Find out more about the greatest 20th Century Poets, including Roald Dahl, Jim Morrison, Sylvia Plath, Leonard Cohen and Maya Angelou.
J. R. R. Tolkien03 January 1892, British, South African
Writer
Jim Morrison08 December 1943, American
Singer, Lyricist, Poet, Musician, Filmmaker
Leonard Cohen21 September 1934, Canadian
Singer-songwriter
Amrita Pritam31 August 1919, Indian
Writer
Roald Dahl13 September 1916, British, Welsh
Novelist, Short Story Writer
Margaret Atwood18 November 1939, Canadian
Writer, Environmental Activist
Maya Angelou04 April 1928, American
Author
Sylvia Plath27 October 1932, American
Poet, Novelist, and Writer
Allen Ginsberg03 June 1926, American
Poet
Robert Frost26 March 1874, American
Poet
Charles Bukowski16 August 1920, German, American
Poet
Jack Kerouac12 March 1922, American
Novelist, Poet
Langston Hughes01 February 1902, American
Poet, Novelist, Playwright, & Columnist
Samuel Beckett13 April 1906, Irish
Novelist, Playwright, Theater Director
Shel Silverstein25 September 1930, American
Poet
Yukio Mishima14 January 1925, Japanese
Playwright
Chinua Achebe16 November 1930, Nigerian
Nigerian novelist
Pablo Neruda12 July 1904, Chilean
Chilean poet
Dylan Thomas27 October 1914, Welsh
Poet & Writer
Ted Hughes17 August 1930, British
Poet and Children's Writer
W. H. Auden21 February 1907, British
Poet
Harold Pinter10 October 1930, British
Nobel Prize Winner in Literature
Joyce Carol Oates16 June 1938, American
Writer
John Updike18 March 1932, American
Neal Cassady08 February 1926, American
Seamus Heaney13 April 1939, Irish
Poet
Audre Lorde18 February 1934, American
Writer
George Santayana16 December 1863, Spanish, Italian
Philosopher, Essayist, Poet, & Novelist
Ron Cephas Jones08 January 1957, American
Actor
Vikram Seth20 June 1952, Indian
Writer
Philip Larkin09 August 1922, British
Poet
Wendell Berry05 August 1934, American
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Sherman Alexie07 October 1966, American
Novelist
Carol Ann Duffy23 December 1955, British
Michael Ondaatje12 September 1943, Canadian
Canadian poet
Saul Williams29 February 1972, American
Singer, Musician, Poet
Marjane Satrapi22 November 1969, French, Iranian
Graphic Novelist
Anne Sexton09 November 1928, American
Poet
Betty Aberlin30 December 1942, American
Actress
Edward Gorey22 February 1925, American
Barbara Kingsolver08 April 1955, American
Novelist, Poet, Essayist
Carson McCullers19 February 1917, American
American novelist
Kingsley Amis16 April 1922, British
Poet, novelist and lecturer
Robert LaSardo20 September 1963, American
Actor
Adrienne Rich16 May 1929, American
American poet
Ogden Nash19 August 1902, American
Poet
Amiri Baraka07 October 1934, American
Writer
Derek Walcott23 January 1930, Saint Lucian
Poet
Octavio Paz31 March 1914, Mexican
Writer, Poet, Diplomat and Noble Prize Laureate
Elizabeth Bishop08 February 1911, American
Poet
John Berger05 November 1926, British
Novelist
Joseph Brodsky24 May 1940, Russian
Essayist & Poet
Gary Snyder08 May 1930, American
American man of letters
Paul Bowles30 December 1910, American
Writer, Music Composer
James Weldon Johnson17 June 1871, American
Author
Czesław Miłosz30 June 1911, Polish
Poet
Gwendolyn Brooks07 June 1917, American
Poet
Alan Jay Lerner31 August 1918, American
American lyricist
Mahmoud Darwish13 March 1941, Palestinian
Poet
Henry Lawson17 June 1867, Australian
Writer
Wisława Szymborska02 July 1923, Polish
Nobel Laureate in Literature
Hélène Cixous05 June 1937, Algerian
Professor
Theodore Roethke25 May 1908, American
Pulitzer Prize Winning Poet
Judith Wright31 May 1915, Australian
Poet, Environmentalist, Campaigner for Aboriginal
Herta Müller17 August 1953, German
Writer
Nizar Qabbani21 March 1923, Syrian
Diplomat
Reinaldo Arenas16 July 1943, Cuban
Cuban poet
Cesare Pavese09 September 1908, Italian
Italian poet
Lucille Clifton27 June 1936, American
American poet
Tomas Tranströmer15 April 1931, Swedish
Poet
Ahlam Mosteghanemi13 April 1953, Algerian
Writer
Roque Dalton14 May 1935, Salvadoran
Poet
Salvatore Quasimodo20 August 1901, Italian
Author & Poet
Robert Hayden04 August 1913, American
Poet, Essayist, Educator
Karel Appel25 April 1921, Dutch
Painter, Sculptor, Poet
Abdolkarim Soroush16 December 1945, Iranian
Thinker and Reformer
Charles Simic09 May 1938, American
Poet
Girolamo Fracastoro1478 AD, Italian
Physician, scholar, poet
Ernesto Cardenal20 January 1925, Nicaraguan
Poet, Revolutionary, Politician, Priest
Assi Rahbani04 May 1923, Lebanese
Composer
A. R. Ammons18 February 1926, American
Poet
Rafael Alberti16 December 1902, Spanish
Poet
Chairil Anwar26 July 1922, Indonesian
Poet
Adrian Mitchell24 October 1932, British
Poet
Henry Van Dyke10 November 1852, American
Writer
Aharon Appelfeld16 February 1932, Israeli
Writer
Augusto Roa Bastos13 June 1917, Paraguayan
Novelist
John M. Ford10 April 1957, American
Novelist, Writer, Game Designer
Fleur Adcock10 February 1934, New Zealander
Poet
Uuno Kailas29 March 1901, Finnish
Poet
Blaže Koneski19 December 1921, Macedonian
Poet
David Wagoner05 June 1926, American
Poet, Novelist, Professor
James Wright13 December 1927, American
Poet
C. Day Lewis27 April 1904, Irish, British
Poet
Amy Clampitt15 June 1920, American
Poet
Suleyman Rustam27 November 1906, Azerbaijani
Poet