# List of poets

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This is an alphabetical list of internationally notable poets.
* Top
* 0–9
* A
* B
* C
* D
* E
* F
* G
* H
* I
* J
* K
* L
* M
* N
* O
* P
* Q
* R
* S
* T
* U
* V
* W
* X
* Y
* Z

## A
### Ab–Ak

* Jonathan Aaron (born 1941), US poet
* Aarudhra (1925–1998), Indian Telugu poet, born Bhagavatula Sadasiva Sankara Sastry
* Chris Abani (born 1966), Nigerian poet
* Henry Abbey (1842–1911), US poet
* Eleanor Hallowell Abbott (1872–1958), US poet and fiction writer
* Siôn Abel (fl. 18th c.), Welsh balladeer
* Aria Aber (born 1991), Afghan poet and novelist, resides in the US, writes and publishes primarily in English
* Lascelles Abercrombie (1881–1938), English poet and literary critic
* Arthur Talmage Abernethy (1872–1956), US journalist, minister, scholar; North Carolina Poet Laureate, 1948-1953
* Abu Sa'id Abu'l-Khayr (967–1049), Persian poet
* Sam Abrams (born 1935), US poet, editor and critic
* Seth Abramson (born 1976), US poet
* Kosta Abrašević (1879–1898), Serbian poet
* Dannie Abse (1923–2014), Welsh poet in English
* Kathy Acker (1947–1997), US experimental novelist, punk poet and playwright
* Diane Ackerman (born 1948), US author, poet and naturalist
* Duane Ackerson (1942–2020), US writer of speculative poetry and fiction
* Milton Acorn (1923–1986), Canadian poet, writer and playwright
* Harold Acton (1904–1994), English writer, scholar and dilettante
* János Aczél (died 1523), Hungarian poet and provost
* Tamás Aczél (1921–1994), Hungarian poet
* Gilbert Adair (1944–2011), Scottish novelist, poet and critic
* Virginia Hamilton Adair (1919–2004), US poet
* Helen Adam (1909–1993), Scottish-US poet, collagist and photographer
* Draginja Adamović (1925–2000), Serbian poet
* John Adams (1704–1740), US poet
* Léonie Adams (1899–1988), US poet; U.S. Poet Laureate, 1948–1949
* Ryan Adams (born 1974), US singer-songwriter and writer
* Hendrik Adamson (1891–1946), Estonian poet
* Fleur Adcock (1934–2024), New Zealand poet mainly in England
* Joseph Addison (1672–1719), English essayist, poet, writer and politician
* Kim Addonizio (born 1954), US poet and novelist
* Artur Adson (1889–1977), Estonian poet
* Endre Ady (1877–1919), Hungarian poet
* Mariska Ady (1888–1977), Hungarian poet
* Aeschylus (525–456 BCE), Athenian tragedian
* Anastasia Afanasieva (born 1982), Ukrainian physician, poet, writer, translator
* Lucius Afranius (fl. c. 94 BCE), Roman comic poet
* John Agard (born 1949), Afro-Guyanese poet and children's writer
* Patience Agbabi (born 1965), British poet and performer
* James Agee (1909–1955), US novelist, screenwriter, and poet
* Deborah Ager (born 1977), US poet and editor
* István Ágh (born 1938), Hungarian poet
* Kelli Russell Agodon (born 1969), US poet
* Dritëro Agolli (1931–2017), Albanian poet
* Carlos Martínez Aguirre (born 1974), Spanish poet
* Delmira Agustini (1886–1914), Uruguayan poet
* Ishaaq bin Ahmed (1095 – 12th century), Arab scholar, poet and ancestor of the Somali Isaaq clan-family
* Ai (Florence Anthony, 1947–2010), US poet
* Ama Ata Aidoo (1940–2023), Ghanaian novelist, poet, playwright and academic
* Conrad Aiken (1889–1973), US poet and author; U.S. Poet Laureate, 1950–1952
* 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
* Mehdi Akhavan-Sales (1929–1990), Iranian poet, Persian poet
* 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 US professor and poet writing in English and Urdu

### Al–Am

* Amina Al Adwan (born 1935), Jordanian writer, poet and critic
* Ali al-Marhun (1916-2010), Saudi faqīh and poet
* Muhammad Taha Al-Qaddal (1951–2021), Sudanese poet
* Luigi Alamanni (1495–1556), Italian poet and statesman
* Alasdair mac Mhaighstir Alasdair (c. 1698–1770), Scottish Gaelic poet
* Ave Alavainu (born 1942), Estonian poet
* Gillebríghde Albanach (fl. 1200–1230), Scottish Gaelic poet and crusader
* Alcaeus (4th c. BCE), Athenian comic poet in Greek
* Alcaeus of Messene (fl. late 3rd/early 2nd c. BCE), Greek writer of verse epigrams
* Alcaeus of Mytilene (7th–6th c. BCE), Greek lyric poet from Lesbos
* Ammiel Alcalay (born 1956), US poet, scholar and critic
* Alcman (fl. 7th c. BCE), Ancient Greek lyric poet
* Amos Bronson Alcott (1799–1888), US 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 US 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), US poet and writer
* Felipe Alfau (1902–1999), Catalan US novelist and poet
* Agha Shahid Ali (1949–2001), Indian, Kashmiri and US poet
* Taha Muhammad Ali (1931–2011), Palestinian poet
* Dante Alighieri (1265–1321), Italian poet
* Ali al-Hujwiri (1009–1072), Persian poet
* James Alexander Allan (1889–1956), Australian poet
* August Alle (1899–1952), Estonian poet
* Dick Allen (1939–2017), US poet, critic and academic
* Donald Allen (1912–2004), US poet, editor and translator
* Elizabeth Akers Allen (1832–1911), US author and poet
* Ron Allen (1947–2010), US 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), US painter and poet
* Damaso Alonso (1898–1990), Spanish poet, philologist and critic
* Alta (Alta Gerrey; 1942–2024), US poet and writer
* Natan Alterman (1910–1970), Israeli poet, journalist and translator
* Alurista (born 1947), Chicano poet and activist
* Al Alvarez (fl. 1929–2019), English poet
* Julia Alvarez (born 1950), Dominican-US poet, novelist and essayist
* Betti Alver (1906–1989), Estonian poet
* Moniza Alvi (born 1954), Pakistani-British poet and writer
* Guru Amar Das (1479–1574), Punjabi poet and Sikh guru
* Ambroise (fl. c. 1190), Norman-French poet of Third Crusade
* Yehuda Amichai (1924–2000), Israeli poet
* Indran Amirthanayagam (born 1960), Sri Lankan US poet, essayist and translator
* Kingsley Amis (1922–1995), English author and poet
* A. R. Ammons (1926–2001), US author and poet

### An–Aq

* Anacreon (570–488 BCE), Greek lyric poet
* Alfred Andersch (1914–1980), German writer and publisher
* Mir Anees (or Anis) (1803–1874), Indian poet in Urdu
* Guda Anjaiah (1955–2016), Telugu Indian poet, singer, lyricist and writer from Telangana
* Anvari (1117–1157), Persian poet
* Temsüla Ao (born 1945), Indian Naga poet, short story writer, and ethnographer
* Hans Christian Andersen (1805–1875), Danish poet and children's writer
* Victor Henry Anderson (1917–2001), US 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), US poet of language
* Kevin Andrews (1924–1989), Anglo-Greek philhellene writer and archeologist
* Ron Androla (born 1954), US poet
* Aneirin (fl. 6th c.), Brythonic epic poet
* Guru Angad (1504–1552), Sikh Guru and Punjabi poet
* Ralph Angel (1951–2020), US poet and translator
* Maya Angelou (1928–2014), US poet
* James Stout Angus (1830–1923), Shetland poet mainly in Shetland dialect
* Marion Angus (1865–1946), Scottish poet in Scots
* J. K. Annand (1908–1993), Scottish children's poet
* Mika Antić (1932–1986), Serbian poet
* David Antin (1932–2016), US poet and critic
* Antler (born 1946), US poet
* Susanne Antonetta (born 1956), US poet and author
* Brother Antoninus (1912–1994), US poet
* Raymond Antrobus (living), British
* Chairil Anwar (1922–1949), Indonesian poet
* Johannes Anyuru (born 1979), Swedish poet
* Guillaume Apollinaire (1880–1918), French poet
* Apollonius of Rhodes (270 – post–245 BCE), Greek poet and librarian in Alexandria
* Maja Apostoloska (born 1976), Macedonian poet
* Philip Appleman (1926–2020), US poet and professor
* Lajos Áprily (1887–1967), Hungarian poet and translator
* Pawlu Aquilina (1929–2009), Maltese poet

### Ar

* Louis Aragon (1897–1982), French poet, novelist and editor
* János Arany (1817–1882), Hungarian poet
* Archilochus (c. 680 – c. 645 BCE), Greek lyric poet
* Allamraju Subrahmanyakavi (1831–1892), Indian Telugu poet
* Walter Conrad Arensberg (1878–1954), US dadaist, critic and poet
* Tudor Arghezi (1880–1967), Romanian poet
* Ludovico Ariosto (1474–1533), Italian poet
* Aristophanes (c. 446 – c. 386 BCE), Greek dramatic poet
* Guru Arjan (1563–1606), Sikh guru and Punjabi poet
* Rae Armantrout (born 1947), US language poet
* Simon Armitage (born 1963), English poet, playwright and novelist
* Richard Armour (1906–1989), US 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), US poet and professor
* Matthew Arnold (1822–1888), English poet and cultural critic
* Arnórr Þórðarson jarlaskáld (Poet of Earls, c. 1012 – 1070s), Icelandic skald
* Franciszka Arnsztajnowa (1865–1942), Polish poet
* Jean Arp (1886–1966), German-French sculptor, painter and poet
* Antonin Artaud (1896–1948), French playwright, poet and essayist

### As–Az

* Asadi Tusi (1000–1073), Persian poet
* M. K. Asante (born 1982), US author, poet and professor
* John Ashbery (1927–2017), US poet, 1976 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry
* Cliff Ashby (1919–2012), English poet and novelist
* Renée Ashley, US poet and novelist
* Anton Aškerc (1856–1912), Slovenian poet and Roman Catholic priest
* Asjadi (10th–11th c.), Persian poet
* Adam Asnyk (1838–1897), Polish poet and dramatist
* Herbert Asquith (1881–1947), English poet
* Mina Assadi (born 1942), Iranian poet, Persian poet, author and songwriter
* Vishnu Raj Atreya (1944–2020), Nepali poet, author, songwriter and novelist
* Margaret Atwood (born 1939), Canadian poet, novelist and essayist
* W. H. Auden (1907–1973), Anglo-US poet, essayist
* Imre Augustich (Imre Augustič, 1837–1879), Slovenian/Hungarian poet
* Joseph Auslander (1897–1965), US poet, anthologist and novelist; U.S. Poet Laureate, 1937–1941
* Ausonius (c. 310–395), Latin poet and rhetorician at Burdigala (Bordeaux)
* Paul Auster (born 1947), US poet, novelist, playwright, essayist, and translator
* James Avery (1948–2013), US actor, poet and screenwriter
* Margaret Avison (1918–2007), Canadian poet
* Krayem Awad (born 1948), Viennese painter, sculptor and poet of Syrian origin
* Gennady Aygi (1934–2006), Russian poet
* Ayo Ayoola-Amale (born 1970), Nigerian poet
* Ayinampudi Srilakshmi (born 1967), Telugu poet
* Pam Ayres (born 1947), English humorous poet
* Robert Aytoun (1570–1638), Scottish poet
* Maryam Jafari Azarmani (born 1977), Iranian poet, Persian poet, essayist, critic and translator
* Azraqi (11th c.), Persian poet
* Jody Azzouni (born 1954), US philosopher and poet

## B
### Ba

* Baba Tahir (11th c.), Persian poet
* Mihály Babits (1883–1941), Hungarian poet and translator
* Ken Babstock (born 1970), Canadian poet
* Jimmy Santiago Baca (born 1952), US poet and writer of Apache/Chicano descent
* Bacchylides (fl. 5th c. BCE), Greek lyric poet
* Bellamy Bach (fl. 1980s), joint pseudonym of fiction writers and poets
* Harivansh Rai Bachchan (fl. 20th c.), Hindi poet
* Joseph M. Bachelor (also Joseph Morris, 1889–1947), US author, poet and educator
* Simon Bacher (1823–1891), Hebrew poet in Hungary
* 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
* Vahshi Bafqi (1532–1583) Persian poet
* Julio Baghy (1891–1967), Hungarian Esperanto author and poet
* Mohammad-Taqi Bahar (1886–1951), Persian poet
* Bai Juyi (772–846), Chinese poet of the Tang dynasty
* Joanna Baillie (1762–1851), Scottish poet and dramatist
* József Bajza (1804–1858), Hungarian poet and critic
* Józef Baka (1706/1707–1788), Polish/Lithuanian poet and Jesuit priest
* Vyt Bakaitis (born 1940), Lithuania-US translator, editor and poet
* David Baker (born 1954), US poet
* Hinemoana Baker (born 1968), New Zealand poet and musician
* Bâkî (1526–1600), Ottoman-Turkish language poet (pseudonym of Mahmud Abdülbâkî)
* John Balaban (born 1943), US poet and translator
* Bálint Balassi (1554–1594), Hungarian poet
* Béla Balázs (1884–1949), Hungarian poet and critic
* Edward Balcerzan (born 1937), Polish poet, critic and translator
* Stanisław Baliński (1898–1984), Polish poet and diplomat
* Jesse Ball (born 1978), US poet and novelist
* Zsófia Balla (born 1949), Hungarian poet from Romania
* Addie L. Ballou (1837–1916), US poet and suffragist
* Konstantin Balmont (1867–1942), Russian symbolist poet and translator
* Russell Banks (born 1940), US fiction writer and poet
* Anne Bannerman (1765–1829), Scottish poet
* Amiri Baraka (aka Leroi Jones) (1934–2014), US writer, poet and dramatist
* Marcin Baran (born 1963), Polish poet and journalist
* Stanisław Barańczak (1946–2014), Polish poet, critic and translator
* Porfirio Barba-Jacob (1883–1942), Colombian poet and writer
* Anna Laetitia Barbauld (1743–1825), English poet, essayist and children's author
* John Barbour (c. 1320–1395), Scottish poet, first major writer in Scots
* Alexander Barclay (c. 1476–1552), English/Scottish poet
* George Barker (1913–1991), English poet and author
* Les Barker (born 1947), English poet
* Christine Barkhuizen le Roux (1959–2020), South African poet
* Coleman Barks (born 1937), US poet
* Mihály Barla (Miháo Barla, c. 1778–1824), Slovenian poet and pastor in Hungary
* Mary Barnard (1909–2001), US poet, biographer and translator
* Djuna Barnes (1892–1982), US writer
* William Barnes (1801–1886), English writer, poet and philologist
* Catherine Barnett (born 1960), US poet and educator
* Richard Barnfield (1574–1620), English poet
* Willis Barnstone (born 1927), US poet and literary translator
* Maria Barrell (died 1803), poet, playwright and writer of periodicals
* Laird Barron (born 1970), US poet, author
* Sándor Barta (1897–1938), Hungarian poet executed in USSR
* Bernard Barton (1784–1849), English poet and Quaker
* Bertha Hirsch Baruch (fl. late 18th – early 19th c.), US writer, poet and suffragist
* Todd Bash (born 1965), US avant-garde playwright, poet and writer
* Matsuo Bashō (1644–1694), Japanese renku and haiku poet
* Michael Basinski (born 1950), US text, visual and sound poet
* Ellen Bass (born 1947), US poet
* Arlo Bates (1850–1918), US author, poet and educator
* David Bates (1809–1870), US poet
* Joseph Bathanti (born 1953), US poet, writer and professor; North Carolina Poet Laureate, 2012–2014
* János Batsányi (1763–1845), Hungarian poet
* Dawn-Michelle Baude (born 1959), US poet, journalist and educator
* Charles Baudelaire (1821–1867), French poet, essayist and translator
* Cirilo Bautista (1941–2018), Philippines poet, writer and critic
* Charles Baxter (born 1947), US writer and poet
* James K. Baxter (1926–1972), New Zealand poet

