior, charismatic personality and tribal chief of the Khattak tribe
• Omar Khayyám (1048–1122), Persian polymath: philosopher, mathematician, astronomer and poet
• Velemir Khlebnikov (1885–1922), Russian poet and playwright; part of the Russian Futurist movement
• Vladislav Khodasevich (1886–1939), Russian poet and literary critic
• Ab'ul Hasan Yamīn ud-Dīn Khusrow (1253–1325), known as Amīr Khusrow, Sufi musician, great poet and scholar

Ki–Kn

• Saba Kidane (born 1978), Eritrean poet
• Søren Kierkegaard (1813–1855), Danish philosopher and poet
• Takarai Kikaku (1661–1707), Japanese haikai poet and a disciple of Matsuo Bashō
• Joyce Kilmer (1886–1918), American writer and poet
• Edward King (1612–1637), subject of Milton's Lycidas, born in Ireland
• Henry King (1592–1669), English poet and bishop
• William King (1663–1712), English poet
• Thomas Hansen Kingo (1634–1703), Danish bishop, poet and hymn-writer
• Gottfried Kinkel (1815–1882), German poet and revolutionary
• Galway Kinnell (born 1927), American poet; Pulitzer Prize for Poetry 1982
• John Kinsella (born 1963), Australian poet, novelist, critic, essayist and editor
• Thomas Kinsella (born 1928), Irish poet, translator, editor, and publisher
• Rudyard Kipling (1865–1936), English short-story writer, poet and novelist
• Danilo Kiš (1935–1989), Serbian novelist, short story writer and poet
• Necip Fazıl Kısakürek (1904–1983), Turkish poet, novelist, playwright, philosopher and activist
• Eila Kivikk'aho (1921–2004), Finnish poet
• Carolyn Kizer (born 1925), American poet; Pulitzer Prize for Poetry 1985
• Sarah Klassen (born 1932) Canadian writer of short fiction collection and five books of poetry
• Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock (1724–1803), German poet
• Etheridge Knight (1931–1991), African-American poet

Ko–Ky

• Kobayashi Issa (1763–1828), Japanese haikai poet
• Jan Kochanowski (1530–1584), Polish Renaissance poet
• Kenneth Koch (1925–2002), American poet, playwright, and professor; New York School
• Petar Kočić (1877–1916), Bosnian Serb writer, politician
• Yusef Komunyakaa (born 1948), American poet and teacher; Pulitzer Prize for Poetry 1994
• Faik Konica (1875–1942) Albanian poet
• Ted Kooser (born 1939), American poet; US Poet Laureate 2004–06
• Srečko Kosovel (1904–1926), Slovene expressionist poet
• Laza Kostić (1841–1910), Serbian poet, writer, lawyer, polyglot, publicist, and politician
• Dezső Kosztolányi (1885–1936) Hungarian poet and prose writer
• Taja Kramberger (born 1970), Slovene poet, translator, essayist and historical anthropologist
• Ignacy Krasicki (1735–1801), Poland's leading Enlightenment poet; critic of clergy, author of first Polish novel
• Zlatko Krasni (1951–2008), Serbian poet
• Ruth Krauss (1901–1993), American poet and children's books author
• Krayem Awad (born 1948), Syrian-Austrian painter, sculptor and poet
• Carolyn Kreiter-Foronda (born 1940), American writer, Poet Laureate of Virginia
• Miroslav Krleža (1893–1981), Croatian and Yugoslav poet and novelist
• Antjie Krog (born 1952), prominent South African poet, academic and writer
• Marilyn Krysl (born 1942), American poet, short story writer

Yanka Kupala

• Anatoly Kudryavitsky (born 1954), Russian Irish novelist, poet and literary translator
• Maxine Kumin (born 1925), American poet; US Poet Laureate 1981–82
• Stanley Kunitz (1905–2006), American poet; US Poet Laureate 1974 and 2000
• Yanka Kupala (1882–1942), Belarus poet
• Tuli Kupferberg (1923–2010), American counterculture poet, author, cartoonist, pacifist and anarchist
• Momoko Kuroda (黒田杏子, born 1938), Japanese haiku poet
• Onat Kutlar (1936–1995), prominent Turkish writer, film producer/actor, and poet
• Stephen Kuusisto (born 1955), American poet
• Kusumagraj (1912–1999), eminent Indian Marathi poet, writer and humanist
• Sir Francis Kynaston or Kinaston (1587–1642), English lawyer, courtier, poet and politician

L

La

• Ilmar Laaban (1921–2000), Estonian poet
• Pierre Labrie (born 1972), poet from Quebec
• Jean de La Fontaine (1621–1695), French fabulist
• Jules Laforgue (1860–1887), Franco-Uruguayan poet, major influence on Ezra Pound and T S Eliot
• Jarkko Laine (1947–2006), Finnish poet, writer, playwright
• Ivan V. Lalić (1931–1996), Serbian poet
• Philip Lamantia (1927–2005), American poet and lecturer
• Alphonse de Lamartine (1790–1869), French writer, poet and politician
• Charles Lamb (1775–1834), English essayist and poet
• Letitia Elizabeth Landon (L. E. L., 1802–1838), English poet and novelist.
• Walter Savage Landor (1775–1864), English writer and poet
• William Langland (c. 1332 – c. 1386) probable English author of dream-vision Piers Plowman
• Emilia Lanier (1569–1645), first Englishwoman to call herself a professional poet
• Laozi (Lau-tzu) (fl. 6th century BC), Chinese philosopher, poet of history of ancient China
• Alda Lara (1930–1962), Angolan poet
• Rebecca Hammond Lard (1772–1855), American poet; first poet of Indiana
• Bruce Larkin (born 1957), American children's author and poet
• Philip Larkin (1922–1985), English poet and novelist
• Claudia Lars (1899–1974), Salvadoran poet
• Else Lasker-Schüler (1869–1945), German poet and playwright
• Lasus of Hermione (6th century BC), Greek lyric poet from Hermione in Argolid
• David Lehman (born 1948), American poet, editor
• Evelyn Lau (born 1971), Canadian poet and novelist
• James Laughlin (1914–1997), American poet, publisher
• Ann Lauterbach (born 1942), American poet, essayist, and professor
• Comte de Lautréamont (1846–1870), Uruguayan-born French poet
• Jan Lauwereyns (born 1969), Belgian poet, writer and scientist
• Dorianne Laux (born 1952), American poet
• Christine Lavant (1915–1973), Austrian poet and novelist
• D. H. Lawrence (1885–1930), English novelist, poet, playwright, essayist, literary critic and painter
• Henry Lawson (1867–1922), Australian writer and poet; son of Louisa Lawson
• Louisa Lawson (1848–1920), Australian poet, writer, publisher, suffragist, and feminist; mother of Henry Lawson
• Robert Lax (1915–2000), American poet; friend of Thomas Merton
• Laxmi Prasad Devkota (1909–1959), Nepalese poet and scholar

Le

• Edward Lear (1812–1888), English artist, illustrator, author, and poet
• Jan Lechoń (1899–1956), Polish poet, critic, and diplomat; co-founder of Skamander literary movement
• Francis Ledwidge (1887–1917), Irish war poet
• David Lee (born 1966), American poet
• Dennis Lee (born 1939), Canadian poet, teacher, editor, and critic
• Eino Leino (1878–1926), Finnish poet and journalist
• Brad Leithauser (born 1953), American poet, novelist, essayist, and teacher
• Sue Lenier (born 1957), English poet and playwright
• Lalitha Lenin (born 1946), Indian poet
• John Leonard (born 1965), Australian poet
• Lekhnath Paudyal (1885-1967), Nepalese poet
• Giacomo Leopardi (1798–1837), Italian poet, essayist, philosopher, and philologist
• Mikhail Lermontov (1814–1841), Russian Romantic writer, poet and painter
• Ben Lerner (born 1979), American poet, novelist, and critic
• Bolesław Leśmian (1877–1937), Polish poet, artist
• Rika Lesser (born 1953), American poet, translator
• Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (1729–1781), German writer, philosopher, dramatist, publicist and art critic
• Denise Levertov (1927–1997), British-born American poet; associated with Black Mountain poets
• Dana Levin (born 1965), American poet and teacher
• Philip Levine (born 1928), American poet; 2011–12 US Poet Laureate, 1995 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry
• Larry Levis (1946–1996), American poet
• D. A. Levy (1942–1968), American poet, artist, and alternative publisher
• William Levy (born 1939), American magazine editor, short story writer and poet
• Oswald LeWinter (1931–2013), poet of Ages of Chaos & Fury (2005) and More Atoms of Memory (2006)
• Alun Lewis (1915–1944), Welsh poet in English, of World War II
• C S Lewis (1898–1963), Northern Irish novelist, poet, academic, critic, essayist, and Christian apologist
• Gwyneth Lewis (born 1959), Welsh poet, and inaugural National Poet of Wales
• J. Patrick Lewis (born 1942), American poet and Children's Poet Laureate (2011–13)
• Saunders Lewis (1893–1985), Welsh poet, dramatist, historian, literary critic, and political activist
• Wyndham Lewis (1884–1957), English painter and author

