List of poets

Ab–Ak

• Aarudhra (born Bhagavatula Sadasiva Shankara Sastry, 1925–1998), Indian Telugu poet, writer and dramatist
• Jonathan Aaron (born 1941), American poet
• Chris Abani (born 1966), Nigerian poet
• Henry Abbey (1842–1911), American poet
• Eleanor Hallowell Abbott (1872–1958), American poet, novelist and short story writer
• Siôn Abel (fl. 18th c.), Welsh balladeer
• Lascelles Abercrombie (1881–1938), English poet and literary critic
• Arthur Talmage Abernethy (1872–1956), American journalist, minister, scholar; first North Carolina Poet Laureate
• Sam Abrams (born 1935), American poet
• Seth Abramson (born 1976), American poet, editor and critic
• Kosta Abrašević (1879–1898), Serbian poet
• Dannie Abse (1923–2014), Welsh poet in English
• Kathy Acker (1947–1997), American experimental novelist, punk poet and playwright
• Diane Ackerman (born 1948), American author, poet, and naturalist
• Duane Ackerson (born 1942), American writer of speculative poetry and fiction
• Milton Acorn (1923–1986), Canadian poet, writer, and playwright
• Harold Acton (1904–1994), English writer, scholar and dilettante
• Gilbert Adair (1944–2011), Scottish novelist, poet and critic
• Virginia Hamilton Adair (1919–2004), American poet
• Helen Adam (1909–1993), Scottish-American poet, collagist and photographer
• Draginja Adamović (1925–2000), Serbian poet
• John Adams (1704–1740), American poet
• Léonie Adams (1899–1988), American poet
• Ryan Adams (born 1974), American singer-songwriter and writer
• Hendrik Adamson (1891–1946), Estonian poet
• Fleur Adcock (born 1934), poet and New Zealand native who has spent most of life in England
• Joseph Addison (1672–1719), English essayist, poet, writer and politician
• Kim Addonizio (born 1954) American poet, novelist
• Artur Adson (1889–1977), Estonian poet
• Endre Ady (1877–1919), Hungarian poet
• Aeschylus (525–456 BC), Athenian tragedian
• Lucius Afranius (fl. c. 94 BC), Roman comic poet
• John Agard (born 1949), Afro-Guyanese poet and children's writer
• James Agee (1909–1955), American novelist, screenwriter and poet
• Deborah Ager (born 1977), American poet, editor
• Kelli Russell Agodon (born 1969), American poet
• Dritëro Agolli (born 1931), Albanian poet
• Delmira Agustini (1886–1914), Uruguayan poet
• Ai (Florence Anthony, 1947–2010), American poet
• Ama Ata Aidoo (born 1940), Ghanaian novelist, poet, playwright and academic
• Conrad Aiken (1889–1973), American poet and author
• Aganice Ainianos (1838–1892), Greek poet
• Akazome Emon (956–1041), Japanese poet and historian
• Mark Akenside (1721–1770), English poet and physician
• Rachel Akerman (1522–1544), Austrian Jewish poet writing in German
• Bella Akhmadulina (1937–2010), Russian poet
• Anna Akhmatova (1889–1966), Russian poet
• Jan Nisar Akhtar (1914–1976), Indian Urdu poet
• Javed Akhtar (born 1945), Indian poet, lyricist and scriptwriter
• Salman Akhtar (born 1946), Indian American professor and poet writing in English and Urdu
• Maryam Jafari Azarmani (born 1977), Iranian poet, essayist, critic, translator

Al–Am

• Luigi Alamanni (1495–1556), Italian poet and statesman
• Alasdair mac Mhaighstir Alasdair (c. 1698–1770), Scottish poet in Gaelic
• Ave Alavainu (born 1942), Estonian poet
• Gillebríghde Albanach (fl. 1200–1230), Scottish Gaelic poet and crusader
• Alcaeus (4th c. BC), Athenian comic poet in Greek
• Alcaeus of Messene (fl. late 3rd/early 2nd c. BC), Greek writer of verse epigrams
• Alcaeus of Mytilene (7th – 6th c. BC), Greek lyric poet from Lesbos
• Guru Amar Das (1479–1574), Punjabi poet and Sikh guru
• Ammiel Alcalay (born 1956), American poet, scholar and critic
• Alcman (fl. 7th c. BC), Ancient Greek lyric poet
• Amos Bronson Alcott (1799–1888), American poet and teacher
• Richard Aldington (1892–1962), English poet and writer
• Vasile Alecsandri (1821–1890), Romanian poet
• Tudur Aled (c. 1465–1525), Welsh poet writing in Welsh
• Claribel Alegría (1924–2018), Central American poet writing in Spanish
• Vicente Aleixandre (1898–1984), Spanish poet, Nobel Laureate 1977
• Josip Murn Aleksandrov (1879–1901), Slovene symbolist poet
• Sherman Alexie (born 1966), American poet and writer
• Felipe Alfau (1902–1999), Catalan American novelist and poet
• Agha Shahid Ali (1949–2001) Indian, Kashmiri and American poet
• Dante Alighieri (1265–1321), Italian poet
• James Alexander Allan (1889–1956), Australian poet
• August Alle (1899–1952), Estonian poet
• William Allegrezza (born 1974), American poet, professor and editor
• Dick Allen (born 1939), American poet, critic and academic
• Donald Allen (1912–2004), American poet, editor and translator
• Elizabeth Akers Allen (1832–1911), American author and poet
• Ron Allen (1947–2010), American poet and playwright
• Artur Alliksaar (1923–1966), Estonian poet
• William Allingham (1824 or 1828 – 1889), Irish poet and man of letters
• Washington Allston (1779–1843), American painter and poet
• Damaso Alonso (1898–1990), Spanish poet, philologist and critic
• Alta (Alta Gerrey; born 1942), American poet and writer
• Natan Alterman (1910–1970), Israeli poet, journalist and translator
• Alurista (born 1947), Chicano poet and activist
• Al Alvarez (born 1929), English poet
• Julia Alvarez (born 1950), Dominican-American poet, novelist and essayist
• Betti Alver (1906–1989), Estonian poet
• Moniza Alvi (born 1954), Pakistani-British poet and writer
• Amara Sinha (fl. c. AD 375), Sanskrit grammarian and poet
• Ambroise (fl. c. 1190), Norman-French poet of Third Crusade
• Yehuda Amichai (1924–2000), Israeli poet
• Indran Amirthanayagam (born 1960), Sri Lankan American poet, essayist and translator
• Kingsley Amis (1922–1995), English author and poet
• A. R. Ammons (1926–2001), American author and poet

An–Aq

• Anacreon (570 BC–488 BC), Greek lyric poet
• Alfred Andersch (1914–1980), German writer and publisher
• Ana Paula Arendt (born 1980), Brazilian classical poet
• Hans Christian Andersen (1805–1875), Danish poet and children's writer
• Victor Henry Anderson (1917–2001), American poet, kahuna, and teacher of the Feri Tradition
• Carlos Drummond de Andrade (1902–1987), Brazilian poet
• Mário de Andrade (1893–1945), Brazilian poet, novelist and critic
• Bernard André (1450–1522), French Augustinian poet, poet laureate to Henry VII of England
• Peter Andrej (born 1959), Slovenian poet and musician
• Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen (1919–2004), Portuguese poet and writer
• Bruce Andrews (born 1948), American Language poet
• Kevin Andrews (1924–1989), Anglo-Greek philhellene writer and archeologist
• Ron Androla (born 1954), American poet
• Guru Angad (1504–1552), Sikh Guru and Punjabi poet
• Aneirin (6th c.), Brythonic epic poet
• Ralph Angel (born 1951), American poet and translator
• Maya Angelou (1928–2014), American poet
• James Stout Angus (1830–1923), Shetland poet writing mainly in Shetland Scots
• Marion Angus (1865–1946), Scottish poet writing in Scots
• J. K. Annand (1908–1993), Scots poet best known for children's poems
• Mika Antić (1932–1986), Serbian poet
• David Antin (born 1932), American poet and critic
• Antler (born 1946), American poet
• Susanne Antonetta (born 1956), American poet and author
• Brother Antoninus (1912–1994), American poet
• Chairil Anwar (1922–1949), Indonesian poet
• Johannes Anyuru (born 1979), Swedish poet
• Guillaume Apollinaire (1880–1918), French poet
• Apollonius of Rhodes (270 – post–245 BC), poet and librarian at Library of Alexandria
• Maja Apostoloska (born 1976), Macedonian poet
• Philip Appleman (born 1926), American poet and professor
• Pawlu Aquilina (1929–2009), Maltese poet

Ar

• Louis Aragon (1897–1982), French poet, novelist and editor
• Archilochus (c. 680 – c. 645 BC), ancient Greek lyric poet
• Walter Conrad Arensberg (1878–1954), American Dadaist, critic and poet
• Tudor Arghezi (1880–1967), Romanian poet
• Ludovico Ariosto (1474–1533), Italian poet
• Aristophanes (c. 446 – c. 386 BC), Greek dramatic poet
• Guru Arjan (1563–1606), Sikh Guru and Punjabi poet
• Rae Armantrout (born 1947), American Language poet
• Simon Armitage (born 1963), English poet, playwright, and novelist
• Richard Armour (1906–1989), American poet and author
• Ernst Moritz Arndt (1769–1860), German author and poet
• Bettina von Arnim (1785–1859), German writer, composer and visual artist
• Ludwig Achim von Arnim (1781–1831), German poet and novelist
• Craig Arnold (1967–2009), American poet and professor
• Matthew Arnold (1822–1888), English poet and cultural critic
• Arnórr Þórðarson jarlaskáld (Poet of Earls, c. 1012 – 1070s), Icelandic skald
• Jean Arp (1886–1966), German-French sculptor, painter, and poet
• Antonin Artaud (1896–1948), French playwright, poet and essayist
• Robert P. Arthur (born 1943), American poet, novelist and playwright

As–Ay

John Ashbery

W. H. Auden

• M. K. Asante (born 1982), American author, poet and professor
• John Ashbery (born 1927), American poet, 1976 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry
• Cliff Ashby (1919–2012), English poet and novelist
• Renée Ashley, American poet and novelist.
• Anton Aškerc (1856–1912), Slovenian poet and Roman Catholic priest
• Herbert Asquith (1881–1947), English poet
• Mina Assadi (born 1942), Iranian poet, author and songwriter
• Margaret Atwood (born 1939), English poet, novelist and essayist
• W. H. Auden (1907–1973), Anglo-American poet, essayist
• Joseph Auslander (1897–1965), American poet, anthologist and novelist; US Poet Laureate, 1937–1941
• Ausonius (c. 310–395), Latin poet and rhetorician at Burdigala (Bordeaux)
• Paul Auster (born 1947), American poet, playwright, and essayist
• James Avery (born 1948), American actor, poet, and screenwriter
• Margaret Avison (1918–2007), Canadian poet
• Krayem Awad (born 1948), Vienna painter, sculptor, and poet of Syrian origin
• Gennady Aygi (1934–2006), Russian poet
• Ayo Ayoola-Amale (born 1970), Nigerian poet
• Pam Ayres (born 1947), English humorous poet
• Robert Aytoun (1570–1638), Scottish poet
• Jody Azzouni (born 1954), American philosopher and poet

Bab–Ban

• Ken Babstock (born 1970), Canadian poet
• Jimmy Santiago Baca (born 1952), American poet and writer of Apache/Chicano descent
• Bacchylides (fl. 5th c. BC), Ancient Greek lyric poet
• Bellamy Bach (fl. 1980s), pseudonym of group of fiction and poetry writers
• Joseph M. Bachelor (aka Joseph Morris, 1889–1947), American author, poet and educator
• Harivansh Rai Bachchan (20th c.), Hindi poet
• Ingeborg Bachmann (1926–1973), Austrian poet and author
• Sutardji Calzoum Bachri (born 1941), Indonesian poet
• George Bacovia (1881–1957), Romanian poet
• Krzysztof Kamil Baczyński (1921–1944), Polish poet and soldier
• Julio Baghy (1891–1967), Hungarian actor and Esperanto author and poet
• Bai Juyi (772–846), Chinese poet of Tang dynasty
• Joanna Baillie (1762–1851), Scottish poet and dramatist
• Vyt Bakaitis (born 1940), Lithuanian-American translator, editor and poet
• David Baker (born 1954), American poet
• Bâkî (1526–1600), Ottoman poet (pseudonym of Mahmud Abdülbâkî)
• John Balaban (born 1943), American poet and translator
• Jesse Ball (born 1978), American poet and novelist
• Addie L. Ballou (1837–1916), American poet and suffragist
• Konstantin Balmont (1867–1942), Russian symbolist poet and translator
• Russell Banks (born 1940), American fiction writer and poet
• Amiri Baraka (aka Leroi Jones) (1934–2014), American writer, poet and dramatist
• Anna Laetitia Barbauld (1743–1825), English poet, essayist and children's author
• Porfirio Barba-Jacob (1883–1942), Colombian poet and writer
• John Barbour (c. 1320–1395), Scottish poet, the first major named literary figure to write in Scots
• Alexander Barclay (c. 1476–1552), English/Scottish poet
• George Barker (1913–1991), English poet and author
• Les Barker (born 1947), English poet
• Coleman Barks (born 1937), American poet
• Mary Barnard (1909–2001), American poet, biographer and translator
• Djuna Barnes (1892–1982), American writer
• William Barnes (1801–1886), English writer, poet and philologist
• Catherine Barnett (born 1960), American poet and educator
• Richard Barnfield (1574–1620), English poet
• Willis Barnstone (born 1927), American poet and literary translator
• Laird Barron (born 1970), American poet, author
• Bernard Barton (1784–1849), English poet and Quaker
• Bertha Hirsch Baruch (late 18th to early 19th c.), American writer, poet and suffragist
• Todd Bash (born 1965), American avant-garde playwright, poet and writer
• Matsuo Bashō (1644–1694), Japanese renku and haiku poet
• Michael Basinski (born 1950), American text, visual and sound poet
• Ellen Bass (born 1947), American poet
• Arlo Bates (1850–1918), American author, poet and educator
• David Bates (1809–1870), American poet
• Joseph Bathanti (born 1953), American poet, writer and professor; North Carolina Poet Laureate
• János Batsányi (1763–1845), Hungarian poet
• Dawn-Michelle Baude (born 1959), American poet, journalist and educator
• Charles Baudelaire (1821–1867), French poet, essayist and translator
• Eric Baus (born 1975), American poet
• Cirilo Bautista (born 1941), Filipino poet, writer and critic
• Charles Baxter (born 1947), American writer and poet
• James K. Baxter (1926–1972), New Zealand poet

Be

• Jan Beatty (born 1952), American poet
• Francis Beaumont (1584–1616), English poet and dramatist
• Samuel Beckett (1906–1989), Irish avant-garde playwright, novelist and poet
• Joshua Beckman (living), American poet
• Matija Bećković (born 1939), Serbian writer and poet
• Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer (1836–1870), Spanish poet and short-story writer
• Thomas Lovell Beddoes (1803–1849), English poet, dramatist and physician
• Patricia Beer (1919–1999), English poet and critic
• Aphra Behn (1640–1689), English Restoration dramatist, among the first professional female writers
• Erin Belieu (born 1967), American poet
• Marvin Bell (born 1937), American poet and teacher, first Poet Laureate of State of Iowa
• Gioconda Belli (born 1948), Nicaraguan poet and novelist
• Giuseppe Gioachino Belli (1791–1863), Italian poet known for sonnets in Romanesco
• Xuan Bello (born 1965), Asturian language poet
• Hilaire Belloc (1870–1953), Anglo-French writer and historian
• Andrei Bely (1880–1934), Russian novelist, poet and critic
• Stephen Vincent Benét (1898–1943), American author, poet and fiction writer
• William Rose Benét (1886–1950), American poet, writer and editor
• Gottfried Benn (1886–1956), German essayist, novelist and expressionist poet
• Gwendolyn B. Bennett (1902–1981), African-American writer and poet
• Jim Bennett (born 1951), English poet known for work in Liverpool punk era
• Richard Berengarten (born 1943) English poet, writer and translator
• Bo Bergman (1869–1967), Swedish writer, critic and Swedish Academy member
• İlhan Berk (1918–2008), Turkish poet
• Charles Bernstein, (born 1950), American poet and scholar
• Béroul (12th c.), Norman poet of the episodic Tristan
• Daniel Berrigan (born 1921), American poet, priest and peace activist
• Ted Berrigan (1934–1983), American poet
• James Berry (born 1924), Jamaican poet based in England
• Wendell Berry (born 1934), American man of letters, critic and farmer
• John Berryman (1914–1972), American poet and scholar
• Mary Ursula Bethell (1874–1945), New Zealand poet and social worker
• John Betjeman (1906–1984), English poet, writer and broadcaster
• Elizabeth Beverley (fl. 1815–30), English poet, writer and entertainer
• Helen Bevington (1906–2001), American poet, prose writer and educator
• L. S. Bevington (1845–1895), English anarchist poet and essayist