### Be

* Jan Beatty (born 1952), US poet
* Francis Beaumont (1584–1616), English poet and dramatist
* Samuel Beckett (1906–1989), Irish avant-garde playwright, novelist and poet
* Joshua Beckman (living), US poet
* Matija Bećković (born 1939), Serbian writer and poet
* Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer (1836–1870), Spanish poet and fiction writer
* Thomas Lovell Beddoes (1803–1849), English poet, dramatist and physician
* Patricia Beer (1919–1999), English poet and critic
* Sapargali Begalin (1895–1983), Kazakh poet
* Aphra Behn (1640–1689), English Restoration dramatist; early professional female writer
* Ferenc Békássy (1893–1915), Hungarian poet
* Erin Belieu (born 1967), US poet
* Marvin Bell (1937–2020), US poet and teacher; Poet Laureate of Iowa, 2000–2004
* Gioconda Belli (born 1948), Nicaraguan poet and novelist
* Giuseppe Gioachino Belli (1791–1863), Italian sonneteer in Romanesco
* Xuan Bello (born 1965), Asturian poet
* Hilaire Belloc (1870–1953), Anglo-French writer and historian
* Andrei Bely (1880–1934), Russian novelist, poet and critic
* Stephen Vincent Benét (1898–1943), US author, poet and fiction writer
* William Rose Benét (1886–1950), US poet, writer and editor
* Elizabeth Benger (1775–1827), English poet, biographer and novelist
* Gottfried Benn (1886–1956), German essayist, novelist and expressionist poet
* Gwendolyn B. Bennett (1902–1981), African-US writer and poet
* Jim Bennett (born 1951), English poet in Liverpool punk era
* Richard Berengarten (born 1943), English poet, writer and translator
* Bo Bergman (1869–1967), Swedish writer and critic
* İlhan Berk (1918–2008), Turkish poet
* Charles Bernstein (born 1950), US poet and scholar
* Béroul (12th c.), Norman poet of episodic Tristan
* Daniel Berrigan (1921–2016), US poet, priest and peace activist
* Ted Berrigan (1934–1983), US poet
* James Berry (1924–2017), Jamaican poet based in England
* Wendell Berry (born 1934), US man of letters, critic and farmer
* John Berryman (1914–1972), US poet and scholar
* Dániel Berzsenyi (1776–1836), Hungarian poet
* Mary Ursula Bethell (1874–1945), New Zealand poet and social worker
* John Betjeman (1906–1984), English poet, writer and broadcaster
* Elizabeth Beverley (fl. 1815–1830), English poet, writer and entertainer
* Helen Bevington (1906–2001), US poet, prose writer and educator
* L. S. Bevington (1845–1895), English anarchist poet and essayist

### Bh–Bl

* 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
* Miron Białoszewski (1922–1983), Polish poet, novelist and playwright
* Zbigniew Bieńkowski (1913–1994), Polish poet, critic and translator
* Biernat of Lublin (c. 1465 – post-1529), Polish poet and fabulist
* 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
* Balázs Birtalan (1969–2016), Hungarian poet and publicist
* Elizabeth Bishop (1911–1979), US poet and short-story writer; U.S. Poet Laureate, 1949-1950
* 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), US Navajo poet
* Bjørnstjerne Martinius Bjørnson, (1832–1910) Nobel Prize-winning Norwegian poet
* Paul Blackburn (1926–1971), US poet
* Richard Palmer Blackmur (1904–1965), US 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), US poet, journalist, writer and speaker
* Adrian Blevins (born 1964), US poet
* Mathilde Blind (1841–1896), German-born English poet and writer
* Alexander Blok (1880–1921), Russian lyrical poet
* Benjamin Paul Blood (1832–1919), US 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 (1926–2021), US poet, author and leader of mythopoetic men's movement

### Bo–Bri

* Johannes Bobrowski (1917–1965), East German author and poet
* Giovanni Boccaccio (1313–1375), Italian author and poet
* Jean Bodel (1165–1210), Old French poet
* Ádám Bodor (born 1936), Hungarian poet from Romania
* Louise Bogan (1897–1970), US poet; U.S. Poet Laureate, 1945-1946
* Matteo Maria Boiardo (1440/1441–1494), Italian Renaissance poet
* Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux (1636–1711), French poet and critic
* Michelle Boisseau (1955–2017), US poet
* Christian Bök (born 1966), experimental Canadian poet
* Osbern Bokenam (c. 1393 – c. 1464), English poet and friar
* Eavan Boland (1944–2020), Irish poet
* Alan Bold (1943–1998), Scottish poet, biographer and journalist
* 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), US poet and member of the Harlem Renaissance
* Luke Booker (1762–1835), English poet, cleric and antiquary
* Kurt Boone (born 1959), US poet
* Jorge Luis Borges (1899–1986), Argentine fiction 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), US poet;Poet Laureate of Georgia, 2000–2012
* Cathy Smith Bowers (born 1949), US poet; North Carolina Poet Laureate, 2010–2012
* Edgar Bowers (1924–2000), US poet and Bollingen Prize in Poetry winner
* Tadeusz Boy-Żeleński (1874–1941), Polish poet, critic and translator
* Mark Alexander Boyd (1562–1601), Scottish poet and mercenary
* Kay Boyle (1902–1992), US writer, educator and political activist
* Alison Brackenbury (born 1953), English poet
* Anne (Dudley) Bradstreet (c. 1612 – 1672), America's first published poet
* Di Brandt (born 1952), Canadian poet and literary critic
* Giannina Braschi (born 1953), US poet born in Puerto Rico
* Kamau Brathwaite (1930–2020), Barbadian writer
* Richard Brautigan (1935–1984), US fiction writer and poet
* 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), US 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), US poet and scholar; Poet Laureate of Utah, 2003–2006
* Breyten Breytenbach (born 1939), South-African/French writer, poet and painter
* Robert Bridges (1844–1930), English poet; UK Poet Laureate
* Traci Brimhall, US poet and professor
* Robert Bringhurst (born 1946), Canadian poet, typographer and author

### Bro–By

* Geoffrey Brock (born 1964), US poet and translator
* Eve Brodlique (1867–1949), British-born Canadian/American poet, author and journalist
* Joseph Brodsky (1940–1996), Russian-American poet and essayist; U.S. Poet Laureate, 1991-1992
* Wladyslaw Broniewski (1897–1962), Polish poet and soldier
* William Bronk (1918–1999), US poet
* Anne Brontë (1820–1849), English novelist and poet, youngest of three Brontë sisters
* Charlotte Brontë (1816–1855), English novelist and poet, eldest of three Brontë sisters
* Emily Brontë (1818–1848), English novelist and poet
* Rupert Brooke (1887–1915), English poet
* Gwendolyn Brooks (1917–2000), African-US poet; U.S. Poet Laureate, 1985-1986
* 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 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-US 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), US 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
* Jan Brzechwa (1898–1966), Polish poet and children's writer
* Dugald Buchanan (Dùghall Bochanan) (1716–1768), Scottish poet in Scots and Scottish Gaelic
* Robert Williams Buchanan (1841–1901), Scottish poet, novelist and dramatist
* August Buchner (1591–1661), German Baroque poet and professor
* Georg Büchner (1813–1837), German writer, poet and dramatist
* Vincent Buckley (1927–1988), Australian poet, essayist and critic
* David Budbill (1940–2016), US poet and playwright
* Andrea Hollander Budy (born 1947), US poet
* Teodor Bujnicki (1907–1944), Polish poet
* Charles Bukowski (1920–1994), US 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 lyricist
* Stanley Burnshaw (1906–2005), US poet
* John Burnside (1955–2024), Scottish poet and writer, winner of T. S. Eliot and Forward poetry prizes
* William S. Burroughs (1914–1997), US 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), US poet and singer
* Ray Buttigieg (born 1955), poet, composer and musician
* Ignazio Buttitta (1899–1997), Sicilian language poet
* Anthony Butts (born 1969), US poet
* W. E. Butts (1944–2013), US poet, Poet Laureate of New Hampshire, 2009–2013
* Rachel Quick Buttz (1847–1923), US memoirist and poet
* Kathryn Stripling Byer (1944–2017), US poet and teacher; North Carolina Poet Laureate, 2005–2009
* Witter Bynner (also Emanuel Morgan, 1881–1968), US poet, writer and scholar
* George Gordon Byron, Lord Byron (1788–1824), English poet and literary figure

## C
### Cab–Cav

* Lydia Cabrera (1899–1991), Cuban anthropologist and poet
* Dilys Cadwaladr (1902–1979), Welsh poet and fiction writer 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), US 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), Spanish dramatist, poet and writer of Spanish Golden Age
* Musa Cälil (1906–1944), Soviet Tatar poet
* Barry Callaghan (born 1937), Canadian author, poet and anthologist
* Michael Feeney Callan (born 1955), Irish poet, novelist and biographer
* Callimachus (c. 305 – c. 240 BCE), Hellenistic poet, critic and scholar at Library of Alexandria
* Robert Calvert (1944–1988), South African writer, poet and musician
* Carmen Camacho (writer) (born 1976), Spanish writer, poet, columnist
* Norman Cameron (1905–1953), Scottish poet
* Luís de Camões (c. 1524–1580), early Portuguese poet
* Angus Peter Campbell (aka Aonghas P(h)àdraig Caimbeul, born 1952), Scottish poet, novelist, broadcaster and actor
* David Campbell (1915–1979), Australian poet and wartime pilot
* 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 (1929–2022), Dutch poet and novelist
* Thomas Campion (1567–1619), English composer, poet and physician
* Matilde Camus (1919–2012), Spanish poet and researcher
* Melville Henry Cane (1879–1980), US 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 (155–220), Chinese poet and warlord
* Cao Pi (formally Emperor Wen of Wei) (187–226), Chinese poet and first emperor of state of Cao Wei; second son of Cao Cao
* Cao Zhi (192–232), Chinese poet; third son of Cao Cao
* Vahni Capildeo (born 1973), Trinidadian poet
* Ernesto Cardenal (1925–2020), Nicaraguan Roman Catholic poet and priest
* Giosuè Carducci (1835–1907), Nobel Prize-winning 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-US poet associated with Confederation Poets
* Fern G. Z. Carr (born 1956), Canadian poet, translator, teacher and lawyer
* Jim Carroll (1949–2009), US author, poet and punk musician
* Lewis Carroll (born Charles Lutwidge Dodgson) (1832–1898), English writer, mathematician and photographer
* Hayden Carruth (1921–2008), US 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), US 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), US poet and professor
* Rosalía de Castro (1837–1885), Galician poet
* Catullus (c. 84–54 BCE), 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
* Blaise Cendrars (1887–1961), French poet and author
* Thomas Centolella (living), US poet
* 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
* Úrsula Céspedes (1832–1874), Cuban poet
* Ashok Chakradhar (born 1951), Hindi author and poet
* John Chalkhill (fl. 1600), English poet
* Jean Chapelain (1595–1674), French poet and critic
* Arthur Chapman (1873–1935), US cowboy poet and columnist
* George Chapman (1559–1634), English dramatist, translator and poet
* Fred Chappell (born 1936), US 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
* Subhadra Kumari Chauhan (1904–1948), Indian poet writing in Hindi
* Reverend Fr. Fray Angelico Chavez (1910–1996), US writer, poet and Franciscan priest
* Susana Chávez (1974–2011), Mexican poet and human rights activist
* Syl Cheney-Coker (born 1945), Sierra Leone poet and novelist
* Andrea Cheng (1957–2015), Hungarian-US poet and children's author
* Kelly Cherry (born 1940), US author and poet; Poet Laureate of Virginia, 2010–2012
* G. K. Chesterton (1874–1936), English writer and poet
* Ch'oe Ch'i-wŏn (born 857), Korean (Silla) poet
* Fukuda Chiyo-ni (1703–1775), female Japanese haiku poet of the 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
* Ralph Chubb (1892–1960), poet, painter and printer
* Charles Churchill (1732–1764), English poet and satirist
* John Ciardi (1916–1986), Italian-US poet, translator and etymologist
* Colley Cibber (1671–1757), English playwright and UK Poet Laureate
* Jovan Ćirilov (1931–2014), Serbian drama expert, writer and poet
* Carson Cistulli (born 1979), US poet, essayist and English professor
* Hélène Cixous (born 1937), French feminist writer, poet and playwright
* Amy Clampitt (1920–1994), US poet and author
* Kate Clanchy (born 1965), Scottish poet and writer
* John Clanvowe (c. 1341–1391), Anglo-Welsh poet and diplomat
* 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 academic
* Gillian Clarke (born 1937), Welsh poet and playwright 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
* Hugo Claus (1929–2008), Belgian author, poet and film director
* Brian P. Cleary (born 1959), US humorist, poet and author
* Jack Clemo (1916–1994), English Christian poet
* Michelle Cliff (1946–2016), Jamaican-US author of fiction, prose poems and literary criticism
* Lucille Clifton (1936–2010), educator and Poet Laureate of Maryland, 1979-1985
* Arthur Hugh Clough (1819–1861), English poet, educationalist and assistant to Florence Nightingale

### Coa–Con

* Grace Stone Coates (1881–1976), US poet and story 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 (1952–2016), Puerto Rican poet and author
* Leonard Cohen (1934–2016), Canadian singer-songwriter, poet and novelist
* Wanda Coleman (1946–2013), African-US 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-US poet
* Billy Collins (born 1941), US poet; U.S. 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 (1917–2015), Anglo-US historian and poet
* Henry Constable (1562–1613), English poet
* David Constantine (born 1944), English poet and translator

### Coo–Cz

* Clark Coolidge (born 1939), US poet
* Matthew Cooperman (born 1964), US poet, critic and editor
* Wendy Cope (born 1945), English poet
* Robert Copland (fl. 1508–1547), English printer, author and translator
* Julia Copus (born 1969), English poet and biographer
* Denys Corbet (1826–1909), Guernsey poet in Guernésiais
* Tristan Corbière (1845–1875), French poet
* Cid Corman (1924–2004), US poet, translator and editor
* Alfred Corn (born 1943), US poet and essayist
* Frances Cornford (1886–1960), English poet
* 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), US Beat poet
* Jayne Cortez (1936–2012), US 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), US 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), US modernist poet
* Stephen Crane (1871–1900), US novelist, short story writer and poet
* Richard Crashaw (1613–1649), English Metaphysical poet
* Robert Creeley (1926–2005), US 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
* György Csanády (1895–1952), Hungarian poet and journalist
* Sándor Csoóri (1930–2016), Hungarian poet, essayist and politician
* Cui Hao (c. 704–754), Tang dynasty Chinese poet
* Countee Cullen (1903–1946), US poet
* Necati Cumalı (1921–2001), Turkish writer of fiction writer, essayist and poet
* E. E. Cummings (1894–1962), US poet, essayist and playwright
* Allan Cunningham (1784–1842), Scottish poet and author
* James Vincent Cunningham (1911–1985), US poet, literary critic and teacher
* Allen Curnow (1911–2001), New Zealand poet and journalist
* Ivor Cutler (1923–2006), Scottish poet, songwriter and humorist
* Józef Czechowicz (1903–1939), Polish poet
* Gergely Czuczor (1800–1866), Hungarian poet, monk and academic
* Tytus Czyżewski (1880–1945), Polish poet, playwright and painter