Li–Ly

• Li Houzhu (937–978), last ruler of Southern Tang Kingdom (961–975); poet
• José Lezama Lima (1910–1976), Cuban writer and poet
• Tim Liardet (born 1959), English poet, critic, professor
• Li Bai (701–762), major Chinese poet of Tang dynasty
• Li Jiao, official under Tang and Zhou dynasties; poet
• Li Qingzhao (1084–1151), Chinese writer and poet of Song Dynasty
• Li Shangyin (813–858), Chinese poet of late Tang Dynasty
• Tim Lilburn (born 1950), Canadian poet and essayist
• Anne Morrow Lindbergh (1906–2001), American author, aviator; wife of Charles Lindbergh
• Sarah Lindsay, American poet
• Rossy Evelin Lima (born 1986), Mexican poet
• Vachel Lindsay (1879–1931), American poet
• Yannis Livadas (born 1969), Greek poet
• Terry Locke (born 1946), New Zealand poet, anthologist, poetry reviewer and academic
• Thomas Lodge (1558–1625), English dramatist and writer of Elizabethan and Jacobean periods
• Iain Lom (c. 1624–c. 1710), Scottish Gaelic poet
• Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–1882), American poet and educator
• Michael Longley (born 1939), Northern Irish poet
• Federico García Lorca (1898–1936), Spanish poet, dramatist and theater director
• Audre Lorde (1934–1992), Caribbean-American writer, poet, librarian and activist
• Richard Lovelace (1618–1658), English Cavalier poet
• Amy Lowell (1874–1925), American poet of imagist school; 1926 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry
• James Russell Lowell (1819–1891), American Romantic poet, critic, editor and diplomat; Fireside Poets
• Robert Lowell (1917–1977), American poet, confessional poetry movement; 1947 and 1974 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry; 1947 US Poet Laureate
• Maria White Lowell (1821–1853), American poet and abolitionist
• Mina Loy (1882–1966), English artist, poet, playwright, novelist, Futurist, actress and Christian Scientist
• Lu You (1125–1209), Chinese Song Dynasty poet
• Gherasim Luca (1913–1994), Surrealist theorist and Romanian poet
• Lucan (39–65 AD), Roman poet
• Edward Lucie-Smith (born 1933), British writer, poet, art critic, curator, broadcaster and author
• Gaius Lucilius (fl. 2nd century BC), Roman satirist
• Lucilius Junior (fl. 1st century AD), poet, friend of Seneca; procurator of Sicily under Nero
• Lucretius (c. 99 BC – c. 55 BC), Roman poet and philosopher
• Fitz Hugh Ludlow (1836–1870), American author, journalist, and explorer
• Luo Binwang (640–684), Chinese writer and poet recognized as one of Four Greats of the Early Tang
• Thomas Lux (born 1946), American poet
• Mario Luzi (1914–2005), Italian poet
• John Lydgate (1370–1450), English monk and poet
• John Lyly (1553–1606), English writer, poet, dramatist, playwright and politician
• Sir David Lyndsay of the Mount (c. 1490–c. 1555), Scottish Lord Lyon and poet
• George Lyttelton (1709–1773), English poet, statesman and arts patron

M

Ma

Mac–Mak

• Thomas Babington Macaulay, 1st Baron Macaulay (1800–1859), Anglo-Scottish poet, historian and Whig politician
• George MacBeth (1932–1992), Scottish poet and novelist
• Norman MacCaig (1910–1996), Scots poet
• Hugh MacDiarmid (1892–1978), Scots poets, most prominent poet of Scottish Renaissance
• George MacDonald (1824–1905), poet, novelist
• Sorley MacLean (1911–1996), Scots Gaelic poet
• Gwendolyn MacEwen (1941–1987), Canadian writer, poet
• Antonio Machado (1875–1939), Spanish poet; prominent in Generation of '98
• Arthur Machen (1863–1947), Welsh short story writer, poet, novelist, journalist, actor
• Compton Mackenzie (1883–1972), Scottish writer, memoirist, poet, and co-founder of Scottish National Party
• Archibald MacLeish (1892–1982), American Modernist poet, writer; won three Pulitzer Prizes
• Aonghas MacNeacail (born 1942), writer in Scottish Gaelic
• Louis MacNeice (1907–1963), Irish poet and playwright; of generation of "thirties poets"
• Hector Macneill (1746–1818), Scots poet and songwriter
• James Macpherson (1736–1796), Scottish writer, poet, and politician, known as "translator" of Ossian poem cycle
• Haki R. Madhubuti (born 1942), African-American author, educator, and poet
• John Gillespie Magee, Jr. (1922–1941), American aviator and poet; combat pilot officer
• Derek Mahon (born 1941), Northern Irish poet
• Rudolf Maister (1874–1934), Slovene military officer, poet and political activist
• Gajanan Digambar Madgulkar (1919–1977), Marathi and Hindi poet, lyricist, playwright, actor and orator.
• Clarence Major (born 1936), American poet, painter and novelist
• Desanka Maksimović (1898–1993), Serbian poet and professor
• Majeed Amjad (1914–1974), Punjabi Urdu poet

Mal–Mar

• Stephane Mallarme (1842–1898), French poet and critic; symbolist movement
• David Mallet (c. 1705 – 1765), Scottish dramatist and poet
• Sir Thomas Malory (1405–1471), English writer and author of Le Morte d'Arthur
• Goffredo Mameli (1827–1849), Italian patriot, poet and writer
• Osip Mandelstam (1891–1938), (also Mandelshtam), Russian poet
• James Clarence Mangan (1803–1849), Irish poet
• Bill Manhire (born 1946), New Zealand poet, short story writer, and professor; inaugural New Zealand Poet Laureate
• Marcus Manilius (fl. 1st century AD), Roman poet and astrologer
• Maurice Manning (poet) (born 1966), American poet
• Ruth Manning-Sanders (1895–1988), Welsh-born English poet and author
• Robert Mannyng (1275–1340), English chronicler and Gilbertine monk writing in Middle English, French and Latin
• Chris Mansell (born 1953), Australian poet and publisher
• Manuchehri (Abu Najm Ahmad ibn Ahmad ibn Qaus Manuchehri; 11th century), royal poet in Persia
• Alessandro Manzoni (1785–1873), Italian poet, novelist
• Ausiàs March (1397–1459), Valencian poet and knight
• Morton Marcus (1936–2009), American poet and author
• Paul Mariani (born 1940), American poet and a professor at Boston College
• Marie de France (fl. 12th century), medieval poet probably born in France and resident in England
• Filippo Tommaso Marinetti (1876–1944), Italian poet and editor, founder of Futurist movement
• Giambattista Marino (1569–1625), Italian poet
• E. A. Markham (1939–2008), Montserrat poet, playwright, novelist and academic
• Edwin Markham (1852–1940), American poet
• Đorđe Marković Koder (1806–1891), Serbian poet, sometimes cited as first Serbian modernist.
• Christopher Marlowe (1564–1593), English dramatist, poet and translator
• Clément Marot (1496–1544), French poet of Renaissance period
• Don Marquis (1878–1937), American humorist, journalist, novelist, poet, and playwright
• Edward Garrard Marsh (1783–1862), English poet and Anglican cleric
• John Marston (1576–1634), English poet, playwright and satirist
• José Martí (1853–1895), Cuban poet and writer
• Martial (40 – c. 102), Roman epigrammatists
• Camille Martin (born 1956), Canadian poet and collage artist
• Harry Martinson (1904–1978), Swedish sailor, author and poet
• Andrew Marvell (1621–1678), English metaphysical poet and politician

Mas–Maz

• John Masefield (1878–1967), English poet and writer; Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom (1930–1967)
• Edgar Lee Masters (1868–1950), American poet, biographer, and dramatist
• Glyn Maxwell (born 1962), British poet, playwright, librettist, and lecturer
• Vladimir Mayakovsky (1893–1930), Russian and Soviet poet and playwright
• Karl May (1842–1912), German writer, poet, composer, playwright, musician
• Bernadette Mayer (born 1945), American poet and prose writer

Mc

• James McAuley (1917–1976), Australian academic, poet, journalist, and literary critic; convert to Roman Catholicism
• Susan McCaslin (born 1947), Canadian/American poet and literary critic
• J. D. McClatchy (born 1945), American poet and literary critic
• Michael McClure (born 1932), American poet, playwright, songwriter, and novelist
• John McCrae (1872–1918), Canadian poet, physician, author, artist and soldier; "In Flanders Fields"
• Walt McDonald (born 1934), American poet, Poet Laureate of Texas
• Bryant H. McGill (born 1969), American editor and author
• Elvis McGonagall, Scottish poet, stand-up comedian
• William Topaz McGonagall (1825–1902), reputedly the worst poet in the history of the English language
• Roger McGough (born 1937), English comedian and, poet
• Campbell McGrath (born 1962), American poet
• Wendy McGrath, Canadian poet, novelist
• Thomas McGrath (1916–1990), American poet
• Heather McHugh (born 1948), American poet, translator and educator
• Duncan McIntyre (Duncan Ban McIntyre, 1724–1812), Scots Gaelic poet
• James McIntyre (1827–1906), the "Cheese Poet", known as worst poet in Canadian history
• Claude McKay (1889–1948), Jamaican-American writer and poet
• Don McKay (born 1942), Canadian poet, editor, and educator
• Rod McKuen (born 1933), American poet, songwriter, composer, and singer
• James McMichael (born 1939), American poet
• Ian McMillan (born 1956), English poet, journalist, playwright and broadcaster

Me

• Narsinh Mehta (1414?–1481?), poet-saint of Gujarat, India; bhakta
• Mei Yaochen (1002–1060), Chinese poet of Song dynasty
• Peter Meinke (born 1932), American poet, essayist, and fiction writer, first Poet Laureate of St. Petersburg, FL
• Herman Melville (1819–1891), American novelist, short story writer, essayist and poet
• Meng Haoran (689 or 691 – 740), Chinese Tang Dynasty poet
• George Meredith (1828–1909), English poet and novelist
• Kersti Merilaas (1913–1986), Estonian poet, member of the Arbujad
• Alda Merini (1931–2009) Italian writer and poet
• Stuart Merrill (1863–1915), American Symbolist poet; wrote predominantly in French
• James Merrill (1926–1995), American poet; 1977 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry
• Thomas Merton (1915–1968), American author and Trappist monk
• W. S. Merwin (born 1927), American poet and author; 1971 and 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry; 2010 US Poet Laureate
• Sarah Messer, (born 1966), American poet and writer
• Charlotte Mew (1869–1928), English poet
• Henry Meyer (1840–1925), American poet; wrote in Pennsylvania Dutch