Bh–Bl

Źmitrok Biadula

William Blake

• Subramanya Bharathi (1882–1921), Tamil writer, poet and Indian independence activist
• Sujata Bhatt (born 1956), Indian poet in Gujarati
• Źmitrok Biadula (1886–1941), Jewish Belarusian poet, prose writer and independence activist
• Laurence Binyon (1879–1943), English poet, dramatist and art scholar
• Earle Birney (1904–1995), Canadian poet, fiction writer and dramatist
• Nevin Birsa (1947–2003), Slovene poet
• Elizabeth Bishop (1911–1979), American poet and short-story writer; US Poet Laureate
• Ram Prasad Bismil (1897–1927), poet and revolutionary writing in Urdu and Hindi
• bill bissett (born 1939), Canadian anti-conventional poet
• Sherwin Bitsui (born 1975), American Navajo poet
• Paul Blackburn (1926–1971) American poet
• Richard Palmer Blackmur (1904–1965), American literary critic and poet
• Lucian Blaga (1895–1961), Romanian philosopher, poet and playwright
• Lewis Blake (born 1946), English poet
• William Blake (1757–1827), English painter, poet and printmaker
• Don Blanding (1894–1957), American poet, journalist, writer and speaker
• Adrian Blevins (born 1964), American poet
• Mathilde Blind (1841–1896), German-born English poet and writer
• Alexander Blok (1880–1921), Russian lyrical poet
• Benjamin Paul Blood (1832–1919), American philosopher and poet
• Robert Bloomfield (1766–1823), English laboring-class poet
• Roy Blumenthal (born 1968), South African poet
• Edmund Blunden (1896–1974), English poet, author and literary critic
• Wilfrid Scawen Blunt (1840–1922), English poet and writer
• Robert Bly (born 1926), American poet, author and leader of mythopoetic men's movement

Bo–Bri

• Giovanni Boccaccio (1313–1375), Italian author and poet
• Jean Bodel (1165–1210), Old French poet
• Louise Bogan (1897–1970), American poet; fourth US Poet Laureate
• Matteo Maria Boiardo (1440 or 1441–1494), Italian Renaissance poet
• Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux (1636–1711), French poet and critic
• Eavan Boland (born 1944), Irish poet
• Alan Bold (1943–1998), Scots poet, biographer, and journalist
• Christian Bök (born 1966), experimental Canadian poet
• Heinrich Böll (1917–1985), German novelist
• Edmund Bolton (c. 1575 – c. 1633), English historian and poet
• Nozawa Bonchō (c. 1640–1714), Japanese haikai poet
• Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906–1945), German poet and Lutheran theologian
• Arna Wendell Bontemps (1902–1973), American poet and member of the Harlem Renaissance
• Kurt Boone, American poet
• Jorge Luis Borges (1899–1986), Argentine short-story writer, essayist and poet
• Tadeusz Borowski (1922–1951), Polish writer and journalist
• Hristo Botev (1848–1876), Bulgarian poet and revolutionary
• Gordon Bottomley (1874–1948), English poet and verse dramatist
• David Bottoms (born 1949), American poet; Georgia Poet Laureate
• Cathy Smith Bowers (born 1949), American poet; North Carolina Poet Laureate 2010–2012
• Edgar Bowers (1924–2000), American poet and Bollingen Prize in Poetry winner
• Mark Alexander Boyd (1562–1601), Scottish poet and mercenary
• Kay Boyle (1902–1992), American writer, educator and political activist
• Alison Brackenbury (born 1953), English poet from Lincolnshire
• Anne (Dudley) Bradstreet (c. 1612–1672) America's first published poet
• Di Brandt (born 1952), Canadian poet and literary critic
• Giannina Braschi (born 1953), American poet born in Puerto Rico
• Kamau Brathwaite (born 1930), Barbadian writer
• Richard Brautigan (1935–1984), American novelist, poet and short story writer
• Bertolt Brecht (1898–1956), German playwright, poet and lyricist
• Gerbrand Adriaensz Bredero (1585–1618), Dutch poet and playwright
• Radovan Brenkus (born 1974), Slovak writer and poet
• Christopher Brennan (1870–1932), Australian poet and scholar
• Joseph Payne Brennan (1918–1990), American poet and writer of fantasy and horror fiction
• Clemens Brentano (1778–1842), German poet and novelist
• André Breton (1896–1966), French writer, poet and founder of Surrealism
• Nicholas Breton (1545–1626), English poet and novelist
• Ken Brewer (1941–2006), American poet and scholar; Utah Poet Laureate
• Robert Bridges (1844–1930), English poet; Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom
• Robert Bringhurst (born 1946), Canadian poet, typographer and author

Bro–By

• Geoffrey Brock (born 1964), American poet and translator
• Joseph Brodsky (1940–1996), Russian poet and essayist
• Wladyslaw Broniewski (1897–1962), Polish poet and soldier
• William Bronk (1918–1999), American poet
• Anne Brontë (1820–1849), English novelist and poet, youngest of the three Brontë sisters
• Charlotte Brontë (1816–1855), English novelist and poet, eldest of the three Brontë sisters
• Emily Brontë (1818–1848), English novelist and poet
• Rupert Brooke (1887–1915), English poet
• Gwendolyn Brooks (1917–2000), African-American poet; 30th US Poet Laureate
• Hans Adolph Brorson (1694–1764), Danish poet and Pietist bishop
• Joan Brossa (1919–1998), Catalan poet, playwright and artist
• Nicole Brossard (born 1943), French Canadian formalist poet and novelist
• Olga Broumas (born 1949), Greek poet living in United States
• Flora Brovina (born 1949), Kosovar Albanian poet, pediatrician and women's rights activist
• Petrus Brovka (aka Pyotr Ustinovich Brovka) (1905–1980), Soviet Belarusian poet
• George Mackay Brown (1921–1996), Scottish poet, author and dramatist
• James Brown known as J. B. Selkirk (1832–1904), Scottish poet and essayist
• Sterling Brown (1901–1989), African-American academic writer and poet
• Thomas Edward Brown (1830–1897), Manx poet, scholar and theologian
• Frances Browne (1816–1887), Irish poet and novelist
• William Browne (1590–1643), English poet
• Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806–1861), English poet
• Robert Browning (1812–1889), English poet and playwright
• William Cullen Bryant (1794–1878), American romantic poet and journalist
• Colette Bryce (born 1970), Northern Irish poet
• Bryher (aka Annie Winifred Ellerman) (1894–1983), English novelist, poet and memoirist
• Valeri Bryusov (1873–1924), Russian poet, novelist and critic
• Dugald Buchanan (Dùghall Bochanan) (1716–1768), Scottish poet writing in Scots and Scottish Gaelic
• Robert Williams Buchanan (1841–1901), Scottish poet, novelist and dramatist
• Georg Büchner (1813–1837), German writer, poet and dramatist
• August Buchner (1591–1661), German Baroque poet and professor
• Vincent Buckley (1927–1988), Australian poet, essayist and critic
• David Budbill (born 1940), American poet, and playwright
• Arun Budhathoki (aka Daniel Song, born 1986), Nepalese poet
• Andrea Hollander Budy (born 1947), American poet
• Charles Bukowski (1920–1994), American poet, novelist and short story writer
• Ivan Bunin (1870–1953) Russian poet and novelist
• Basil Bunting (1900–1985), English modernist poet
• Anthony Burgess (1917–1993), English writer, poet and playwright
• Robert Burns (1759–1796), Scottish poet and a lyricist
• Stanley Burnshaw (1906–2005), American poet
• John Burnside (born 1955), Scottish poet and writer, winner of T. S. Eliot and Forward poetry prizes
• William S. Burroughs (1914–1997), American novelist, poet and essayist
• Andrzej Bursa (1932–1957), Polish poet and writer
• Yosa Buson (1716–1783), Japanese haikai poet and painter
• Raegan Butcher (born 1969), American poet and singer
• Ray Buttigieg (born 1955), poet, composer and musician
• Ignazio Buttitta (1899–1997), Sicilian language poet
• Anthony Butts, (born 1969), American poet
• Kathryn Stripling Byer (born 1944), American poet and teacher; North Carolina Poet Laureate 2005–09
• Witter Bynner (also Emanuel Morgan, 1881–1968), American poet, writer and scholar
• George Gordon Byron, Lord Byron (1788–1824), English poet and literary figure

Cab–Cav

• Lydia Cabrera (1899–1991), Cuban anthropologist and poet
• Dilys Cadwaladr (1902–1979), Welsh poet and fiction writer writing in Welsh
• Cædmon (fl. 7th c.), earliest Northumbrian poet known by name
• Maoilios Caimbeul (born 1944), Scots poet and children's writer (in Gaelic)
• Scott Cairns (born 1954), American poet, memoirist and essayist
• Alison Calder, Canadian poet and educator
• Angus Calder (1942–2008), Scots poet, academic and educator
• Pedro Calderón de la Barca y Barreda González de Henao Ruiz de Blasco y Riaño (1600–1681), dramatist, poet and writer of Spanish Golden Age
• Musa Cälil (1906–1944), Soviet Tatar poet and resistance fighter
• Barry Callaghan (born 1937), Canadian author, poet and anthologist
• Michael Feeney Callan (born 1955), Irish poet, novelist and biographer
• Callimachus (c. 305 – c. 240 BC), Hellenistic poet, critic and scholar at Library of Alexandria
• Robert Calvert (1944–1988), South African writer, poet and musician
• Norman Cameron (1905–1953), Scottish poet
• Luís de Camões (c. 1524 – 1580), early Portuguese poet
• Angus Peter Campbell (aka Aonghas P(h)àdraig Caimbeul, living), Scottish poet, novelist, broadcaster and actor
• David Campbell (1915–1979), Australian poet and wartime pilot, awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for service in New Guinea
• Roy Campbell (1901–1957), South African poet and satirist
• Thomas Campbell (1777–1844), Scottish poet
• Jan Campert (1902–1943), Dutch poet and journalist
• Remco Campert (born 1929), son of Jan; Dutch poet and novelist
• Thomas Campion (1567–1619), English composer, poet and physician
• Matilde Camus (born 1919), Spanish poet and researcher
• Melville Henry Cane (1879–1980), American poet and lawyer
• Ivan Cankar (1876–1918), Slovene playwright, essayist and poet
• May Wedderburn Cannan (1893–1973), English poet
• Edip Cansever (1928–1986) Turkish poet
• Cao Cao (AD 155–220), Chinese poet and warlord
• Cao Pi (formally Emperor Wen of Wei) (AD 187–226), Chinese poet and first emperor of state of Cao Wei; second son of Cao Cao
• Cao Zhi (AD 192–232), Chinese poet; third son of Cao Cao
• Vahni Capildeo (born 1973), Trinidadian poet
• Ernesto Cardenal (born 1925), Nicaraguan Roman Catholic poet and priest
• Giosuè Carducci (1835–1907), Italian poet and teacher
• Thomas Carew (1595–1639), English Cavalier poet
• Henry Carey (1687–1743), English poet, dramatist and songwriter
• Robert Carliell (died c. 1622), English didactic poet
• Bliss Carman (1861–1929), Canadian-American poet associated with Confederation Poets
• Jim Carroll (1949–2009), American author, poet and punk musician
• Lewis Carroll (born Charles Lutwidge Dodgson) (1832–1898), English writer, mathematician and photographer
• Hayden Carruth (1921–2008), American poet and literary critic
• Ann Elizabeth Carson (born 1929), Canadian poet, artist and feminist
• Anne Carson (born 1950), Canadian poet, essayist and translator
• Elizabeth Carter (1717–1806), English poet and bluestocking
• Jared Carter (born 1939), American poet and editor
• William Cartwright (1611–1643), English dramatist and churchman
• Neal Cassady (1926–1968), figure in 1950s Beat Generation and 1960s psychedelic movement
• Cyrus Cassells (born 1957), American poet and professor
• Catullus (c. 84 – 54 BC), Latin poet under the Roman Republic
• Charles Causley (1917–2003), Cornish poet, schoolmaster and writer
• C. P. Cavafy (1863–1933), Greek poet, journalist and civil servant
• Guido Cavalcanti (1250s – 1300), Florentine poet and friend of Dante Alighieri
• Nick Cave (born 1957), Australian writer, musician and actor
• Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle-upon-Tyne (1623–1673), English writer, aristocrat and scientist

Ce–Cl

• Paul Celan (1920–1970), Romanian-born Jewish poet and translator
• Thomas Centolella (living), American poet
• Blaise Cendrars (1887–1961), French poet and author
• Anica Černej (1900–1944), Slovene author and poet
• Luis Cernuda (1903–1963), Spanish poet and literary critic
• Aimé Césaire (1913–2008), French poet, author and politician from Martinique
• Mário Cesariny de Vasconcelos (1923–2006), Portuguese surrealist poet
• Ashok Chakradhar (born 1951), Hindi author and poet
• John Chalkhill (fl. 1600), English poet
• Jean Chapelain (1595–1674), French poet and critic in Grand Siècle
• Arthur Chapman (1873–1935), American cowboy poet and columnist
• George Chapman (1559–1634), English dramatist, translator and poet
• Fred Chappell (born 1936), American author and poet; North Carolina Poet Laureate 1997–2002
• René Char (1907–1998), French poet
• Charles, Duke of Orléans (1394–1465), poet
• Craig Charles (born 1964), English writer, poet and comedian
• Thomas Chatterton (1752–1770), English poet and forger of medieval poetry
• Geoffrey Chaucer (c. 1343–1400), poet, philosopher and alchemist
• Reverend Fr. Fray Angelico Chavez (1910–1996), American writer, poet and Franciscan priest
• Susana Chávez (1974–2011), Mexican poet and human rights activist
• Syl Cheney-Coker (born 1945), Sierra Leonean poet and novelist
• Kelly Cherry (born 1940), American author and poet; Poet Laureate of Virginia 2010–2012
• G. K. Chesterton, (1874–1936), English writer and poet
• Choe Chiwon (born 857), Korean (Silla) poet
• Fukuda Chiyo-ni (1703–1775), female Japanese haiku poet of Edo period
• Henri Chopin (1922–2008), avant-garde poet and musician
• Jean Chopinel (or Jean de Meun) (c. 1240 – c. 1305), French writer
• Chrétien de Troyes (fl. 12th c.), French poet and trouvère
• Ralph Chubb (1892–1960), poet, painter and printer
• Charles Churchill (1732–1764), English poet and satirist
• John Ciardi, (1916–1986) Italian-American poet, translator and etymologist
• Colley Cibber (1671–1757), English playwright and Poet Laureate
• Jovan Ćirilov (born 1931), Serbian drama expert, writer and poet
• Carson Cistulli (born 1979), American poet, essayist and English professor
• Hélène Cixous (born 1937), French feminist writer, poet and playwright
• Amy Clampitt (1920–1994), American poet and author
• Kate Clanchy (born 1965), Scottish poet and writer
• John Clare (1793–1864), English poet
• Elizabeth Clark (1918–1978), Scottish poet and playwright
• Austin Clarke (1896–1974), Irish poet
• George Elliott Clarke (born 1960), Canadian poet and university professor
• Gillian Clarke (born 1937), (born 1937), Welsh poet and playwright writing in English
• Paul Claudel (1868–1955), French poet, dramatist and diplomat
• Claudian (c. 370–404), Latin poet at court of Emperor Honorius
• Matthias Claudius (Asmus, 1740–1815), German poet
• Brian P. Cleary (born 1959), American humorist, poet, and author
• Jack Clemo (1916–1994), English Christian poet
• Michelle Cliff (born 1946), Jamaican-American author of short stories, prose poems and literary criticism
• Lucille Clifton (1936–2010), educator and Poet Laureate of Maryland
• Arthur Hugh Clough (1819–1861), English poet, educationalist, and assistant to Florence Nightingale

Coa–Con

• Grace Stone Coates (1881–1976), Montana writer
• Robbie Coburn (born 1994), Australian poet
• Alison Cockburn(1712–1794), Scottish poet, wit, and socialite
• Jean Cocteau (1889–1963), French writer
• Judith Ortiz Cofer, (born 1952), Puerto Rican poet and author
• Leonard Cohen, (born 1934), Canadian singer-songwriter, poet and novelist
• Wanda Coleman (born 1946), African-American poet
• Hartley Coleridge (1796–1849), English poet, biographer and essayist
• Mary Elizabeth Coleridge (1861–1907), English novelist, essayist, and poet
• Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834), English poet
• Edward Coletti, (born 1944), Italian-American poet
• Billy Collins (born 1941), American poet; United States Poet Laureate 2001–2003
• William Collins (1721–1759), English poet
• William Congreve (1670–1729), English playwright and poet
• Stewart Conn (born 1936), Scottish poet and playwright
• Paul Conneally, (born 1959), English poet, artist and musician
• Robert Conquest (born 1917), Anglo-American historian and poet
• Henry Constable (1562–1613), English poet
• David Constantine (born 1944), English poet and translator.