## D
### Da–Dh

* Dalpatram (Dalpatram Dahyabhai Travadi) (1820–1898), Indian Gujarati language poet
* Abraham ben Daniel (1511-1578), Italian poet and rabbi
* Roque Dalton (1935–1975), Salvador poet
* Daqiqi (died 977), Persian poet
* Ruby Dhal (born 1994), British-Afghan poet
* Sapardi Djoko Damono (1940–2020), Indonesian poet
* Samuel Daniel (1562–1619), English poet and historian
* David Daniels (1933–2008), US visual poet
* Jeffrey Daniels (living), African-US poet
* Thomas d'Angleterre, 12th-century poet in Old French
* Gabriele D'Annunzio (1863–1938), Italian poet, journalist, novelist and dramatist
* Hugh Antoine d'Arcy (1843–1925), French-born poet and writer
* Rubén Darío (1867–1916), Nicaraguan poet initiating modernismo
* Keki Daruwalla (born 1937), Indian poet and fiction 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
* Petter Dass (died 1707), Norwegian poet
* Mina Dastgheib (born 1943), Iranian poet, Persian poet
* René Daumal (1908–1944), French para-surrealist writer and poet
* Jean Daurat (1508–1588), French poet, scholar and La Pléiade member
* Kwame Dawes (1962-), Ghanaian poet, actor, editor, critic, musician, and poet laureate of Jamaica
* William Davenant (1606–1668), English poet and playwright
* Guy Davenport (1927–2005), US writer, translator and illustrator
* Donald Davidson (1893–1968), US poet, essayist and critic
* John Davidson (1857–1909), Scottish balladeer, playwright and novelist
* Lucretia Maria Davidson (1808–1825), US poet
* Donald Davie (1922–1995), English poet and critic
* Alan Davies (born 1951), US 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, US poet
* Edward Davison (1898–1970), Scottish-US poet and critic; father of poet Peter Davison
* Peter Davison (1928–2004), US 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
* Gábor Dayka (1769–1796), Hungarian poet
* Cecil Day-Lewis (1904–1972), Anglo-Irish poet; UK Poet Laureate, 1968–1972
* James Deahl (born 1945), Canadian poet and publisher
* 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), US poet and author
* Madeline DeFrees (1919–2015), US poet
* Jacek Dehnel (born 1980), Polish poet, translator and painter
* 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 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), US poet, critic and commentator
* Évariste de Parny (1753–1814), French poet
* Regina Derieva (1949–2013), Russian poet and writer
* Johan Andreas Dèr Mouw (1863–1919), Dutch poet and philosopher
* Toi Derricotte (born 1941), African-US poet
* Eustache Deschamps (1346–1406), medieval French poet
* Lord de Tabley (1835–1895), poet and botanist
* Babette Deutsch (1895–1982), US 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 – 16th cc.), Telugu language poet

### Di–Dr

* Souéloum Diagho (living), Tuareg poet
* Zoraida Díaz (1991–1948), Panamanian poet, educator, and feminist
* Pier Giorgio Di Cicco (1949–2019), Italian-Canadian poet; Poet Laureate of Toronto
* Jennifer K Dick (born 1970), US poet
* James Dickey (1923–1997), US poet and novelist; U.S. Poet Laureate, 1966-1968
* Emily Dickinson (1830–1886), US poet
* Matthew Dickman (born 1975), US poet, twin of Michael Dickman
* Michael Dickman (born 1975), US poet
* Blaga Dimitrova (1922–2003), Bulgarian poet and politician
* Ramdhari Singh Dinkar (1908–1974), Indian Hindi poet, essayist and academic
* Diane di Prima (1934–2020), US poet
* Paul Dirmeikis (born 1954), French poet
* Vladislav Petković Dis (1880–1917), Serbian poet
* Thomas M. Disch (1940–2008), US poet, novelist
* Tim Dlugos (1950–1990), US poet
* Henry Austin Dobson (1840–1921), English poet and essayist
* Stephen Dobyns (born 1941), US author, novelist and poet
* Lajos Dóczi (1845–1918), Hungarian playwright, poet and politician
* Hendrik Doeff (1777–1835), Dutch lexicographer and poet (in Japanese) and Commissioner in the Dejima trading post
* Gojko Đogo (born 1940), 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
* María Magdalena Domínguez (1922–2021), Spanish poet
* John Donne (1572–1631), English poet, satirist and Anglican cleric
* H.D., Hilda Doolittle (1886–1961), US Imagist poet
* Ap Chuni Dorji, Bhutanese poet
* Edward Dorn (1929–1999), US poet and teacher
* Tishani Doshi (born 1975), Indian English poet and journalist
* Mark Doty (born 1953), US poet and memoirist
* Sarah Doudney (1841–1926), English poet and children's writer
* Charles Montagu Doughty (1843–1926), English poet, writer and traveler
* Alice May Douglas (1865–1943), US poet and author
* Gavin Douglas (1474–1522), Scottish bishop, makar and translator
* Keith Douglas (1920–1944), English war poet
* Rita Dove (born 1952), US poet and author; U.S. Poet Laureate, 1993-1995
* 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
* Elżbieta Drużbacka (1695 or 1698–1765), Polish poet
* John Dryden (1631–1700), English poet, critic and playwright
* Toru Dutt (1856–1877), Indian poet and translator writing in French and English

### 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), US writer and activist
* Norman Dubie (born 1945), US poet
* Jovan Dučić (1871–1943), Bosnian Serb poet, writer and diplomat
* Du Fu (712–770), Chinese poet of the Tang dynasty
* Du Mu (803–852), Chinese poet of the late Tang dynasty
* Carol Ann Duffy (born 1955), Scottish poet and playwright; UK Poet Laureate
* Alan Dugan (1923–2003), US poet
* Sasha Dugdale (born 1974), English poet, playwright and translator
* Richard Duke (1658–1711), English clergyman and poet
* Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872–1906), African-US poet, novelist and playwright
* William Dunbar (c. 1460 – c. 1520), Scots makar
* Robert Duncan (1919–1988), US poet
* Camille Dungy (born 1972), US poet, academic and essayist
* Douglas Dunn (born 1942), Scottish poet, academic and critic
* Stephen Dunn (1939–2021), US poet
* Helen Dunmore (1952–2017), 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), US poet, writer
* Sir Edward Dyer (1543–1607), English courtier and poet
* Bob Dylan (born 1941), Nobel Prize-winning US singer-songwriter and writer

## E

* Joan Adeney Easdale (1913–1998), English poet
* Richard Eberhart (1904–2005), US poet; U.S. Poet Laureate, 1959–1961
* Houshang Ebtehaj (1928–2022), Iranian poet, Persian poet
* Russell Edson (1935–2014), US poet, novelist and illustrator
* Terry Ehret (born 1955), US poet
* Max Ehrmann (1872–1945), US writer, poet, and attorney
* Joseph Freiherr von Eichendorff (1788–1857), German poet and novelist
* Kristín Eiríksdóttir (born 1981), Icelandic poet
* George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) (1819–1880), English novelist, journalist and translator
* T. S. Eliot (1888–1965), Nobel Prize-winning US/English poet, playwright and critic
* Ebenezer Elliott ("Corn Law rhymer", 1781–1849), English poet
* E. S. Elliott (1836–1897), English poet, hymnwriter, novelist, editor
* Julia Anne Elliott (1809–1841), English poet and hymnwriter
* Royston Ellis (born 1941), English poet
* Paul Éluard (1895–1952), French poet
* Odysseus Elytis (1911–1996), Nobel Prize-winning Greek poet
* Claudia Emerson (1957–2014), US poet; Poet Laureate of Virginia, 2008–2010
* Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882), US essayist, lecturer and poet
* Gevorg Emin (1918–1998), Armenian poet, essayist and translator
* Mihai Eminescu (1850–1889), Romanian poet, novelist and journalist
* William Empson (1906–1984), English literary critic and poet
* Yunus Emre (c. 1240 – c. 1321), Turkish poet and Sufi mystic
* Michael Ende (1929–1995), German fantasy and children's writer and poet
* Leszek Engelking (born 1955), Polish, poet, fiction writer and translator
* Paul Engle (1908–1991), US poet, novelist and playwright
* Ennius (c. 239 – c. 169 BCE), father of Latin poetry in Rome
* D. J. Enright (1920–2002), English poet, novelist and critic
* Hans Magnus Enzensberger (born 1929), German writer, poet and translator
* János Erdélyi (1814–1868), Hungarian poet and philosopher
* Louise Erdrich (born 1954), US novelist, poet and children's writer featuring Native US heritage
* Haydar Ergülen (born 1956), Turkish poet
* Max Ernst (1891–1976), German poet and artist
* Errapragada Erranna, 14th-century Telugu poet
* Wolfram von Eschenbach (c. 1170 – c. 1220), German Minnesinger poet and knight
* Clayton Eshleman (1935–2022), US poet, translator and editor
* Molla Babor Eshqi (1792–1863), Central Asia poet
* Martín Espada (born 1957), US poet and teacher
* Florbela Espanca (1894–1930), Portuguese poet
* Salvador Espriu (1913–1985), Catalan poet in Spain
* Jill Alexander Essbaum (born 1971), US poet
* Alter Esselin (1889–1974), Yiddish US poet
* Claude Esteban (1935–2006), French poet
* Maggie Estep (born 1963), US slam poet and musician
* Euripides (480–406 BCE), Athenian tragedian
* Margiad Evans (1909–1958), English poet and novelist
* Mari Evans (1923–2017), African-US poet
* William Everson (Brother Antoninus) (1912–1994), US poet and critic
* Gavin Ewart (1916–1995), English poet
* Elisabeth Eybers (1915–2007), South African/Dutch poet; poetry in Afrikaans

## F
### Fa–Fn

* Frederick William Faber (1814–1863), English poet, hymnist and theologian
* Kinga Fabó (1953–2021), Hungarian poet and essayist
* Faiz Ahmed Faiz (1911–1984), Indian/Pakistani poet
* Fakhruddin As'ad Gurgani (11th c.), Persian poet
* Padraic Fallon (1905–1974), Irish poet
* Christian Falster (1690–1752), Danish poet and philologist
* Ferenc Faludi (1704–1779), Hungarian poet
* György Faludy (1910–2006), Hungarian poet and translator
* U. A. Fanthorpe (1929–2009), English poet
* Ahmad Faraz (1931–2008), Pakistani Urdu poet and scriptwriter
* Patricia Fargnoli (1937–2021), US poet and psychotherapist
* Eleanor Farjeon (1881–1965), English children's writer, playwright and poet
* J. P. Farrell (born 1968), US poet and musician
* Forough Farrokhzad (1934–1967), Iranian poet, Persian poet
* Farrukhi Sistani (1000–1040), Persian poet
* Joseph Fasano (born 1982), American poet and novelist
* Elaine Feinstein (1930–2019), English poet, novelist and playwright
* Károly Fellinger (born 1963), Hungarian poet in Slovakia
* Fenggan (fl. 9th c.), Chinese Zen monk poet under the Tang dynasty
* Elijah Fenton (1683–1730), English poet, biographer and translator
* James Fenton (1931–2021), Northern Irish linguist and poet in Ulster Scots
* James Martin Fenton (born 1949), English poet, journalist and literary critic
* Ferdowsi (935–1020), Persian poet
* Teréz Ferenczy (1823–1853), Hungarian poet
* Robert Fergusson (1750–1774), Scottish poet
* Lawrence Ferlinghetti (1919–2021), US poet, painter and activist
* Leandro Fernández de Moratín (1760–1828), Spanish dramatist, translator and poet
* Jerzy Ficowski (1924–2006), Polish poet, writer and translator
* 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), US poet, librettist and translator
* Ian Hamilton Finlay (1925–2006), Scottish poet, writer and gardener
* Roy Fisher (1930–2017), English poet and jazz pianist
* Edward Fitzgerald (1809–1883), English poet and translator of Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam
* Robert Fitzgerald (1910–1985), US poet, critic and translator; U.S. Poet Laureate, 1984–1985
* 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), English playwright and poet
* John Gould Fletcher (1886–1950), US 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

* Alice B. Fogel (born 1954), US poet, writer and professor
* Jean Follain (1903–1971), French author and poet
* Theodor Fontane (1819–1898), German novelist, poet and realist writer
* John Forbes (1950–1998), Australian poet
* Carolyn Forché (born 1950), US 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), US 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), US poet
* Veronica Franco (1546–1591), Italian poet and courtesan
* G S Fraser (1915–1980), Scots poet, critic and academic
* Gregory Fraser (born 1963), US poet, editor and professor
* Naim Frashëri (1846–1900), Albanian poet and writer
* Louis-Honoré Fréchette (1839–1908), Canadian poet, politician and playwright
* Aleksander Fredro (1793–1876), Polish poet and playwright
* Grace Beacham Freeman (1916–2002), US poet and fiction writer; South Carolina Poet Laureate, 1985–1986
* 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), US poet; U.S. Poet Laureate, 1958–1959
* Gene Frumkin (1928–2007), US 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), US poet and novelist; Bobbitt National Prize for Poetry winner
* John Furnival (1933–2020), British visual and concrete poet
* Milán Füst (1888–1967), Hungarian poet, novelist and playwright
* Fuzûlî (c. 1483–1556), Azerbaijani and Ottoman poet