Mi–Ml

Gabriela Mistral

• Michael Madhusudan Dutt (1824–1873), Bengali poet and dramatist
• Henri Michaux (1899–1984), Belgian-born French poet, writer, and painter
• Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (1475–1564) Italian sculptor, painter, architect, poet, and engineer
• Adam Mickiewicz (1798–1855), Polish national poet, essayist, translator, publicist and political writer
• Veronica Micle (1850–1889), Imperial Austrian-born Romanian poet
• Christopher Middleton (d. 1628) (c. 1560 – 1628), English poet and translator
• Christopher Middleton (born 1926), English poet and translator, esp. of German literature
• Agnes Miegel (1879–1964), German author, journalist, and poet
• Josephine Miles (1911–1985), American poet and literary critic
• Jennifer Militello, American poet and professor
• Branko Miljković (1934–1961), Serbian poet
• Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892–1950), American lyrical poet, playwright and feminist; 1923 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry
• Alice Duer Miller (1874–1942), American writer and poet
• Grazyna Miller (1957–2009), poet and translator Italian–Polish
• Jane Miller, American poet
• Joaquin Miller (1837–1913), American poet; "Poet of the Sierras"
• Leslie Adrienne Miller, American poet
• Vassar Miller (1924–1998), writer and poet, sufferer from cerebral palsy
• Spike Milligan (1918–2002), Irish comedian, writer, musician, poet, and playwright
• Czesław Miłosz (1911–2004), Polish poet, Nobel Prize in Literature in 1980
• John Milton (1608–1674), English poet, polemicist, and civil servant for the Commonwealth of England
• Sima Milutinović Sarajlija (1791–1847), Serbian adventurer, writer and poet
• Robert Minhinnick (born 1952), Welsh poet, essayist, novelist and translator
• Gabriela Mistral (1889–1957), Chilean poet, educator, diplomat, and feminist; Nobel Prize in Literature 1945
• Adrian Mitchell (1932–2008), English poet, novelist and playwright.
• Silas Weir Mitchell (1829–1914), American physician and writer
• Stephen Mitchell, (born 1943) American poet, translator, scholar, and anthologist
• Waddie Mitchell (born 1950), American cowboy poet
• Ndre Mjeda (1866–1937), Albanian Gheg poet

Mo

• Anis Mojgani (born 1977), spoken word poet and visual artist
• Nicholas I of Montenegro (1841–1921), poet and only king of Montenegro
• Molière (Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, 1622–1673), French playwright
• Atukuri Molla (1440–1530), Telugu poet, author of Ramayana
• Harold Monro (1879–1932), English poet; proprietor of the Poetry Bookshop
• Harriet Monroe (1860–1936), American scholar, critic and poet; editor of Poetry magazine
• John Montague (born 1929), Irish poet
• Charles Montagu, 1st Earl of Halifax, (1661–1715), English poet and statesman; creator of Bank of England
• Eugenio Montale (1896–1981), Italian poet, writer and translator; 1975 Nobel Prize in Literature
• Lenore Montanaro (born 1990), American poet, amputee
• Alexander Montgomerie (c. 1550? – 1598), Scottish Jacobean courtier and makar
• Alan Moore (poet) (born 1960), Irish writer and poet
• Marianne Moore (1887–1972), American Modernist poet and writer
• Merrill Moore (1903–1957), American psychiatrist and poet; sonneteer
• Thomas Moore (1779–1852), Irish poet, singer, songwriter, and entertainer
• Dom Moraes (1938–2004)), Goan writer, poet and columnist
• Edwin Morgan (1920–2010), Scottish poet and translator, associated with Scottish Renaissance
• John Morgan (1688–1733), Welsh clergyman, scholar and poet
• Christian Morgenstern (1871–1914), German author and poet
• Eduard Mörike (1804–1875), German Romantic poet.
• William Morris (1834–1896), English designer and writer; Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, Arts and Crafts Movement
• Jim Morrison (1943–1971), American songwriter and poet; lead singer of The Doors
• Valzhyna Mort (born 1981), Belarus poet
• Viggo Mortensen (born 1958), American actor, poet, musician, photographer and painter
• Moschus (fl. 2nd century BC), ancient Greek bucolic poet; student of Aristarchus of Samothrace
• Howard Moss (1922–1987), American poet, dramatist and critic
• Andrew Motion (born 1952), English poet, novelist and biographer; Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom] 1999–2009
• Enrique Moya (born 1958), Venezuelan poet, fiction writer, translator, essayist and critic

Mu–My

• Micere Githae Mugo (born 1942), Kenyan playwright, author, activist, instructor and poet
• Mohammed Abdullah Hassan (1856–1920), Somali poet and religious leader who set up Dervish state in Scramble for Africa
• Taha Muhammad Ali (1931–2011), Palestinian poet
• Muhammad Tahir ul-Qadri (born 1951), Pakistani Sufi poet and scholar
• Erich Mühsam (1878–1934), German-Jewish antimilitarist, anarchist essayist, poet and playwright
• Edwin Muir (1887–1959), Scottish Orcadian poet, novelist and translator
• Paul Muldoon (born 1951), Irish poet; 2003 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry
• Lale Müldür (born 1956), Turkish poet and writer
• Laura Mullen (born 1958), American poet
• Anthony Munday (1553–1633), English playwright and writer
• George Murnu (1868–1957), Romanian university professor, archaeologist, historian, translator, and poet
• Sheila Murphy (born 1951), American text and visual poet
• George Murray (born 1971), Canadian poet
• Joan Murray (born 1945), American poet, writer, playwright and editor
• Les Murray (born 1938), Australian poet, anthologist and critic
• Richard Murphy (born 1927), Irish poet, member of Aosdána
• Susan Musgrave (born 1951), Canadian poet and children's writer
• Lukijan Mušicki (1777–1837), Serbian poet, prose writer, and polyglot
• Nikola Musulin (fl. 19th century), Serbian poet
• Togara Muzanenhamo (born 1975), Zimbabwean poet
• Lam Quang My (born 1944), Vietnamese poet writing in Polish and Vietnamese

N

Na–Nj

• Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977), Russian novelist, poet and story writer writing in Russian and English
• Guru Nanak Dev (1469–1539), first Sikh Guru and Punjabi poet
• Ogden Nash (1902–1971), American poet known for light verse
• Thomas Nashe (1567–1601), English playwright, poet and satirist
• Imadaddin Nasimi, (died 1417?), Azerbaijani poet
• Momčilo Nastasijević (1894–1938), Serbian poet, novelist and dramatist
• Natsume Sōseki (1867–1916), Japanese novelist and poet of Meiji period
• Nedîm (1681?–1730), Ottoman poet
• John Neihardt (1881–1973), American poet, prose author, historian, ethnographer, and philosopher of Great Plains
• Émile Nelligan (1879–1941), Quebec poet
• Marilyn Nelson (born 1946), American poet, translator and children's book author
• Howard Nemerov (born 1920), American poet; US Poet Laureate, 1963–64 and 1988–90; Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, 1978
• Jan Neruda (1834–1891), Czech journalist, writer and poet
• Pablo Neruda (1904–1973), Chilean poet, diplomat and politician; Nobel Prize for Literature 1971
• Neşâtî, (died 1674), Ottoman Sufi poet;
• Henry John Newbolt (1862–1938), English historian, poet
• John Henry Newman (1801–1890), English Catholic Cardinal; writer, poet, and hymnist
• Aimee Nezhukumatathil (born 1974), Asian American poet
• Nguyễn Du ( 1766–1820), Vietnamese poet in chữ nôm, the ancient writing script of Vietnam
• B. P. Nichol (bpNichol) (1944–1988), Canadian poet
• Grace Nichols (born 1950), Guyanese poet
• John Gambril Nicholson (1866–1931), English schoolteacher, Uranian poet, and amateur photographer
• Norman Nicholson (1914–1987), English poet associated with Cumbrian town of Millom
• Lorine Niedecker (1903–1970), American Objectivist poet
• Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900), German philosopher, poet, composer, cultural critic and classical philologist
• Millosh Gjergj Nikolla (Migjeni) (1911–1938), Albanian poet and writer
• Nisami (1141–1209), Persian poet
• Nishiyama Sōin (1605–1682), Japanese haikai poet
• Petar II Petrovic Njegos (1813–1851), Serbian Orthodox Prince-Bishop of Montenegro; poet, playwright
• Robert Nye (born 1939), English poet, novelist, and writer for children

No–Ny

• Christopher Nolan (1965–2009), Irish poet and author; member of Aosdána
• Fan S. Noli (1882–1965), Albanian-American writer, diplomat, historian, and founder of Albanian Orthodox Church
• Olga Nolla (1938–2001), Puerto Rican poet, writer, journalist and professor
• Harry Northup (born 1940), American actor and poet
• Caroline Norton (1808–1877), English society beauty, feminist, social reformer, and author
• Cyprian Norwid (1821–1883), Polish poet, dramatist, painter, and sculptor
• Alice Notley (born 1945), American poet
• Novalis (Friedrich von Hardenberg), (1772–1801), German poet and novelist
• Alfred Noyes (1880–1958), English poet
• Oodgeroo Noonuccal (1920–1993), first Aboriginal Australian published poet, political activist, artist and educator
• Julia Nyberg (1784–1854), Swedish poet and songwriter
• Naomi Shihab Nye (born 1952), Palestinian-American poet, songwriter, and novelist
• Niyi Osundare (born 1947), Nigerian poet, dramatist, and literary critic