Coo–Cz

• Clark Coolidge (born 1939), American poet
• Wendy Cope (born 1945), English poet
• Robert Copland (fl. 1515), English printer, author and translator
• Denys Corbet (1826–1909), Guernsey poet writing in Guernésiais
• Tristan Corbière (1845–1875), French poet
• Cid Corman (1924–2004), American poet, translator and editor
• Alfred Corn (born 1943), American poet and essayist
• Frances Cornford (1886–1960), English poet; wife of F. M. Cornford
• F. M. Cornford (1874–1943), English classical scholar and poet; husband of Frances Cornford
• Joe Corrie (1894–1968), Scottish miner, poet and playwright
• Gregory Corso (1930–2001), American Beat poet
• Jayne Cortez (born 1936), American poet and performance artist
• George Coșbuc (1866–1918), Romanian poet, translator and teacher
• Charles Cotton (1630–1687), English poet, author and translator
• Abraham Cowley (1618–1667), English poet
• Malcolm Cowley (1898–1989), American novelist, poet and critic
• William Cowper (1731–1800), English poet and hymnist
• George Crabbe (1754–1832), English poet, naturalist and clergyman
• Hart Crane (1899–1932), American modernist poet
• Stephen Crane (1871–1900), American novelist, short story writer, and poet
• Richard Crashaw (1613–1649), English Metaphysical poet
• Robert Creeley (born 1926), American poet
• Octave Crémazie (1827–1879), French Canadian poet
• Ann Batten Cristall (1769–1848), English poet
• Charles Cros (1842–1888), French poet and inventor
• Aleister Crowley (1875–1947), English occultist and poet
• Andrew Crozier (1943–2008), English poet
• Cui Hao (c. 704–754), Tang Dynasty Chinese poet
• Countee Cullen (1903–1946), American poet
• Necati Cumalı (1921–2001), Turkish writer of fiction writer, essayist, and poet
• E. E. Cummings (1894–1962), American poet, essayist and playwright
• Allan Cunningham (1784–1842), Scottish poet and author
• James Vincent Cunningham (1911–1985), American poet, literary critic, and teacher
• Allen Curnow (1911–2001), New Zealand poet and journalist
• Ivor Cutler (1923–2006), Scottish poet, songwriter, and humorist

Da–Dh

• Dalpatram (Dalpatram Dahyabhai Travadi), (1820–1898), Indian Gujarati language poet
• Roque Dalton (1935–1975), Salvadoran poet
• Sapardi Djoko Damono (born 1940), Indonesian poet
• Samuel Daniel (1562–1619), English poet and historian
• David Daniels (1933–2008), American visual poet
• Jeffrey Daniels, African-American poet
• Thomas d'Angleterre, 12th-century poet writing in Old French
• Gabriele D'Annunzio (1863–1938), Italian poet, journalist, novelist, and dramatist
• Hugh Antoine d'Arcy (1843–1925), French-born poet, writer and film executive
• Rubén Darío (1867–1916), Nicaraguan poet who initiated modernismo
• Keki Daruwalla (born 1937), Indian poet and short story writer in English
• Erasmus Darwin (1731–1802), English poet and herbalist
• Mahmoud Darwish (1941–2008), Palestinian poet and author
• Elizabeth Daryush (1887–1977), English poet; daughter of Robert Bridges
• Jibanananda Das (1899–1954), Bengali poet and author
• René Daumal (1908–1944), French para-surrealist writer and poet
• Jean Daurat (1508–1588), French poet, scholar and 'La Pléiade member
• William Davenant (1606–1668), English poet and playwright
• Guy Davenport (1927–2005), American writer, translator and illustrator
• Donald Davidson (1893–1968) American poet, essayist and critic
• John Davidson (1857–1909), Scottish balladeer, playwright and novelist
• Lucretia Maria Davidson (1808–1825), American poet
• Donald Davie (1922–1995), English poet and critic
• Alan Davies (born 1951), American poet, critic and editor
• Hugh Sykes Davies (1909–1984), English poet, novelist and communist
• Sir John Davies (1569–1626), English poet, lawyer and politician
• W. H. Davies (1871–1940), Welsh poet and writer
• Jon Davis, American poet
• Edward Davison (1898–1970), Scottish-American poet and critic; father of poet Peter Davison
• Peter Davison, (1928–2004), American poet, essayist and editor; son of poet Edward Davison
• Denis Davydov (1784–1839), Russian soldier-poet of Napoleonic Wars
• Dayaram (1777–1853), Gujarati language poet
• Cecil Day-Lewis (1904–1972), Anglo-Irish poet; UK Poet Laureate 1968–72
• James Deahl (born 1945), Canadian poet and publisher
• Aurora de Albornoz (1926–1990), Spanish poet
• Dulcie Deamer (1890–1972), Australian poet and novelist
• John F. Deane (born 1943), Irish poet and novelist
• Aleš Debeljak (1961–2016), Slovenian critic, poet and essayist
• Jean Louis De Esque (1879–1956), American poet and author
• Madeline DeFrees (born 1919), American poet
• Thomas Dekker (1572–1641), English Elizabethan dramatist and pamphleteer
• Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz (1651–1695), Mexican poet
• Baltasar del Alcázar (1530–1606), Spanish poet
• Walter de la Mare (1873–1956), English poet, short story writer and novelist
• Leconte de Lisle (1818–1894), French poet of Parnassian movement
• Christine De Luca (born 1947), Scottish poet, writing in English and Shetland dialect
• François de Malherbe (1555–1628), French poet, critic, and translator
• Alfred de Musset (1810–1857), French poet
• Gérard de Nerval (1808–1855), French poet, essayist and translator
• Sir John Denham (c. 1614–1669), English poet and courtier
• Tory Dent (1958–2005), American poet, critic and commentator
• Évariste de Parny (1753–1814), French poet
• Regina Derieva (born 1949), Russian poet and writer
• Johan Andreas Dèr Mouw (1863–1919), Dutch poet and philosopher
• Toi Derricotte (born 1941), African-American poet
• Eustache Deschamps (1346–1406), medieval French poet
• Lord de Tabley (1835–1895), poet and botanist
• Babette Deutsch (1895–1982), American poet, critic and novelist
• Félix Lope de Vega y Carpio (1562–1635), Spanish playwright and poet
• Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford, courtier and poet praised also for lost plays
• Alfred de Vigny (1797–1863), French poet, playwright and novelist
• Lakshmi Prasad Devkota (1909–1959), Nepali poet and essayist
• Phillippa Yaa de Villiers (born 1966), South African poet and performance artist
• Imtiaz Dharker (born 1954), Pakistan-born British poet, artist and filmmaker
• Dhurjati (c. 15th and 16th cc.), Telugu language poet

Di–Dr

• Souéloum Diagho (living), Tuareg poet
• Pier Giorgio Di Cicco (born 1949), Italian-Canadian poet; second Poet Laureate of Toronto
• Jennifer K Dick, (born 1970), American poet
• James Dickey (1923–1997), American poet and novelist, 18th Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress
• Emily Dickinson (1830–1886), American poet
• Matthew Dickman (born 1975), American poet, twin of Michael Dickman
• Michael Dickman (born 1975), American poet, twin of Matthew Dickman
• Blaga Dimitrova (1922–2003), Bulgarian poet and politician
• Ramdhari Singh Dinkar (1908–1974), Indian Hindi poet, essayist and academic
• Diane di Prima (born 1934), American poet
• Paul Dirmeikis (born 1954), French poet
• Vladislav Petković Dis (1880–1917), Serbian poet
• Thomas M. Disch (1940–2008), American poet, novelist
• Tim Dlugos (1950–1990), American poet
• Henry Austin Dobson (1840–1921), English poet and essayist
• Stephen Dobyns (born 1941), American author, novelist, and poet
• Gojko Đogo, Serbian poet
• Pete Doherty, (born 1979), English musician, songwriter, and poet
• Digby Mackworth Dolben (1848–1867), English poet
• Joe Dolce, (born 1947), Australian songwriter, poet, and essayist
• John Donne (1572–1631), English poet, satirist and Anglican cleric
• H.D., Hilda Doolittle (1886–1961), American Imagist poet
• Edward Dorn (1929–1999), American poet and teacher
• Mark Doty (born 1953), American poet and memoirist
• Sarah Doudney (1841–1926), English poet and children's writer
• Charles Montagu Doughty (1843–1926), English poet, writer, and traveller
• Alice May Douglas, (1865–1943), American poet and author
• Gavin Douglas (1474–1522), Scottish bishop, makar, and translator
• Keith Douglas (1920–1944), English war poet
• Rita Dove (born 1952), American poet and author; US Poet Laureate
• Ernest Dowson (1867–1900), English poet, novelist, and short-story writer
• Jane Draycott (living), English poet
• Michael Drayton (1563–1631), English poet of Elizabethan era
• Aleksander Stavre Drenova (1872–1947), Albanian poet
• John Drinkwater (1882–1937), English poet and dramatist
• Annette von Droste-Hülshoff (1797–1848), German poet
• William Drummond (1585–1649), Scottish poet
• William Henry Drummond (1854–1907), Irish-born Canadian poet
• John Dryden (1631–1700), English Restoration poet, critic and playwright

Du–Dy

• Guillaume de Salluste Du Bartas (1544–1590), French Huguenot poet
• Joachim du Bellay (c. 1522–1560), French poet, critic and La Pléiade member
• W. E. B. Du Bois (1868–1963), American writer and activist
• Norman Dubie (born 1945), American poet
• Jovan Dučić (1871–1943), Bosnian Serb poet, writer and diplomat
• Du Fu (712–770), Chinese poet of Tang Dynasty
• Du Mu (803–852), Chinese poet of late Tang Dynasty
• Carol Ann Duffy (born 1955), Scottish poet and playwright; first female and first Scottish Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom
• Alan Dugan (1923–2003), American poet
• Richard Duke (1658–1711), English clergyman and poet
• Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872–1906), African-American poet, novelist and playwright
• William Dunbar (c. 1460 – c. 1520), Scots makar
• Robert Duncan (1919–1988), American poet
• Camille Dungy (born 1972), American poet, academic and essayist
• Douglas Dunn (born 1942), Scottish poet, academic and critic
• Stephen Dunn (born 1939), American poet
• Helen Dunmore (born 1952), English poet, novelist and children's writer
• Edward Plunkett, Baron Dunsany (1878–1957), Irish poet
• Lawrence Durrell (1912–1990), English novelist, poet and dramatist
• Michael Madhusudan Dutt (1824–1873), Bengali poet and dramatist
• Stuart Dybek (born 1942), American poet, writer
• Sir Edward Dyer (1543–1607), English courtier and poet.
• Bob Dylan (born 1941), American singer-songwriter, writer and Nobel prizewinner

Fa–Fn

• Frederick William Faber (1814–1863), English poet, hymn writer, and theologian
• Padraic Fallon (1905–1974), Irish poet
• Christian Falster (1690–1752), Danish poet and philologist
• U. A. Fanthorpe, CBE (1929–2009), English poet
• Eleanor Farjeon (1881–1965), English children's writer, playwright and poet
• J. P. Farrell (born 1968), American poet and musician
• Elaine Feinstein (born 1930), English poet, novelist, and playwright
• Fenggan (fl. 9th c.), Chinese Zen monk poet under the Tang Dynasty
• Elijah Fenton (1683–1730), English poet, biographer and translator
• James Fenton (born 1931), Northern Irish linguist and poet writing in Ulster Scots
• James Martin Fenton (born 1949), English poet, journalist, and literary critic
• Ferdowsi (935–1020), Persian poet
• Robert Fergusson (1750–1774), Scots poet who influenced Robert Burns
• Lawrence Ferlinghetti (born 1919), American poet, painter, and activist
• Leandro Fernández de Moratín (1760–1828), Spanish dramatist, translator, and poet
• Henry Fielding (1707–1754), English novelist, dramatist, and poet
• Juan de Dios Filiberto (1885–1964), Argentine poet and musician
• Anne Finch, Countess of Winchilsea (1661–1720), English nature poet
• Annie Finch (born 1956), American poet, librettist, and translator
• Ian Hamilton Finlay (1925–2006), Scottish poet, writer, and gardener
• Roy Fisher (born 1930), English poet and jazz pianist
• Edward Fitzgerald (1809–1883), English poet and translator of Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam
• Robert Fitzgerald (1910–1985), American poet, critic, and translator
• Marjorie Fleming (1803–1811), Scottish child poet and diarist
• Giles Fletcher the Elder (c. 1548–1611), English poet, diplomat and MP
• Giles Fletcher the Younger (c. 1586–1623), English poet
• John Fletcher (1579–1625), Jacobean era English playwright and poet
• John Gould Fletcher (1886–1950), Imagist poet
• Phineas Fletcher (1582–1650), English poet; elder son of Giles Fletcher the elder, brother of Giles the younger
• F. S. Flint (1885–1960), English poet and translator

Fo–Fu

• Jean Follain (1903–1971), French author, poet, and corporate lawyer
• Theodor Fontane (1819–1898), German novelist, poet, and realist writer
• John Forbes (1950–1998), Australian poet
• Carolyn Forché (born 1950), American poet, editor, and translator
• Ford Madox Ford (1873–1939), English novelist, poet, and critic
• John Ford (1586–1639), English playwright and poet
• John M. Ford (1957–2006), American SF and fantasy writer, game designer, and poet
• Veronica Forrest-Thomson (1947–1975), Scots poet and critical theorist
• Ugo Foscolo (1778–1827), Italian writer, revolutionary, and poet
• William Fowler (c. 1560–1612), Scottish poet, writer, and translator
• Janet Frame (1924–2004), New Zealand author
• Anatole France (1844–1924), French poet, journalist and novelist
• Robert Francis (1901–1987), American poet
• Veronica Franco (1546–1591), Italian poet and courtesan
• G S Fraser (1915–1980), Scots poet, critic and academic
• Gregory Fraser (born 1963), American poet, editor, and professor
• Naim Frashëri (1846–1900), Albanian poet and writer; seen as national poet of Albania
• Louis-Honoré Fréchette (1839–1908), Canadian poet, politician and playwright
• Grace Beacham Freeman (1916–2002), American poet and short story writer; South Carolina Poet Laureate 1985–86
• Nicholas Freeston (1907–1978), English poet
• Erich Fried (1921–1988), Austrian-born British poet, writer and translator
• Jean Froissart (c. 1337 – c. 1405), French chronicler and court poet
• Robert Frost (1874–1963), American poet; four times Pulitzer Prize for Poetry winner
• Gene Frumkin (1928–2007), American poet and teacher
• John Fuller (born 1937), English poet and author, son of Roy Fuller
• Roy Fuller (1912–1991), English poet
• Alice Fulton, (born 1952), American poet and novelist; Bobbitt National Prize for Poetry winner
• Fuzûlî (c. 1483–1556), Azerbaijani and Ottoman poet