## G
### Ga–Go

* Tadeusz Gajcy (1922–1944), Polish poet
* Konstanty Ildefons Gałczyński (1905–1953), Polish poet and stage writer
* Dumitru Găleșanu (born 1955), Romanian poet, writer, illustrator and jurist
* Karina Galvez (born 1964), Ecuadorian poet
* James Galvin (born 1951), US poet
* Etienne-Paulin Gagne (1808–1876), French poet, essayist and inventor
* János Garay (1812–1853), Hungarian poet and journalist
* Robert Garioch (wrote as Robert Garioch Sutherland, 1909–1981), Scottish poet and translator
* Hamlin Garland (1860–1940), US novelist, poet and essayist
* Raymond Garlick (1926–2011), Anglo-Welsh poet and editor
* Richard Garnett (1835–1906), English scholar, biographer and poet
* Jean Garrigue (1914–1972), US 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 of the 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), US writer, poet and cartoonist
* Juan Gelman (1930–2014), Argentinian poet, writer and translator
* Stefan George (1868–1933), German poet, editor and translator
* Dan Gerber (born 1940), US poet
* Ágnes Gergely (born 1933), Hungarian poet, novelist and translator
* Paul Gerhardt (1607–1676), German hymnist
* Cezary Geroń (1960–1998), Polish poet, journalist and translator
* Mirza Asadulla Khan Ghalib (1797–1869), Indian poet in Urdu and Persian
* Charles Ghigna (Father Goose) (born 1946), US children's author, poet and feature writer
* Reginald Gibbons (born 1947), US poet, fiction writer and critic
* Khalil Gibran (1883–1931), Lebanese-US artist, poet and writer
* Wilfrid Wilson Gibson (1878–1962), English poet
* Ryan Giggs (born 1973), Welsh poet, footballer and homewrecker
* Jack Gilbert (1925–2012), US poet
* W. S. Gilbert (1836–1911), English poet
* Zuzanna Ginczanka (Sara Ginzburg, 1917–1945), Polish poet
* Allen Ginsberg (1926–1997), US Beat Generation poet
* Dana Gioia (born 1950), US writer, critic and poet
* Nikki Giovanni (1943–2024), US 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
* Karl Adolph Gjellerup (1857–1919), Nobel Prize-winning Danish poet
* Denis Glover (1912–1980), New Zealand poet and publisher
* Louise Glück (born 1943), Nobel Prize-winning US poet; U.S. Poet Laureate, 2003-2004
* Guru Gobind Singh (1666–1708), Indian poet in Punjabi, Urdu, etc.
* Cyprian Godebski (1765–1809), Polish poet and novelist
* Gérald Godin (1938–1994), Canadian poet in French
* Patricia Goedicke (1931–2006), US 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 (1876–1924), Turkish sociologist, writer and poet
* Oliver Goldsmith (1730–1774), Anglo-Irish writer and poet
* Pavel Golia (1887–1959), Slovenian poet and playwright
* George Gomri (born 1934), Hungarian poet and journalist (also in English)
* Luis de Góngora (1561–1627), Spanish lyric poet
* Lorna Goodison (born 1947), Jamaican poet
* Paul Goodman (1911–1972), US novelist, playwright and poet
* Barnabe Googe or Gooche (1540–1594), English pastoral poet and translator
* Adam Lindsay Gordon (1833–1870), Australian poet and politician
* Gábor Görgey (born 1929), Hungarian poet and politician
* Sergei Gorodetsky (1884–1967), Russian poet
* Hedwig Gorski (born 1949), US 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), US 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 (living), Scottish US poet and teacher
* Günter Grass (1927–2015), 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
* Jaki Shelton Green, American poet, North Carolina Poet Laureate, 2018–present
* Robert Greene (1558–1592), English author and poet
* Dora Greenwell (1821–1882), English poet
* Linda Gregg (1942–2019), US poet
* Horace Gregory (1898–1982), US 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), US poet and writer
* Ann Griffiths (1776–1805), Welsh poet and hymnist
* Bill Griffiths (1948–2007), English poet and Anglo-Saxon scholar
* Jane Griffiths (born 1970), English poet and literary historian
* Rachel Eliza Griffiths (born 1978), US poet, photographer and visual artist
* 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-US playwright and poet
* Charlotte Forten Grimké (1835–1914), African-US poet
* Rufus W. Griswold (1815–1857), US anthologist, poet and critic
* Stanisław Grochowiak (1934–1976), Polish poet and dramatist
* 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
* Wioletta Grzegorzewska (born 1974), Polish poet and writer
* Barbara Guest (1920–2006), US poet and prose stylist
* Edgar Guest (1881–1959), English-born US poet
* Paul Guest (living), US 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-US poet
* Lee Gurga (born 1949), US haiku poet
* Ivor Gurney (1890–1937), English composer and poet
* Lars Gustafsson (1936–2016), Swedish poet, novelist and scholar
* Pedro Juan Gutiérrez (born 1950), Cuban novelist and poet
* Beth Gylys (born 1964), US poet and professor
* István Gyöngyösi (1620–1704), Hungarian poet
* Géza Gyóni (1884–1917), Hungarian poet
* Brion Gysin (1916–1986), English writer and sound poet
* Gabor G. Gyukics (born 1958), Hungarian-US poet and translator (also in English)

## H
### Ha

* Rafey Habib (living), Indian-born Muslim poet and scholar
* Marilyn Hacker (born 1942), US poet, translator and critic
* Hadraawi (born 1943), Somaliland poet and songwriter
* Hafez (1315–1390), Persian poet
* Hai Zi (1964–1989), Chinese poet
* John Haines (1924–2011), US poet and educator
* Donald Hall (1928–2018), US poet, writer and critic; U.S. Poet Laureate, 2006-2007
* 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 of the Tang dynasty
* Hanshan (fl. 9th c.), Chinese poet of the Tang dynasty
* Thomas Hardy (1840–1928), English novelist and poet
* Joy Harjo (1951-), American poet, musician, playwright, and author; U.S. Poet Laureate, 2019-2022
* Charles Harpur (1813–1868), Australian poet
* Sir Theodore Wilson Harris (1921–2018), Guyanese poet, novelist and essayist
* Jim Harrison (1937–2016), US poet, novelist and essayist
* Tony Harrison (born 1937), English poet and playwright
* Carla Harryman (born 1952), US poet, essayist and playwright
* David Harsent (born 1942), English poet and TV scriptwriter
* Paul Hartal (born 1936), Hungarian-born Canadian poet, painter and critic
* Peter Härtling (1933–2017), German writer and poet
* Michael Hartnett (1941–1999), Irish poet writing in English and Irish
* Julia Hartwig (1921–2017), Polish poet, writer and translator
* 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), US poet; U.S Poet Laureate, 1995-1997
* Mohammed Abdullah Hassan (1856–1920), emir of the Dervish movement, of which Diiriye Guure was sultan
* 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), Scottish poet and translator in Scottish Gaelic, Lowland Scots and English
* Gilbert Hay (fl. 15th c.), Scottish poet and translator in Middle Scots
* Robert Hayden (1913–1980), US poet, essayist and educator; U.S. Poet Laureate, 1976-1978
* William Hayley (1745–1820), English writer
* Tony Haynes (born 1960), US poet, songwriter and lyricist
* Ha Seung-moo(born October 13, 1963), Korean poet, professor and theologian

### He

* Seamus Heaney (1939–2013), Nobel Prize-winning Irish poet, playwright and translator; 1995 Nobel Prize in Literature
* Josephine D. Heard (1861 – c. 1921), US teacher and poet
* John Heath-Stubbs (1918–2006), English poet and translator
* Anne Hébert (1916–2000), Canadian poet and novelist
* Anthony Hecht (1923–2004), US poet; U.S. Poet Laureate, 1982–1984
* Jennifer Michael Hecht (born 1965), US poet, historian and philosopher
* Allison Hedge Coke (born 1958), US poet, writer and performer
* Markus Hediger (born 1959), Swiss writer and translator
* Ilona Hegedűs (living), poet
* John Hegley (born 1953), English performance poet, comedian and songwriter
* Heinrich Heine (1797–1856), German poet, essayist and literary critic
* Lyn Hejinian (born 1941), US poet, essayist and translator
* Acharya Hemachandra (1089–1172), Jain scholar, poet and polymath
* Felicia Hemans (1793–1835), English poet
* Marian Hemar (1901–1972), Polish poet, songwriter and playwright
* Essex Hemphill (1957–1995), US 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 philosopher; brother of George Herbert
* George Herbert (1593–1633), public orator and poet
* Mary Herbert, Countess of Pembroke (1561–1621) (née Sidney), early English woman in literature
* Zbigniew Herbert (1924–1998), Polish poet, essayist and dramatist
* David Herbison (1800–1880), Irish poet, writing in Ulster Scots dialect and English
* Johann Gottfried Herder (1744–1803), German philosopher, theologian and literary critic
* Miguel Hernández (1910–1942), Spanish poet and playwright of Generation of '27 and Generation of '36 movements
* Herodas or Herondas (3rd c. BCE), Greek poet and author of humorous dramatic scenes in verse
* Antoine Héroet (died 1568), French poet
* Juan Felipe Herrera (1948-); American poet, performer, writer, toonist, teacher, and activist; U.S. Poet Laureate, 2015–2017
* Robert Herrick (1591–1674), English poet
* Thomas Kibble Hervey (1799–1859), Scottish-born English poet and critic
* Hesiod (fl. 750–650 BCE), 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 Irish poet
* William Heyen (born 1940), US 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), US poet and teacher
* Nâzım Hikmet (1902–1963), Turkish poet, playwright and novelist
* Geoffrey Hill (1932–2016), English poet and professor
* Selima Hill (born 1945), English poet
* Hilda Hilst (1930–2004), Brazilian poet, playwright and novelist
* Ellen Hinsey (born 1960), US poet
* Hipponax (6th c. BCE), of Ephesus, Ancient Greek iambic poet
* Hirato Renkichi (1893–1922), Japanese avant-garde poet
* Rozalie Hirs (born 1965), Dutch poet
* Jane Hirshfield (born 1953), US poet
* George Parks Hitchcock (1914–2010), US poet, playwright and painter
* H. L. Hix (born 1960), US poet and academic
* Marian Hluszkewycz (1877–1935), Russian poet
* Thomas Hoccleve or Occleve (c. 1368 – 1426), English poet and clerk
* Daniel Hoffman (1923–2013), American poet, essayist, and academic; U.S. Poet Laureate, 1973–1974
* Michael Hofmann (born 1957), German-born poet and translator 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 (1933–2010), US author
* John Hollander (1929–2013), Jewish-US poet and literary critic
* Matthew Hollis (born 1971), English poet
* Oliver Wendell Holmes (1809–1894), US poet, professor and author
* Homer (fl. 8th c. BCE), 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 BCE), Roman lyric poet
* George Moses Horton (1797–1884), African-US poet
* Joan Houlihan, US poet
* A. E. Housman (1859–1936), English poet and classicist
* Libby Houston (living), English poet, botanist and rock climber
* Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey (1517–1547), English Renaissance poet
* Richard Howard (1929–2022), US poet, critic and essayist
* Fanny Howe (born 1940), US poet and fiction writer
* Susan Howe (born 1937), US poet, scholar and essayist
* Hrotsvitha (died c. 1002), poet and first known female dramatist, from Lower Saxony
* Mohammad Nurul Huda (born 1949), Bangladeshi poet in Bengali
* John Ceiriog Hughes (1832–1887), Welsh poet in Welsh
* Langston Hughes (1902–1967), US poet, novelist and playwright
* Ted Hughes (1930–1998), English poet and children's writer; UK Poet Laureate
* Richard Hugo (1923–1982), US poet
* Victor Hugo (1802–1885), French poet, novelist and dramatist
* Vicente Huidobro (1893–1948), Chilean poet
* Lynda Hull (1954–1994), US poet
* Keri Hulme (1947–2021), New Zealand poet and fiction writer
* 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
* Cynthia Huntington US poet, professor, memoirist
* Hồ Xuân Hương (1772–1822), Vietnamese poet
* Aldous Huxley (1894–1963), English novelist, poet and travel writer
* Hwang Myung (1931–1998), Korean poet
* Abby B. Hyde (1799–1872), American hymnwriter
* Helen von Kolnitz Hyer (1896–1983), US poet and writer; South Carolina Poet Laureate, 1974–1983

## I

* Khadijah Ibrahiim (fl. 2022), British poet
* Henrik Johan Ibsen (1828–1906), Norwegian playwright, director and poet
* Ibycus (fl. late 6th c. BCE), Ancient Greek lyric poet
* Ikkyu (1394–1481), Japanese Zen Buddhist monk and poet
* Vojislav Ilić (1860–1894), Serbian poet
* Gyula Illyés (1902–1983), Hungarian poet and novelist
* Maria Ilnicka (1825 or 1827–1897), Polish poet, novelist and translator
* Tonya Ingram (1991–2022), US poet
* Sir Dr. Muhammad Iqbal (1877–1938), Indian poet in Urdu and Persian
* Avetik Isahakyan (1875–1957), Armenian lyric poet
* Sabit Ince (born 1954), Turkish lyric poet
* Inge Israel (1927–2019), Canadian poet and playwright
* Wacław Iwaniuk (1912–2001), Polish poet and journalist
* Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz (Eleuter, 1894–1980), Polish poet, dramatist and translator
* Sergey Izgiyaev (1922–1972), Russian poet, playwright and translator of Mountain Jewish descent

## J

* FP Jac (1955–2008), Danish poet
* Violet Jacob (1863–1946), Scottish poet in Scots
* Josephine Jacobsen (1908–2003), Canadian-born American poet, short story writer, essayist, and critic; U.S. Poet Laureate, 1971-1973
* Rolf Jacobsen (1907–1994), Norwegian poet and writer
* Ada Jafarey (1924–2015), Pakistani poet in Urdu
* Richard Jago (1715–1781), English poet
* Đura Jakšić (1832–1878), Serbian poet, painter and dramatist
* James I, King of Scots (1394–1437), author of The Kingis Quair
* James VI and I (1566–1625), King of Scots and of England and Ireland
* Christine James (born 1954), Welsh poet and academic
* Clive James (1939–2019), Australian author, poet and memoirist
* Ernst Jandl (1925–2000), Austrian writer, poet and translator
* Klemens Janicki (1516–1543), Polish poet in Latin
* Janus Pannonius (1434–1472), Hungarian/Slavonian poet in Latin
* Patricia Janus (1932–2006), US poet and artist
* Mark F. Jarman (born 1952), US poet and critic
* Randall Jarrell (1914–1965), US poet, children's author and novelist; U.S. Poet Laureate, 1956-1958
* Bruno Jasieński (1901–1938), Polish poet, novelist and playwright
* Mieczysław Jastrun (1903–1983), Polish poet and essayist
* László Jávor (1903–1992), Hungarian poet
* Robinson Jeffers (1887–1962), US poet
* Vojin Jelić (1921–2004), Croatian Serb poet and writer
* Rod Jellema (1927–2018), US poet, teacher and translator
* Simon Jenko (1835–1869), Slovene poet, lyricist and writer
* Elizabeth Jennings (1926–2001), English poet
* Johannes V. Jensen (1873–1950) Nobel Prize-winning poet and author
* Jia Dao (779–843), Chinese poet active under the Tang dynasty
* Juan Ramón Jiménez (1881–1958) Nobel Prize-winning Spanish poet and writer
* John of the Cross (1542–1591), Spanish mystic and poet
* Edmund John (1883–1917), English poet
* Georgia Douglas Johnson (1880–1966), US poet
* Helene Johnson (1906–1995), African-US poet
* James Weldon Johnson (1871–1938), US author, poet and folklorist
* Lionel Johnson (1867–1902), English poet, essayist and critic
* Emily Pauline Johnson (in Mohawk: Tekahionwake) (1861–1913), Canadian writer, performer and poet marking First Nations heritage
* Samuel Johnson (1709–1784), English poet, essayist and lexicographer
* George Benson Johnston (1913–2004), Canadian poet, translator and academic
* Anna Jókai (1932–2017), Hungarian poet and prose writer
* David Jones (1895–1974), English artist and poet
* Edward Smyth Jones (1881–1968), African-American poet
* Richard Jones (living), English US poet
* Ben Jonson (1573–1637), English poet and dramatist
* June Jordan (1936–2002), US poet and educator
* Anthony Joseph (born 1966), British/Trinidadian poet, novelist and musician
* Jenny Joseph (1932–2018), English poet
* Jovan Jovanović Zmaj (1833–1904), Serbian poet, physician
* James Joyce (1882–1941), Irish novelist and poet
* Attila József (1905–1937), Hungarian poet
* Frank Judge (1946–2021), US editor, poet and film critic
* Ferenc Juhász (1928–2015), Hungarian poet
* Gyula Juhász (1883–1937), Hungarian poet
* Jamal Jumá, Iraqi poet and researcher
* Donald Justice (1925–2004), US poet
* Juvenal (fl. 1st c. – 2nd c. CE), Roman poet and satirist
* Jumoke Verissimo (born 1979), Nigerian poet
* Jaydeep Sarangi (born 1973), Indian poet in English