O

• Dositej Obradović (1742–1811), Serbian philosopher, educator, writer and poet
• Sean O'Brien (born 1952), British poet, critic, playwright
• Philip O'Connor (1916–1998), Anglo-French writer and surrealist poet and painter
• Ron Offen (1930–2010), American poet, playwright, critic, editor, and theater producer
• Dennis O'Driscoll (born 1954), Irish poet
• Frank O'Hara (1926–1966), American writer, poet and art critic; New York School
• Sharon Olds (born 1942), American poet
• Mary Oliver (born 1935), American poet; 1984 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry; National book award
• Charles Olson (1910–1970), American modernist poet
• Saishu Onoe (1876–1957), Japanese poet
• Onomacritus (c. 530 – 480 BC), priest, seer, and poet of Attica
• George Oppen (1908–1984),
• Edward Otho Cresap Ord, II (1858–1923), US Army major, inventor, painter, and poet
• Zaharije Orfelin (1726–1785), Serbian polymath and poet
• Peter Orlovsky (1933–2010), American poet and actor; lifelong partner of Allen Ginsberg
• Gregory Orr (born 1947), American poet
• Agnieszka Osiecka (1936–1997), Polish poet, writer, author of theatre and television screenplays, film director and journalist
• Alice Oswald (born 1966), English poet; 2002 T. S. Eliot Prize
• Ouyang Xiu (1007–1072), Chinese statesman, historian, essayist, calligrapher and poet of Song Dynasty
• Ovid, (43 BC–17 AD), Roman poet
• Wilfred Owen (1893–1918), English poet and soldier
• İsmet Özel (born 1944), Turkish poet and scholar

P

Pa

Dorothy Parker

• Ruth Padel (born 1946), English poet, author and critic
• Ron Padgett (born 1942), American poet, essayist, fiction writer and translator; member of New York School
• Dan Pagis (1930–1986), Israeli poet, Holocaust survivor
• Grace Paley (1922–2007), American short story writer, poet, teacher, and political activist
• Francis Turner Palgrave (1824–1897), English critic and poet
• Palladas (fl. 4th century), Greek poet
• Michael Palmer (born 1943), American poet and translator
• Sima Pandurović (1883–1960), Serbian poet
• Daniele Pantano (born 1976), Swiss poet, literary translator, editor, and scholar
• William Williams Pantycelyn (1717–1791), Welsh poet and hymn writer
• Park Yong-rae (1925-1980), Korean poet
• Dorothy Parker (1893–1967), American poet, short story writer, critic and satirist
• Thomas Parnell (1679–1718), Irish poet and clergyman
• Nicanor Parra (born 1914), Chilean mathematician and poet
• Giovanni Pascoli (1855–1912), Italian poet
• Boris Pasternak (1890–1960), Russian poet, novelist, and literary translator
• Benito Pastoriza Iyodo (born 1954), Puerto Rican author of poetry, fiction and literary articles
• Kenneth Patchen (1911–1972), American poet and novelist
• Banjo Paterson (Andrew Barton Paterson) (1864–1941), Australian bush poet, journalist and author
• Don Paterson (born 1963), Scottish poet, writer and musician
• Coventry Patmore (1823–1896), English poet and critic
• Brian Patten (born 1946), English poet
• Cesare Pavese (1908–1950), Italian poet, novelist, literary critic and translator
• Octavio Paz (1914–1998), Mexican writer, poet, and diplomat

Pe–Pl

• Thomas Love Peacock (1785–1866), English poet and novelist
• Patrick Pearse (1879–1916), Irish teacher, poet, writer, and political activist; a leader of Easter Rising
• James Larkin Pearson (1879–1981), American poet and newspaper publisher; North Carolina Poet Laureate 1953–1981
• Charles Péguy (1873–1914), French poet, essayist, and editor
• Kathleen Peirce (born 1956), American poet
• Sam Pereira, American poet
• Lucia Perillo, American poet
• Persius (34–62), Roman poet and satirist of Etruscan origin
• Fernando Pessoa (1888–1935), Portuguese poet, writer, philosopher, literary critic and translator
• Lenrie Peters (1932–2009), Gambian surgeon, novelist, poet and educationist
• Robert Peters (born 1924), American poet, critic, scholar, playwright, editor, and actor
• Pascale Petit (born 1953), French-Welsh poet, artist
• Petrarch (Francesco Petrarca) (1304–1374), Italian scholar and poet; often called "Father of Humanism"
• Veljko Petrović (1884–1967), Serbian poetry and prose writer, critic and theoretician
• Mirko Petrović-Njegoš (1820–1867), Serbian and Montenegrin soldier, diplomat and poet
• Ambrose Philips (1674–1749), English poet and politician
• Katherine Philips (1632–1664) Anglo-Welsh poet,
• Tanwir Phool (born 1948) Pakistani poet in English and Urdu
• Pi Rixiu (c. 834 – 883), Tang Dynasty poet
• Tom Pickard (born 1946), English poet and documentary film maker
• Pindar (522–443 BC), Theban lyric poet
• Robert Pinsky (born 1940), American poet, essayist, literary critic, and translator; 1997–2000 US Poet Laureate
• Ruth Pitter (1897–1992), British poet; first woman to receive Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry, 1955
• Christine de Pizan (c. 1365 – c. 1430), Venetian historian, poet, philosopher
• Sylvia Plath (1932–1963), American poet and novelist; 1982 Pulitzer Prize in Poetry as first posthumous recipient
• William Plomer (1903–1973), South African author, known as novelist, poet and literary editor

Po–Pu

• Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849), American author, poet, editor and literary critic
• Suman Pokhrel (born 1967) Nepalese poet, translator, and artist
• Edward Pollock (1823–1858), American poet, lawyer
• John Pomfret (1667–1702), English poet and clergyman.
• Marie Ponsot (born 1921), American poet, literary critic, essayist, teacher, and translator
• Vasko Popa (1922–1991), Serbian poet of Romanian descent
• Alexander Pope (1688–1744), English poet
• Antonio Porchia (1885–1968), Italian Argentinian poet
• Judith Pordon, (born 1954), American poet, writer, and poetry editor
• Peter Porter (1929–2010), British-based Australian poet
• Halina Poświatowska (1935–1967), Polish poet and writer
• Ezra Pound (1885–1972), American expatriate poet and critic; promoted Imagism
• Adélia Prado (born 1935), Brazilian writer and poet
• Winthrop Mackworth Praed (1802–1839), English politician and poet
• E. J. Pratt (1882–1964), Canadian poet
• Petar Preradović (1818–1872), Croatian poet, writer, and military general in Austro-Hungarian Army; Serbian origin
• France Prešeren (1800–1849), Carniolan Romantic poet of Slovene descent
• Jacques Prévert (1900–1977), French poet and screenwriter
• Richard Price (born 1966), Scottish poet, novelist, and translator
• Robert Priest (born 1951) English-born Canadian poet, children's author and singer-songwriter
• F. T. Prince (1912–2003), English poet and academic
• Matthew Prior (1664–1721), English poet and diplomat
• Bryan Procter (1787–1874), English poet
• Sextus Propertius, (50 or 45 – 15 BCE), Latin elegiac poet of Augustan age
• Kevin Prufer (born 1969), American poet, academic, editor, and essayist
• J H Prynne (born 1936), English poet associated with British Poetry Revival
• Luigi Pulci (1432–1484), Italian poet best known for Morgante
• Alexander Pushkin (1799–1837), Russian poet, novelist and playwright

Q

• Nizar Qabbani (1923–1998), Syrian diplomat, poet and publisher
• Sayyid Ahmedullah Qadri (1909–1985), India]n poet, writer, translator, critic, educationist and politician
• Aref Qazvini (1882–1934), Iranian poet, lyricist, and musician
• Qu Yuan (343–278 BCE), Chinese poet of the Warring States period
• Francis Quarles (1592–1644), English Christian poet
• Salvatore Quasimodo (1901–1968), Italian author and poet; 1959 Nobel Prize in Literature

R

Ra–Re

• Jean Racine (1639–1699), French dramatist
• Branko Radičević (1824–1853), Serbian lyric poet
• Sam Ragan (1915–1996), American poet, journalist, writer; North Carolina Poet Laureate 1982–96
• Shamsur Rahman (1929–2006), Bangladeshi poet and columnist; key figure in Bengali literature
• Craig Raine (born 1944), English poet associated with Martian poetry
• Kathleen Raine (1908–2003), English poet, critic, and scholar
• Samina Raja (born 1961), Pakistani poet, writer, translator and broadcaster
• Milan Rakić (1876–1938), Serbian poet
• Carl Rakosi (1903–2004), American Objectivist poet
• Sir Walter Raleigh (c. 1554–1618), English aristocrat, writer, poet, soldier, spy, and explorer
• Guru Ram Das (1534–1581), Sikh Guru and Punjabi poet
• Allan Ramsay (1686–1758), Scottish poet, playwright, publisher, librarian and wig-maker
• Dudley Randall (1914–2000), African-American poet and publisher
• Thomas Randolph (1605–1635), English poet and dramatist
• John Crowe Ransom (1888–1974), American poet, essayist, magazine editor, and professor
• Ágnes Rapai (born 1952) Hungarian poet, writer, and translator
• Noon Meem Rashid (1910–1975), Pakistani poet of modern Urdu poetry
• Stephen Ratcliffe (born 1948), American poet and critic
• Dahlia Ravikovitch (1936–2005), Israeli poet, translator, and peace activist
• Tom Raworth (born 1938), British poet and visual artist; key figure in the British Poetry Revival
• Wayne Ray (born 1950), American-born Canadian poet and photographer
• Herbert Read (1893–1968), English anarchist, poet, and critic of literature and art
• Angela Readman (born 1973), English poet
• James Reaney (1926–2008), Canadian poet, playwright, librettist, and professor
• Peter Redgrove (1932–2003), English poet
• Henry Reed (1914–1986), English poet, translator, radio dramatist and journalist
• Ishmael Reed (born 1938), American poet, essayist, playwright and novelist
• Ennis Rees (1925–2009), American poet, professor, translator; South Carolina Poet Laureate, 1984–85
• James Reeves (1909–1978), English poet, children's writer, and writer on traditional song
• Abraham Regelson (1896–1981), Israeli Hebrew poet, author, children's author, translator, and editor
• Christopher Reid (born 1949), Hong Kong-born English poet, essayist, cartoonist, and writer
• James Reiss (born 1941), American poet
• Robert Rendall (1898–1967), Orkney Scottish poet, and amateur naturalist
• Pierre Reverdy (1889–1960), French poet inspired by and influencing Surrealism, Dadaism and Cubism
• Jacobus Revius (born Jakob Reefsen) (1586–1658), Dutch poet, Calvinist theologian and church historian
• Kenneth Rexroth (1905–1982), American poet, translator and critical essayist
• Charles Reznikoff (1894–1976), American Objectivist poet
• Raees Warsi (Born 1963), Urdu poet, writer, lyricist and TV anchor in Pakistan