Ga–Go

• Karina Galvez (born 1964), Ecuadorian poet
• James Galvin (born 1951), American poet
• Etienne-Paulin Gagne (1808–1876), French poet, essayist, and inventor
• Robert Garioch (wrote as Robert Garioch Sutherland, 1909–1981), Scottish poet and translator
• Hamlin Garland (1860–1940), American novelist, poet, and essayist
• Raymond Garlick (1926–2011), Anglo-Welsh poet and first editor of Anglo-Welsh Review
• Richard Garnett (1835–1906), English scholar, biographer, and poet
• Jean Garrigue (1914–1972), American poet
• Samuel Garth (1661–1719), English physician and poet
• George Gascoigne (1535–1577), English poet, soldier, and would-be courtier
• David Gascoyne (1916–2001), English poet associated with Surrealist movement
• Théophile Gautier (1811–1872), French poet, dramatist, and novelist
• John Gay (1685–1732), English poet and dramatist
• Yehonatan Geffen (born 1947), Israeli author, poet, and playwright
• Theodor Seuss Geisel (Dr. Seuss) (1904–1991), American writer, poet, and cartoonist
• Juan Gelman (born 1930), Argentinian poet, writer and translator
• Stefan George (1868–1933), German poet, editor and translator
• Dan Gerber (born 1940), American poet
• Paul Gerhardt (1607–1676), German hymnist
• Mirza Asadulla Khan Ghalib (1797–1869) Indian poet writing in Urdu and Persian
• Charles Ghigna (Father Goose) (born 1946), American children's author, poet, and feature writer
• Reginald Gibbons (born 1947), American poet, fiction writer, and critic
• Khalil Gibran (1883–1931), Lebanese-American artist, poet, and writer
• Wilfrid Wilson Gibson (1878–1962), English Georgian poet
• Jack Gilbert (born 1925), American poet
• W. S. Gilbert (1836–1911), English poet
• Allen Ginsberg (1926–1997), American poet of Beat Generation
• Dana Gioia (born 1950), American writer, critic, and poet
• Nikki Giovanni (born 1943), American poet, writer, and educator
• Zinaida Gippius (1869–1945), Russian poet, playwright, and religious thinker
• Giglio Gregorio Giraldi (1479–1552), Italian scholar and poet
• Giuseppe Giusti (1809–1850), Italian poet
• Denis Glover (1912–1980), New Zealand poet and publisher
• Louise Glück (born 1943), American poet; US Poet Laureate
• Guru Gobind Singh (1666–1708), Indian poet writing in Punjabi, Urdu, Sanskrit etc.
• Gérald Godin (1938–1994), Quebec poet in French and politician
• Patricia Goedicke (1931–2006), American poet
• Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832), German writer, artist, and politician
• Octavian Goga (1881–1938), Romanian poet, playwright and translator
• Leah Goldberg (1911–1970), Hebrew-language poet, playwright, and writer
• Rumer Godden (1907–1998), English children's writer and poet
• Ziya Gökalp, Turkish sociologist, writer, and poet
• Oliver Goldsmith (1730–1774), Anglo-Irish writer and poet
• Pavel Golia (1887–1959), Slovenian poet and playwright
• Luis de Góngora (1561–1627), Spanish lyric poet
• Lorna Goodison (born 1947), Jamaican poet
• Paul Goodman (1911–1972), American novelist, playwright, and poet
• Barnabe Googe or Gooche (1540–1594), English pastoral poet and translator
• Adam Lindsay Gordon (1833–1870), Australian poet and politician
• Sergei Gorodetsky (1884–1967), Russian poet
• Hedwig Gorski (born 1949), American performance poet and artist
• Herman Gorter (1864–1927), Dutch poet and socialist
• Sir Edmund William Gosse (1849–1928), English poet, author, and critic
• Remy de Gourmont (1858–1915), French poet, novelist and critic
• John Gower (c. 1330–1408), English poet and friend of Chaucer

Gr–Gy

• Anders Abraham Grafström (1790–1870), Swedish historian, priest, and poet
• James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose (1612–1650), Scottish nobleman, soldier, and poet
• Jorie Graham (born 1950), American poet and first female Boylston Professor at Harvard
• W S Graham (1918–1986), Scottish poet
• Mark Granier (born 1957), Irish poet and photographer
• Alex Grant, Scottish American poet and teacher
• Günter Grass (born 1927), German novelist, poet, and playwright; 1999 Nobel Prize in Literature
• Richard Graves (1715–1804), English poet and essayist
• Robert Graves (1895–1985), English author and scholar
• Sir Alexander Gray (1882–1968), Scottish translator, writer, and poet
• Thomas Gray (1716–1771), English poet
• Robert Greene (1558–1592), English author and poet
• Dora Greenwell (1821–1882), English poet
• Linda Gregg (born 1945) American poet
• Horace Gregory (1898–1982), American poet, translator, and critic
• Eamon Grennan (born 1941), Irish poet
• Fulke Greville, 1st Baron Brooke (1554–1628), English poet, dramatist, and statesman
• Susan Griffin (born 1943), American poet and writer
• Bill Griffiths (1948–2007), English poet and Anglo-Saxon scholar
• Jane Griffiths (born 1970), English poet and literary historian
• Mariela Griffor (born 1961), Chilean poet, short-story writer, and scholar
• Geoffrey Grigson (1905–1985), English poet and critic
• Franz Grillparzer (1791–1872), Austrian writer, poet, and dramatist
• Nicholas Grimald (1519–1562), English poet and dramatist
• Angelina Weld Grimké (1880–1958), African-American playwright and poet
• Charlotte Forten Grimké (1835–1914), African-American poet and activist
• Rufus W. Griswold (1815–1857), American anthologist, poet, and critic
• Nikanor Grujić (1810–1887), Serbian writer, poet and bishop
• Stanisław Grochowiak (1934–1976), Polish poet and dramatist
• Philip Gross (born 1952), English poet, novelist and playwright
• Igo Gruden (1893–1948), Slovene poet and translator
• N. F. S. Grundtvig (1783–1872), Danish poet, pastor and historian
• Barbara Guest (1920–2006), American poet and prose stylist
• Edgar Guest (1881–1959), English-born American poet
• Paul Guest (living), American quadriplegic poet and memoirist
• Bimal Guha (born 1952), Bangladesh poet writing in Bengali
• Guillaume de Lorris (c. 1200 – c. 1240), French scholar and poet
• Jorge Guillén (1893–1984), Spanish poet
• Nicolás Guillén (1902–1989), Cuban poet, activist, and writer
• Guido Guinizelli (c. 1230–1276), Italian poet
• Guiot de Provins (died after 1208), French poet and trouvère
• Malcolm Guite (born 1957)
• Gül Baba (died 1541), Ottoman Bektashi dervish poet
• Nikolay Gumilyov (1886–1921), Russian poet who founded acmeism
• Ivan Gundulić (Gianfrancesco Gondola) (1589–1638), Croatian Baroque poet
• Thom Gunn (1929–2004), Anglo-American poet
• Lee Gurga (born 1949), American haiku poet
• Ivor Gurney (1890–1937), English composer and poet
• Lars Gustafsson (born 1936), Swedish poet, novelist, and scholar
• Pedro Juan Gutiérrez (born 1950), Cuban novelist and poet
• Beth Gylys (born 1964), American poet and professor
• Brion Gysin (1916–1986), English writer, sound poet, and performance artist

Ha

• Rafey Habib, Indian-born Muslim poet and scholar
• Marilyn Hacker (born 1942), American poet, translator, and critic
• Hadraawi (born 1943), Somali poet and songwriter
• Hafez (1315–1390), Persian poet
• Hai Zi (1964–1989), Chinese poet
• John Haines (1924–2011), American poet and educator
• Donald Hall (born 1928), American poet, writer, and critic; 2006 US Poet Laureate
• Arthur Hallam (1811–1833), English poet, subject of In Memoriam A.H.H. by Alfred Tennyson
• Michael Hamburger (1924–2007), English translator, poet, and academic
• Han Yu (768–824), Chinese essayist and poet under Tang dynasty
• Hanshan (fl. 9th c.), Chinese poet of Tang dynasty
• Thomas Hardy (1840–1928), English novelist and poet
• Charles Harpur (1813–1868), Australian poet
• Sir Theodore Wilson Harris (born 1921), Guyanese poet, novelist, and essayist
• Jim Harrison (born 1937), American poet, novelist and essayist
• Tony Harrison (born 1937), English poet and playwright
• Carla Harryman (born 1952), American poet, essayist, and playwright
• David Harsent (born 1942), English poet and TV scriptwriter
• Peter Härtling (born 1933), German writer and poet
• Michael Hartnett (1941–1999), Irish poet writing in English and Irish
• Thomas Kibble Hervey (1799–1859), Scottish-born English poet and critic
• Gwen Harwood (1920–1995), Australian poet and librettist
• Alamgir Hashmi (born 1951), English poet of Pakistani origin
• Ahmet Haşim (c. 1884–1933), Turkish poet
• Robert Hass (born 1941) American poet; former Poet Laureate
• Olav H. Hauge (1908–1994), Norwegian poet
• Gerhart Hauptmann (1862–1946), German dramatist, poet and novelist; Nobel Prize in Literature, 1912
• Stephen Hawes (died 1523), English poet
• Robert Stephen Hawker (1803–1875), English poet, antiquarian, and Anglican priest
• George Campbell Hay (1915–1984), Scots poet and translator writing in Scottish Gaelic, Lowland Scots, and English
• Gilbert Hay (fl. 15th c.), Scots poet and translator writing in Middle Scots
• Robert Hayden (1930–1980), American poet, essayist and educator; 1976 US Poet Laureate
• William Hayley (1745–1820), English writer
• Tony Haynes (born 1960) American poet, songwriter, and lyricist

He

• Seamus Heaney (1939–2013), Irish poet, playwright, and translator; 1995 Nobel Prize in Literature
• Josephine D. Heard (1861 – c. 1921), American teacher and poet
• John Heath-Stubbs (1918–2006), English poet and translator
• Anne Hébert (1916–2000), Canadian poet and novelist
• Anthony Hecht (1923–2004), American poet
• Jennifer Michael Hecht (born 1965), American poet, historian, and philosopher
• Allison Hedge Coke (born 1958), American poet, writer, and performer
• Markus Hediger (born 1959), Swiss writer and translator
• John Hegley (born 1953), English performance poet, comedian, and songwriter
• Heinrich Heine (1797–1856), German poet, essayist, and literary critic
• Lyn Hejinian (born 1941), American poet, essayist, and translator
• Acharya Hemachandra (1089–1172), Jain scholar, poet, and polymath
• Felicia Hemans (1793–1835), English poet
• Essex Hemphill (1957–1995), American poet and activist
• Hamish Henderson (1919–2002); Scottish poet, songwriter, and catalyst for folk revival in Scotland
• William Ernest Henley (1849–1903), English poet, critic, and editor
• Adrian Henri (1932–2000), English poet and painter
• Robert Henryson (died c. 1500), Scottish poet
• Edward Herbert, 1st Baron Herbert of Cherbury (1583–1648) Anglo-Welsh soldier, historian, poet and religious philosopher; brother of George Herbert
• George Herbert (1593–1633), public orator and poet
• Mary Herbert, Countess of Pembroke (1561–1621), (née Sidney) among first English women to achieve a major reputation for literary works
• Zbigniew Herbert (1924–1998), Polish poet, essayist, and drama writer
• Johann Gottfried Herder (1744–1803), German philosopher, theologian, and literary critic
• Miguel Hernández (1910–1942), Spanish poet and playwright associated with Generation of '27 and Generation of '36 movements
• Herodas or Herondas (3rd c. BC), Greek poet and author of short humorous dramatic scenes in verse
• Antoine Héroet, (died 1568), French poet
• Robert Herrick (1591–1674), English poet
• Hesiod (fl. 750–650 BC), Ancient Greek poet
• Phoebe Hesketh (1909–2005), English poet
• Hermann Hesse (1877–1962), German-Swiss poet, novelist, and painter
• Dorothy Hewett (1923–2002), Australian feminist poet, novelist, and playwright
• John Harold Hewitt (1907–1987), Northern Ireland-born poet
• William Heyen (born 1940), American poet, literary critic, novelist
• Thomas Heywood (c. 1570s – 1641), English playwright, actor, and author

Hi–Hy

• Dick Higgins (1938–1998), English poet and publisher
• Scott Hightower (born 1952), American poet and teacher
• Nâzım Hikmet (1902–1963), Turkish poet, playwright, and novelist
• Geoffrey Hill (born 1932), English poet and professor
• Hilda Hilst (1930–2004), Brazilian poet, playwright, and novelist
• Ellen Hinsey (born 1960), American poet
• Hipponax (6th c. BC), of Ephesus, Ancient Greek iambic poet
• Hirato Renkichi (1893–1922), Japanese avant-garde poet
• Rozalie Hirs, (born 1965), Dutch poet
• Jane Hirshfield, (born 1953), American poet
• George Parks Hitchcock (1914–2010), American poet, playwright, and painter
• H. L. Hix (born 1960), American poet and academic
• Thomas Hoccleve or Occleve (c. 1368–1426), English poet and clerk
• Michael Hofmann (born 1957), German-born poet and translator writing in English
• Hugo von Hofmannsthal (1874–1929), Austrian novelist, poet, and dramatist
• James Hogg (1770–1835), Scottish poet and novelist
• David Holbrook (1923–2011), English writer, poet, and academic
• Friedrich Hölderlin (1770–1843), German lyric poet
• Margaret Holford (1778–1852), English poet and novelist
• Barbara Holland (born 1933), American author
• John Hollander (born 1929), Jewish-American poet and literary critic
• Matthew Hollis (born 1971), English poet
• Oliver Wendell Holmes (1809–1894), American poet, professor, and author
• Homer (fl. 8th c. BC), Greek epic poet
• Thomas Hood (1799–1845), English humorist and poet; father of playwright and editor Tom Hood
• A. D. Hope (1907–2000), Australian satirical poet and essayist
• Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844–1889), English poet and Jesuit priest
• Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus) (65–08 BC), Roman lyric poet
• George Moses Horton (1797–1884), African-American poet
• Joan Houlihan, American poet
• A. E. Housman (1859–1936), English poet and classicist
• Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey (1517–1547), English Renaissance poet
• Richard Howard (born 1929), American poet, critic, and essayist
• Fanny Howe (born 1940), American poet, novelist, and short story writer
• Susan Howe (born 1937), American poet, scholar, and essayist
• Hrotsvitha (died c. 1002), poet and playwright from Lower Saxony; first known woman dramatist
• Mohammad Nurul Huda (born 1949), Bangladeshi poet writing in Bengali
• John Ceiriog Hughes (1832–1887), Welsh poet writing in Welsh
• Langston Hughes (1902–1967), American poet, novelist and playwright
• Ted Hughes (1930–1998), English poet and children's writer; Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom
• Richard Hugo (1923–1982), American poet
• Victor Hugo (1802–1885), French poet, novelist, and dramatist
• Vicente Huidobro (1893–1948), Chilean poet
• Lynda Hull (1954–1994), American poet
• Thomas Ernest Hulme (1883–1917), English critic and poet
• Alexander Hume (1560–1609), Scottish poet
• Leigh Hunt (1784–1859), English critic, essayist, and poet
• Sam Hunt (born 1946), New Zealand poet
• Hồ Xuân Hương (1772–1822), Vietnamese poet
• Aldous Huxley (1894–1963), English novelist, poet, and travel writer
• Helen von Kolnitz Hyer (1896–1983), American poet and writer; South Carolina Poet Laureate 1974–83