## K
### Ka–Kh

* Abhay K (born 1980), Indian poet and diplomat
* Kabir (1440–1518), mystic poet and sant of India
* Margit Kaffka (1880–1918), Hungarian poet and novelist
* Kālidāsa (fl. c. 4th c.), Sanskrit poet
* Kambar (c. 1180–1250), Tamil poet
* Anna Kamieńska (1920–1986), Polish poet, translator and critic
* Kannadasan (1927–1981), Tamil poet, author and lyricist
* Jim Kacian (born 1953), US haiku poet and editor
* Uuno Kailas (1901–1933), Finnish poet, author and translator
* Chester Kallman (1921–1975), US poet, librettist and translator
* László Kálnoky (1912–1985), Hungarian poet and translator
* Kálmán Kalocsay (1891–1976), Hungarian and Esperanto poet
* Anna Kamieńska (1920–1986), Polish poet, writer and critic
* Ilya Kaminsky (born 1977), Russian-US poet, critic and translator
* Orhan Veli Kanik (1914–1950), Turkish poet
* Sándor Kányádi (1929–2018), Hungarian poet and translator from Romania
* Jaan Kaplinski (1941–2021), Estonian poet, philosopher and critic
* Adeena Karasick (born 1965), Canadian/US poet, media artist and essayist
* Vim Karenine (born 1933), US poet, essayist and novelist
* Erik Axel Karlfeldt (1864–1931), Nobel Prize-winning Swedish poet
* György Károly (1953–2018), Hungarian poet and critic
* Franciszek Karpiński (1741–1825), Polish poet
* Mary Karr (born 1955), US poet, essayist and memoirist
* Siavash Kasrai (1927–1996), Iranian poet, Persian poet
* Julia Kasdorf (born 1962), US poet
* Laura Kasischke (born 1961), US poet and fiction writer
* Jan Kasprowicz (1860–1926), Polish poet, playwright and critic
* Lajos Kassák (1887–1967), Hungarian poet, novelist and painter
* Erich Kästner (1899–1974), German author, poet and satirist
* József Katona (1791–1830), Hungarian playwright and poet
* Bob Kaufman (1925–1986), US beat poet and surrealist
* Shirley Kaufman (1923–2016), US 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), US poet, novelist and critic
* Isabella Kelly (1759–1857), Scottish poet and novelist
* Arthur Kelton (died 1549/1550), rhymer on Welsh history
* Miranda Kennedy (born 1975), US poet
* Rann Kennedy (1772–1851), English poet
* Walter Kennedy (c. 1455–1518), Scottish makar
* X. J. Kennedy (born 1929), US poet, anthologist and children's writer
* Jane Kenyon (1947–1995), US poet and translator
* Géza Képes (1909–1989), Hungarian poet and translator
* Khwaju Kermani (1290–1349), Persian poet
* Jack Kerouac (1922–1969), US novelist and poet
* Sidney Keyes (1922–1943), English poet killed in action in World War II
* Keorapetse Kgositsile (1938–2018), South African poet
* Mimi Khalvati (born 1944), Iranian-born British poet
* Dilwar Khan (1937–2013), Bangladeshi poet
* Khushal Khan Khattak (1613–1689), Pashtun Afghan poet, warrior and tribal chief
* Omar Khayyám (1048–1122), Persian mathematician, astronomer and poet
* Khaqani (1120–1199), Persian poet
* Kherdian, David (born 1931), Armenian-American writer, poet, and editor
* Vladislav Khodasevich (1886–1939), Russian poet and literary critic
* Talib Khundmiri (1938–2011), Indian poet and humorist 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
* Andrzej Tadeusz Kijowski (born 1954), Polish poet and politician
* Takarai Kikaku (1661–1707), Japanese haikai poet and disciple of Matsuo Bashō
* Joyce Kilmer (1886–1918), US 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 hymnist
* Gottfried Kinkel (1815–1882), German poet and revolutionary
* Galway Kinnell (1927–2014), US poet; Pulitzer Prize for Poetry 1982
* John Kinsella (born 1963), Australian poet, novelist and essayist
* Thomas Kinsella (1928–2021), Irish poet, translator and editor
* Rudyard Kipling (1865–1936), English fiction writer and poet
* Easterine Kire (born 1959), Naga poet and novelist
* Danilo Kiš (1935–1989), Serbian fiction writer and poet
* Necip Fazıl Kısakürek (1904–1983), Turkish poet, novelist and playwright
* Atala Kisfaludy (1836–1911), Hungarian poet
* Iya Kiva (born 1984), Ukrainian poet
* Eila Kivikk'aho (1921–2004), Finnish poet
* Carolyn Kizer (1925–2014), US poet; Pulitzer Prize for Poetry 1985
* Sarah Klassen (born 1932), Canadian poet and fiction writer
* August Kleinzahler (born 1949), US poet
* Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock (1724–1803), German poet
* Franciszek Dionizy Kniaźnin (1750–1807), Polish poet and Jesuit
* Etheridge Knight (1931–1991), African-US poet
* Kobayashi Issa (1763–1828), Japanese haikai poet
* Jan Kochanowski (1530–1584), Polish Renaissance poet
* Kenneth Koch (1925–2002), US poet, playwright and professor
* Jan Kochanowski (1530–1584), Polish poet
* Petar Kočić (1877–1916), Bosnian Serb writer
* István Koháry (1649–1731), Hungarian poet
* Ferenc Kölcsey (1790–1838), Hungarian poet
* Aladár Komját (1891–1937), Hungarian poet
* Yusef Komunyakaa (born 1947), US poet and teacher; Pulitzer Prize for Poetry 1994
* Béla Kondor (1931–1972), Hungarian poet, prose writer and painter
* Faik Konitza (1875–1942), Albanian poet
* Halina Konopacka (1900–1989), Polish poet and athlete
* Maria Konopnicka (1842–1910), Polish poet, novelist and children's writer
* Ted Kooser (born 1939), US poet; U.S. Poet Laureate, 2004–2006
* Stanisław Korab-Brzozowski (1876–1901), Polish poet and translator
* Julian Kornhauser (born 1946), Polish poet, novelist and critic
* Apollo Korzeniowski (1820–1869), Polish expressionist poet
* József Kossics (Jožef Košič, 1788–1867), Hungarian/Slovenian poet and priest
* Laza Kostić (1841–1910), Serbian poet, writer and polyglot
* Dezső Kosztolányi (1885–1936), Hungarian poet and prose writer
* Gopi Kottoor (born 1956), Indian poet, playwright and editor
* Urszula Kozioł (born 1931), Polish poet
* Taja Kramberger (born 1970), Slovenian poet, translator and anthropologist
* Ignacy Krasicki (1735–1801), Polish poet and novelist
* Zygmunt Krasiński (1812–1859), Polish poet
* Zlatko Krasni (1951–2008), Serbian poet
* Ruth Krauss (1901–1993), US poet and children's book author
* Krayem Awad (born 1948), Syrian-Austrian painter, sculptor and poet
* Carolyn Kreiter-Foronda (born 1946), US writer; Poet Laureate of Virginia, 2006–2008
* Katarzyna Krenz (born 1953), poet, novelist and painter
* Miroslav Krleža (1893–1981), Croatian/Yugoslav poet and novelist
* Antjie Krog (born 1952), South African poet, academic and writer
* Józef Krupiński (1930–1998), Polish poet
* Ryszard Krynicki (born 1943), Polish poet and translator
* Marilyn Krysl (born 1942), US poet and fiction writer
* Andrzej Krzycki (1482–1537), Polish poet and archbishop
* Žofia Kubini (fl. 17th c.), Hungarian poet in early Czech
* Paweł Kubisz (1907–1968), Polish poet and journalist
* Péter Kuczka (1923–1999), Hungarian poet and critic
* Anatoly Kudryavitsky (born 1954), Russian/Irish novelist, poet and translator
* Endre Kukorelly (born 1951), Hungarian poet and journalist
* Maxine Kumin (1925–2014), US poet; U.S. Poet Laureate, 1981–82
* Stanley Kunitz (1905–2006), US poet; U.S. Poet Laureate, 1974-1976 and 2000-2001
* Yanka Kupala (1882–1942), Belarus poet
* Tuli Kupferberg (1923–2010), US counterculture poet and author
* Jalu Kurek (1904–1983), Polish poet and prose writer
* Momoko Kuroda (黒田杏子, born 1938), Japanese haiku poet
* Mira Kuś (born 1958), Polish poet
* Kusumagraj (1912–1999), Indian Marathi poet, writer and humanist
* Onat Kutlar (1936–1995), Turkish writer and poet
* Stephen Kuusisto (born 1955), US poet
* Sir Francis Kynaston or Kinaston (1587–1642), English poet

## L
### La

* Jean de La Fontaine (1621–1695), French fabulist
* Ilmar Laaban (1921–2000), Estonian poet
* Pierre Labrie (born 1972), Canadian poet in French
* László Ladányi (1907–1992), Hungarian-Israeli poet and writer
* Jules Laforgue (1860–1887), Franco-Uruguayan poet
* Abolqasem Lahouti (1887–1957), Persian poet
* Jarkko Laine (1947–2006), Finnish poet, writer and playwright
* Ivan V. Lalić (1931–1996), Serbian poet
* Philip Lamantia (1927–2005), US poet and lecturer
* Kendrick Lamar (born 1987), US poet and hip-hop artist
* Alphonse de Lamartine (1790–1869), French writer, poet and politician
* Charles Lamb (1775–1834), English essayist and poet
* Peter Lampe (born 1954), German scholar, writer and poet
* Letitia Elizabeth Landon (L. E. L.) (1802–1838), English poet and novelist
* Walter Savage Landor (1775–1864), English writer and poet
* Antoni Lange (1863–1929), Polish poet, philosopher and translator
* William Langland (c. 1332 – c. 1386), probable English author of dream-vision Piers Plowman
* Emilia Lanier (1569–1645), English poet
* Sebestyén Tinódi Lantos (c. 1510–1556), Hungarian poet and historian
* Laozi (Lau-tzu) (fl. 6th c. BCE), Chinese philosopher and poet
* Alda Lara (1930–1962), Angolan poet
* Rebecca Hammond Lard (1772–1855), US poet
* Bruce Larkin (born 1957), US 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. BCE), Greek lyric poet from Hermione in Argolid
* Evelyn Lau (born 1971), Canadian poet and novelist
* James Laughlin (1914–1997), US poet and publisher
* Ann Lauterbach (born 1942), US poet, essayist and professor
* Comte de Lautréamont (1846–1870), Uruguayan/French poet
* Dorianne Laux (born 1952), US 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
* Robert Lax (1915–2000), US poet
* Laxmi Prasad Devkota (1909–1959), Nepalese poet and scholar
* Henryka Łazowertówna (1909–1942), Polish poet

### Le

* Edward Lear (1812–1888), English poet, artist and illustrator
* Stanisław Jerzy Lec (1909–1966), Polish poet and aphorist
* Joanna Lech (born 1984), Polish poet and novelist
* Jan Lechoń (1899–1956), Polish poet, critic and diplomat
* Francis Ledwidge (1887–1917), Irish war poet
* David Lee (born 1966), US poet
* Dennis Lee (born 1939), Canadian poet, editor and critic
* David Lehman (born 1948), US poet and editor
* Ágnes Lehóczky (born 1976), Hungarian poet, academic and translator
* Eino Leino (1878–1926), Finnish poet and journalist
* Brad Leithauser (born 1953), US poet, novelist and essayist
* Alexander Lenard (1910–1972), Hungarian writer and poet
* Sue Lenier (born 1957), English poet and playwright
* Lalitha Lenin (born 1946), Indian poet
* Krystyna Lenkowska (born 1957), Polish poet and translator
* 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), US poet, novelist and critic
* Bolesław Leśmian (1877–1937), Polish poet and artist
* Rika Lesser (born 1953), US poet and translator
* Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (1729–1781), German writer, philosopher and dramatist
* Denise Levertov (1927–1997), British-born US poet
* Dana Levin (born 1965), US poet and teacher
* Philip Levine (1928–2015), US poet; U.S. Poet Laureate, 2011–2012
* Larry Levis (1946–1996), US poet
* D. A. Levy (1942–1968), US poet, artist and publisher
* William Levy (1939–2019), US poet, fiction writer and editor
* Oswald LeWinter (1931–2013), poet
* Alun Lewis (1915–1944), Welsh poet in English
* 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), US children's poet
* Saunders Lewis (1893–1985), Welsh poet, dramatist and critic
* Wyndham Lewis (1884–1957), English painter and author

### Li–Ly

* Li Houzhu (937–978), Chinese poet and ruler of Southern Tang Kingdom (961–975 CE)
* 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
* Jerzy Liebert (1904–1931), Polish poet
* Li Jiao, poet under the 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
* Ada Limón (1976-), American poet; U.S. Poet Laureate, 2022–present
* Anne Morrow Lindbergh (1906–2001), US author and aviator; wife of Charles Lindbergh
* Jack Lindeman (fl. late 20th c.), US poet and critic
* Sarah Lindsay (born 1958), US poet
* Rossy Evelin Lima (born 1986), Mexican poet
* Vachel Lindsay (1879–1931), US poet
* Ewa Lipska (born 1945), Polish poet
* László Listi (1628–1662), Hungarian poet
* Alun Llywelyn-Williams (1913–1988), Welsh poet and critic
* Józef Łobodowski (1909–1988), Polish poet and political thinker
* 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), US poet and educator
* Michael Longley (1939–2025), Northern Irish poet
* Federico García Lorca (1898–1936), Spanish poet, dramatist and stage director
* Audre Lorde (1934–1992), Caribbean-US writer, poet and librarian
* Richard Lovelace (1618–1658), English Cavalier poet
* Amy Lowell (1874–1925), US poet
* James Russell Lowell (1819–1891), US poet, critic and diplomat
* Robert Lowell (1917–1977), US poet; U.S. Poet Laureate, 1947-1948
* Maria White Lowell (1821–1853), US poet and abolitionist
* Solomon Löwisohn (1788–1821), Hungarian Jewish poet and historian in Hebrew and German
* Mina Loy (1882–1966), English poet, playwright and novelist
* Lu You (1125–1209), Chinese Song dynasty poet
* Stanisław Herakliusz Lubomirski (1642–1702), Polish poet, writer and politician
* Gherasim Luca (1913–1994), Romanian poet and surrealist
* Lucan (39–65 CE), Roman poet
* Edward Lucie-Smith (born 1933), English writer, poet and broadcaster
* Gaius Lucilius (fl. 2nd c. BCE), Roman satirist
* Lucilius Junior (fl. 1st c. CE), poet and Procurator of Sicily
* Lucretius (c. 99 BCE – c. 55 BCE), Roman poet and philosopher
* Fitz Hugh Ludlow (1836–1870), US author, journalist and explorer
* Edith Gyömrői Ludowyk (1896–1987), Hungarian poet and politician
* Luo Binwang (640–684), Chinese Tang-dynasty writer and poet
* Thomas Lux (1946–2017), US 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
* Sandford Lyne (1945–2007), US poet, educator and editor
* George Lyttelton (1709–1773), English poet, statesman and arts patron