Ri

• Stan Rice (1943–2002), American poet and artist; husband of author Anne Rice
• Adrienne Rich (1929–2012), American poet, essayist and feminist
• Edgell Rickword (1898–1982), English poet, critic, journalist and literary editor
• Lola Ridge (1873–1941), Irish-born American anarchist poet and editor
• Laura Riding (1901–1981), American poet, critic, novelist, essayist and short story writer
• Anne Ridler (1912–2001), English poet and editor
• James Whitcomb Riley (1849–1916), American writer, poet; known as Hoosier Poet and Children's Poet
• John Riley (1937–1978), English poet associated with British Poetry Revival
• Rainer Maria Rilke (1875–1926), Bohemian-Austrian poet
• Arthur Rimbaud (1854–1891), French symbolist poet; part of Decadent Movement
• Alberto Ríos (born 1952), American poet and professor
• Khawar Rizvi (1938–1981), Urdu and Persian poet and scholar

Ro-Rš

• Michael Roberts (1902–1948), English poet and writer, editor 1936 Faber Book of Modern Verse
• Edwin Arlington Robinson (1869–1935), American poet; won three Pulitzer Prizes
• Mary Robinson (1757–1800), English poet and novelist
• Roland Robinson (1912–1992), Australian poet and writer
• Georges Rodenbach (1855–1898), Belgian Symbolist poet and novelist
• W R Rodgers (1909–1969), Northern Irish poet, essayist, script writer, and Presbyterian minister
• José Luis Rodríguez Pittí (born 1971), Panamanian poet and artist
• Theodore Roethke (1908–1963), American poet; 1954 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry
• Samuel Rogers (1763–1855), English poet
• Rognvald Kali Kolsson (c. 1103-1158), Earl of Orkney and saint
• Matthew Rohrer (born 1970), American poet
• David Romtvedt, American poet
• Pierre de Ronsard (1524–1585), French poet
• Peter Rosegger (1843–1918), Austrian poet
• Franklin Rosemont (1943–2009), American poet, artist, historian, and co-founder of Chicago Surrealist Group
• Penelope Rosemont (born 1942), American poet, writer, painter, and co-founder of Chicago Surrealist Group
• Isaac Rosenberg (1890–1918), English poet of World War I
• Alan Ross (1922–2001), English poet, cricket writer and editor
• Christina Rossetti (1830–1894), English poet
• Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828–1882), English poet, illustrator and painter; co-founded Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood
• Andrus Rõuk (born 1957), Estonian artist and poet
• Raymond Roussel (1877–1933), French poet, novelist, playwright, musician, and chess enthusiast
• Nicholas Rowe (1674–1718), English dramatist, poet and miscellanist; UK Poet Laureate 1715
• Susanna Roxman, English poet born in Sweden
• Tadeusz Różewicz (born 1921), Polish poet and writer
• Ljubivoje Ršumović (born 1939), Serbian poet

Ru–Ry

• Friedrich Rückert (1788–1866), German poet, translator, and professor
• Muriel Rukeyser (1913–1980), American poet and political activist
• Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rumi (1207–1273), Persian Muslim poet, jurist, theologian, and Sufi mystic
• Paul-Eerik Rummo (1942), Estonian poet
• Johan Ludvig Runeberg (1804–1877), Finnish poet; national poet of Finland, wrote in Swedish
• Nipsey Russell (1918–2005), American comedian; regarded as "poet laureate of television"
• Ryōkan (1758–1831), Japanese calligrapher and poet

S

Sa

Nelly Sachs

• Umberto Saba (1883–1957), Italian poet and novelist
• Nelly Sachs (1891–1970), Jewish German poet and playwright; 1966 Nobel Prize in Literature
• Charles Sackville, 6th Earl of Dorset and 1st Earl of Middlesex (1638–1706), English poet and courtier
• Thomas Sackville, 1st Earl of Dorset (1536–1608), English statesman, poet, dramatist and Freemason
• Vita Sackville-West (1892–1962), English author, poet and gardener
• Saʿdī Shīrāzī (1184–1283/1291), medieval Persian poet
• Ahmad Shamloo (December 12, 1925 – July 24, 2000), influential Persian poet, writer, and journalist
• Benjamin Alire Sáenz (born 1954), American poet, novelist and children's writer
• Ali Ahmad Said (Adunis) (born 1930), Syrian poet, essayist, and translator
• Mellin de Saint-Gelais, (c. 1491 – 1558), French Renaissance poet; Poet Laureate of Francis I of France
• Akim Samar (1916–1943), Soviet poet and novelist regarded as first Nanai language writer
• Sonia Sanchez (born 1934), African-American poet; associated with Black Arts Movement
• Michal Šanda (born 1965), Czech writer and poet
• Carl Sandburg (1878–1967), American poet, writer and editor; three Pulitzer Prizes
• Jacopo Sannazaro (1458–1530), Italian poet, humanist and epigrammist from Naples.
• Ann Sansom, English poet and writing tutor
• Aleksa Šantić (1868–1924), Bosnian Serb poet
• Taneda Santōka (1882–1940), Japanese free verse haiku poet
• Genrikh Sapgir (1928–1999), Russian poet and fiction writer
• Sappho (c. 630–612 – c. 570 BC), ancient Greek lyric poet from Lesbos
• William Saroyan (1908–1981), American author of Armenian descent
• Siegfried Sassoon (1886–1967), English war poet
• Subagio Sastrowardoyo (1924–1995), Indonesian poet, short-story writer, essayist and literary critic
• Satsvarupa Das Goswami (born 1939), American poet and artist, founded International Society for Krishna Consciousness
• Richard Savage (c. 1697 – 1743), English poet; subject of Samuel Johnson's Life of Savage

Sc–Se

• Leslie Scalapino (1944–2010), American poet, writer, and playwright; associated with Language poets and Beat poets
• Maurice Scève (c. 1500 – 1564), French poet
• Georges Schehadé (1905–1989), Lebanese playwright and poet writing in French
• Friedrich Schiller (1759–1805), German poet, philosopher, historian, and playwright
• Arno Schmidt (1914–1979), German author and translator
• Dennis Schmitz (born 1937), American poet
• Arthur Schnitzler (1862–1931), Austrian author and dramatist
• Philip Schultz (born 1945), American poet; 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry
• James Schuyler (1923–1991), American poet; 1980 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for The Morning of the Poem
• Delmore Schwartz (1913–1966), American poet and short story writer
• Alexander Scott (16th-century poet) (c. 1520 – 1582/83), Scottish poet
• Alexander Scott (20th-century poet) (1920–1989), Scottish poet and playwright
• Frederick George Scott (1861–1944), Canadian poet and author, father of F. R. Scott
• F. R. Scott (1899–1985), Canadian poet, intellectual and constitutional expert
• Tom Scott, (1918—1995) Scottish poet
• Sir Walter Scott (1771–1832), Scottish historical novelist, playwright, and poet
• Gil Scott-Heron (born 1949), American soul musician and jazz poet
• George Bazeley Scurfield (1920–1991), English poet, novelist, author and politician
• Peter Seaton (1942–2010), American Language poet
• Johannes Secundus (1511–1536), Dutch Neo-Latin poet
• Sir Charles Sedley, 5th Baronet (1639–1701), English poet, wit, dramatist and politician
• George Seferis (pen name of Geōrgios Seferiádēs) (1900–1971), Greek poet, Nobel laureate, and Ambassador to UK
• Ehsan Sehgal (born 1951), Pakistani Urdu poet, writer, journalist and activist
• Hugh Seidman (born 1940), American poet
• Rebecca Seiferle, American poet
• Jaroslav Seifert (1901–1986), Czech writer, poet and journalist; 1984 Nobel Prize in Literature
• Lasana M. Sekou (born 1959), Sint Maarten poet, essayist, journalist and publisher
• Semonides of Amorgos Greek iambic and elegiac poet believed to have lived in 7th century BC
• Léopold Sédar Senghor (1906–2001), Senegalese poet, politician, and cultural theorist; first president of Senegal
• Robert W. Service (1874–1958), Scottish-Canadian poet; called "Bard of the Yukon"
• Vikram Seth (born 1952), Indian author and poet
• Anne Sexton (1928–1974), American poet; Confessional poetry, 1967 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry
• John W. Sexton (born 1958), Irish poet, short-story writer, radio script-writer and children's novelist

