# List of Bengali poets

This List of Bengali poets includes poets who write in Bengali language who produce Bengali poetry. This list classifies poets into three groups based on geographical location. These are poets from Bangladesh, poets from West Bengal of India and poets from other parts of the world including Bengali Diaspora and non-Bengali people writing poetry in Bengali. However, the list starts with early Bengali poets to be followed by those who are identified not only with Indian sub-continent before partition in 1947, but also as founders of Bengali poetry. The list also contains separate sub-lists of "rhyme composers" and "song writers". Finally, there are two sub-sets of woman poets and poets in exile.

## Early poets
### Siddhacharyas (6th to 12th CE)

The poets of the Charyāpada (Bengali: চর্যাপদ), known as the Siddhacharyas, lived in eastern India and Nepal. The names of the Siddhacharyas in Sanskrit (or its Tibetan language equivalent), and the raga in which the verse was to be sung, are mentioned prior to each pada (verse). The surviving 50 manuscripts contains the name of 24 Siddhacharyas including Lui Pa, Kukkuri Pa, Birua Pa, Gundari Pa, Chatil Pa, Bhusuku Pa, Kanha Pa, Kambalambar Pa, Dombi Pa, Shanti Pa, Mahitta Pa, Bina Pa, Saraha Pa, Shabar Pa, Aryadeb Pa, Dhendhan Pa, Darik Pa, Bhade Pa, Tadak Pa, Kankan Pa, Ja’anandi Pa, Dham Pa, Tanti Pa and Loridombi Pa. Most of these names were pseudonyms as the poets rejected Vedic Hinduism and profess Sahajayana Buddhism. Lui Pa is considered as the earliest poet of Charyapadas. Kanha Pa's 11 poems survived which is the largest number among these poets.
The poets and their works as mentioned in the text are as follows:
| Poet | Pada (verse) |
| Luipāda | 1,29 |
| Kukkuripāda | 2, 20, 48 |
| Virubāpāda | 3 |
| Gundaripāda | 4 |
| Chatillapāda | 5 |
| Bhusukupāda | 6, 21, 23, 27, 30, 41, 43, 49 |
| Kānhapāda | 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 18, 19, 24, 36, 40, 42, 45 |
| Kambalāmbarapāda | 8 |
| Dombipāda | 14 |
| Shantipāda | 15, 26 |
| Mahidharapāda | 16 |
| Vināpāda | 17 |
| Sarahapāda | 22, 32, 38, 39 |
| Shabarapāda | 28, 50 |
| Āryadevapāda | 31 |
| Dhendhanapāda | 33 |
| Darikapāda | 34 |
| Bhādepāda | 35 |
| Tādakapāda | 37 |
| Kankanapāda | 44 |
| Jayanandipāda | 46 |
| Dhāmapāda | 47 |
| Tantripāda | 25 |

## Medieval Poets

| Poet | Pen Name | Era | Work |
| Ramai Pandit | | c. 13th century | Best known for his work named Shunyapurana in Middle Bengali. |
| Chandidas | | c. 14th century | Chandidas was the first humanist in Bengali poetry. He asserted "Shobar upor manush shotto tahar upore nai" ("Above all is humanity, none else"). |
| Nur Qutb Alam | | 14th century | Nur Qutb Alam wrote poetry in Middle Bengali using the Persian alphabet. |
| Krittibas Ojha | | c. 1381-1461 CE | He first translated Indian epic the Valmiki Ramayana into Bengali. The Bengali version is known as Krittivasi Ramayana. |
| Shah Muhammad Saghir | | c. 14th century | Considered as the earliest Bengali Muslim poet. His best known work is Yusuf-Zulekha. |
| Maladhar Basu | | c. 15th century | Composed a tale titled Sri Krishna Bijay in Bengali. |
| Zainuddin | | c. 15th century | Composed a fictional tale titled Rasul Bijay, the source of which is said to have been a novel in the Persian language. |
| Vijay Gupta | | c. 15th century | Best known for his version of Manasamangal Kavya. |
| Parameshwar Das | Kavindra (Great Poet) | c. 16th century | He translated the Hindu epic Mahabharata into Bengali language. |
| Kashiram Das | | c. 16th century | He translated the famous Hindu epic Mahabharata into Bengali language. His version of Mahabharata is known as Kashidasi Mahabharata |
| Afzal Ali | | c. 16th century | Best known for his magnum opus, Nasihatnama. |
| Dawlat Wazir Bahram Khan | | c. 16th century | Best known for his magnum opus Laily-Majnu which is a thematic Bengali adaptation of Jami's version of the classic tale. |
| Syed Sultan | | c. 16th century | Best known for his magnum opus, the Nabibangsha, which was one of the first translations of the Qisas Al-Anbiya into the Bengali language. |
| Chandravati | | c. 16th century | Considered as the first known female poet of Bengali language. Best known for her women-centered epic Ramayana. |
| Khelaram Chakrabarty | | c. 16th century | One of the earliest poet of Dharmamangal kavya tradition. |
| Manik Datta | | c. 16th century | Earliest poet of the Chandimangal kavya |
| Dwija Madhab or Madhabacharya | | c. 16th century | One of the most significant contributor to Chandimangal kavya tradition. |
| Mukundaram Chakrabarti | Kabikankan (Bracelet of Poets) | c. 16th century | His work, known as the Abhayamangal |
| Daulat Qazi | | 1600-1638 CE | The first Bengali poet to write under the patronage of the Arakan court during the Mrauk-U dynasty. |
| Alaol | Pandit Kabi (Pandit of Poets) | 1607-1680 CE | Well known work is Padmavati, which depicts the story of Padmavati, the Sinhalese princess. |
| Abdul Hakim | | 1620-1690 CE | Most notable work was Nur Nama (Story of Light), a depiction of the life of Muhammad. |
| Rupram Chakrabarty | | c. 17th century | His work, Anadimangal |
| Muhammad Muqim | | c. 18th century | |
| Rahimunnessa | | 1763–1800 CE | Notable works of her Bengali translation of the Persian Laily Majnu and the poem Payar Chanda. |
| Heyat Mahmud | | 1693–1760 CE | |
| Akinchan Chakrabarty | Kavindra (Great Poet) | c. 18th century | |
| Ghanaram Chakrabarty | | c. 1669-? | |
| Ramprasad Sen | | c. 1723 – 1775 | His bhakti poems, known as Ramprasadi |
| Aju Gossain | | c. 18th century | |
| Bharatchandra Ray | | 1712–1760 CE | Mostly known for his poetic work, Annadamangal or Annapurnamangal |