## M
### Ma

* Thomas Babington Macaulay, 1st Baron Macaulay (1800–1859), Anglo-Scottish poet and historian
* George MacBeth (1932–1992), Scottish poet and novelist
* Norman MacCaig (1910–1996), Scottish poet
* Elizabeth Roberts MacDonald (1864–1922), Canadian poet and writer
* Hugh MacDiarmid (1892–1978), Scottish poet
* 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 author and mystic
* Compton Mackenzie (1883–1972), Scottish writer, memoirist and poet
* Archibald MacLeish (1892–1987), US modernist poet and writer
* Aonghas MacNeacail (born 1942), writer in Scottish Gaelic
* Louis MacNeice (1907–1963), Irish poet and playwright
* Hector Macneill (1746–1818), Scottish poet and songwriter
* Valerie Macon (born 1950), US poet and civil servant
* James Macpherson (1736–1796), Scottish writer and poet
* Haki R. Madhubuti (born 1942), African-US writer, poet and educator
* Jayanta Mahapatra (born 1928), Indian English poet
* John Gillespie Magee Jr. (1922–1941), US poet and aviator
* Eric Magrane (born 1975), US poet and geographer
* Derek Mahon (1941–2020), Northern Irish poet
* Rudolf Maister (1874–1934), Slovene poet and activist
* Gajanan Digambar Madgulkar (1919–1977), Marathi and Hindi poet and playwright
* János Majláth (1786–1855), Hungarian historian and poet
* Clarence Major (born 1936), US poet, painter and novelist
* Desanka Maksimović (1898–1993), Serbian poet and professor
* Mahsati (13th c.), Persian poet
* Majeed Amjad (1914–1974), Indian/Pakistani poet in Urdu
* Antoni Malczewski (1793–1826), Polish poet
* Marcin Malek (born 1975), Polish poet, writer and playwright
* Josh Malihabadi (born Shabbir Hasan Khan) (1898–1982), Indian Urdu poet
* Madayyagari Mallana (fl. 15th c.), Telugu poet
* Stephane Mallarme (1842–1898), French poet and critic
* David Mallet (c. 1705–1765), Scottish dramatist and poet
* 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 fiction writer; New Zealand Poet Laureate
* Marcus Manilius (fl. 1st c. CE), Roman poet and astrologer
* Maurice Manning (born 1966), US poet
* Ruth Manning-Sanders (1895–1988), Welsh-born English poet and author
* Robert Mannyng (1275–1340), English chronicler and monk in Middle English, French and Latin
* Chris Mansell (born 1953), Australian poet and publisher
* Jakobe Mansztajn (born 1982), Polish poet and blogger
* Manuchehri (Abu Najm Ahmad ibn Ahmad ibn Qaus Manuchehri; 11th c.), royal poet in Persia
* Alessandro Manzoni (1785–1873), Italian poet and novelist
* Sándor Márai (1900–1989), Hungarian/US poet and novelist
* Ausiàs March (1397–1459), Valencian poet and knight
* Morton Marcus (1936–2009), US poet and author
* Mareez (1917–1983), Indian poet in Gujarati
* Paul Mariani (born 1940), US poet and academic
* Marie de France (fl. 12th c.), poet probably French-born 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), US 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), US novelist, poet and playwright
* Edward Garrard Marsh (1783–1862), English poet and cleric
* John Marston (1576–1634), English playwright, poet and satirist
* José Martí (1853–1895), Cuban poet and writer
* Martial (40 – c. 102 CE), 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
* Masud Sa'd Salman (1046–1121), Persian poet
* Edgar Lee Masters (1868–1950), US poet, biographer and dramatist
* Dafydd Llwyd Mathau (fl. earlier 17th c.), Welsh poet in Welsh
* János Mattis-Teutsch (1884–1960), Hungarian-Romanian poet and artist
* 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), US poet and prose writer
* Ben Mazer (born 1964), US poet and editor

### Mc–Me

* James McAuley (1917–1976), Australian poet and critic
* Susan McCaslin (born 1947), Canadian/US poet and critic
* J. D. McClatchy (1945–2018), US poet and critic
* Michael McClure (1932–2020), US poet, playwright and novelist
* John McCrae (1872–1918), Canadian poet, physician and artist
* Walt McDonald (1934–2022), US poet; Poet Laureate of Texas, 2001
* Dermit McEncroe (fl. early 18th c.), Irish doctor and poet
* Elvis McGonagall, Scottish poet and comedian
* William Topaz McGonagall (1825–1902), Scottish writer of doggerel
* Roger McGough (born 1937), English comedian and poet
* Campbell McGrath (born 1962), US poet
* Wendy McGrath, Canadian poet and novelist
* Thomas McGrath (1916–1990), US poet
* Heather McHugh (born 1948), US poet, translator and educator
* Duncan Ban McIntyre (1724–1812), Scottish poet in Scottish Gaelic
* James McIntyre (1827–1906), Canadian writer of doggerel
* Claude McKay (1889–1948), Jamaican-US writer and poet
* Don McKay (born 1942), Canadian poet, editor and educator
* Rod McKuen (1933–2015), US poet, composer and singer
* James McMichael (born 1939), US poet
* Ian McMillan (born 1956), English poet, playwright and broadcaster
* Meera (1498–1546), Indian Hindu mystic poet and Krishna devotee
* Narsinh Mehta (c. 1414 – c. 1481), Indian poet-saint of Gujarat
* Mei Yaochen (1002–1060), Chinese Song dynasty poet
* Peter Meinke (born 1932), US poet and fiction writer
* Cecília Meireles (1901–1964), Brazilian poet
* Herman Melville (1819–1891), US fiction writer and poet
* Meng Haoran (689 or 691–740), Chinese Tang dynasty poet
* George Meredith (1828–1909), English poet and novelist
* William Morris Meredith Jr. (1919–2007), American poet and educator; U.S. Poet Laureate, 1978-1980
* Kersti Merilaas (1913–1986), Estonian poet
* Alda Merini (1931–2009), Italian writer and poet
* Stuart Merrill (1863–1915), US poet writing mainly in French
* James Merrill (1926–1995), US poet; 1977 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry
* Thomas Merton (1915–1968), US writer and Trappist monk
* W. S. Merwin (1927–2019), US poet and author; 1971 and 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry; U.S. Poet Laureate, 2010-2011
* Sarah Messer (born 1966), US poet and writer
* Charlotte Mew (1869–1928), English poet
* Henry Meyer (1840–1925), US poet writing in Pennsylvania Dutch
* Ferenc Mező (1885–1961), Hungarian poet

### Mi–Mo

* Henri Michaux (1899–1984), Belgian/French poet, writer and painter
* Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (1475–1564), Italian poet and sculptor
* Tadeusz Miciński (1873–1918), Polish poet and playwright
* Adam Mickiewicz (1798–1855), Polish poet, essayist and publicist
* Veronica Micle (1850–1889), Austrian/Romanian poet
* Christopher Middleton (c. 1560–1628), English poet and translator
* Christopher Middleton (c. 1690–1770), Royal Navy officer and navigator
* Christopher Middleton (1926–2015), English poet
* Thomas Middleton (1580–1627), English poet and playwright
* Agnes Miegel (1879–1964), German writer and poet
* Josephine Miles (1911–1985), US poet and critic
* Jennifer Militello, US poet and professor
* Branko Miljković (1934–1961), Serbian poet
* Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892–1950), US lyric poet, playwright and feminist
* Alice Duer Miller (1874–1942), US writer and poet
* Grazyna Miller (1957–2009), Italian/Polish poet and translator
* Jace Miller, US poet
* Jane Miller (born 1949), US poet
* Joaquin Miller (1837–1913), US poet
* Leslie Adrienne Miller (born 1956), US poet
* Thomas Miller (1807–1874), English poet
* Vassar Miller (1924–1998), US 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 and polemicist
* Sima Milutinović Sarajlija (1791–1847), Serbian adventurer, writer and poet
* Marijane Minaberri (1926–2017), French/Basque poet and radio broadcaster
* Robert Minhinnick (born 1952), Welsh poet, essayist and novelist
* Matthew Minicucci (born 1981), US poet and teacher
* Mir Taqi Mir (1725–1810), Indian poet in Urdu
* Frédéric Mistral (1830–1914) Nobel Prize-winning Occitan poet, writer, and lexicographer
* Gabriela Mistral (1889–1957), Nobel Prize-winning Chilean poet and feminist
* Adrian Mitchell (1932–2008), English poet, novelist and playwright
* Silas Weir Mitchell (1829–1914), US physician and writer
* Stephen Mitchell (born 1943), US poet, translator and anthologist
* Waddie Mitchell (born 1950), US poet
* Ndre Mjeda (1866–1937), Albanian Gheg poet
* Stanisław Młodożeniec (1895–1959), poet
* Anis Mojgani (born 1977), US spoken-word poet and visual artist
* Molière (Jean-Baptiste Poquelin) (1622–1673), French playwright
* Atukuri Molla (1440–1530), Indian Telugu poet
* Aja Monet, Black American poet
* Harold Monro (1879–1932), English poet
* Harriet Monroe (1860–1936), US scholar, critic and poet
* John Montague (1929–2016), 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
* Alexander Montgomerie (c. 1550–1598), Scottish Jacobean courtier and makar
* Alan Moore (born 1960), Irish writer and poet
* Marianne Moore (1887–1972), US poet and writer
* Merrill Moore (1903–1957), US psychiatrist and poet
* Thomas Moore (1779–1852), Irish poet, singer and songwriter
* Dom Moraes (1938–2004), Goan writer, poet and columnist
* Kelly Ana Morey (born 1968), New Zealand novelist and poet
* Edwin Morgan (1920–2010), Scottish poet and translator
* J. O. Morgan (born 1978), Scottish poet
* John Morgan (1688–1733), Welsh clergyman, scholar and poet
* Lorin Morgan-Richards (born 1975), US 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), US songwriter and poet
* Jan Andrzej Morsztyn (1621–1693), Polish poet
* Zbigniew Morsztyn (c. 1628–1689), Polish poet
* Valzhyna Mort (born 1981), Belarus poet
* Viggo Mortensen (born 1958), US poet, actor and musician
* Moschus (fl. 2nd c. BCE), Greek bucolic poet
* Howard Moss (1922–1987), US poet, dramatist and critic
* Andrew Motion (born 1952), English poet, novelist and biographer; UK Poet Laureate, 1999–2009
* Paul Scott Mowrer (1887–1971), US newspaper correspondent, Poet Laureate of New Hampshire, 1968–1971
* Enrique Moya (born 1958), Venezuelan poet, fiction writer and critic

### Mu–My

* Micere Githae Mugo (1942–2023), Kenyan playwright, author and poet
* Erich Mühsam (1878–1934), German-Jewish essayist, poet and, playwright
* Edwin Muir (1887–1959), Scottish Orcadian poet, novelist and translator
* Paul Muldoon (born 1951), Irish poet
* Lale Müldür (born 1956), Turkish poet and writer
* Laura Mullen (born 1958), US poet
* Anthony Munday (1553–1633), English playwright and writer
* George Murnu (1868–1957), Romanian archeologist, historian and poet
* Sheila Murphy (born 1951), US text and visual poet
* George Murray (born 1971), Canadian poet
* Joan Murray (born 1945), US poet, writer and playwright
* Les Murray (1938–2019), Australian poet, anthologist and critic
* Richard Murphy (1927–2018), 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
* Christopher Mwashinga (born 1965), Tanzanian poet, author and Christian minister
* Lam Quang My (born 1944), Vietnamese poet in Polish and Vietnamese

## N

* Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977), Russian novelist and poet in Russian and English
* Daniel Naborowski (1573–1640), Polish poet
* Cecilia del Nacimiento (1570–1646), Spanish nun, mystic, writer, and poet
* Ágnes Nemes Nagy (1922–1991), Hungarian poet and translator
* Gáspár Nagy (1949–2007), Hungarian poet
* Lajos Parti Nagy (born 1953), Hungarian poet, playwright and critic
* László Nagy (1925–1978), Hungarian poet and translator
* Guru Nanak Dev (1469–1539), first Sikh Guru and Punjabi poet
* Nannaya (c. 11th c.), earliest known Telugu author
* Philip Nanton (living), Vincentian poet
* Adam Naruszewicz (1733–1796), Polish-Lithuanian poet, historian and dramatist
* Ogden Nash (1902–1971), US poet known for light verse
* Thomas Nashe (1567–1601), English playwright, poet and satirist
* Nasir Khusraw (1004–1088), Persian poet
* Imadaddin Nasimi (died c. 1417), Azerbaijani poet
* Momčilo Nastasijević (1894–1938), Serbian poet, novelist and dramatist
* Natsume Sōseki (1867–1916), Japanese novelist and poet
* Gellu Naum (1915–2001), Romanian poet, dramatist and children's writer
* Nedîm (c. 1681–1730), Ottoman poet
* John Neal (1793–1876), US writer, critic, activist and poet
* Henry Neele (1798–1828), English poet and scholar
* Walela Nehanda, Black American poet
* John Neihardt (1881–1973), US poet, historian and ethnographer
* Émile Nelligan (1879–1941), Quebec poet
* Marilyn Nelson (born 1946), US poet, translator and children's writer
* Howard Nemerov (1920–1991), US poet; U.S. Poet Laureate, 1963–1964 and 1988–1990
* István Péter Németh (born 1960), Hungarian poet and literary historian
* Condetto Nénékhaly-Camara (1930–1972), Guinean poet and playwright
* Jan Neruda (1834–1891), Czech journalist, writer and poet
* Pablo Neruda (1904–1973), Chilean poet and politician; Nobel Prize for Literature 1971
* Neşâtî (died 1674), Ottoman Sufi poet
* Henry John Newbolt (1862–1938), English historian and poet
* John Henry Newman (1801–1890), writer, poet and hymnist
* Aimee Nezhukumatathil (born 1974), Asian US poet
* Nguyễn Du (1766–1820), Vietnamese poet in ancient Chữ Nôm script
* B. P. Nichol (bpNichol, 1944–1988), Canadian poet
* Nicholas I of Montenegro (1841–1921), poet and king of Montenegro
* Grace Nichols (born 1950), Guyanese poet
* Norman Nicholson (1914–1987), English poet
* Lorine Niedecker (1903–1970), US poet
* Julian Ursyn Niemcewicz (1758–1841), Polish poet, playwright and statesman
* Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900), German philosopher, poet and philologist
* Millosh Gjergj Nikolla (Migjeni) (1911–1938), Albanian poet and writer
* Nizami Aruzi (1110–1161), Persian poets
* Nisami (1141–1209), Persian poet
* Attar of Nishapur (1145–1221), Persian poet
* Nishiyama Sōin (1605–1682), Japanese haikai poet
* Moeen Nizami (born 1965), Pakistani poet, scholar and writer
* Petar II Petrović-Njegoš (1813–1851), Serbian poet, playwright and prince-bishop
* Yamilka Noa (born 1980), Cuban–Costa Rican poet
* Gábor Nógrádi (born 1947), Hungarian poet, essayist and children's novelist
* Christopher Nolan (1965–2009), Irish poet and author
* Fan S. Noli (1882–1965), Albanian/US writer, diplomat and historian
* Olga Nolla (1938–2001), Puerto Rican poet, writer and professor
* Henry Normal (born 1956), British poet, writer, film & TV producer
* Harry Northup (born 1940), US actor and poet
* Caroline Norton (1808–1877), English writer, feminist and reformer
* Cyprian Norwid (1821–1883), Polish poet, dramatist and artist
* Alice Notley (born 1945), US poet
* Novalis (Friedrich von Hardenberg) (1772–1801), German poet and novelist
* Franciszek Nowicki (1864–1935), Polish poet and conservationist
* Alfred Noyes (1880–1958), English poet
* Oodgeroo Noonuccal (1920–1993), first Aboriginal Australian published poet
* Julia Nyberg (1784–1854), Swedish poet and songwriter
* Naomi Shihab Nye (born 1952), Palestinian-US poet, songwriter and novelist
* Robert Nye (1939–2016), English poet, novelist and children's writer
* Niyi Osundare (born 1947), Nigerian poet, dramatist and literary critic

## O

* Dositej Obradović (1742–1811), Serbian philosopher, writer and poet
* Sean O'Brien (born 1952), British poet, critic and playwright
* D. Michael O'Connor aka Damond Jiniya(Born 1974), North American singer, writer and poet
* Philip O'Connor (1916–1998), Anglo-French writer and poet
* Antoni Edward Odyniec (1804–1885), Polish poet
* Ron Offen (1930–2010), US poet, playwright and producer
* Dennis O'Driscoll (1954–2012), Irish poet
* Frank O'Hara (1926–1966), US writer, poet and art critic
* Hisashi Okuyama (born 1941), Japanese poet
* Porsha Olayiwola (born 1988), US poet
* Sharon Olds (born 1942), US poet
* Mary Oliver (1935–2015), US poet
* Charles Olson (1910–1970), US modernist poet
* Saishu Onoe (1876–1957), Japanese poet
* Onomacritus (c. 530–480 BCE), Attic poet, priest and seer
* George Oppen (1908–1984), US poet
* Artur Oppman (Or-Ot, 1867–1931), Polish poet
* Edward Otho Cresap Ord, II (1858–1923), US poet and painter
* Zaharije Orfelin (1726–1785), Serbian polymath and poet
* Władysław Orkan (1875–1930), Polish poet
* Peter Orlovsky (1933–2010), US poet and actor; partner of Allen Ginsberg
* Gregory Orr (born 1947), US poet
* Agnieszka Osiecka (1936–1997), Polish poet, writer and screenplay author
* Alice Oswald (born 1966), English poet
* Ouyang Xiu (1007–1072), Chinese Song dynasty historian, essayist and poet
* Ovid (43 BCE – 17 CE), Roman poet
* Wilfred Owen (1893–1918), English poet and soldier
* İsmet Özel (born 1944), Turkish poet and scholar