Sh–Sj

• Thomas Shadwell (c. 1642 – 1692), English poet and playwright; Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom, 1689–92
• Riaz Ahmed Gohar Shahi (1941–2001), Pakistani Sufi spiritual leader, poet and author
• William Shakespeare, (c. 1564 – 1616), English poet and playwright
• Tupac Shakur (1971–1996), American rapper, actor, producer, poet and black activist
• Otep Shamaya (born 1979), American singer-songwriter, actress, poet and painter; lead singer of Otep
• Ntozake Shange (born 1948), American playwright, and poet
• Jo Shapcott (born 1953), English poet, editor and lecturer
• Karl Shapiro (1913–2000), American poet; US Poet Laureate, 1946–47
• Brenda Shaughnessy (born 1970), American poet
• Luci Shaw (born 1928), English-born Christian poet
• Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792–1822),major English Romantic poet
• William Shenstone (1714–1763), English poet
• Bhupi Sherchan (1935–1989), Nepalese poet
• Taras Shevchenko (1814–1861), Ukrainian poet and artist
• Masaoka Shiki (1867–1902), Japanese author, poet, literary critic, and journalist
• Hovhannes Shiraz (1915–1984), Armenian poet
• James Shirley (1596–1666), English dramatist
• Avraham Shlonsky (1900–1973), Israeli poet and editor
• Sir Philip Sidney (1554–1586), English poet, courtier and soldier
• Eli Siegel (1902–1978), Latvian-American poet and critic; founded philosophy of Aesthetic Realism
• Robert Siegel (1939–2012), American poet and novelist
• Jon Silkin (1930–1997), English poet
• Ron Silliman (born 1946), American poet; associated with Language poetry
• Shel Silverstein (1930–1999), American poet, musician, composer, cartoonist, screenwriter and children's writer
• Simeon Simev (born 1949), Macedonian poet, essayist and journalist
• Charles Simic (born 1938), Serbian-American poet; 1990 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, US Poet Laureate, 2007–08
• Simonides of Ceos (c. 556 – 468 BC), Greek lyric poet, born at Ioulis on Kea
• Louis Simpson (1923–2012), Jamaican poet; 1964 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry
• Bennie Lee Sinclair (1939–2000), American poet, novelist and story writer; South Carolina Poet Laureate, 1986–2000
• Burns Singer (1928–1964), American poet usually identified with Scotland, where he was raised
• Marilyn Singer (born 1948), American children's writer and poet
• Lemn Sissay, English author and broadcaster
• Charles Hubert Sisson (1914–2003), English writer, best known as poet and translator
• Edith Sitwell (1887–1964), English poet and critic; eldest of three literary Sitwells
• Sjón (born 1962), Icelandic author and poet

Sk–Sn

• Egill Skallagrímsson (c. 910–c. 990), Viking Age poet, warrior and farmer, the protagonist of Egil's Saga
• John Skelton (1460–1529), English poet
• Sasha Skenderija (born 1968), Bosnian-American poet
• Ed Skoog (born 1971), American poet
• Pencho Slaveykov (1866–1912), Bulgarian poet
• Petko Slaveykov (1827–1895), Bulgarian poet, publicist, and folklorist
• Kenneth Slessor (1901–1971), Australian poet and journalist
• Anton Martin Slomšek (1800–1862), Slovene bishop, author, poet, and advocate of Slovene culture
• Juliusz Słowacki (1809–1849), Polish Romantic poet; one of "Three Bards" of Polish literature
• Boris Slutsky (1919–1986), Russian poet
• Christopher Smart (1722–1771), English poet, playwright
• Hristo Smirnenski (1898–1923), Bulgarian poet and writer
• Bruce Smith (born 1946), American poet
• Charlotte Turner Smith (1749–1806), English Romantic poet and novelist
• Clark Ashton Smith (1893–1961), American poet, sculptor, painter and author
• Margaret Smith (born 1958), American poet, musician, and artist
• Patti Smith (born 1946), American singer-songwriter, poet and visual artist
• Stevie Smith (1902–1971), English poet and novelist
• Sydney Goodsir Smith (1915–1975), Scots poet in Lallans
• Tracy K. Smith (born 1972), American poet, 2012 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry
• William Jay Smith (born 1918), American poet; US Poet Laureate 1968–70
• Tobias Smollett (1721–1771), Scottish poet and author
• William De Witt Snodgrass (1926–2009), American poet; 1960 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry
• Gary Snyder (born 1930), American poet, essayist, lecturer, and environmentalist; 1975 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry

So–Sp

• Edith Södergran (1892–1923), Swedish-speaking Finnish poet
• Sōgi (1421–1502), Japanese waka and renga poet
• David Solway (born 1941), Canadian poet, educational theorist, travel writer and critic
• William Somervile (1675–1742), English poet
• Sophocles, (c. 496 – 406 BC), Athenian tragedian
• Charles Sorley (1895–1915), English war poet of World War I
• Gary Soto (born 1952), Mexican-American author and poet
• Robert Southey (1774–1843), English Romantic poet, a Lake Poet; Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom 1813–1843
• Robert Southwell (1561–1595), English Catholic Jesuit priest, poet and clandestine missionary
• Wole Soyinka (born 1934), Nigerian poet and playwright and poet; 1986 Nobel Prize in Literature
• Bernard Spencer (1909–1963), English poet, translator, and editor
• Stephen Spender (1909–1995), English poet, novelist. and essayist; US Poet Laureate 1965–66
• Edmund Spenser (1552–1599), English poet best known for The Faerie Queene

St

• Leopold Staff (1878–1957), Polish poet
• William Stafford (1914–1993), American poet and pacifist; US Poet Laureate 1970–71
• A.E. Stallings (born 1968), American poet and translator
• Jon Stallworthy (born 1935), English academic, poet and literary critic
• Harold Standish (1919–1972), Canadian poet and novelist
• Ann Stanford (1916–1987), American poet
• George Starbuck (1931–1996), American neo-formalist poet
• Statius (c. 45 – 96 AD), Roman poet
• Christian Karlson Stead, ONZ, CBE (born 1932), New Zealand writer of novels, poetry, short stories, and criticism
• Stesichorus (c. 640 – 555 BC), first great poet of Greek West
• Joseph Stefan (1835–1893), Carinthian Slovene physicist, mathematician, and poet who lived in Austria
• Stefan Stefanović (1807–1828), Serbian poet
• Gertrude Stein (1874–1946), American Modernist innovator in prose and poetry, art collector
• Eric Stenbock (1860–1895), Baltic German poet and writer of macabre fantastic fiction
• Mattie Stepanek (1990–2004), American poet and advocate
• George Stepney (1663–1707), English poet and diplomat
• Gerald Stern (born 1925), American poet
• Marinko Stevanović (born 1961), Bosnian poet
• C. J. Stevens (born 1927), American writer of poetry, short stories, non-fiction, and biography
• Wallace Stevens (1880–1955), American Modernist poet
• Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–1894), Scottish novelist, poet, essayist, and travel writer
• Trumbull Stickney (1874–1904), American classical scholar and poet
• James Still (1906–2001), American poet, novelist and folklorist
• Milica Stojadinović-Srpkinja (1828–1878), Serbian poet
• Dejan Stojanović (born 1959), Serbian-American poet, writer, essayist and philosopher
• Donna J. Stone (1933–1994), American poet and philanthropist
• Ruth Stone (1915–2011), American poet, author and teacher
• Lisa Gluskin Stonestreet (born 1968), American poet and editor
• Edward Storer (1880–1944), English writer, translator and poet, associated with Imagism
• Theodor Storm (1817–1888), German writer and poet
• Alfonsina Storni (1892–1938), Latin American Modernist poet
• Mark Strand (born 1934), Canadian-born American poet, essayist, and translator; US Poet Laureate, 1990–91
• Botho Strauß (born 1944), German playwright, poet, novelist and essayist
• Joseph Stroud (born 1943), American poet
• Jesse Stuart (1907–1984), American writer known for short stories, poetry, and novels about Southern Appalachia

Su–Sz

File:Wisława Szymborska 2009.10.23 (1).jpg

Wisława Szymborska

• Su Shi (1037–1101), Song Dynasty writer, poet, artist, calligrapher, etc.
• Su Xiaoxiao (died c. 501 AD), courtesan and poet under Southern Qi Dynasty
• Sir John Suckling (1609–1642), English poet and inventor of card game cribbage
• Suleiman the Magnificent (1494–1566), ruler of Ottoman Empire and Islamic poet
• Paul Summers (born 1967), English poet
• Jovan Sundečić (1825–1900), Serbian poet
• Cemal Süreya (1931–1990), Turkish poet and writer
• Abhi Subedi (born 1945), Nepalese poet, playwright, linguist, translator and critic.
• Robert Sward (born 1933), American and Canadian poet and novelist
• Cole Swensen (born 1955), American poet, translator, editor, and copywriter; Guggenheim Fellowship in Poetry 2006
• Karen Swenson (born 1936), American poet
• May Swenson (1913–1989), American poet and playwright
• Jonathan Swift (1667–1745), Anglo-Irish satirist, essayist, political pamphleteer, poet and cleric
• Algernon Charles Swinburne (1837–1909), English poet, playwright, novelist, and critic
• Anna Świrszczyńska (aka Anna Swir; 1909–1984), Polish poet
• Joshua Sylvester (1563–1618), English poet
• Arthur William Symons (1865–1945), English poet, critic and magazine editor
• John Millington Synge (1871–1909), Irish dramatist, poet, prose writer, and collector of folklore
• Lőrinc Szabó (1900–1957), Hungarian poet and literary translator
• Arthur Sze (born 1950), Chinese American poet
• Wisława Szymborska (1923–2012), Polish poet, essayist, and translator; Nobel Prize in Literature 1996