## Founders of modern Bengali poetry

* Amiya Chakravarty
* Bishnu Dey
* Sudhindranath Dutta
* Buddhadev Bose
* Sukanta Bhattacharya
* Ahsan Habib
* Farrukh Ahmad
* Syed Ali Ahsan
* Shamsur Rahman
* Al Mahmud
* Abul Hasan
* Quazi Johirul Islam
* Rudra Mohammad Shahidullah
* Girindramohini Dasi
| Poet | Pen Name | Era | Work |
| Iswarchandra Gupta | | 1812-1859 CE | |
| Michael Madhusudan Dutta | | 1824-1873 CE | |
| Nabinchandra Sen | | 1847-1909 CE | |
| Kazem Ali Quereshi | Kaykobad | 1857-1951 CE | |
| Akshay Kumar Baral | | 1860-1919 CE | |
| Rabindranath Tagore | Gurudev, Kabiguru, and Biswakabi | 1861-1941 CE | He was a Bengali polymath- Poet, Novelist, Playwright or Dramatist, Short-story writer, Music composer, Essayist, Philosopher, Literary critics, Social reformer, Politician, Painter. In 1913 he became the first non-European to receive the Nobel Prize for Literature. |
| Dwijendralal Ray | | 1863-1913 CE | |
| Jatindramohan Bagchi | | 1878-1948 CE | |
| Satyendranath Dutta | | 1882-1922 CE | |
| Jatindranath Sengupta | | 1887-1954 CE | |
| Mohitlal Majumdar | | 1888-1952 CE | |
| Kazi Nazrul Islam | | 1899-1976 CE | |
| Jibanananda Das | | 1899-1954 CE | |
| Jasimuddin | | 1903-1976 CE | |

## Bengali poets from other parts of the world

* Abdul Gaffar Choudhury
* Shamim Azad
* Taslima Nasrin
* Abid Azad

## Hungryalist poets

* Shakti Chattopadhyay
* Binoy Majumdar
* Samir Roychoudhury
* Malay Roy Choudhury
* Subimal Basak

## Metrical poets

* Annada Shankar Ray
* Sukumar Ray
* Farrukh Ahmad
* Shamsur Rahman
* Motiur Rahman Mollik (1950–2010)
* Abu Zafar Obaidullah
* Rafiqul Haque
* Fayez Ahmed
* Ekhlasuddin Ahmed
* Abdur Rahman
* Nirmalendu Goon
* Asad Chowdhury
* Bimal Guha
* Shahabuddin Nagari

## Song composers

* Lalon Shah
* Rabindranath Tagore
* Dwijendralal Ray
* Atulprasad Sen
* Rajanikanta Sen
* Kazi Nazrul Islam
* Hason Raja
* Kangal Harinath
* Shah Abdul Karim
* Abu Hena Mustafa Kamal
* Shahabuddin Nagari
* Motiur Rahman Mollik
* Rudra Mohammad Shahidullah
* Anjan Dutt
* Kabir Suman
* Nachiketa
* Gobinda Haldar

## Poets of Kolkata

* Joy Goswami
* Sunil Gangopadhyaya
* Shakti Chattopadhyay
* Ekram Ali
* Subodh Sarkar
* Srijato

## Poets of North Bengal

* Bikash Sarkar