Poetic history is varied and covers centuries, with some of the most important figures in literature. Poets from the Renaissance to the present day have dealt with love and loss, nature, politics, and human existence. We examine some of the best poets of all time and their works in literature.
Great English poets never complete without the greatest English writer, William Shakespeare. Most famous for his plays, Shakespeare's poetry and especially his sonnets have also entered the canon. It's hard to imagine how he could get human emotion in 14 lines or how this poetry and literature can influence us.
Shakespeare's poems are about love, time, beauty, and death and will reach future generations of readers. His sonnet "Should I compare thee to a summer's day? These are still classic poems that inspire today.
Another great writer is John Milton, best known for his epic poem Paradise Lost. Texted in blank verse, "Paradise Lost" explores biblical themes such as the fall of man. Milton's rich language and complex ideas about free will, justice, and redemption have made this poem a standard of English literature.
Milton's poetry is both thematic and linguistic delight. Poet X has written long, complex lines of verse that have influenced many poets and established him as one of the best poets of all time.
One of the founders of the Romantic movement, William Wordsworth, redefined poetry as concerned with nature and the sublime. Lyrical Ballads, written by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, stressed the natural world and individual experience.
Wordsworth's poem "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud" is one of the most iconic pieces of English literature - capturing the peace and spiritual renewal that nature can offer. He writes poetry that is at once Romantic in character and environmentally conscious.
While many think of Emily Bronte primarily through her classic novel Wuthering Heights, her poetry is equally as great an achievement. Her verses are often dark and reflect death, loss, and the human soul. In her poem No Coward Soul is Mine, Emily demonstrates a spiritual strength in defiance of death.
Bronte's poetry is Gothic in style and emotionally strong - among the best. Dark yet beautiful imagery still draws readers.
A Modernist, T. S. Eliot changed poetry with such works as The Waste Land and the Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock. His fragmented, allusion-rich style reflected the disillusionment and chaos of the post-World War I era and offered a new reading of modern society through poetry.
Eliot experimented with language and structure outside of traditional verse and influenced generations of poets. His work is still studied and valued intellectually and culturally.
Poems by Philip Larkin are often brutally realistic and portray everyday life. In his works, such as The Whitsun Weddings and Aubade, he often deals with loneliness, mortality, and time. Unlike his Romantic idealism predecessors, Larkin's poetry offers a more grounded - sometimes cynical - account of life.
Larkin, despite his pessimism, has a fine language and a way of expressing human emotion with honesty and clarity - among the best poets of the 20th century. His work is read today for its accessibility and emotional resonance.
From Shakespeare's sonnets to Larkin's modern contemplation on life, that legacy lies in depth and breadth. They changed the topography of English literature with their innovative styles and explorations into the human condition. Each one of them contributes something to literature in their own particular way.