T

Ta–Te

File:Gorelov tank.jpg

Maxim Tank

• Rabindranath Tagore (1861–1941), Bengali polymath; 1913 Nobel Prize in Literature
• Taliesin (fl. 6th century), British poet of post-Roman period
• Meary James Thurairajah Tambimuttu (1915–1983), Tamil poet, editor, critic and publisher
• Maxim Tank (1912–1996), Belarus poet
• Tao Qian (365–427), Chinese poet of Six Dynasties period
• Jovica Tasevski-Eternijan (born 1976), Macedonian poet, essayist and literary critic
• Alain Tasso (born 1962), Franco-Lebanese poet, painter, essayist, literary critic and art critic
• Torquato Tasso (1544–1595), Italian poet; best known for Jerusalem Delivered
• Allen Tate (1899–1979), American poet, essayist, social commentator; US Poet Laureate 1943–44
• James Tate (born 1943), American poet; 1992 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry
• Edward Taylor (c. 1642 – 1729), colonial American poet, physician, and pastor
• Henry Taylor (1800–1886), English poet and dramatist
• Henry S. Taylor (born 1942), American poet; 1986 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry
• Sara Teasdale (1884–1933), American lyric poet
• Guru Tegh Bahadur (1621–1675), Sikh Guru and Punjabi poet
• Telesilla (fl. 510 BC), Greek poet
• Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809–1892), English poet; Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom 1850–1892
• Talib Khundmiri (1938–2011), Indian Urdu poet, humorist, artist, and orator
• Vahan Terian (1885–1920), Armenian poet, lyricist and public activist
• Elaine Terranova (born 1939), American poet
• Lucy Terry (c. 1730 – 1821), African-American poet; author of oldest known work of literature by African American
• A. S. J. Tessimond (1902–1962), English poet
• Neyzen Tevfik (1879–1953), Turkish poet, satirist, and ney performer"

Th–To

File:Thomasportrait.jpg

Edward Thomas, English poet

• Ernest Thayer (1863–1940), American writer and poet of "Casey at the Bat"
• Theocritus (fl. 3rd century BC), bucolic poet
• Jan Theuninck (born 1954), Belgian painter and poet
• Thiruvalluvar (31 AD), Tamil poet and philosopher
• Dylan Thomas (1914–1953), Welsh poet and writer
• Edward Thomas (1878–1917), Anglo- Welsh poet and essayist
• Lorenzo Thomas (1944–2005), American poet and critic
• R. S. Thomas (1913–2000), Welsh poet and Anglican priest
• John Thompson (1938–1976), English-born Canadian poet
• John Reuben Thompson (1823–1873), American poet, journalist, editor and publisher
• Francis Thompson (1859–1907), English poet and ascetic
• James Thomson (1700–1748), Scottish poet and playwright; lyrics of Rule, Britannia!
• James Thomson ( Bysshe Vanolis, 1834–1882), Scottish Victorian poet
• Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862), American author, poet, philosopher, abolitionist etc.
• Anthony Thwaite (born 1930), English poet and writer
• Tibullus (c. 54 BC – 19 BC), Latin poet and writer of elegies
• Chidiock Tichborne (1558–1586), English conspirator and poet
• Thomas Tickell (1685–1740), English poet and man of letters
• Ludwig Tieck (1773–1853), German poet, translator, editor, novelist, and critic
• Abdillahi Suldaan Mohammed Timacade (1920–1973), Somali poet
• Nick Toczek (born 1950), English writer, poet, journalist, magician, vocalist, lyricist and radio broadcaster
• Melvin B. Tolson (1898–1966), American Modernist poet, educator, columnist, and politician
• Charles Tomlinson (born 1927), English poet and translator
• Jean Toomer (1894–1967), American poet and novelist; important figure in Harlem Renaissance
• Cyril Tourneur (1575–1626), English poetic dramatist

Tr–Tz

• Thomas Traherne (1636/37–1674), English poet, clergyman, theologian, and religious writer
• Georg Trakl (1887–1914), Austrian poet considered important Austrian Expressionists
• Elizabeth Treadwell (born 1967), American poet
• Roland Michel Tremblay (born 1972), French Canadian author, poet, scriptwriter, development producer and science-fiction consultant
• Duško Trifunović (1933–2006), Serbian poet and writer
• Calvin Trillin (born 1935), American journalist, humorist, food writer, poet, memoirist and novelist
• Quincy Troupe (born 1939), American poet, editor, journalist and professor
• Tõnu Trubetsky (Tony Blackplait, born 1963), Estonian glam punk musician, film and music videodirector and poet
• Marina Tsvetaeva (1892–1941), Russian Soviet poet
• Kurt Tucholsky (1890–1935), German-Jewish journalist, satirist and writer
• Tulsidas (1497/1532–1623), Hindu poet-saint, reformer and philosopher
• Hovhannes Tumanyan (1869–1923), Armenian writer and public activist; considered national poet of Armenia
• Ğabdulla Tuqay (1886–1913), Tatar poet, critic and publisher
• George Turberville (c. 1540 – c. 1597), English poet
• Charles Tennyson Turner (1808–1879), English poet, elder brother of Alfred Tennyson
• Julian Turner (born 1955), English poet and mental health worker
• Thomas Tusser (1524–1580), English poet and farmer
• Hone Tuwhare (1922–2008), New Zealand poet of Māori ancestry
• Julian Tuwim (1894–1953), Polish poet of Jewish descent
• Jan Twardowski (1915–2006), Polish poet and priest
• Chase Twichell (born 1950), American poet, professor, and publisher
• Pontus de Tyard, (c. 1521 – 1605), French poet and priest; member of "La Pléiade"
• Fyodor Tyutchev (1803–1873) Russian poet; last of three great Romantic poets of Russia
• Tristan Tzara (1896–1963), Romanian and French avant-garde poet, performance artist; a founder of Dada movement

U

• Laura Ulewicz (1930–2007), American Beat poet
• Kavisekhara Dr Umar Alisha (1885–1945), Telugu poet; sixth Peethadhipathi of Sri Viswa Viznana Vidya Adhyatmika Peetham
• Jeff Unaegbu (born 1979), Nigerian writer, actor, artist and documentary film maker
• Miguel de Unamuno (1864–1936), Spanish essayist, novelist, poet, playwright and philosopher
• Giuseppe Ungaretti (1888–1970), Italian poet, critic, and academic; 1970 Neustadt International Prize for Literature
• Louis Untermeyer (1885–1977), American poet, anthologist, critic, and editor; US Poet Laureate 1961–62
• John Updike (1932–2009), American novelist, poet, short story writer, art critic, and literary critic
• Allen Upward (1863–1926), Irish-English poet, lawyer, politician and teacher; Imagist poet
• Amy Uyematsu (born 1947), Japanese-American poet

V

Va–Ve

• Paul Valéry (1871–1945), French author and poet of the Symbolist school
• Alfonso Vallejo (born 1943), Spanish artist, playwright, poet, painter and neurologist
• César Vallejo (1892–1938), Peruvian poet, writer, playwright, and journalist
• Jean-Pierre Vallotton (born 1955), French-speaking Swiss poet and writer
• Valmiki poet harbinger in Sanskrit literature
• Cor Van den Heuvel, (born 1931), American haiku poet, editor, commentator, archivist
• Mona Van Duyn (1921–2004), American poet; US Poet Laureate 1992–93
• Lin Van Hek (born 1944), Australian poet, writer, painter, singer and fashion designer
• Nikola Vaptsarov (1909-1942), Bulgarian Communist poet
• Varand, (born 1954), Armenian poet, writer, and professor of literature
• Dimitris Varos (born 1949), modern Greek poet, journalist, and photographer
• Henry Vaughan (1621–1695), Welsh author, physician and metaphysical poet
• Thomas Vaux, 2nd Baron Vaux of Harrowden (1509–1556), English poet
• Vazha-Pshavela (aka Luka Razikashvili; 1861–1915), Georgian poet and writer
• Reetika Vazirani (1962–2003), American poet and educator
• Ivan Vazov (1850–1921), Bulgarian poet, novelist and playwright
• Maffeo Vegio (Latin: Maphaeus Vegius) (1407–1458), Italian poet who wrote in Latin
• Vemana (aka Kumaragiri Vema Reddy), Indian Telugu language poet
• Gavril Stefanović Venclović (fl. 1680–1749), Serbian priest, writer, poet, and illuminator
• Helen Vendler (born 1933), American poetry critic and professor
• Jacint Verdaguer (1845–1902), Catalan poet; prominent figure in Renaixença
• Paul Verlaine (1844–1896), French poet associated with Symbolist movement
• Paul Vermeersch (born 1973), Canadian poet

Vi–Vz

• Francis Vielé-Griffin (1864–1937), French symbolist poet
• Peter Viereck (1916–2006), American poet, professor and political thinker
• Gilles Vigneault (born 1928), Quebecois poet, publisher and singer-songwriter
• Jose Garcia Villa (1908–1997), Filipino poet, literary critic, short story writer, and painter
• Xavier Villaurrutia (1903–1950), Mexican poet and playwright
• François Villon (c. 1431 – 1464), French poet, thief, killer, barroom brawler, and vagabond
• Virgil (Publius Vergilius Maro; 70–19 BC), ancient Roman poet of Augustan period
• Roemer Visscher (1547–1620), Dutch salesman, writer and poet
• Walther von der Vogelweide, (c. 1170 – c. 1230), celebrated Middle High German lyric poet
• Vincent Voiture (1597–1648), French poet
• Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet, 1694–1778), French Enlightenment writer
• Joost van den Vondel (1587–1679), Dutch playwright and poet
• Andrei Voznesensky (1933–2010), Soviet Russian poet
• Stanko Vraz (1810–1851), Croatian-Slovenian language poet
• Vyasa, revered Hindu figure; consideredthe author of Mahabharata and some Vedas

