Top 10 Most Famous Poets From The United States
Phillis Wheatley (1753–1784) had a particularly American lyric voice during the colonial era. Wheatley, an African woman who was sold into slavery, rose to ... read more...fame as a poet in the American colonies as well as in England and other countries. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–1882) was the first American poet of the independent United States to achieve international fame. He has faced criticism, though, for copying European fashions. American poets began to appear in the 19th century as they looked for a uniquely American voice to set them apart from their British contemporaries. Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson, two of the best-known writers in the United States, were responsible for the final emergence of authentically indigenous English-language poetry. The United States made a substantial contribution to the Modernist movement in poetry in the late 19th century with authors like Ezra Pound, Wallace Stevens, William Carlos Williams, and E. E. Cummings. The most well-known and important American poet of the 20th century, nevertheless, was Robert Frost. The poetry of the west has been substantially influenced by the United States, and this effect is still apparent now. Here are the top ten American poets along with some of their most well-known works.
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Born in Massachusetts in 1830, Emily Dickinson was a well-known poet in her day. With her sense of style and feeling of life, she has a right to be considered one of the best women in American literature. She was a quiet woman with a distinctive taste in reading and the arts. She studied jazz poetry as a child, but shockingly few people were aware of her amazing talents. She is regarded as one of the best poets in America and an author on a global scale. She is regarded as one of the most well-known poets because of the wordplay, unexpected rhymes, and profound ideas she conveys in her poems.
Since Emily Dickinson was an introvert, most of her connections were established through written communication. She was regarded as strange during her lifetime, and few people were aware of her extraordinary talent. Only after her passing was her approximately 1800 poems made public. Her poetry attracted a variety of reactions at first, with some applauding its "unique personality and creativity" and others criticizing her outlandish, unconventional writing style. By the early 20th century, Dickinson's poetry had attracted considerable attention, and critics had come to understand that the anomalies in her poems were deliberate creative choices. She is most recognized now for being "the poet of paradox" and for using form and syntax in unique ways.
American poetry has been greatly and profoundly influenced by Emily Dickinson. She is regarded as one of the greatest poets in English literature and is possibly the most well-known American poet. She is also known as the "Belle of Amherst."
Famous Poems:
- Hope is the Thing with Feathers (1891)
- Because I Could Not Stop For Death (1890)
- I’m nobody! Who are you? (1891)
Lifespan: December 10, 1830 – May 15, 1886
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Robert Frost, one of the most well-known American poets, was a generous supporter of American literature. He was born in California in 1874. Robert Lee Frost is well known for having a profound grasp of human nature. He is renowned for his authentic portrayals of rural life that capture the rhythms of real speech and show how people interact with the natural world.
Frost's book New Hampshire: A Poem with Notes and Grace Notes earned the Pulitzer Prize in 1924. He then won three additional Pulitzer Prizes. He is still the only poet and one of just four people to do this. He received the United States Congressional Gold Medal in 1960, which is the country's highest honor for a civilian. The first poet to commemorate a presidential inauguration was also him. For President John F. Kennedy, he read a passage from his poem The Gift Outright. One of the most well-known and highly regarded poets in history is Robert Frost. He is largely recognized as the finest American poet of the 20th century and was once referred to as the unofficial "poet laureate" of the country.
Famous Poems:
- The Road Not Taken (1916)
- Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening (1923)
- Mending Wall (1914)
Lifespan: March 26, 1874 – January 29, 1963
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A cultural movement known as romanticism emphasized passion, individualism, as well as the veneration of the past and of nature. Poe is often recognized as a key representative of American Romanticism. He is hailed as the greatest representative of Dark Romanticism, an aesthetic movement that emphasizes the demonic, self-destruction, fallibility of humans, and the psychological ramifications of sin and remorse.
The loss of a young, attractive, and greatly loved woman is one of his poems' primary themes; he referred to it as "the most poetical issue in the universe." The Raven is Poe's most well-known poem. Numerous later pieces were influenced by it, notably Paul Gauguin's well-known picture Nevermore.
Aside from poetry, Poe is credited with creating the detective fiction subgenre and making significant contributions to the burgeoning science fiction subgenre. One of the most significant and well-known authors in American literature is Edgar Allan Poe. His poetry is widely read today, and many passages from it are quoted.
Famous Poems:
- The Raven (1845)
- Annabel Lee (1849)
- A Dream Within a Dream (1849)
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Walt Whitman, a famous American poet known as the "founder of free verse," was born in New York in 1819. He is renowned for his amazing and epic collection of American poetry, which includes the 1855 poem "Leaves of Grass." This was the sole poet whose work was praised and distinguished itself as having something to say about sexuality, freedom, and love of country. In his adult life, he wrote science fiction and was well-known for it.
Free verse is a type of poetry in which there are no predictable meter patterns, rhymes, or other musical structures. Perhaps the most significant American contribution to poetry was made by Walt Whitman, the father of free verse. Although most of his writing does not openly touch politics, it generally engages with democracy in a way that is uniquely American. Because of this, Whitman is frequently referred to as America's first "poet of democracy."
Whitman continued to work on his poetry collection Leaves of Grass throughout his life, and by the time of his passing, it had more than 400 poems. Leaves of Grass was once deemed offensive due to its overt sexuality, but over time it came to be regarded as one of the most important pieces of American poetry. Without a doubt, Walt Whitman has had a significant impact on poetry throughout history, and many consider him to be the greatest American poet to have ever lived.