## P
### Pa

* Ruth Padel (born 1946), English poet, author and critic
* Ron Padgett (born 1942), US poet, writer and translator
* Padmanābha (15th c.), Dingal (Old Gujarati) poet and historian
* Dan Pagis (1930–1986), Israeli poet and Holocaust survivor
* Grace Paley (1922–2007), US short story writer and poet
* Francis Turner Palgrave (1824–1897), English critic and poet
* Palladas (fl. 4th c.), Greek poet
* Michael Palmer (born 1943), US poet and translator
* Sima Pandurović (1883–1960), Serbian poet
* Sumitranandan Pant (1900–1977), Indian poet in Hindi
* William Williams Pantycelyn (1717–1791), Welsh poet and hymnist in Welsh
* Park Yong-rae (1925–1980), Korean poet
* Andrew Park (1807–1863), Scottish poet
* Dorothy Parker (1893–1967), US poet, fiction writer and satirist
* Amy Parkinson (1855–1938), British-born Canadian poet
* Thomas Parnell (1679–1718), Irish poet and clergyman
* Nicanor Parra (1914–2018), Chilean mathematician and poet
* Henry Parrot (fl. 1600–1626), English epigrammatist
* Giovanni Pascoli (1855–1912), Italian poet
* Ámbar Past (born 1949), Mexican poet, visual artist
* Boris Pasternak (1890–1960), Russian poet, novelist and translator
* Leon Pasternak (1910–1969), Polish poet and satirist
* Benito Pastoriza Iyodo (born 1954), Puerto Rican poet and fiction and literature writer
* Kenneth Patchen (1911–1972), US 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
* Paul I, Prince Esterházy (1635–1713), Austro-Hungarian poet
* Cesare Pavese (1908–1950), Italian poet, novelist and critic
* Maria Pawlikowska-Jasnorzewska (1891–1945), Polish poet and dramatist
* 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 and writer
* James Larkin Pearson (1879–1981), US poet and publisher
* Allasani Peddana (fl. 15th/16th cc.), Telugu poet
* Charles Péguy (1873–1914), French poet, essayist and editor
* Kathleen Peirce (born 1956), US poet
* Gabino Coria Peñaloza (1881–1975), Argentine poet and lyricist
* Sam Pereira (living), US poet
* Lucia Perillo (1958–2016), US poet
* Persius (34–62 CE), 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 (1924–2014), US poet, scholar and playwright
* Pascale Petit (born 1953), French-Welsh poet and artist
* Petrarch (Francesco Petrarca) (1304–1374), Italian scholar and poet
* Kata Szidónia Petrőczy (1659–1708), Hungarian poet and prose writer
* 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), British poet, author, translator, scientist and ecologist of Italian origin
* Adaliza Cutter Phelps (1823–1852), US poet
* Ambrose Philips (1674–1749), English poet and politician
* Katherine Philips (1632–1664), Anglo-Welsh poet
* Savitribai Phule (1831–1897), Indian social reformer, educationalist, and poet from Maharashtra
* Pi Rixiu (c. 834–883), Tang dynasty poet
* Tom Pickard (born 1946), English poet and film maker
* Pindar (522–443 BCE), Theban lyric poet in Greek
* Robert Pinsky (born 1940), US poet, critic and translator; U.S. Poet Laureate, 1997–2000
* Ruth Pitter (1897–1992), English poet
* Christine de Pizan (c. 1365 – c. 1430), Venetian historian, poet and philosopher
* Sylvia Plath (1932–1963), US poet and novelist
* William Plomer (1903–1973), South African novelist, poet and editor in English

### Po–Pu

* Jacek Podsiadło (born 1964), Polish poet, translator and essayist
* Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849), US author, poet and critic
* Suman Pokhrel (born 1967), Nepalese poet, playwright and artist
* Wincenty Pol (1807–1872), Polish poet and geographer
* Margaret Steuart Pollard (1904–1996), English poet
* Edward Pollock (1823–1858), US poet
* John Pomfret (1667–1702), English poet and clergyman
* Marie Ponsot (1921–2019), US 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), US poet, writer and editor
* Peter Porter (1929–2010), Australian poet based in England
* Halina Poświatowska (1935–1967), Polish poet and writer
* Roma Potiki (born 1958), New Zealand poet and playwright
* Wacław Potocki (1621–1696), Polish poet and moralist
* Ezra Pound (1885–1972), US expatriate poet and critic
* Alishetty Prabhakar (1952–1993), Telugu poet
* Tapan Kumar Pradhan (born 1972), Indian poet, translator and activist
* Adélia Prado (born 1935), Brazilian writer and poet
* Winthrop Mackworth Praed (1802–1839), English politician and poet
* Jaishankar Prasad (1889–1937), Indian poet in Hindi
* 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 BCE), Latin elegiac poet
* Kevin Prufer (born 1969), US poet, academic and essayist
* J. H. Prynne (born 1936), English poet
* Kazimierz Przerwa-Tetmajer (1865–1940), Polish poet, novelist and playwright
* Zenon Przesmycki (Miriam, 1861–1944), Polish poet, translator and critic
* Jeremi Przybora (1915–2004), Polish poet, writer and singer
* Luigi Pulci (1432–1484), Italian poet known for Morgante
* Ben Purkert (living), American poet, novelist and creative writing instructor
* Alexander Pushkin (1799–1837), Russian poet, novelist and playwright

## Q

* Nizar Qabbani (1923–1998), Syrian diplomat, poet and publisher
* Muhammad Tahir ul-Qadri (born 1951), Pakistani Sufi poet and scholar
* Sayyid Ahmedullah Qadri (1909–1985), Indian poet, writer and politician
* Aref Qazvini (1882–1934), Iranian poet, lyricist and musician, Persian poet
* Qatran Tabrizi (11th c.), Persian poet
* Qu Yuan (343–278 BCE), Chinese poet
* Francis Quarles (1592–1644), English Christian poet
* Salvatore Quasimodo (1901–1968), Italian author and poet; 1959 Nobel Prize in Literature

## R
### Ra–Re

* Rabia Balkhi (10th c.), Persian poet, She is the first known female poet to write in Persian
* Jean Racine (1639–1699), French dramatist
* Branko Radičević (1824–1853), Serbian lyric poet
* Leetile Disang Raditladi (1910–1971), poet from Botswana
* Sam Ragan (1915–1996), US poet, journalist and writer
* Shamsur Rahman (1929–2006), Bangladeshi poet and columnist
* Craig Raine (born 1944), English poet
* 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), US Objectivist poet
* Martin Rakovský (c. 1535–1579), Hungarian poet and scholar
* Zsuzsa Rakovszky (born 1950), Hungarian poet and translator
* Maraea Rakuraku (living), New Zealand Māori poet, playwright and short story writer
* Sir Walter Raleigh (c. 1554–1618), English writer, poet and explorer
* Tenali Rama (16th c., CE), Telugu poet
* Ayyalaraju Ramabhadrudu (16th c., CE), Telugu poet
* Ramarajabhushanudu (mid 16th c. CE), Telugu poet and musician
* Guru Ram Das (1534–1581), Sikh guru and Punjabi poet
* Simón Darío Ramírez (1930–1992), Venezuelan poet
* Allan Ramsay (1686–1758), Scottish poet, playwright and publisher
* Dudley Randall (1914–2000), African-US poet and publisher
* Thomas Randolph (1605–1635), English poet and dramatist
* John Crowe Ransom (1888–1974), US poet, essayist and 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), US poet and critic
* Dahlia Ravikovitch (1936–2005), Israeli poet and translator
* Tom Raworth (1938–2017), British poet and visual artist
* Herbert Read (1893–1968), English anarchist, poet and arts critic
* Peter Reading (1946–2011), English poet
* Angela Readman (born 1973), English poet
* James Reaney (1926–2008), Canadian poet, playwright and professor
* Malliya Rechana (mid-10th c. CE), Telugu poet
* Peter Redgrove (1932–2003), English poet
* Beatrice Redpath (1886–1937), Canadian poet and short story writer
* Henry Reed (1914–1986), English poet, translator and radio dramatist
* Ishmael Reed (born 1938), US poet, playwright and novelist
* Ennis Rees (1925–2009), US poet, professor and translator
* James Reeves (1909–1978), English poet, children's writer and writer on 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 (1941–2016), US poet
* Mikołaj Rej (1505–1569), Polish poet and prose writer
* Robert Rendall (1898–1967), Orkney Scottish poet and amateur naturalist
* Pierre Reverdy (1889–1960), French poet of Surrealism, Dadaism and Cubism
* Jacobus Revius (born Jakob Reefsen) (1586–1658), Dutch poet, theologian and church historian
* Kenneth Rexroth (1905–1982), US poet, translator and critical essayist
* Sydor Rey (1908–1979), Polish poet and novelist
* Charles Reznikoff (1894–1976), US Objectivist poet
* Raees Warsi (born 1963), Pakistani poet, writer and lyricist writing in Urdu

### Ri–Ry

* Francisco Granizo Ribadeneira (1925–2009), Ecuadorian poet
* Anne Rice (1941–2021), US fiction writer
* Stan Rice (1943–2002), US poet and artist; husband of Anne Rice
* Adrienne Rich (1929–2012), US poet, essayist and feminist
* John Richardson (1817–1886), English Lake District poet
* Edgell Rickword (1898–1982), English poet, critic and journalist
* Lola Ridge (1873–1941), Irish-born US anarchist poet and editor
* Laura Riding (1901–1981), US poet, critic and novelist
* Anne Ridler (1912–2001), English poet and editor
* James Whitcomb Riley (1849–1916), US writer and poet
* John Riley (1937–1978), English poet of 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 of Decadent movement
* Alberto Ríos (born 1952), US poet and professor
* Khawar Rizvi (1938–1981), Pakistani poet and scholar in Urdu and Persian
* Emma Roberts (1794–1840), English travel writer and poet
* Michael Roberts (1902–1948), English poet, writer and editor
* Edwin Arlington Robinson (1869–1935), US poet
* Mary Robinson (1757–1800), English poet and novelist
* Peter Robinson (born 1953), English poet
* Roland Robinson (1912–1992), Australian poet and writer
* Georges Rodenbach (1855–1898), Belgian 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), US poet
* Samuel Rogers (1763–1855), English poet
* Rognvald Kali Kolsson (c. 1103–1158), Earl of Orkney and saint
* Matthew Rohrer (born 1970), US poet
* Géza Röhrig (born 1967), Hungarian poet and actor
* Radoslav Rochallyi (born 1980), Slovak writer
* David Romtvedt (living), US poet
* Pierre de Ronsard (1524–1585), French poet
* Peter Rosegger (1843–1918), Austrian poet
* Franklin Rosemont (1943–2009), US poet, artist and co-founder of Chicago Surrealist Group
* Penelope Rosemont (born 1942), US poet, writer and co-founder of Chicago Surrealist Group
* Michael Rosen (born 1946), UK children's poet and former children's poet laureate
* Isaac Rosenberg (1890–1918), English poet
* Susan Rosenbloom (1958–2015) UK choreographer, artistic director, teacher and poet
* Barbara Rosiek (1959–2020), Polish poet, writer and psychologist
* 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
* 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 (1946–2015), English poet born in Sweden
* Istvan Rozanich (1912–1984), Hungarian poet exiled in Venezuela
* Tadeusz Różewicz (1921–2014), Polish poet and writer
* Ljubivoje Ršumović (born 1939), Serbian poet
* Friedrich Rückert (1788–1866), German poet, translator and academic
* Rudaki (858 – 940/41), Persian poet
* Muriel Rukeyser (1913–1980), US poet and political activist
* Zygmunt Rumel (1915–1943), Polish poet and partisan
* Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Balkhi Rumi (1207–1273), Persian Muslim poet, jurist and Sufi mystic
* Paul-Eerik Rummo (born 1942), Estonian poet
* Johan Ludvig Runeberg (1804–1877), Finnish poet in Swedish
* Nipsey Russell (1918–2005), US poet and comedian
* Kay Ryan (1945-), poet and educator; U.S. Poet Laureate, 2008–2010
* Lucjan Rydel (1870–1918), Polish poet and playwright
* Jarosław Marek Rymkiewicz (1935–2022), Polish poet, essayist and dramatist
* Ryōkan (1758–1831), Japanese calligrapher and poet

## S
### Sa–Se

* Sanai (1080–1131), Persian poet
* 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
* Saib Tabrizi (1592–1676), Persian poets
* Saʿdī Shīrāzī (1184–1283/1291), Persian poet
* Benjamin Alire Sáenz (born 1954), US 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
* Akim Samar (1916–1943), Soviet poet and novelist seen as first Nanai language writer
* Sonia Sanchez (born 1934), African-US poet associated with Black Arts Movement
* Michal Šanda (born 1965), Czech writer and poet
* Carl Sandburg (1878–1967), US 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 BCE), ancient Greek lyric poet from Lesbos
* Jaydeep Sarangi (born 1973), Indian poet in English
* Maciej Kazimierz Sarbiewski (1595–1640), Polish poet in Latin
* William Saroyan (1908–1981), US author of Armenian descent
* Siegfried Sassoon (1886–1967), English war poet
* Subagio Sastrowardoyo (1924–1995), Indonesian poet, fiction writer and literary critic
* Satsvarupa Das Goswami (born 1939), US poet and artist
* William Saunders (1806–1851), Welsh poet in Welsh
* Richard Savage (c. 1697–1743), English poet
* Leslie Scalapino (1944–2010), US poet, writer and playwright
* Maurice Scève (c. 1500–1564), French poet
* Hermann Georg Scheffauer (1876–1927), US poet, architect and fiction writer
* Georges Schehadé (1905–1989), Lebanese playwright and poet in French
* Friedrich Schiller (1759–1805), German poet, philosopher and playwright
* Arno Schmidt (1914–1979), German author and translator
* Dennis Schmitz (1937–2019), US poet
* Steven P. Schneider (living), US poet, critic, and university professor
* Arthur Schnitzler (1862–1931), Austrian author and dramatist
* Anton Schosser (1801–1849), Austrian dialect poet
* Johanna Schouten-Elsenhout (1910–1992), Surinamese poet and community leader, wrote in Sranan Tongo and English
* Philip Schultz (born 1945), US poet
* James Schuyler (1923–1991), US poet
* Delmore Schwartz (1913–1966), US poet and fiction writer
* Alexander Scott (c. 1520–1582/1583), 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, academic 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), US soul musician and jazz poet
* George Bazeley Scurfield (1920–1991), English poet, novelist, author and politician
* Peter Seaton (1942–2010), US Language poet
* Władysław Sebyła (1902–1940), Polish 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 and Nobel laureate
* Hugh Seidman (born 1940), US poet
* Rebecca Seiferle (living), US 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. BCE), Greek iambic and elegiac poet
* Léopold Sédar Senghor (1906–2001), Senegalese poet, politician and cultural theorist
* Robert W. Service (1874–1958), Scottish-Canadian poet
* Vikram Seth (born 1952), Indian author and poet
* Anne Sexton (1928–1974), US poet; Confessional poetry, 1967 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry
* John W. Sexton (born 1958), Irish poet, fiction and children's writer

