Famous Male Poets of All Time | Unveiling the Masters of Verse

Want to explore some of the most famous male poets of all time and all genres? Here is the ultimate list.

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Male Poets

Poetry is not just about rhyming words and fascinating metaphors. It is a form of art that holds significance and life in itself. In other words, it is not just a combination of words, but it depicts a strong sense of imagery and emotions that everyone can connect with.

Many male and female artists showcase their inner emotions by painting on canvases. While, poets use magical worlds to describe culture, love, friendship, and societal issues effectively.

In fact, many historical figures contributed to this art form and wrote phenomenal poetry, which is alive today. Want to know who they were and why people loved them? Here are the top ones whose works you should read this season to broaden your point of view and get immersed in the richness of the world of poetry. In other words, these will take you to new realms beyond the limits of time and space and make you ponder over the greater purposes of life.

Top 10 Male Poets Throughout History

Top 10 Male Poets Throughout History

1William Shakespeare – One of the Finest Male Poets

Firstly, William Shakespeare. In brief, he is widely famous as one of (or probably the) best male poets, writers, dramatists, and English playwrights. His plays are still famous, without a doubt and they have been translated into many languages as well. After his death, he got more famous. And now his works are studied worldwide. To be more accurate, he wrote 154 sonnets and 38 plays.

Time PeriodApril 26, 1564 – April 23, 1616.
NationalityEnglish.
AwardsLucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Revival.
Famous PoemsThe Pheonix and the turtle (1601), Sonnet 18 (1609), All The World’s A Stage (1623).

Famous Couplet:

“So, till the judgment that yourself arise,
You live in this, and dwell in lovers’ eyes.”

-Sonnet 55

2William Wordsworth

The poet of the famous poem “Daffodils”, William Wordsworth, is another name of male poet in history. In fact, he used the language of common people to elaborate on the connection of humans with nature. In detail about his life, at the age of 7, his mother died, and then he went to Hawkshead Grammar School. Then for further studies, he went to Cambridge University. He wrote his first poems in his school years. Additionally, he set a new theme in English poetry which is the romantic age.

Time PeriodApril 7, 1770 – April 23, 1850.
NationalityEnglish.
AwardsHonorary doctorate in Civil Law from the University of Durham.
Famous PoemsLines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey (1798), The Prelude (1850), The Recluse (1880).

Famous Couplet:

“I had melancholy thoughts…
A strangeness in my mind,
The feeling that I was not that for an hour,
Nor for that place”

-The Prelude

3Robert Frost

Robert Frost was one of the famous male poets born in San Francisco and a leading American poet of rural life and nature. He was a lover of nature; due to his fascination with water. Therefore, he beautifully explained the trees and stone walls in a way that elaborates a certain relationship with humans. In other words, readers have to interpret the symbols he has used in his poetry to understand the theme and topic fully.

Moreover, before the death of his father, he lived in California for 11 years. Afterward, he moved to the town of Lawrence in Massachusetts with his family.

Time PeriodMarch 26, 1874 – January 29, 1963.
NationalityThe United States.
AwardsFour Pulitzer Prizes.
Famous PoemsFire and Ice (December 1920), Mending Wall (1914), The Road Not Taken (1916).

Famous Couplet:

“Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveller, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could,
To where it bent in the undergrowth.”

-The Road Not Taken

4Ralph Waldo Emerson

Then, Ralph Waldo Emerson was the essayist, one of the most prominent male poets, lecturers, and philosophers. Plus, his intellectual works are widely famous and influenced the world. He traveled far and wide and met famous literary figures like William Wordsworth, Taylor Coleridge, Thomas Carlyle, etc. Furthermore, in 1817, he entered Harvard College and got a chance to study the religious traditions of the Middle East and Asia. Moreover, he had an interest in exploring the sacred traditions of the East. Also, he was inclined toward knowing the Eastern themes of poetry.

Time PeriodMay 25, 1803 – April 27, 1882.
NationalityEnglish.
AwardsHonorary doctorate in Civil Law from the University of Durham.
Famous PoemsThe Bell (1958), The Snow-Strom (1856), Water (1909).

Famous Couplet:

“And when his hours are numbered, and the world
Is all his own, retiring, as he were not,
Leaves, when the sun appears, astonished Art
To mimic in slow structures, stone by stone,
Built-in an age, the mad wind’s night-work,
The frolic architecture of the snow.”