Ka–Kh

• Abhay K (born 1980), Indian poet and diplomat
• Kabir (1440–1518), mystic poet and sant of India
• Kālidāsa (fl. c. 4th c.), Sanskrit poet
• Kambar (c. 1180–1250), Tamil poet
• Kannadasan (1927–1981), Tamil poet, author, and lyricist
• Jim Kacian (born 1953), American haiku poet and editor
• Uuno Kailas (1901–1933), Finnish poet, author, and translator
• Chester Kallman (1921–1975), American poet, librettist, and translator
• Kálmán Kalocsay (1891–1976), Hungarian poet in Hungarian and Esperanto
• Anna Kamieńska (1920–1986), Polish poet, writer, and critic
• Ilya Kaminsky (born 1977), Russian-American poet, critic, and translator
• Orhan Veli Kanik (1914–1950), Turkish poet
• Jaan Kaplinski (born 1941), Estonian poet, philosopher, and critic
• Adeena Karasick (born 1965), New York-based Canadian poet, media artist, and essayist
• Mary Karr (born 1955), American poet, essayist, and memoirist
• Vim Karenine (born 1933), American poet, essayist, and novelist
• Julia Kasdorf (born 1962), American poet
• Laura Kasischke (born 1961), American poet and fiction writer
• Erich Kästner (1899–1974), German author, poet, and satirist
• Bob Kaufman (1925–1986), American Beat poet and surrealist
• Shirley Kaufman (born 1923), American poet and translator
• Rupi Kaur (born 1992), Indo-Canadian poet and photographer
• Patrick Kavanagh (1904–1967), Irish poet and novelist
• Nikos Kavvadias (1910–1975), Greek poet
• Kazi Nazrul Islam (1899–1976), Bengali poet, musician, and revolutionary
• John Keats (1795–1821), English Romantic poet.
• Weldon Kees (1914–1955), American poet, novelist, and critic
• Isabella Kelly (1759–1857), Scottish poet and novelist
• Arthur Kelton (died 1549/1550), rhymster about Welsh history
• Miranda Kennedy (born 1975), American poet
• Walter Kennedy (c. 1455–1518), Scottish makar
• X. J. Kennedy (born 1929), American poet, anthologist, and children's writer
• Jane Kenyon (1947–1995), American poet and translator
• Jack Kerouac (1922–1969), American novelist and poet
• Sidney Keyes (1922–1943), English poet killed in action in World War II
• Keorapetse Kgositsile (1938–2018), South African poet and political activist
• Mimi Khalvati (born 1944), Iranian-born British poet
• Khushal Khan Khattak (1613–1689), Pashtun Afghan poet, warrior, and tribal chief
• Omar Khayyám (1048–1122), Persian mathematician, astronomer, and poet
• Vladislav Khodasevich (1886–1939), Russian poet and literary critic
• Talib Khundmiri (1938–2011), Indian poet and humorist writing in Urdu
• Ab'ul Hasan Yamīn ud-Dīn Khusrow (1253–1325), Sufi poet, scholar, and musician

Ki–Ky

• Saba Kidane (born 1978), Eritrean poet
• Søren Kierkegaard (1813–1855), Danish philosopher and poet
• Emelihter Kihleng Pohnpeian poet and academic
• Takarai Kikaku (1661–1707), Japanese haikai poet and a disciple of Matsuo Bashō
• Joyce Kilmer (1886–1918), American writer and poet
• Edward King (1612–1637), Irish-born subject of Milton's Lycidas
• Henry King (1592–1669), English poet and bishop
• William King (1663–1712), English poet
• Thomas Hansen Kingo (1634–1703), Danish bishop, poet, and hymn-writer
• Gottfried Kinkel (1815–1882), German poet and revolutionary
• Galway Kinnell (born 1927), American poet; Pulitzer Prize for Poetry 1982
• John Kinsella (born 1963), Australian poet, novelist, and essayist
• Thomas Kinsella (born 1928), Irish poet, translator, and editor
• Rudyard Kipling (1865–1936), English short-story writer, poet, and novelist
• Danilo Kiš (1935–1989), Serbian novelist, short story writer, and poet
• Necip Fazıl Kısakürek (1904–1983), Turkish poet, novelist, and playwright
• Eila Kivikk'aho (1921–2004), Finnish poet
• Carolyn Kizer (born 1925), American poet; Pulitzer Prize for Poetry 1985
• Sarah Klassen (born 1932) Canadian poet and writer of short fiction
• August Kleinzahler (born 1949), American poet
• Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock (1724–1803), German poet
• Etheridge Knight (1931–1991), African-American poet
• Kobayashi Issa (1763–1828), Japanese haikai poet
• Jan Kochanowski (1530–1584), Polish Renaissance poet
• Kenneth Koch (1925–2002), American poet, playwright, and professor
• Petar Kočić (1877–1916), Bosnian Serb writer and politician
• Yusef Komunyakaa (born 1948), American poet and teacher; Pulitzer Prize for Poetry 1994
• Faik Konitza (1875–1942) Albanian poet
• Ted Kooser (born 1939), American poet; U.S. Poet Laureate 2004–2006
• Srečko Kosovel (1904–1926), Slovene expressionist poet
• Laza Kostić (1841–1910), Serbian poet, writer, and polyglot
• Dezső Kosztolányi (1885–1936) Hungarian poet and prose writer
• Taja Kramberger (born 1970), Slovene poet, translator, and anthropologist
• Ignacy Krasicki (1735–1801), Polish poet and novelist
• Zlatko Krasni (1951–2008), Serbian poet
• Ruth Krauss (1901–1993), American poet and children's book author
• Krayem Awad (born 1948), Syrian-Austrian painter, sculptor, and poet
• Carolyn Kreiter-Foronda (born 1940), American writer; Poet Laureate of Virginia
• Miroslav Krleža (1893–1981), Croatian/Yugoslav poet and novelist
• Antjie Krog (born 1952), South African poet, academic and writer
• Marilyn Krysl (born 1942), American poet and short story writer

Yanka Kupala

• Anatoly Kudryavitsky (born 1954), Russian/Irish novelist, poet, and translator
• Maxine Kumin (born 1925), American poet; US Poet Laureate 1981–82
• Stanley Kunitz (1905–2006), American poet; US Poet Laureate 1974 and 2000
• Yanka Kupala (1882–1942), Belarus poet
• Tuli Kupferberg (1923–2010), American counterculture poet and author
• Momoko Kuroda (黒田杏子, born 1938), Japanese haiku poet
• Onat Kutlar (1936–1995), Turkish writer and poet
• Stephen Kuusisto (born 1955), American poet
• Kusumagraj (1912–1999), Indian Marathi poet, writer, and humanist
• Sir Francis Kynaston or Kinaston (1587–1642), English poet, lawyer, and politician

La

• Kendrick Lamar (born 1987), American poet and hip-hop artist
• Ilmar Laaban (1921–2000), Estonian poet
• Pierre Labrie (born 1972), Canadian poet writing in French
• Jean de La Fontaine (1621–1695), French fabulist
• Jules Laforgue (1860–1887), Franco-Uruguayan poet
• Jarkko Laine (1947–2006), Finnish poet, writer, and playwright
• Ivan V. Lalić (1931–1996), Serbian poet
• Philip Lamantia (1927–2005), American poet and lecturer
• Alphonse de Lamartine (1790–1869), French writer, poet, and politician
• Charles Lamb (1775–1834), English essayist and poet
• Letitia Elizabeth Landon (L. E. L.) (1802–1838), English poet and novelist.
• Walter Savage Landor (1775–1864), English writer and poet
• William Langland (c. 1332 – c. 1386) probable English author of dream-vision Piers Plowman
• Emilia Lanier (1569–1645), English poet
• Laozi (Lau-tzu) (fl. 6th c. BC), Chinese philosopher and poet of history of ancient China
• Alda Lara (1930–1962), Angolan poet
• Rebecca Hammond Lard (1772–1855), American poet
• Bruce Larkin (born 1957), American children's author and poet
• Philip Larkin (1922–1985), English poet and novelist
• Claudia Lars (1899–1974), Salvadoran poet
• Else Lasker-Schüler (1869–1945), German poet and playwright
• Lasus of Hermione (6th c. BC), Greek lyric poet from Hermione in Argolid
• David Lehman (born 1948), American poet and editor
• Evelyn Lau (born 1971), Canadian poet and novelist
• James Laughlin (1914–1997), American poet and publisher
• Ann Lauterbach (born 1942), American poet, essayist and professor
• Comte de Lautréamont (1846–1870), Uruguayan-born French poet
• Jan Lauwereyns (born 1969), Belgian poet, writer and scientist
• Dorianne Laux (born 1952), American poet
• Christine Lavant (1915–1973), Austrian poet and novelist
• D. H. Lawrence (1885–1930), English novelist, poet, and critic
• Henry Lawson (1867–1922), Australian writer and poet; son of Louisa Lawson
• Louisa Lawson (1848–1920), Australian poet and feminist; mother of Henry Lawson
• Robert Lax (1915–2000), American poet
• Laxmi Prasad Devkota (1909–1959), Nepalese poet and scholar

Le

• Edward Lear (1812–1888), English poet, artist, and illustrator
• Jan Lechoń (1899–1956), Polish poet, critic, and diplomat
• Francis Ledwidge (1887–1917), Irish war poet
• David Lee (born 1966), American poet
• Dennis Lee (born 1939), Canadian poet, editor, and critic
• Eino Leino (1878–1926), Finnish poet and journalist
• Brad Leithauser (born 1953), American poet, novelist, and essayist
• Sue Lenier (born 1957), English poet and playwright
• Lalitha Lenin (born 1946), Indian poet
• Charlotte Lennox (c. 1730 – 1804), Scottish poet and novelist
• John Leonard (born 1965), Australian poet
• Giacomo Leopardi (1798–1837), Italian poet, essayist, and philologist
• Mikhail Lermontov (1814–1841), Russian writer, poet, and painter
• Ben Lerner (born 1979), American poet, novelist, and critic
• Bolesław Leśmian (1877–1937), Polish poet and artist
• Rika Lesser (born 1953), American poet and translator
• Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (1729–1781), German writer, philosopher, and dramatist
• Denise Levertov (1927–1997), British-born American poet
• Dana Levin (born 1965), American poet and teacher
• Philip Levine (born 1928), American poet; 2011–12 US Poet Laureate, 1995 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry
• Larry Levis (1946–1996), American poet
• D. A. Levy (1942–1968), American poet, artist, and alternative publisher
• William Levy (born 1939), American poet, short story writer, and editor
• Oswald LeWinter (1931–2013), poet
• Alun Lewis (1915–1944), Welsh poet in English, of World War II
• C S Lewis (1898–1963), Northern Irish novelist, poet, and essayist
• Gwyneth Lewis (born 1959), Welsh poet; inaugural National Poet of Wales
• J. Patrick Lewis (born 1942), American poet; Children's Poet Laureate (2011–13)
• Saunders Lewis (1893–1985), Welsh poet, dramatist, and critic
• Wyndham Lewis (1884–1957), English painter and author

Li–Ly

• Li Houzhu (937–978), poet and last ruler of Southern Tang Kingdom (961–975)
• José Lezama Lima (1910–1976), Cuban writer and poet
• Tim Liardet (born 1959), English poet, critic, and professor
• Li Bai (701–762), Chinese Tang dynasty poet
• Li Jiao, poet and official under Tang and Zhou dynasties
• Li Qingzhao (1084–1151), Chinese Song dynasty writer and poet
• Li Shangyin (813–858), Chinese late Tang dynasty poet
• Tim Lilburn (born 1950), Canadian poet and essayist
• Anne Morrow Lindbergh (1906–2001), American author and aviator; wife of Charles Lindbergh
• Sarah Lindsay, American poet
• Rossy Evelin Lima (born 1986), Mexican poet
• Vachel Lindsay (1879–1931), American poet
• Yannis Livadas (born 1969), Greek poet
• Terry Locke (born 1946), New Zealand poet, anthologist, and academic
• Thomas Lodge (1558–1625), English dramatist and writer
• Iain Lom (c. 1624 – c. 1710), Scottish Gaelic poet
• Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–1882), American poet and educator
• Michael Longley (born 1939), Northern Irish poet
• Federico García Lorca (1898–1936), Spanish poet, dramatist, and theater director
• Audre Lorde (1934–1992), Caribbean-American writer, poet, and librarian
• Richard Lovelace (1618–1658), English Cavalier poet
• Amy Lowell (1874–1925), American poet; 1926 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry
• James Russell Lowell (1819–1891), American poet, critic, and diplomat
• Robert Lowell (1917–1977), American poet; 1947 and 1974 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry; 1947 US Poet Laureate
• Maria White Lowell (1821–1853), American poet and abolitionist
• Mina Loy (1882–1966), English poet, playwright, and novelist
• Lu You (1125–1209), Chinese Song dynasty poet
• Gherasim Luca (1913–1994), Romanian poet and surrealist
• Lucan (39–65 AD), Roman poet
• Edward Lucie-Smith (born 1933), English writer, poet, and broadcaster
• Gaius Lucilius (fl. 2nd c. BC), Roman satirist
• Lucilius Junior (fl. 1st c. AD), poet and procurator of Sicily
• Lucretius (c. 99 BC – c. 55 BC), Roman poet and philosopher
• Fitz Hugh Ludlow (1836–1870), American author, journalist, and explorer
• Luo Binwang (640–684), Chinese early Tang-dynasty writer and poet
• Thomas Lux (born 1946), American poet
• Mario Luzi (1914–2005), Italian poet
• John Lydgate (1370–1450), English monk and poet
• John Lyly (1553–1606), English writer, poet and dramatist
• Sir David Lyndsay of the Mount (c. 1490 – c. 1555), Scottish Lord Lyon and poet
• George Lyttelton (1709–1773), English poet, statesman, and arts patron

Ma

• Thomas Babington Macaulay, 1st Baron Macaulay (1800–1859), Anglo-Scottish poet, historian, and politician
• George MacBeth (1932–1992), Scottish poet and novelist
• Norman MacCaig (1910–1996), Scots poet
• Hugh MacDiarmid (1892–1978), Scots poets
• George MacDonald (1824–1905), Scottish poet and novelist
• Sorley MacLean (1911–1996), Scottish Gaelic poet
• Gwendolyn MacEwen (1941–1987), Canadian writer and poet
• Antonio Machado (1875–1939), Spanish poet
• Arthur Machen (1863–1947), Welsh short story writer, poet, and novelist
• Compton Mackenzie (1883–1972), Scottish writer, memoirist, and poet
• Archibald MacLeish (1892–1982), American Modernist poet and writer; three Pulitzer Prizes
• Aonghas MacNeacail (born 1942), writer in Scottish Gaelic
• Louis MacNeice (1907–1963), Irish poet and playwright
• Hector Macneill (1746–1818), Scots poet and songwriter
• James Macpherson (1736–1796), Scottish writer and poet
• Haki R. Madhubuti (born 1942), African-American writer, poet, and educator
• John Gillespie Magee, Jr. (1922–1941), American poet and aviator
• Derek Mahon (born 1941), Northern Irish poet
• Rudolf Maister (1874–1934), Slovene military officer, poet, and activist
• Gajanan Digambar Madgulkar (1919–1977), Marathi and Hindi poet and playwright
• Clarence Major (born 1936), American poet, painter and novelist
• Desanka Maksimović (1898–1993), Serbian poet and professor
• Majeed Amjad (1914–1974), Indian/Pakistani poet writing in Urdu
• Madayyagari Mallana (15th c.), Telugu poet
• Stephane Mallarme (1842–1898), French poet and critic
• David Mallet (c. 1705–1765), Scottish dramatist and poet
• Sir Thomas Malory (1405–1471), English author of Le Morte d'Arthur
• Goffredo Mameli (1827–1849), Italian patriot, poet, and writer
• Osip Mandelstam (also Mandelshtam, 1891–1938), Russian poet
• James Clarence Mangan (1803–1849), Irish poet
• Bill Manhire (born 1946), New Zealand poet and short story writer; inaugural New Zealand Poet Laureate
• Marcus Manilius (fl. 1st c. AD), Roman poet and astrologer
• Maurice Manning (born 1966), American poet
• Ruth Manning-Sanders (1895–1988), Welsh-born English poet and author
• Robert Mannyng (1275–1340), English chronicler and monk writing in Middle English, French, and Latin
• Chris Mansell (born 1953), Australian poet and publisher
• Manuchehri (Abu Najm Ahmad ibn Ahmad ibn Qaus Manuchehri; 11th c.), royal poet in Persia
• Alessandro Manzoni (1785–1873), Italian poet, novelist
• Ausiàs March (1397–1459), Valencian poet and knight
• Morton Marcus (1936–2009), American poet and author
• Mareez (1917–1983), Indian poet writing in Gujarati
• Paul Mariani (born 1940), American poet and a professor at Boston College
• Marie de France (fl. 12th c.), medieval poet probably born in France and resident in England
• Filippo Tommaso Marinetti (1876–1944), Italian poet and editor
• Giambattista Marino (1569–1625), Italian poet
• E. A. Markham (1939–2008), Montserrat poet, playwright, and novelist
• Edwin Markham (1852–1940), American poet
• Đorđe Marković Koder (1806–1891), Serbian poet
• Christopher Marlowe (1564–1593), English dramatist, poet, and translator
• Clément Marot (1496–1544), French Renaissance poet
• Don Marquis (1878–1937), American novelist, poet, and playwright
• Edward Garrard Marsh (1783–1862), English poet and Anglican cleric
• John Marston (1576–1634), English poet, playwright, and satirist
• José Martí (1853–1895), Cuban poet and writer
• Martial (40 – c. 102 AD), Roman epigrammatist
• Camille Martin (born 1956), Canadian poet and collage artist
• Harry Martinson (1904–1978), Swedish sailor, author, and poet
• Andrew Marvell (1621–1678), English metaphysical poet and politician
• John Masefield (1878–1967), English poet and writer; UK Poet Laureate (1930–1967)
• Edgar Lee Masters (1868–1950), American poet, biographer, and dramatist
• Dafydd Llwyd Mathau (fl. earlier 17th c.), Welsh poet writing in Welsh
• Glyn Maxwell (born 1962), British poet, playwright, and librettist
• Vladimir Mayakovsky (1893–1930), Russian/Soviet poet and playwright
• Karl May (1842–1912), German writer, poet and musician
• Bernadette Mayer (born 1945), American poet and prose writer
• Ben Mazer (born 1964), American poet and editor

