2 Thomas Wyatt(Poet & Politician)

Apart from being a lyric poet who is credited with having written the first English sonnets, Thomas Wyatt was also a seasoned politician and an ambassador who was patronized by Thomas Cromwell. He was also said to have had an affair with Anne Boleyn and was later arrested for it.
3 William Shakespeare(Playwright)
English playwright, poet, and actor William Shakespeare is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language. He is also often called England's national poet. Many of his works have been translated into other languages and his plays continue to be produced till day. Popular during his lifetime, he acquired an iconic status after his death.
4 Philip Sidney(Poet)

5 Ben Jonson(Dramatist, Poet & Actor)
6 Christopher Marlowe(Playwright, Poet)
English playwright, poet, and translator, Christopher Marlowe, was one of the major literary figures of the Elizabethan era. It is believed that he greatly influenced his contemporary William Shakespeare. He led a troubled life and died young under mysterious circumstances. Despite his early death, he is regarded as one of the foremost dramatists of the 16th century London.
7 Edmund Spenser(Poet)
8 George Herbert(Poet recognized as one of the foremost British devotional lyricists)
George Herbert was an orator, poet, and priest of the Church of England. Although he is regarded as one of the most important British devotional lyricists, Herbert's poetry is often associated with the works of popular metaphysical poets. He was also a collector of proverbs and his collection was published in 1640.
9 Thomas Nashe(Playwright)

10 Anne Askew(poet)

11 Emilia Lanier(Poet)
12 Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey(Politician)

13 John Lyly(Writer)

14 Thomas Middleton(Playwright, Poet, Writer)

15 Mary Sidney(Countess)

16 Michael Drayton(First to Write Odes in English in the Manner of Horace)

17 John Skelton(Poet)

18 Thomas Campion(Famous for Writing Over a Hundred Lute Songs, Masques for Dancing)

19 Fulke Greville, 1st Baron Brooke(Writer)

20 Robert Southwell(Poet)

21 John Heywood(Writer)

22 George Peele(Poet)

23 Thomas Overbury(Poet)

Sir Thomas Overbury, English poet and essayist, is probably best known for his 1614 poem Wife, which describes the virtues one should demand of the woman he is going to marry. Interpreted as an indirect attack on Lady Essex, a divorcee whom his mentor, Viscount Rochester, was to marry, it led to his imprisonment and ultimate murder by slow poisoning.
24 John Leland(Poet)

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26 Samuel Daniel(Poet)

27 Thomas Lodge(Writer)

28 Henry Wotton(Author)

Apart from being a diplomat, Henry Wotton was also a poet and a patron of the arts. The Oxford alumnus is best remembered for his poems such as You meaner beauties of the night, which were dedicated to Elizabeth of Bohemia, the daughter of King James I.
29 John Marston(Poet)

30 Gervase Markham(Poet)

31 Robert Sidney, 1st Earl of Leicester(Statesman)

32 George Gascoigne(English poet)

33 Edward Herbert, 1st Baron Herbert(Soldier)

English philosopher Edward Herbert, 1st Baron Herbert is regarded as the father of English Deism. Best remembered for his iconic work De Veritate, he had also penned a revealing autobiography. A talented lute player, too, he had also composed several musical pieces. He had also been a soldier and a diplomat.
34 Arthur Brooke(Poet)

35 John Davies(English poet and writing master)

36 Francis Quarles(Poet)

37 Thomas Tusser(Author, Writer)

38 George Sandys(Traveler)

39 George Wither(Poet)

40 Anthony Munday(Playwright)

41 William Cornysh(Composer)

42 Phineas Fletcher(Poet)

43 Edward Dyer(Courtier)

44 Thomas Deloney(Novelist)

45 Francis Meres(Author)

46 Richard Brathwait(Poet)

47 Stephen Hawes(Poet)

48 Thomas May(Poet)

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50 William Alabaster(Poet)