-The Snow-Strom

5Rudyard Kipling

He was an essayist, writer, novelist, and renowned name in male poet. Being brought up in British India, his works have a unique touch that not any other poet has. Above all, he innovated the short stories and wrote many works off citation for children, like “The Jungle Book”.

Time Period30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936.
NationalityEnglish/Indian.
AwardsNoble Prize in Literature.
Famous PoemsIf (1910), Recessional (1897), The White Man’s Burden (1899).

Famous Couplet:

If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run—
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!

-IF

Read Also: The Greatest Reads of the Past Decade

Some Honorable Mentions of Male Poets

6Edgar Allan Poe

In short, he is famous for his art of writing poetry and mystery tales. His works are still widely read. Plus, they had a great impact on American literature.

Time PeriodJanuary 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849.
Notable WorksTo Halen (1831), Ulalume (December 1847), A Dream within a Dream (March 31, 1849).
NationalityAmerican.
AwardsHe won 2 awards in his lifetime.

Famous Lines:

“All that we see or seem is but a dream within a dream.”

-Edgar Allan Poe

7William Butler Yeats

He was a writer, and a poet and was a prominent name in the revival of Irish literature. He used symbols and imagery to explain his thoughts, and he was a master of traditional style poetry too.

Time Period13 June 1865 – 28 January 1939.
NationalityIrish.
Notable WorksDeath (1929), The Second Coming (November 1920), Sailing to Byzantium (1928).
AwardsThe Nobel Prize in Literature 1923.

Famous Lines:

An aged man is but a paltry thing,
A tattered coat upon a stick, unless
Soul clap its hands and sing, and louder sing
For every tatter in its mortal dress.

-William Butler Yeats

8William Morris

Apart from being a great poet, translator, novelist, and artist, he was also a social activist. Born in England, he belonged to a wealthy middle-class sector of society, and his contributions to modern fantasy are remarkable as well.

Famous works that you should read: A Death Song, Autumn.

9Dylan Marlais Thomas

Lastly, Dylan Marlais Thomas was born in South Wales, and he is famous for his lyrical style in poetry. Actually, the chaos of his life and struggles are depicted in his writings. He began to write in his childhood, and by his teens, he started publishing his works.

Timeline9 November 1953 – 27 October 1914.
Famous WorksThe Song of the Mischievous Dog, Fern Hill.

10Tadeusz Rozewicz

Firstly, Tadeusz Rozewicz was a polish male poet, translator, writer, and playwright. His first work was published in 1938. There are many notable works on his credit. For example several screenplays and plays. Moreover, his plays were translated into English and many other major languages (almost 40 languages). As a matter of fact, two of his plays were produced in New York City.

His poem “Mother Departs”, translated by Barbara Bogoczek, is about his dead mother that was published in 1999. It won the NIKE (the Polish literary prize) in 2000.

In detail, this poem is not just about the remembrance of his dead mother, but it also contains some other writings about his mother. In fact, you can read the poetry reviews to know more about the topic, vibe, and theme of his works.

Time Period9 October 1921 – 24 April 2014.
Notable WorksThe Survivor (1976), Mother Departs (1999).
NationalityPolish.
AwardsLaurel Award in poetry, Golden Ball award.

Famous Lines:

“Virtue and crime weigh the same I’ve seen it: in a man who was both criminal and virtuous.”

-The Survivor

Male Poets: Final Thoughts

In conclusion, every poet has a different thought pattern and they focus on different themes. Additionally, to make your TBR list widen, you should add all of these famous male poets to know the underlying insights and truths of life. Finally, make your horizon broad and absorb the new perspectives of the world by reading these phenomenal male poets.

In other words, you can say that,

“Poetry is a deal of joy and pain and wonder, with a dash of the dictionary.”

-Khalil Gibran

Related Content: Read These Novels From Famous Italian Writers To Have A Taste Of Rome

Images from Wikimedia Commons

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Omer is a bibliophile, history buff, anime enthusiast, and an aspiring blogger. He can often be found engaged in discussions on current affairs, both political and economic, over a cup of tea. His current interests revolve around researching the impacts of Artificial Intelligence and Machine learning on our society.