Mc–Me

• James McAuley (1917–1976), Australian poet and critic
• Susan McCaslin (born 1947), Canadian/American poet and critic
• J. D. McClatchy (born 1945), American poet and critic
• Michael McClure (born 1932), American poet, playwright, and novelist
• John McCrae (1872–1918), Canadian poet, physician, and artist
• Walt McDonald (born 1934), American poet; Poet Laureate of Texas
• Elvis McGonagall, Scottish poet and stand-up comedian
• William Topaz McGonagall (1825–1902), Scottish writer of doggerel
• Roger McGough (born 1937), English comedian and poet
• Campbell McGrath (born 1962), American poet
• Wendy McGrath, Canadian poet and novelist
• Thomas McGrath (1916–1990), American poet
• Heather McHugh (born 1948), American poet, translator, and educator
• Duncan Ban McIntyre (1724–1812), Scottish poet in Scots Gaelic
• James McIntyre (1827–1906), Canadian writer of doggerel
• Claude McKay (1889–1948), Jamaican-American writer and poet
• Don McKay (born 1942), Canadian poet, editor and educator
• Rod McKuen (born 1933), American poet, composer and singer
• James McMichael (born 1939), American poet
• Ian McMillan (born 1956), English poet, playwright, and broadcaster
• Meera (1498–1546), Indian Hindu mystic poet and devotee of Krishna
• Narsinh Mehta (c. 1414 – c. 1481), Indian poet-saint of Gujarat; bhakta
• Mei Yaochen (1002–1060), Chinese Song dynasty poet
• Peter Meinke (born 1932), American poet and fiction writer; first Poet Laureate of St. Petersburg, FL
• Cecília Meireles (1901–1964), Brazilian poet
• Herman Melville (1819–1891), American novelist, short story writer, and poet
• Meng Haoran (689 or 691–740), Chinese Tang dynasty poet
• George Meredith (1828–1909), English poet and novelist
• Kersti Merilaas (1913–1986), Estonian poet
• Alda Merini (1931–2009) Italian writer and poet
• Stuart Merrill (1863–1915), American poet writing mainly in French
• James Merrill (1926–1995), American poet; 1977 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry
• Thomas Merton (1915–1968), American writer and Trappist monk
• W. S. Merwin (born 1927), American poet and author; 1971 and 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry; 2010 US Poet Laureate
• Sarah Messer, (born 1966), American poet and writer
• Charlotte Mew (1869–1928), English poet
• Henry Meyer (1840–1925), American poet writing in Pennsylvania Dutch

Mi–Mo

Gabriela Mistral

• Henri Michaux (1899–1984), Belgian/French poet, writer, and painter
• Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (1475–1564) Italian poet and sculptor
• Adam Mickiewicz (1798–1855), Polish poet, essayist, and publicist
• Veronica Micle (1850–1889), Austria/Romanian poet
• Christopher Middleton (c. 1560–1628), English poet and translator
• Christopher Middleton (born 1926), English poet and translator from Germany
• Agnes Miegel (1879–1964), German writer and poet
• Josephine Miles (1911–1985), American poet and critic
• Jennifer Militello, American poet and professor
• Branko Miljković (1934–1961), Serbian poet
• Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892–1950), American lyric poet, playwright, and feminist; 1923 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry
• Alice Duer Miller (1874–1942), American writer and poet
• Grazyna Miller (1957–2009), Italian/Polish poet and translator
• Jane Miller, American poet
• Joaquin Miller (1837–1913), American poet
• Leslie Adrienne Miller, American poet
• Thomas Miller (1807–1874), English poet
• Vassar Miller (1924–1998), American writer and poet
• Spike Milligan (1918–2002), Irish comedian, poet, and musician
• Czesław Miłosz (1911–2004), Polish poet; 1980 Nobel Prize in Literature
• John Milton (1608–1674), English poet, polemicist, and civil servant
• Sima Milutinović Sarajlija (1791–1847), Serbian adventurer, writer, and poet
• Robert Minhinnick (born 1952), Welsh poet, essayist, and novelist
• Gabriela Mistral (1889–1957), Chilean poet and feminist; 1945 Nobel Prize in Literature
• Adrian Mitchell (1932–2008), English poet, novelist, and playwright.
• Silas Weir Mitchell (1829–1914), American physician and writer
• Stephen Mitchell, (born 1943) American poet, translator, and anthologist
• Waddie Mitchell (born 1950), American poet
• Ndre Mjeda (1866–1937), Albanian Gheg poet
• Anis Mojgani (born 1977), spoken-word poet and visual artist
• Nicholas I of Montenegro (1841–1921), poet and king of Montenegro
• Molière (Jean-Baptiste Poquelin) (1622–1673), French playwright
• Atukuri Molla (1440–1530), Telugu poet
• Harold Monro (1879–1932), English poet
• Harriet Monroe (1860–1936), American scholar, critic, and poet
• John Montague (born 1929), Irish poet
• Charles Montagu, 1st Earl of Halifax, (1661–1715), English poet and statesman
• Eugenio Montale (1896–1981), Italian poet, writer, and translator; 1975 Nobel Prize in Literature
• Lenore Montanaro (born 1990), American poet
• Alexander Montgomerie (c. 1550–1598), Scottish Jacobean courtier and makar
• Alan Moore (born 1960), Irish writer and poet
• Marianne Moore (1887–1972), American poet and writer
• Merrill Moore (1903–1957), American psychiatrist and poet
• Thomas Moore (1779–1852), Irish poet, singer, and songwriter
• Dom Moraes (1938–2004)), Goan writer, poet, and columnist
• Edwin Morgan (1920–2010), Scottish poet and translator
• John Morgan (1688–1733), Welsh clergyman, scholar and poet
• Lorin Morgan-Richards (born 1975), American poet and author
• Christian Morgenstern (1871–1914), German author and poet
• Eduard Mörike (1804–1875), German poet
• William Morris (1834–1896), English writer, poet, and designer
• Jim Morrison (1943–1971), American songwriter and poet
• Valzhyna Mort (born 1981), Belarus poet
• Viggo Mortensen (born 1958), American poet, actor, and musician
• Moschus (fl. 2nd c. BC), ancient Greek bucolic poet
• Howard Moss (1922–1987), American poet, dramatist, and critic
• Andrew Motion (born 1952), English poet, novelist, and biographer; Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom] 1999–2009
• Enrique Moya (born 1958), Venezuelan poet, fiction writer, and critic

Mu–My

• Micere Githae Mugo (born 1942), Kenyan playwright, author, and poet
• Mohammed Abdullah Hassan (1856–1920), Somali poet and religious leader
• Taha Muhammad Ali (1931–2011), Palestinian poet
• Muhammad Tahir ul-Qadri (born 1951), Pakistani Sufi poet and scholar
• Erich Mühsam (1878–1934), German-Jewish antimilitarist, anarchist essayist, poet and, playwright
• Edwin Muir (1887–1959), Scottish Orcadian poet, novelist, and translator
• Paul Muldoon (born 1951), Irish poet; 2003 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry
• Lale Müldür (born 1956), Turkish poet and writer
• Laura Mullen (born 1958), American poet
• Anthony Munday (1553–1633), English playwright and writer
• George Murnu (1868–1957), Romanian archaeologist, historian, and poet
• Sheila Murphy (born 1951), American text and visual poet
• George Murray (born 1971), Canadian poet
• Joan Murray (born 1945), American poet, writer, and playwright
• Les Murray (born 1938), Australian poet, anthologist, and critic
• Richard Murphy (born 1927), Irish poet
• Susan Musgrave (born 1951), Canadian poet and children's writer
• Lukijan Mušicki (1777–1837), Serbian poet, prose writer, and polyglot
• Nikola Musulin (fl. 19th c.), Serbian poet
• Togara Muzanenhamo (born 1975), Zimbabwean poet
• Lam Quang My (born 1944), Vietnamese poet in Polish and Vietnamese

Pa

Dorothy Parker

• Ruth Padel (born 1946), English poet, author, and critic
• Ron Padgett (born 1942), American poet, writer, and translator
• Dan Pagis (1930–1986), Israeli poet, Holocaust survivor
• Grace Paley (1922–2007), American short story writer, poet, and political activist
• Francis Turner Palgrave (1824–1897), English critic and poet
• Palladas (fl. 4th c.), Greek poet
• Michael Palmer (born 1943), American poet and translator
• Sima Pandurović (1883–1960), Serbian poet
• Daniele Pantano (born 1976), Swiss poet, literary translator, editor, and scholar
• William Williams Pantycelyn (1717–1791), Welsh poet and hymn writer in Welsh
• Park Yong-rae (1925–1980), Korean poet
• Dorothy Parker (1893–1967), American poet, short story writer, and satirist
• Thomas Parnell (1679–1718), Irish poet and clergyman
• Nicanor Parra (1914–2018), Chilean mathematician and poet
• Giovanni Pascoli (1855–1912), Italian poet
• Boris Pasternak (1890–1960), Russian poet, novelist, and literary translator
• Benito Pastoriza Iyodo (born 1954), Puerto Rican author of poetry, fiction and literary articles
• Kenneth Patchen (1911–1972), American poet and novelist
• Ravji Patel (1939–1968), Indian poet
• Banjo Paterson (Andrew Barton Paterson) (1864–1941), Australian bush poet, journalist and author
• Don Paterson (born 1963), Scottish poet, writer and musician
• Coventry Patmore (1823–1896), English poet and critic
• Brian Patten (born 1946), English poet
• Lekhnath Paudyal (1885–1966), Nepalese poet
• Cesare Pavese (1908–1950), Italian poet, novelist, and critic
• Octavio Paz (1914–1998), Mexican writer, poet, and diplomat

Pe–Pl

• Thomas Love Peacock (1785–1866), English poet and novelist
• Patrick Pearse (1879–1916), Irish poet, writer, and political activist; leader of Easter Rising
• James Larkin Pearson (1879–1981), American poet and publisher; North Carolina Poet Laureate 1953–1981
• Allasani Peddana (15th and 16th cc.), Telugu poet, foremost of the Astadiggajas
• Charles Péguy (1873–1914), French poet, essayist, and editor
• Kathleen Peirce (born 1956), American poet
• Gabino Coria Peñaloza (1881–1975), Argentine poet and lyricist
• Sam Pereira, American poet
• Lucia Perillo, American poet
• Persius (34–62), Roman poet and satirist of Etruscan origin
• Fernando Pessoa (1888–1935), Portuguese poet, philosopher, and critic
• Lenrie Peters (1932–2009), Gambian surgeon, novelist, poet and educationist
• Robert Peters (born 1924), American poet, scholar, and playwright
• Pascale Petit (born 1953), French-Welsh poet, artist
• Petrarch (Francesco Petrarca) (1304–1374), Italian scholar and poet; "Father of Humanism"
• Marine Petrossian (born 1960), Armenian poet, essayist and columnist
• Veljko Petrović (1884–1967), Serbian poet, prose writer, and theorist
• Mirko Petrović-Njegoš (1820–1867), Serbian and Montenegrin poet, soldier, and diplomat
• Mario Petrucci (born 1958), English poet, author, and translator of Italian origin
• Ambrose Philips (1674–1749), English poet and politician
• Katherine Philips (1632–1664) Anglo-Welsh poet
• Pi Rixiu (c. 834–883), Tang Dynasty poet
• Tom Pickard (born 1946), English poet and documentary film maker
• Pindar (522–443 BC), Theban lyric poet in Greek
• Robert Pinsky (born 1940), American poet, critic, and translator; 1997–2000 US Poet Laureate
• Ruth Pitter (1897–1992), English poet; first woman awarded Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry, 1955
• Christine de Pizan (c. 1365 – c. 1430), Venetian historian, poet, and philosopher
• Sylvia Plath (1932–1963), American poet and novelist; 1982 Pulitzer Prize in Poetry as first posthumous recipient
• William Plomer (1903–1973), South African novelist, poet, and editor, in English

Po–Pu

• Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849), American author, poet, and critic
• Suman Pokhrel (born 1967), Nepalese poet, playwright, and artist
• Margaret Steuart Pollard (1904–1996), English poet
• Edward Pollock (1823–1858), American poet and lawyer
• John Pomfret (1667–1702), English poet and clergyman.
• Marie Ponsot (born 1921), American poet, critic, and essayist
• Vasko Popa (1922–1991), Serbian poet of Romanian descent
• Alexander Pope (1688–1744), English poet
• Antonio Porchia (1885–1968), Italian Argentinian poet
• Judith Pordon, (born 1954), American poet, writer, and editor
• Peter Porter (1929–2010), England-based Australian poet
• Halina Poświatowska (1935–1967), Polish poet and writer
• Ezra Pound (1885–1972), American expatriate poet and critic; promoted Imagism
• Adélia Prado (born 1935), Brazilian writer and poet
• Winthrop Mackworth Praed (1802–1839), English politician and poet
• E. J. Pratt (1882–1964), Canadian poet
• Petar Preradović (1818–1872), Croatian poet, writer, and general
• France Prešeren (1800–1849), Carniolan Romantic poet
• Jacques Prévert (1900–1977), French poet and screenwriter
• Richard Price (born 1966), Scottish poet, novelist, and translator
• Robert Priest (born 1951) English-born Canadian poet, children's author, and singer/songwriter
• F. T. Prince (1912–2003), English poet and academic
• Matthew Prior (1664–1721), English poet and diplomat
• Bryan Procter (1787–1874), English poet
• Sextus Propertius, (50 or 45–15 BC), Latin elegiac poet of Augustan age
• Kevin Prufer (born 1969), American poet, academic, and essayist
• J H Prynne (born 1936), English poet; British Poetry Revival
• Luigi Pulci (1432–1484), Italian poet best known for Morgante
• Alexander Pushkin (1799–1837), Russian poet, novelist, and playwright