W

Wa

• Wace (c. 1110 – after 1174), Norman poet
• Sidney Wade (born 1951), American poet and professor
• John Wain (1925–1994), English poet, novelist, and critic, associated with The Movement
• Diane Wakoski (born 1937), American poet; associated with deep image, confessional and Beat generation poets
• Derek Walcott (born 1930), Saint Lucian poet and playwright; 1992 Nobel Prize in Literature
• Anne Waldman (born 1945), American poet
• Rosmarie Waldrop (born 1935), German-American poet, translator and publisher
• Arthur Waley (1889–1966), English orientalist and Sinologist; poet and translator
• Alice Walker (born 1944), American author, poet, and activist
• Margaret Walker (1915–1998), African-American writer
• Edmund Waller (1606–1687), English poet and politician
• Martin Walser (born 1927), German writer
• Robert Walser (1878–1956), German-speaking Swiss writer
• Connie Wanek (born 1952), American poet
• Wang Wei (1597–1647), Chinese priestess and poet
• Wang Wei (701–761), Tang Dynasty Chinese poet, musician, painter, and statesman
• Emily Warn, American poet
• Sylvia Townsend Warner (1893–1978), English novelist and poet.
• Robert Penn Warren (1905–1989), American poet, novelist, and literary critic; a founder of New Criticism
• Thomas Warton (1728–1790), English literary historian, critic, and poet
• Vernon Watkins (1906–1967), Welsh poet, translator and painter
• Thomas Watson (1555–1592), English lyrical poet writing in English and Latin
• George Watsky (born 1986), American poet and rapper.
• Barrett Watten (born 1948), American poet, editor, and educator; associated with Language poets
• Isaac Watts (1674–1748), English hymnist and logician
• Theodore Watts-Dunton (1832–1914), English critic and poet

We–Wh

• Francis Webb (1925–1973), Australian poet
• John Webster (c. 1580 – c. 1634), English dramatist
• Rebecca Wee, American poet, professor
• Hannah Weiner (1928–1997), American Language poet
• Wei Yingwu (737–792) Chinese poet
• Wen Yiduo (1899–1946), Chinese poet
• Marjory Heath Wentworth (born 1958), American poet; South Carolina Poet Laureate
• Charles Wesley (1707–1788), English leader of Methodist movement, prolific hymnist
• Gilbert West (1703–1756), English poet, translator and Christian apologist
• Philip Whalen (1923–2002), American poet, Zen Buddhist, and figure in San Francisco Renaissance
• Franz Werfel (1890–1945), Austrian-Bohemian novelist, playwright, and poet
• Johan Herman Wessel (1742–1785), Norwegian-Danish poet
• Phillis Wheatley (1753–1784), first African-American poet
• Billy Edd Wheeler (born 1932), American songwriter, performer, poet, novelist, and visual artist
• E.B. White (1899–1985), American essayist, author, humorist, and poet
• Henry Kirke White (1785-1806), English poet
• James L. White (1936–1981), American poet, editor and teacher
• Walt Whitman (1819–1892), American poet, essayist, journalist, and humanist
• Isabella Whitney (fl. 1567–1573), English poet
• Reed Whittemore (1919–2012), American poet, biographer, critic, and college professor
• John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892), American poet
• Jay Wright (born 1935), African-American poet, playwright, and essayist

Wi

• Anna Wickham (Edith Alice Mary Harper) (1884–1947), English poet brought up in Australia
• Les Wicks (born 1955), Australian poet, publisher, and editor
• Ulrika Widström (1764–1841), Swedish poet and translator
• John Wieners (1934–2002), American lyric poet
• Richard Wilbur (born 1921), American poet; US Poet Laureate 1987–88, Pulitzer Prize for Poetry 1957 and 1989
• Jane Wilde (1826–1896), Irish poet and nationalist
• Oscar Wilde (1854–1900), Irish writer, playwright, and poet
• John Wilkinson (born 1953), English poet
• William IX, Duke of Aquitaine (1071–1126), best known as earliest troubadour whose works have survived
• Emmett Williams (1925–2007), American poet and visual artist
• Jonathan Williams (1929–2008), American poet, publisher, essayist, and photographer
• Miller Williams (born 1930), American poet, translator, and editor
• Oscar Williams (1900–1964), Jewish Ukrainian-American anthologist and poet
• Saul Williams (born 1972), African-American singer, musician, poet, writer, and actor
• Sherley Anne Williams (1944–1999), African-American poet, novelist, professor and social critic
• Waldo Williams (1904–1971), Welsh language poet; pacifist and Welsh nationalist
• William Carlos Williams (1883–1963), poet and physician; associated with modernism and imagism
• William Williams Pantycelyn (1717–1791), Welsh poet and hymnist
• Clive Wilmer (born 1945), English poet,
• John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester (1647–1680), English poet, courtier, and satirist
• Eleanor Wilner (born 1937), American poet and editor
• Peter Lamborn Wilson (Hakim Bey, born 1945), American political and cultural writer, essayist, and poet
• Christian Wiman (born 1966), American poet and editor
• Yvor Winters (1900–1968), American poet and literary critic
• George Wither (1588–1667), English poet, pamphleteer, and satirist

Wo–Wy

• Woeser (born 1966), Tibetan activist, blogger, poet and essayist
• Rafał Wojaczek (1945–1971), Polish poet
• Christa Wolf (1929–2011), German literary critic, novelist, poet, and essayist
• Charles Wolfe (1791–1823), Irish poet
• Hans Wollschläger (1935–2007), German writer, translator, historian, and editor
• Sholeh Wolpe (born 1962), Iranian-American poet, literary translator, editor and playwright
• George Woodcock (1912–1995), Canadian writer of biography and history, anarchist thinker, essayist, poet, and critic
• Gregory Woods (born 1953), English poet who grew up in Ghana
• Dorothy Wordsworth (1771–1855), English author, poet and diarist; sister of William Wordsworth
• William Wordsworth (1770–1850), English Romantic poet
• Philip Stanhope Worsley (1835–1866), English poet
• Carolyn D. Wright (born 1949), American poet
• Charles Wright (born in 1935), American poet; 1998 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry
• David Wright (1920–1994) South African-born poet and author
• Franz Wright (born 1953), American poet, son of James Wright; 2004 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry
• James Wright (1927–1980), American poet, father of Franz Wright; 1972 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry
• Judith Wright (1915–2000), Australian poet, environmentalist and campaigner for Aboriginal land rights
• Lady Mary Wroth (1587 – c. 1651), English poet of the Renaissance
• Thomas Wyatt (1503–1542), English ambassador and lyrical poet
• Elinor Wylie (1885–1928), American poet and novelist
• Hedd Wyn (1887–1917), Welsh language poet
• Edward Alexander Wyon (1842−1872), English architect and poet

X

• Xenokleides (4th century BCE) poet of Athens
• Cali Xuseen Xirsi (aka Yam Yam) (1946–2005), Somali poet active in the 1960s
• Xu Zhimo (1897–1931), Chinese poet
• Halima Xudoyberdiyeva (born 1947), Uzbek poet; awarded title of People's Poet of Uzbekistan

Y

• Jūkichi Yagi (1898–1927), Japanese poet on modern religious themes
• Leo Yankevich (born 1961), American poet and editor
• Peyo Yavorov (1878–1914), Bulgarian Symbolist poet
• W. B. Yeats (1865–1939), Irish poet; 1923 Nobel Prize in Literature
• Sergei Yesenin (1895–1925), Russian lyrical poet
• Yevgeny Yevtushenko (born 1933), Soviet Russian poet, novelist, essayist, dramatist, screenwriter, and film director
• Akiko Yosano (1878–1942), Japanese author, poet, feminist and pacifist
• Andrew Young (1885–1971), Scottish poet and clergyman
• Edward Young (1681–1765), English poet
• Kevin Young (born 1970), American poet and teacher
• Marguerite Young (1908–1995), American author of poetry, fiction, non-fiction, and criticism
• A. W. Yrjänä (Aki Ville Yrjänä; born 1967), Finnish poet, singer, bassist, and songwriter with band CMX
• Yuan Mei (1716–1797), Chinese poet, scholar, artist, and gastronome of Qing Dynasty
• Yunus Emre (c. 1238 – c. 1320), Turkish poet and Sufi mystic

Z

• Adam Zagajewski (born 1945), Polish poet, novelist, translator and essayist
• Andrea Zanzotto (1921–2011), Italian poet
• Matthew Zapruder (born 1967), American poet, editor, translator, and professor
• Marya Zaturenska (1902–1982), American lyric poet; 1938 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry
• Robert Zend (1929–1985), Hungarian-Canadian poet, fiction writer, and artist
• Benjamin Zephaniah (born 1958), English writer, dub poet and Rastafarian
• Hristofor Zhefarovich, (c. 1690 – 1753), Serbian painter, engraver, writer and poet; proponent of Pan-Slavism
• Calvin Ziegler (1854–1930), German-American poet; wrote in Pennsylvania Dutch
• Radovan Zogović, Serbian/Montenegrin poet
• Zuhayr ibn Abī Sūlmā (520–609), pre-Islamic Arabian poet
• Louis Zukofsky (1904–1978), American poet; one of primary Objectivist poets
• Huldrych Zwingli (1484–1531), leader of Reformation in Switzerland; poet, hymnist, author of Pestlied