Famous Poems:
- Song of Myself (1855)
- O Captain! My Captain! (1867)
- When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d (1865)
Lifespan: May 31, 1819 – March 26, 1892
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Maya Angelou, who was born Marguerite Annie Johnson, was one of the most well-known people of the 20th century. She started her career as a singer and dancer, went on to work as a writer and civil rights activist, wrote seven well-regarded autobiographies, taught at Wake Forest University, and was given numerous awards, including the 2010 Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Angelou was a prolific poet who wrote poems on a wide range of subjects, including racism, discrimination against women, music, love, and loss. She has been described as "the black woman's poet laureate" and "the people's poet." In 1993, at the inauguration of President Bill Clinton, Angelou read her poem "On the Pulse of Morning." She was the first female poet and the second person ever to get this accolade after Robert Frost. The anthems of African Americans have been said to be Maya Angelou's poems, which are still very well-liked.
Famous Poems:
- Still I Rise (1978)
- On the Pulse of Morning (1993)
- Phenomenal Woman (1978)
Lifespan: April 4, 1928 – May 28, 2014
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The Harlem Renaissance, which had its epicenter in New York City's Harlem area, was a period of significant political, social, and cultural advancement for African Americans. It peaked around the middle of the 1920s. The most well-known representative of the Harlem Renaissance and one of its most important figures is Langston Hughes.
He was a pioneer of the poetry subgenre known as jazz poetry, which features jazz-like rhythms. His poems frequently focus on African American culture and the way that black people are excluded from the American promise of equality for all. Langston Hughes, who was also a novelist, playwright, and columnist, is best known for his poetry and is regarded as one of the finest African American poets of all time.
Famous Poems:
- The Negro Speaks of Rivers (1921)
- Harlem (1951)
- The Weary Blues (1925)
Lifespan: February 1, 1902 – May 22, 1967
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Cummings, a well-known individual born in Massachusetts in 1894, was one of the best poets and produced a large body of work, including his autobiographical novel, plays, and other poems. He is primarily known for his poetry, which dramatically experimented with sentence structure and punctuation. The subjects of nature and love predominate in most of Cummings' poems, which is what his followers like.
The poems by Edward Estlin Cummings that are best known for using radical punctuation and language are what made him renowned. The majority of his verse is written in lowercase, and he only capitalizes words when they are important to the piece. In his poems, the structure and use of complex words are significant to the stanza and are not done at random. Satire also appears frequently in his works. A typical Cummings poem is concise and uses a few oddly positioned important words.
For a significant portion of his career, E. E. Cummings was not a very well-known poet, but by the 1950s, he had achieved an international reputation and recognition. He was one of the most avant-garde poets of his generation and is today regarded as a major figure in modern literature. With his poems about love, nature, and the enormous popularity of his sensual poetry, Cummings continues to be one of the most well-known poets in America.
Famous Poems:
- i carry your heart with me (1952)
- in Just- (1923)
- Buffalo Bill’s (1920)
Lifespan: October 14, 1894 – September 3, 1962
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Confessional poetry is a phrase used to describe poems that concentrate on the person; her experience, her psychology, her trauma, and similar topics. Sylvia Plath is considered a pioneer in this genre. The Colossus and Other Poems, her debut collection of poetry, was released in 1960. On February 11, 1963, when she was 30 years old, Plath killed herself by sticking her head in the oven while the gas was on.
She wrote some of her most well-known poetry in the months before she took her own life. They were included in her famed poetry collection Ariel, which was released after her passing. Plath's poetry is renowned for its powerful mixing of disturbing or violent imagery with amusing rhyme and alliteration. Sylvia Plath is still one of the most well-known female poets in the English language and is regarded as one of the greatest writers of the 20th century.
Famous Poems:
- Daddy (1965)
- Mirror (1971)
- Tulips (1965)
Lifespan: October 27, 1932 – February 11, 1963
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Heinrich Karl Bukowski was Charles Bukowski's name when he was born in Andernach, Germany. In 1930, his family relocated to Los Angeles. Charles had a challenging upbringing, being bullied by boys his own age and being physically assaulted by his father. At the age of 35, he started his career by publishing in Los Angeles underground journals including Open City and the L.A. Free Press. In the end, he produced tens of thousands of poems, a large number of short tales, and six novels.
The squalor of urban life and the oppressed in American society are shown in Bukowski's poems. In his writing, he drew on his own experience, feelings, and imagination while employing blunt language and graphic sexual and violent imagery. The common lives of poor Americans, alcohol, relationships with women, and the tedium of work are major themes in his writing. Bukowski was dubbed a "laureate of American lowlife" by Time magazine in 1986. He continues to be revered in American poetry.
Famous Poems:
- Bluebird (1992)
- The Laughing Heart (1993)
- So You Want to be a Writer
Lifespan: August 16, 1920 – March 9, 1994
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The literary modernist movement was defined by a radical rejection of established writing conventions in favor of fresh modes of communication. The first formal Modernist literary movement in the English language was imagism. It placed an emphasis on language that was concise, clear, and clear.
Of all the Imagists, Ezra Weston Loomis Pound was the most significant and influential. He purposefully exploited perplexing juxtapositions in his poetry so as to draw the reader to a particular conclusion. He eschewed Victorian and Edwardian syntax and structure in favor of a distinctive style of speech that included strange words and jargon. Since he was principally responsible for discovering, advancing, and influencing the work of several significant writers affiliated with the movement, including T. S. Eliot, James Joyce, and E.E. Cummings, Ezra Pound is credited with creating the tradition of Modernist literature.
Famous Poems:
- In a Station of the Metro (1913)
- The Cantos (1925)
- Hugh Selwyn Mauberley (1920)
Lifespan: October 30, 1885 – November 1, 1972