Ra–Re

• Jean Racine (1639–1699), French dramatist
• Branko Radičević (1824–1853), Serbian lyric poet
• Sam Ragan (1915–1996), American poet, journalist, and writer; North Carolina Poet Laureate 1982–96
• Shamsur Rahman (1929–2006), Bangladeshi poet and columnist; key figure in Bengali literature
• Craig Raine (born 1944), English poet associated with Martian poetry
• Kathleen Raine (1908–2003), English poet, critic, and scholar
• Samina Raja (born 1961), Pakistani poet, writer, and broadcaster
• Milan Rakić (1876–1938), Serbian poet
• Carl Rakosi (1903–2004), American Objectivist poet
• Sir Walter Raleigh (c. 1554–1618), English writer, poet, and explorer
• Tenali Rama (16th c., CE), Telugu poet, one of the Astadiggajas
• Ayyalaraju Ramabhadrudu (16th c., CE), Telugu poet, one of the Astadiggajas
• Ramarajabhushanudu (mid 16th c. CE), Telugu poet and notable musician, one of the Astadiggajas
• Guru Ram Das (1534–1581), Sikh Guru and Punjabi poet
• Allan Ramsay (1686–1758), Scottish poet, playwright and publisher
• Dudley Randall (1914–2000), African-American poet and publisher
• Thomas Randolph (1605–1635), English poet and dramatist
• John Crowe Ransom (1888–1974), American poet, essayist, and magazine editor
• Addepalli Ramamohana Rao (1936–2016), Telugu poet and literary critic
• Ágnes Rapai (born 1952) Hungarian poet, writer, and translator
• Noon Meem Rashid (1910–1975), Pakistani poet writing in Urdu
• Stephen Ratcliffe (born 1948), American poet and critic
• Dahlia Ravikovitch (1936–2005), Israeli poet, translator, and peace activist
• Tom Raworth (born 1938), British poet and visual artist; key figure in the British Poetry Revival
• Herbert Read (1893–1968), English anarchist, poet, and critic of literature and art
• Angela Readman (born 1973), English poet
• James Reaney (1926–2008), Canadian poet, playwright, and professor
• Peter Redgrove (1932–2003), English poet
• Henry Reed (1914–1986), English poet, translator, and radio dramatist
• Ishmael Reed (born 1938), American poet, playwright and novelist
• Ennis Rees (1925–2009), American poet, professor, and translator; South Carolina Poet Laureate, 1984–85
• James Reeves (1909–1978), English poet, children's writer, and writer on traditional song
• Abraham Regelson (1896–1981), Israeli Hebrew poet, author, and children's author
• Christopher Reid (born 1949), Hong Kong-born English poet, essayist, and cartoonist
• James Reiss (born 1941), American poet
• Robert Rendall (1898–1967), Orkney Scottish poet and amateur naturalist
• Pierre Reverdy (1889–1960), French poet inspired by and influencing Surrealism, Dadaism and Cubism
• Jacobus Revius (born Jakob Reefsen) (1586–1658), Dutch poet, Calvinist theologian, and church historian
• Kenneth Rexroth (1905–1982), American poet, translator, and critical essayist
• Charles Reznikoff (1894–1976), American Objectivist poet
• Raees Warsi (Born 1963), Pakistani poet, writer, and lyricist writing in Urdu

Ri–Ry

• Stan Rice (1943–2002), American poet and artist; husband of author Anne Rice
• Adrienne Rich (1929–2012), American poet, essayist, and feminist
• Edgell Rickword (1898–1982), English poet, critic, and journalist
• Lola Ridge (1873–1941), Irish-born American anarchist poet and editor
• Laura Riding (1901–1981), American poet, critic, and novelist
• Anne Ridler (1912–2001), English poet and editor
• James Whitcomb Riley (1849–1916), American writer, poet; known as Hoosier Poet and Children's Poet
• John Riley (1937–1978), English poet associated with British Poetry Revival
• Rainer Maria Rilke (1875–1926), Bohemian-Austrian poet
• Gopal Prasad Rimal (1918–1973), Nepali poet and playwright
• Arthur Rimbaud (1854–1891), French symbolist poet; part of Decadent movement
• Alberto Ríos (born 1952), American poet and professor
• Khawar Rizvi (1938–1981), Pakistani poet and scholar writing in Urdu and Persian
• Emma Roberts (1794–1840), English travel writer and poet
• Michael Roberts (1902–1948), English poet and writer, editor 1936 Faber Book of Modern Verse
• Edwin Arlington Robinson (1869–1935), American poet; won three Pulitzer Prizes
• Mary Robinson (1757–1800), English poet and novelist
• Roland Robinson (1912–1992), Australian poet and writer
• Georges Rodenbach (1855–1898) Belgian Symbolism (arts)|Symbolist]] poet and novelist
• W R Rodgers (1909–1969), Northern Irish poet, essayist, and Presbyterian minister
• José Luis Rodríguez Pittí (born 1971), Panamanian poet and artist
• Theodore Roethke (1908–1963), American poet; 1954 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry
• Samuel Rogers (1763–1855), English poet
• Rognvald Kali Kolsson (c. 1103–1158), Earl of Orkney and saint
• Matthew Rohrer (born 1970), American poet
• David Romtvedt (living), American poet
• Pierre de Ronsard (1524–1585), French poet
• Peter Rosegger (1843–1918), Austrian poet
• Franklin Rosemont (1943–2009), American poet, artist, and co-founder of Chicago Surrealist Group
• Penelope Rosemont (born 1942), American poet, writer, and co-founder of Chicago Surrealist Group
• Isaac Rosenberg (1890–1918), English poet of World War I
• Alan Ross (1922–2001), English poet, cricket writer, and editor
• Christina Rossetti (1830–1894), English poet
• Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828–1882), English poet, illustrator and painter; co-founded Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood
• Andrus Rõuk (born 1957), Estonian artist and poet
• Raymond Roussel (1877–1933), French poet, novelist, and playwright
• Nicholas Rowe (1674–1718), English dramatist, poet and miscellanist; UK Poet Laureate 1715
• Samuel Rowlands (c. 1573–1630), English poet and pamphleteer
• Susanna Roxman (living), English poet born in Sweden
• Istvan Rozanich (1912–1984), exiled Hungarian poet
• Tadeusz Różewicz (born 1921), Polish poet and writer
• Ljubivoje Ršumović (born 1939), Serbian poet
• Friedrich Rückert (1788–1866), German poet, translator, and professor
• Muriel Rukeyser (1913–1980), American poet and political activist
• Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rumi (1207–1273), Persian Muslim poet, jurist, and Sufi mystic
• Paul-Eerik Rummo (1942), Estonian poet
• Johan Ludvig Runeberg (1804–1877), Finnish poet; national poet of Finland, wrote in Swedish
• Nipsey Russell (1918–2005), American comedian; regarded as "poet laureate of television"
• Ryōkan (1758–1831), Japanese calligrapher and poet

Sa–Se

Nelly Sachs

• Umberto Saba (1883–1957), Italian poet and novelist
• Jaime Sabines (1926–1999), Mexican poet
• Nelly Sachs (1891–1970), Jewish German poet and playwright; 1966 Nobel Prize in Literature
• Charles Sackville, 6th Earl of Dorset and 1st Earl of Middlesex (1638–1706), English poet and courtier
• Thomas Sackville, 1st Earl of Dorset (1536–1608), English statesman, poet, and dramatist
• Vita Sackville-West (1892–1962), English author, poet and gardener
• Saʿdī Shīrāzī (1184–1283/1291), medieval Persian poet
• Ahmad Shamloo (December 12, 1925 – July 24, 2000), Persian poet, writer, and journalist
• Benjamin Alire Sáenz (born 1954), American poet, novelist, and children's writer
• Ali Ahmad Said (Adunis) (born 1930), Syrian poet, essayist, and translator
• Mellin de Saint-Gelais, (c. 1491–1558), French Renaissance poet; Poet Laureate of Francis I of France
• Akim Samar (1916–1943), Soviet poet and novelist regarded as first Nanai language writer
• Sonia Sanchez (born 1934), African-American poet; associated with Black Arts Movement
• Michal Šanda (born 1965), Czech writer and poet
• Carl Sandburg (1878–1967), American poet, writer, and editor; three Pulitzer Prizes
• Jacopo Sannazaro (1458–1530), Italian poet, humanist, and epigrammist from Naples
• Ann Sansom, English poet and writing tutor
• Aleksa Šantić (1868–1924), Bosnian Serb poet
• Taneda Santōka (1882–1940), Japanese free verse haiku poet
• Genrikh Sapgir (1928–1999), Russian poet and fiction writer
• Sappho (c. 630–612–c. 570 BC), ancient Greek lyric poet from Lesbos
• William Saroyan (1908–1981), American author of Armenian descent
• Siegfried Sassoon (1886–1967), English war poet
• Subagio Sastrowardoyo (1924–1995), Indonesian poet, short-story writer, and literary critic
• Satsvarupa Das Goswami (born 1939), American poet and artist; founded International Society for Krishna Consciousness
• Richard Savage (c. 1697–1743), English poet; subject of Samuel Johnson's Life of Savage
• Leslie Scalapino (1944–2010), American poet, writer, and playwright; associated with Language poets and Beat poets
• Maurice Scève (c. 1500–1564), French poet
• Hermann Georg Scheffauer (1876–1927), American poet, architect, and short story writer
• Georges Schehadé (1905–1989), Lebanese playwright and poet writing in French
• Friedrich Schiller (1759–1805), German poet, philosopher, and playwright
• Arno Schmidt (1914–1979), German author and translator
• Dennis Schmitz (born 1937), American poet
• Arthur Schnitzler (1862–1931), Austrian author and dramatist
• Philip Schultz (born 1945), American poet; 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry
• James Schuyler (1923–1991), American poet; 1980 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for The Morning of the Poem
• Delmore Schwartz (1913–1966), American poet and short story writer
• Alexander Scott (c. 1520–1582/83), Scottish poet
• Alexander Scott (1920–1989), Scottish poet and playwright
• Frederick George Scott (1861–1944), Canadian poet and author, father of F. R. Scott
• F. R. Scott (1899–1985), Canadian poet, intellectual and constitutional expert
• Tom Scott, (1918—1995) Scottish poet
• Sir Walter Scott (1771–1832), Scottish historical novelist, playwright, and poet
• Gil Scott-Heron (1949–2011), American soul musician and jazz poet
• George Bazeley Scurfield (1920–1991), English poet, novelist, author and politician
• Peter Seaton (1942–2010), American Language poet
• Johannes Secundus (1511–1536), Dutch Neo-Latin poet
• Sir Charles Sedley, 5th Baronet (1639–1701), English poet, wit, and dramatist
• George Seferis (pen name of Geōrgios Seferiádēs) (1900–1971), Greek poet, Nobel laureate, and Ambassador to UK
• Ehsan Sehgal (born 1951), Pakistani poet and writer writing in Urdu
• Hugh Seidman (born 1940), American poet
• Rebecca Seiferle, American poet
• Jaroslav Seifert (1901–1986), Czech writer, poet and journalist; 1984 Nobel Prize in Literature
• Lasana M. Sekou (born 1959), Sint Maarten poet, essayist, and journalist
• Semonides of Amorgos (c. 7th c. BC) Greek iambic and elegiac poet
• Léopold Sédar Senghor (1906–2001), Senegalese poet, politician, and cultural theorist; first president of Senegal
• Robert W. Service (1874–1958), Scottish-Canadian poet; called "Bard of the Yukon"
• Vikram Seth (born 1952), Indian author and poet
• Anne Sexton (1928–1974), American poet; Confessional poetry, 1967 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry
• John W. Sexton (born 1958), Irish poet, short-story writer, and children's novelist

Sh–Sj

• Thomas Shadwell (c. 1642–1692), English poet and playwright; Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom, 1689–92
• Riaz Ahmed Gohar Shahi (1941–2001), Pakistani Sufi spiritual leader, poet and author
• William Shakespeare, (c. 1564–1616), English poet and playwright
• Tupac Shakur (1971–1996), American rapper, actor, and black activist
• Otep Shamaya (born 1979), American singer-songwriter, actress, and poet; lead singer of Otep
• Ntozake Shange (born 1948), American playwright and poet
• Jo Shapcott (born 1953), English poet, editor, and lecturer
• Karl Shapiro (1913–2000), American poet; U.S. Poet Laureate, 1946–47
• Brenda Shaughnessy (born 1970), American poet
• Luci Shaw (born 1928), English-born Christian poet
• Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792–1822), major English Romantic poet
• William Shenstone (1714–1763), English poet
• Bhupi Sherchan (1935–1989), Nepalese poet
• Taras Shevchenko (1814–1861), Ukrainian poet and artist
• Masaoka Shiki (1867–1902), Japanese author, poet, and literary critic
• Hovhannes Shiraz (1915–1984), Armenian poet
• James Shirley (1596–1666), English dramatist
• Avraham Shlonsky (1900–1973), Israeli poet and editor
• Sir Philip Sidney (1554–1586), English poet, courtier and soldier
• Eli Siegel (1902–1978), Latvian-American poet and critic; founded philosophy of Aesthetic Realism
• Robert Siegel (1939–2012), American poet and novelist
• Jon Silkin (1930–1997), English poet
• Ron Silliman (born 1946), American poet; associated with Language poetry
• Shel Silverstein (1930–1999), American poet, musician, and children's writer
• Simeon Simev (born 1949), Macedonian poet, essayist, and journalist
• Charles Simic (born 1938), Serbian-American poet; 1990 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, US Poet Laureate, 2007–2008
• Simonides of Ceos (c. 556–468 BC), Greek lyric poet, born at Ioulis on Kea
• Louis Simpson (1923–2012), Jamaican poet; 1964 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry
• Bennie Lee Sinclair (1939–2000), American poet, novelist and story writer; South Carolina Poet Laureate, 1986–2000
• Burns Singer (1928–1964), American poet usually identified with Scotland, where he was raised
• Marilyn Singer (born 1948), American children's writer and poet
• Lemn Sissay, English author and broadcaster
• Charles Hubert Sisson (1914–2003), English writer, best known as poet and translator
• Edith Sitwell (1887–1964), English poet and critic; eldest of three literary Sitwells
• Sjón (born 1962), Icelandic author and poet

Sk–Sp

• Egill Skallagrímsson (c. 910–c. 990), Viking Age poet, warrior and farmer, the protagonist of Egil's Saga
• John Skelton (1460–1529), English poet
• Sasha Skenderija (born 1968), Bosnian-American poet
• Ed Skoog (born 1971), American poet
• Pencho Slaveykov (1866–1912), Bulgarian poet
• Petko Slaveykov (1827–1895), Bulgarian poet, publicist, and folklorist
• Kenneth Slessor (1901–1971), Australian poet and journalist
• Anton Martin Slomšek (1800–1862), Slovene bishop, author, and advocate of Slovenian culture
• Juliusz Słowacki (1809–1849), Polish Romantic poet; one of "Three Bards" of Polish literature
• Boris Slutsky (1919–1986), Russian poet
• Christopher Smart (1722–1771), English poet and playwright
• Hristo Smirnenski (1898–1923), Bulgarian poet and writer
• Bruce Smith (born 1946), American poet
• Charlotte Turner Smith (1749–1806), English Romantic poet and novelist
• Clark Ashton Smith (1893–1961), American poet, sculptor, and author
• Margaret Smith (born 1958), American poet, musician, and artist
• Patti Smith (born 1946), American singer-songwriter, poet, and visual artist
• Stevie Smith (1902–1971), English poet and novelist
• Sydney Goodsir Smith (1915–1975), Scots poet in Lallans
• Tracy K. Smith (born 1972), American poet, 2012 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry
• William Jay Smith (born 1918), American poet; US Poet Laureate 1968–1970
• Tobias Smollett (1721–1771), Scottish poet and author
• William De Witt Snodgrass (1926–2009), American poet; 1960 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry
• Gary Snyder (born 1930), American poet, essayist, and environmentalist; 1975 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry
• Edith Södergran (1892–1923), Swedish-speaking Finnish poet
• Sōgi (1421–1502), Japanese waka and renga poet
• David Solway (born 1941), Canadian poet, educational theorist, and travel writer
• William Somervile (1675–1742), English poet
• Sophocles, (c. 496 – 406 BC), Athenian tragedian
• Charles Sorley (1895–1915), English war poet of World War I
• Gary Soto (born 1952), Mexican-American author and poet
• William Soutar (1898–1943), Scottish poet in English and Braid Scots
• Caroline Anne Southey (1786–1854), English poet
• Robert Southey (1774–1843), English Romantic poet, Lake Poet and UK Poet Laureate (1813–43)
• Robert Southwell (1561–1595), English Catholic Jesuit priest, poet and clandestine missionary
• Wole Soyinka (born 1934), Nigerian poet and playwright and poet; 1986 Nobel Prize in Literature
• Bernard Spencer (1909–1963), English poet, translator, and editor
• Stephen Spender (1909–1995), English poet, novelist. and essayist; US Poet Laureate 1965–66
• Edmund Spenser (1552–1599), English poet best known for The Faerie Queene

St–Sz

• Leopold Staff (1878–1957), Polish poet
• William Stafford (1914–1993), American poet and pacifist; US Poet Laureate 1970–71
• A.E. Stallings (born 1968), American poet and translator
• Jon Stallworthy (born 1935), English academic, poet and literary critic
• Harold Standish (1919–1972), Canadian poet and novelist
• Ann Stanford (1916–1987), American poet
• George Starbuck (1931–1996), American neo-formalist poet
• Statius (c. 45–96), Roman poet
• Nichita Stănescu (1933–1983), Romanian poet
• Christian Karlson Stead, ONZ, CBE (born 1932), New Zealand novelist, poet and critic
• Stesichorus (c. 640–555 BC), Greek lyric poet
• Joseph Stefan (1835–1893), Carinthian Slovene physicist, mathematician, and poet, living in Austria
• Stefan Stefanović (1807–1828), Serbian poet
• Gertrude Stein (1874–1946), American Modernist innovator in prose and poetry, and art collector
• Eric Stenbock (1860–1895), Baltic German poet and writer of macabre fantastic fiction
• Mattie Stepanek (1990–2004), American poet and advocate
• George Stepney (1663–1707), English poet and diplomat
• Gerald Stern (born 1925), American poet
• Marinko Stevanović (born 1961), Bosnian poet
• C. J. Stevens (born 1927), American writer of poetry, short stories, and biography
• Wallace Stevens (1880–1955), American Modernist poet
• Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–1894), Scottish novelist, poet, and travel writer
• Trumbull Stickney (1874–1904), American classical scholar and poet
• James Still (1906–2001), American poet, novelist and folklorist
• Milica Stojadinović-Srpkinja (1828–1878), Serbian poet
• Dejan Stojanović (born 1959), Serbian-American poet, writer, and philosopher
• Donna J. Stone (1933–1994), American poet and philanthropist
• Ruth Stone (1915–2011), American poet, author and teacher
• Lisa Gluskin Stonestreet (born 1968), American poet and editor
• Edward Storer (1880–1944), English writer, translator and poet, associated with Imagism
• Theodor Storm (1817–1888), German writer and poet
• Alfonsina Storni (1892–1938), Latin American Modernist poet
• Mark Strand (born 1934), Canadian-born American poet, essayist, and translator; US Poet Laureate, 1990–91
• Botho Strauß (born 1944), German playwright, poet, and novelist
• Joseph Stroud (born 1943), American poet
• Jesse Stuart (1907–1984), American writer known for short stories, poetry, and novels about Southern Appalachia

Wisława Szymborska

• Su Shi (1037–1101), Song dynasty writer, poet, and artist
• Su Xiaoxiao (died c. 501 AD), courtesan and poet under Southern Qi Dynasty
• Sir John Suckling (1609–1642), English poet and inventor of the card game cribbage
• Suleiman the Magnificent (1494–1566), ruler of Ottoman Empire and Islamic poet
• Paul Summers (born 1967), English poet
• Jovan Sundečić (1825–1900), Serbian poet
• Cemal Süreya (1931–1990), Turkish poet and writer
• Abhi Subedi (born 1945), Nepalese poet, playwright, and critic
• Pingali Surana (16th c.), Telugu poet, one of the Astadiggajas
• Robert Sward (born 1933), American and Canadian poet and novelist
• Cole Swensen (born 1955), American poet, translator, and copywriter; Guggenheim Fellowship in Poetry 2006
• Karen Swenson (born 1936), American poet
• May Swenson (1913–1989), American poet and playwright
• Jonathan Swift (1667–1745), Anglo-Irish satirist, essayist, and political pamphleteer
• Algernon Charles Swinburne (1837–1909), English poet, playwright, and novelist
• Anna Świrszczyńska (aka Anna Swir) (1909–1984), Polish poet
• Joshua Sylvester (1563–1618), English poet
• Arthur William Symons (1865–1945), English poet, critic and magazine editor
• John Millington Synge (1871–1909), Irish dramatist, poet, and collector of folklore
• Lőrinc Szabó (1900–1957), Hungarian poet and literary translator
• Arthur Sze (born 1950), Chinese American poet
• George Szirtes (born 1948), Hungary-born British poet and translator
• Wisława Szymborska (1923–2012), Polish poet, essayist, and translator; Nobel Prize in Literature 1996

Ta–Te

• Rabindranath Tagore (1861–1941), Bengali polymath; 1913 Nobel Prize in Literature
• Taliesin (fl. 6th c.), British poet of post-Roman period
• Meary James Thurairajah Tambimuttu (1915–1983), Tamil poet, editor, and critic
• Maxim Tank (1912–1996), Belarusian poet
• Tao Qian (365–427), Chinese poet of Six Dynasties period
• Jovica Tasevski-Eternijan (born 1976), Macedonian poet, essayist, and literary critic
• Alain Tasso (born 1962), Franco-Lebanese poet, painter, and critic
• Torquato Tasso (1544–1595), Italian poet; best known for Jerusalem Delivered
• Allen Tate (1899–1979), American poet, essayist, and social commentator; US Poet Laureate 1943–44
• James Tate (born 1943), American poet; 1992 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry
• Emma Tatham (1829–1855), English poet
• Edward Taylor (c. 1642–1729), colonial American poet, physician, and pastor
• Emily Taylor (1795–1872), English poet and children's writer
• Henry Taylor (1800–1886), English poet and dramatist
• Henry S. Taylor (born 1942), American poet; 1986 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry
• Jane Taylor (1783–1824), English poet and novelist
• Sara Teasdale (1884–1933), American lyric poet
• Guru Tegh Bahadur (1621–1675), Sikh Guru and Punjabi poet
• Telesilla (fl. 510 BC), Greek poet
• William Tennant (1784–1848), Scottish scholar and poet.
• Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809–1892), English poet; Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom 1850–1892
• Vahan Terian (1885–1920), Armenian poet, lyricist, and public activist
• Elaine Terranova (born 1939), American poet
• Lucy Terry (c. 1730–1821), African-American poet; author of oldest known work by African American
• A. S. J. Tessimond (1902–1962), English poet
• Neyzen Tevfik (1879–1953), Turkish poet, satirist, and ney performer"

Th–To

Edward Thomas

• Bhuwan Thapaliya (born 1976), Nepalese poet in English
• Ernest Thayer (1863–1940), American writer and poet
• Theocritus (fl. 3rd c. BC), Greek bucolic poet
• Jan Theuninck (born 1954), Belgian painter and poet
• Nandi Thimmana (15th to 16th cc.), Telugu poet, one of the Astadiggajas at court of King Krishnadevaraya
• Thiruvalluvar (31 AD), Tamil poet and philosopher
• Dylan Thomas (1914–1953), Welsh poet and writer in English
• Edward Thomas (1878–1917), Welsh poet and essayist in English
• Lorenzo Thomas (1944–2005), American poet and critic
• R. S. Thomas (1913–2000), Welsh poet in English and Anglican priest
• John Thompson (1938–1976), English-born Canadian poet
• John Reuben Thompson (1823–1873), American poet, journalist, editor, and publisher
• Francis Thompson (1859–1907), English poet and ascetic
• James Thomson (1700–1748), Scottish poet and playwright; lyrics of Rule, Britannia!
• James Thomson (Bysshe Vanolis, 1834–1882), Scottish Victorian poet
• Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862), American author, poet, and philosopher
• Georg Thurmair (1909–1984), German poet and hymn writer
• Maria Luise Thurmair (1918–2005), German poet and hymn writer
• Anthony Thwaite (born 1930), English poet and writer
• Tibullus (c. 54 BC–19 BC), Latin poet and writer of elegies
• Chidiock Tichborne (1558–1586), English conspirator and poet
• Thomas Tickell (1685–1740), English poet and man of letters
• Ludwig Tieck (1773–1853), German poet, translator, editor, and critic
• Tikkana (1205–1288), Telugu poet, translator of Mahabharata
• Abdillahi Suldaan Mohammed Timacade (1920–1973), Somali poet
• Nick Toczek (born 1950), English writer, poet, and broadcaster
• Melvin B. Tolson (1898–1966), American Modernist poet, educator, and columnist
• Charles Tomlinson (born 1927), English poet and translator
• Jean Toomer (1894–1967), American poet and novelist; important figure in Harlem Renaissance
• Cyril Tourneur (1575–1626), English poetic dramatist

Tr–Tz

• Thomas Traherne (1636/37–1674), English poet, clergyman, and religious writer
• Georg Trakl (1887–1914), Austrian Expressionist poet
• Elizabeth Treadwell (born 1967), American poet
• Roland Michel Tremblay (born 1972), French Canadian writer and poet
• Duško Trifunović (1933–2006), Serbian poet and writer
• Calvin Trillin (born 1935), American humorist, poet, and novelist
• Quincy Troupe (born 1939), American poet, editor, journalist and professor
• Tõnu Trubetsky (Tony Blackplait) (born 1963), Estonian glam punk musician and poet
• Marina Tsvetaeva (1892–1941), Russian Soviet poet
• Kurt Tucholsky (1890–1935), German-Jewish journalist, satirist and writer
• Charlotte Maria Tucker (1821–1893), English poet and religious writer
• Tulsidas (1497/1532–1623), Hindu poet-saint, reformer and philosopher
• Hovhannes Tumanyan (1869–1923), Armenian writer and public activist; considered national poet of Armenia
• Ğabdulla Tuqay (1886–1913), Tatar poet, critic, and publisher
• George Turberville (c. 1540 – c. 1597), English poet
• Charles Tennyson Turner (1808–1879), English poet, elder brother of Alfred Tennyson
• Julian Turner (born 1955), English poet and mental health worker
• Thomas Tusser (1524–1580), English poet and farmer
• Hone Tuwhare (1922–2008), New Zealand poet of Māori ancestry
• Julian Tuwim (1894–1953), Polish poet of Jewish descent
• Jan Twardowski (1915–2006), Polish poet and priest
• Chase Twichell (born 1950), American poet, professor, and publisher
• Pontus de Tyard, (c. 1521–1605), French poet and priest; member of "La Pléiade"
• Fyodor Tyutchev (1803–1873), Russian Romantic poet
• Tristan Tzara (1896–1963), Romanian and French avant-garde poet and performance artist; a founder of Dada movement

Wa–Wh

• Wace (c. 1110–after 1174), Norman poet
• Sidney Wade (born 1951), American poet and professor
• John Wain (1925–1994), English poet, novelist, and critic, associated with The Movement
• Diane Wakoski (born 1937), American poet; associated with deep image, confessional and Beat generation poets
• Derek Walcott (born 1930), Saint Lucian poet and playwright; 1992 Nobel Prize in Literature
• Anne Waldman (born 1945), American poet
• Rosmarie Waldrop (born 1935), German-American poet, translator, and publisher
• Arthur Waley (1889–1966), English orientalist and Sinologist; poet and translator
• Alice Walker (born 1944), American author, poet, and activist
• Margaret Walker (1915–1998), African-American writer
• Edmund Waller (1606–1687), English poet and politician
• Martin Walser (born 1927), German writer
• Robert Walser (1878–1956), German-speaking Swiss writer
• Connie Wanek (born 1952), American poet
• Wang Wei (王維, 701–761), Tang Dynasty Chinese poet, musician, and painter
• Wang Wei (王微, 1597–1647), Chinese priestess and poet
• Emily Warn, American poet
• Sylvia Townsend Warner (1893–1978), English novelist and poet.
• Robert Penn Warren (1905–1989), American poet, novelist, and literary critic; a founder of New Criticism
• Thomas Warton (1728–1790), English literary historian, critic, and poet
• Vernon Watkins (1906–1967), Welsh poet, translator, and painter
• Thomas Watson (1555–1592), English lyric poet writing in English and Latin
• Samuel Wagan Watson (born 1972)
• George Watsky (born 1986), American poet and rapper.
• Barrett Watten (born 1948), American poet, editor, and educator; associated with Language poets
• Isaac Watts (1674–1748), English hymnist and logician
• Theodore Watts-Dunton (1832–1914), English critic and poet
• Tom Wayman (born 1945), Canadian poet, author, and educator
• Francis Webb (1925–1973), Australian poet
• John Webster (c. 1580–c. 1634), English dramatist
• Rebecca Wee, American poet, professor
• Hannah Weiner (1928–1997), American Language poet
• Wei Yingwu (737–792) Chinese poet
• Wen Yiduo (1899–1946), Chinese poet
• Marjory Heath Wentworth (born 1958), American poet; South Carolina Poet Laureate
• Charles Wesley (1707–1788), English leader of Methodist movement, and prolific hymnist
• Gilbert West (1703–1756), English poet, translator and Christian apologist
• Philip Whalen (1923–2002), American poet, Zen Buddhist, and figure in San Francisco Renaissance
• Franz Werfel (1890–1945), Austrian-Bohemian novelist, playwright, and poet
• Johan Herman Wessel (1742–1785), Norwegian-Danish poet
• Mary Whateley (1738–1825), English poet and playwright
• Phillis Wheatley (1753–1784), first African-American poet
• Billy Edd Wheeler (born 1932), American songwriter, performer, and poet
• E.B. White (1899–1985), American essayist, author, and humorist
• Henry Kirke White (1785–1806), English poet
• James L. White (1936–1981), American poet, editor, and teacher
• Walt Whitman (1819–1892), American poet, essayist, and humanist
• Isabella Whitney (fl. 1567–1573), English poet
• Reed Whittemore (1919–2012), American poet, biographer, and critic
• John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892), American poet
• Jay Wright (born 1935), African-American poet, playwright, and essayist

Wi–Wy

• Anna Wickham (Edith Alice Mary Harper) (1884–1947), English poet brought up in Australia
• Les Wicks (born 1955), Australian poet, publisher, and editor
• Ulrika Widström (1764–1841), Swedish poet and translator
• John Wieners (1934–2002), American lyric poet
• Richard Wilbur (born 1921), American poet; US Poet Laureate 1987–88, Pulitzer Prize for Poetry 1957 and 1989
• Jane Wilde (1826–1896), Irish poet and nationalist
• Oscar Wilde (1854–1900), Irish writer, playwright, and poet
• John Wilkinson (born 1953), English poet
• William IX, Duke of Aquitaine (1071–1126), best known as earliest troubadour whose works have survived
• Aeneas Francon Williams (1886–1971), British poet, writer and, missionary
• Emmett Williams (1925–2007), American poet and visual artist
• Jonathan Williams (1929–2008), American poet, publisher, and essayist
• Heathcote Williams (1941–2017), English poet, political activist, and dramatist
• Miller Williams (born 1930), American poet, translator, and editor
• Oscar Williams (1900–1964), Jewish Ukrainian-American anthologist and poet
• Saul Williams (born 1972), African-American singer, poet, writer, and actor
• Sherley Anne Williams (1944–1999), African-American poet, novelist, and social critic
• Waldo Williams (1904–1971), Welsh language poet; pacifist and Welsh nationalist
• William Carlos Williams (1883–1963), poet and physician; associated with Modernism and imagism
• William Williams Pantycelyn (1717–1791), Welsh poet and hymnist
• Clive Wilmer (born 1945), English poet,
• John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester (1647–1680), English poet, courtier, and satirist
• Eleanor Wilner (born 1937), American poet and editor
• Peter Lamborn Wilson (Hakim Bey, born 1945), American political and cultural writer, essayist, and poet
• Christian Wiman (born 1966), American poet and editor
• Yvor Winters (1900–1968), American poet and literary critic
• George Wither (1588–1667), English poet, pamphleteer, and satirist
• Woeser (born 1966), Tibetan activist, poet, and essayist
• Rafał Wojaczek (1945–1971), Polish poet
• Christa Wolf (1929–2011), German literary critic, novelist, and poet
• Charles Wolfe (1791–1823), Irish poet
• Hans Wollschläger (1935–2007), German writer, translator, and historian
• Sholeh Wolpe (born 1962), Iranian-American poet, literary translator, and playwright
• George Woodcock (1912–1995), Canadian writer of biography and history, anarchist thinker, and poet
• Gregory Woods (born 1953), English poet who grew up in Ghana
• Dorothy Wordsworth (1771–1855), English author, poet and diarist; sister of William Wordsworth
• William Wordsworth (1770–1850), English Romantic poet
• Philip Stanhope Worsley (1835–1866), English poet
• Carolyn D. Wright (born 1949), American poet
• Charles Wright (born in 1935), American poet; 1998 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry
• David Wright (1920–1994) South African-born poet and author
• Franz Wright (born 1953), American poet, son of James Wright; 2004 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry
• James Wright (1927–1980), American poet, father of Franz Wright; 1972 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry
• Judith Wright (1915–2000), Australian poet, environmentalist and campaigner for Aboriginal land rights
• Lady Mary Wroth (1587–c. 1651), English poet of the Renaissance
• Thomas Wyatt (1503–1542), English ambassador and lyrical poet
• Elinor Wylie (1885–1928), American poet and novelist
• Hedd Wyn (1887–1917), Welsh language poet
• Edward Alexander Wyon (1842−1872), English architect and poet