### Sh–Sj

* Thomas Shadwell (c. 1642–1692), English poet and playwright; UK Poet Laureate, 1689–1692
* Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah (1565–1612), sultan of Golkonda and poet in Persian, Telugu and Urdu
* Riaz Ahmed Gohar Shahi (1941–2001), Pakistani Sufi spiritual leader, poet and author
* Mohammad-Hossein Shahriar (1906–1988) Iranian poet (both Persian and Azerbaijani poet)
* Parveen Shakir (1952–1994), Pakistani poet, teacher and civil servant of the government of Pakistan
* William Shakespeare (c. 1564–1616), English poet and playwright
* Tupac Shakur (1971–1996), US rapper, actor and black activist
* Otep Shamaya (born 1979), US singer-songwriter, actress and poet
* Ahmad Shamlou (1925–2000), Iranian poet, Persian poet
* Paata Shamugia (born 1983), Georgian poet
* Ntozake Shange (1948–2018), US playwright and poet
* Jon Beck Shank (1919–1977), US poet and teacher
* Jo Shapcott (born 1953), English poet, editor and lecturer
* Karl Shapiro (1913–2000), US poet; U.S. Poet Laureate, 1946–1947
* Sanu Sharma Nepalese Australian novelist, writer, poet, lyricist
* Brenda Shaughnessy (born 1970), US poet
* Luci Shaw (born 1928), English-born Christian poet
* Muhannad Al-Shawi (born 1974), Iraqi poet
* Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792–1822), English Romantic poet
* William Shenstone (1714–1763), English poet
* Bhupi Sherchan (1935–1989), Nepalese poet
* Taras Shevchenko (1814–1861), Ukrainian poet and artist
* Mustafa Sheykhoghlu (1340/1341 – 1410), Turkish poet and translator
* 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-US poet, critic and philosopher
* Robert Siegel (1939–2012), US poet and novelist
* August Silberstein (1827–1900), Austro-Hungarian poet and writer in German
* Jon Silkin (1930–1997), English poet
* Hilda Siller (1861–1945), American poet and short story writer
* Ron Silliman (born 1946), US poet of Language poetry
* Shel Silverstein (1930–1999), US poet, musician and children's writer
* Simeon Simev (born 1949), Macedonian poet, essayist and journalist
* Charles Simic (born 1938), Serbian-US poet; U.S. Poet Laureate, 2007–2008
* Simonides of Ceos (c. 556–468 BCE), Greek lyric poet, born at Ioulis on Kea
* Louis Simpson (1923–2012), Jamaican poet
* Bennie Lee Sinclair (1939–2000), US poet, novelist and story writer; South Carolina Poet Laureate, 1986–2000
* Burns Singer (1928–1964), US poet raised in Scotland
* Marilyn Singer (born 1948), US children's writer and poet
* Ervin Šinko (1898–1967), Croatian-Hungarian poet and prose writer
* Lemn Sissay (born 1967), English author and broadcaster
* Charles Hubert Sisson (1914–2003), English 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, protagonist of Egil's Saga
* John Skelton (1460–1529), English poet
* Sasha Skenderija (born 1968), Bosnian-US poet
* Ed Skoog (born 1971), US poet
* Jan Stanisław Skorupski (born 1938), Polish poet, essayist and esperantist
* 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 culture advocate
* Antoni Słonimski (1895–1976), Polish poet, playwright and artist
* Michaël Slory (1935–2018), Surinamese poet in Sranan Tongo, also in English, Dutch and Spanish
* Juliusz Słowacki (1809–1849), Polish Romantic poet
* 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), US poet
* Charlotte Smith (1749–1806), English Romantic poet and novelist
* Clark Ashton Smith (1893–1961), US poet, sculptor and author
* Margaret Smith (born 1958), US poet, musician and artist
* Patti Smith (born 1946), US singer-songwriter, poet and visual artist
* Stevie Smith (1902–1971), English poet and novelist
* Sydney Goodsir Smith (1915–1975), Scottish poet in Braid Scots
* Tracy K. Smith (born 1972), US poet; U.S. Poet Laureate, 2017–2019
* William Jay Smith (1918–2015), US poet; U.S. Poet Laureate, 1968–1970
* Tobias Smollett (1721–1771), Scottish poet and author
* William De Witt Snodgrass (1926–2009), US poet
* Gary Snyder (born 1930), US poet, essayist and environmentalist
* Edith Södergran (1892–1923), Finnish poet in Swedish
* Sōgi (1421–1502), Japanese waka and renga poet
* David Solway (born 1941), Canadian poet, educational theorist and travel writer
* Marie-Ange Somdah (born 1959), Burkinabe poet and writer
* William Somervile (1675–1742), English poet
* Sophocles (c. 496–406 BCE), Athenian tragedian
* Charles Sorley (1895–1915), English war poet
* Gary Soto (born 1952), Mexican-US 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 and UK Poet Laureate, 1813–1843
* 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; U.S. Poet Laureate, 1965–1966
* Edmund Spenser (1552–1599), English poet

### St–Sz

* Edward Stachura (1937–1979), poet, prose writer and translator
* Leopold Staff (1878–1957), Polish poet
* William Stafford (1914–1993), US poet and pacifist; U.S. Poet Laureate 1970–1971
* A. E. Stallings (born 1968), US poet and translator
* Jon Stallworthy (1935–2014), English academic, poet and literary critic
* Nichita Stănescu (1933–1983), Romanian poet
* Ann Stanford (1916–1987), US poet
* Anna Stanisławska (1651–1701), Polish poet
* George Starbuck (1931–1996), US neo-Formalist poet
* Andrzej Stasiuk (born 1960), Polish poet and novelist
* Statius (c. 45–96, CE), Roman poet
* Christian Karlson Stead, ONZ, CBE (born 1932), New Zealand novelist, poet and critic
* Stesichorus (c. 640–555 BCE), Greek lyric poet
* Joseph Stefan (1835–1893), Carinthian Slovenes physicist, mathematician and poet in Austria
* Stefan Stefanović (1807–1828), Serbian poet
* Gertrude Stein (1874–1946), US modernist in prose and poetry
* Eric Stenbock (1860–1895), Baltic German poet and writer of fantastic fiction
* Mattie Stepanek (1990–2004), US poet and advocate
* Shelby Stephenson (born 1938), US poet, North Carolina Poet Laureate, 2014–2018
* George Stepney (1663–1707), English poet and diplomat
* George Sterling (1869–1926), US poet and playwright, author of "A Wine of Wizardry"
* Anatol Stern (1899–1968), Polish poet and art critic
* Gerald Stern (1925–2022), US poet
* Marinko Stevanović (born 1961), Bosnian poet
* C. J. Stevens (1927–2021), US writer of poetry, fiction and biography
* Wallace Stevens (1880–1955), US modernist poet
* Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–1894), Scottish novelist, poet and travel writer
* Margo Taft Stever, US poet
* Trumbull Stickney (1874–1904), US classical scholar and poet
* James Still (1906–2001), US poet, novelist and folklorist
* Milica Stojadinović-Srpkinja (1828–1878), Serbian poet
* Dejan Stojanović (born 1959), Serbian-US poet, writer and philosopher
* Donna J. Stone (1933–1994), US poet and philanthropist
* Ruth Stone (1915–2011), US poet, author and teacher
* Lisa Gluskin Stonestreet (born 1968), US poet and editor
* Edward Storer (1880–1944), English writer, translator and poet linked with Imagism
* Theodor Storm (1817–1888), German writer and poet
* Alfonsina Storni (1892–1938), Latin US Modernist poet
* Mark Strand (1934–2014), Canadian-born US poet, essayist and translator; U.S. Poet Laureate, 1990–1991
* Botho Strauß (born 1944), German playwright, poet and novelist
* Joseph Stroud (born 1943), US poet
* Jesse Stuart (1907–1984), US writer of fiction and poetry
* Jacquie Sturm (born Te Kare Papuni) (1927–2009), New Zealand poet, fiction writer and librarian
* Su Shi (1037–1101), Song dynasty writer, poet and artist
* Su Xiaoxiao (died c. 501 CE), courtesan and poet under Southern Qi dynasty
* Allamraju Subrahmanyakavi (1831–1892), Indian Telugu poet
* Sir John Suckling (1609–1642), English poet and inventor of card game cribbage
* Suleiman the Magnificent (1494–1566), Islamic poet and Ottoman ruler
* Robert Sullivan (born 1967), New Zealand Māori poet, academic and editor
* 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
* Robert Sward (1933–2022), US and Canadian poet and novelist
* Cole Swensen (born 1955), US poet, translator and copywriter
* Karen Swenson (born 1936), US poet
* May Swenson (1913–1989), US poet and playwright
* Marcin Świetlicki (born 1961), Polish poet, prose writer and musician
* Jonathan Swift (1667–1745), Anglo-Irish satirist, essayist and pamphleteer
* Algernon Charles Swinburne (1837–1909), English poet, playwright and novelist
* Anna Świrszczyńska (also Anna Swir) (1909–1984), Polish poet
* Joshua Sylvester (1563–1618), English poet
* Arthur William Symons (1865–1945), English poet, critic and editor
* John Millington Synge (1871–1909), Irish dramatist, poet and folklore collector
* Władysław Syrokomla (1823–1862), Polish poet and translator in Russian Empire
* Lőrinc Szabó (1900–1957), Hungarian poet and literary translator
* Fruzina Szalay (1864–1926), Hungarian poet and translator
* Mikołaj Sęp Szarzyński (c. 1550 – c. 1581), poet in Polish and Latin
* Arthur Sze (born 1950), Chinese US poet
* Bertalan Szemere (1812–1869), Hungarian poet and politician
* Gyula Szentessy (1870–1905), Hungarian poet
* George Szirtes (born 1948), Hungary-born British poet and translator
* Janusz Szpotański (1929–2001), Polish poet, satirist and translator
* Włodzimierz Szymanowicz (1946–1967), Polish poet and painter
* Wisława Szymborska (1923–2012), Polish poet, essayist and translator; 1996 Nobel Prize in Literature
* Szymon Szymonowic (1558–1629), Polish poet

## T
### Ta–Te

* Rabindranath Tagore (1861–1941), Bengali polymath; 1913 Nobel Prize in Literature
* Judit Dukai Takách (Malvina, 1795–1836), Hungarian poet
* Bogi Takács (born 1983), Hungarian poet and fiction writer in US
* Kyoshi Takahama (1874–1959), Japanese poet
* 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), Belarus poet
* Tao Qian (365–427), Chinese poet
* 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
* Allen Tate (1899–1979), US poet, essayist and commentator; U.S. Poet Laureate, 1943–1944
* James Tate (1943–2015), US poet
* Emma Tatham (1829–1855), English poet
* Tracey Tawhiao (born 1967), New Zealand Maori poet and artist
* Apirana Taylor (born 1955), New Zealand poet, novelist and storyteller
* 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), US poet
* Jane Taylor (1783–1824), English poet and novelist
* Sara Teasdale (1884–1933), US lyric poet
* Guru Tegh Bahadur (1621–1675), Sikh Guru and Punjabi poet
* Telesilla (fl. 510 BCE), Greek poet
* Raipiyel Tennakoon (1899–1965), Sri Lankan poet
* William Tennant (1784–1848), Scottish scholar and poet
* Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809–1892), English poet; UK Poet Laureate, 1850–1892
* Vahan Terian (1885–1920), Armenian poet, lyricist and public activist
* Elaine Terranova (born 1939), US poet
* Lucy Terry (c. 1730–1821), African-US 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 performer

### Th–To

* Kálmán Thaly (1839–1909), Hungarian poet and politician
* Ernest Thayer (1863–1940), US writer and poet
* John Thelwall (1764–1834), English poet and essayist
* Theocritus (fl. 3rd c. BCE), Greek bucolic poet
* Antony Theodore (born 1954), German pastor poet and educator
* Jan Theuninck (born 1954), Belgian painter and poet
* Nandi Thimmana (15th – 16th cc.), Telugu poet
* Thiruvalluvar (around 31 BCE), 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), US 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), US poet, journalist, editor and publisher
* Francis Thompson (1859–1907), English poet and ascetic
* James Thomson (1700–1748), Scottish poet and playwright
* James Thomson (Bysshe Vanolis, 1834–1882), Scottish Victorian poet
* Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862), US author, poet and philosopher
* Georg Thurmair (1909–1984), German poet and hymn writer
* Maria Luise Thurmair (1918–2005), German poet and hymn writer
* Joseph Thurston (1704–1732), English poet
* Anthony Thwaite (1930–2021), English poet and writer
* Tibullus (c. 54–19 BCE), Latin poet and elegy writer
* 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
* Gary Tillery (born 1947), US writer, poet and artist
* Abdillahi Suldaan Mohammed Timacade (1920–1973), Somali poet
* Eugeniusz Tkaczyszyn-Dycki (born 1962), Polish poet
* Nick Toczek (born 1950), English writer, poet and broadcaster
* Melvin B. Tolson (1898–1966), US Modernist poet, educator and columnist
* Charles Tomlinson (1927–2015), English poet and translator
* Jean Toomer (1894–1967), US poet and novelist
* Mihály Tompa (1819–1868), Hungarian poet and pastor
* Álvaro Torres-Calderón (born 1975), Peruvian poet
* Kálmán Tóth (1831–1881), Hungarian poet
* Krisztina Tóth (born 1967), Hungarian poet and translator
* Sándor Tóth (1939–2019), Hungarian poet and journalist
* Cyril Tourneur (1575–1626), English poetic dramatist
* Ann Townsend (born 1962), US poet and essayist

### Tr–Tz

* Thomas Traherne (1636/1637–1674), English poet, clergyman and religious writer
* Georg Trakl (1887–1914), Austrian Expressionist poet
* Chrysanthemum Tran, Vietnamese-American poet
* Elizabeth Treadwell (born 1967), US poet
* Roland Michel Tremblay (born 1972), French Canadian writer and poet
* Natasha Trethewey (1966-), American poet; U.S. Poet Laureate 2012–2014
* William S. Tribell (born 1977), US poet
* Duško Trifunović (1933–2006), Serbian poet and writer
* Calvin Trillin (born 1935), US humorist, poet and novelist
* Geeta Tripathee (born 1972), Nepali poet, lyricist, essayist and scholar
* Suryakant Tripathi (1896–1961), Indian poet in Hindi and Bengali
* Quincy Troupe (born 1939), US poet, editor 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
* 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 Māori poet
* Julian Tuwim (1894–1953), Polish poet of Jewish descent
* Jan Twardowski (1915–2006), Polish poet and priest
* Chase Twichell (born 1950), US poet, professor and publisher
* Pontus de Tyard (c. 1521–1605), French poet and priest
* Fyodor Tyutchev (1803–1873), Russian Romantic poet
* Tristan Tzara (1896–1963), Romanian and French avant-garde poet and performance artist

## U

* Kornel Ujejski (1823–1897), Polish poet and political writer
* Erzsi Újvári (1899–1940), Hungarian poet
* Laura Ulewicz (1930–2007), US beat poet
* Kavisekhara Dr Umar Alisha (1885–1945), Telugu poet
* Jeff Unaegbu (born 1979), Nigerian writer, actor and documentary film maker
* Miguel de Unamuno (1864–1936), Spanish essayist, novelist and poet
* Giuseppe Ungaretti (1888–1970), Italian poet, critic and academic
* Abul Qasim Hasan Unsuri Balkhi (died 1039/1040) Persian poet
* Louis Untermeyer (1885–1977), US poet, anthologist and critic; U.S. Poet Laureate 1961–1962
* John Updike (1932–2009), US novelist, poet and critic
* Allen Upward (1863–1926), Irish-English Imagist poet and teacher
* Uthman Mukhtari (1074–1118), Persian poet
* Amy Uyematsu (1947–2023), Japanese-US poet

## V

* János Vajda (1827–1897), Hungarian poet and journalist
* Paul Valéry (1871–1945), French Symbolist author and poet
* Alfonso Vallejo (1943–2021), Spanish artist, playwright and poet
* César Vallejo (1892–1938), Peruvian poet, writer and playwright
* Jean-Pierre Vallotton (born 1955), French-Swiss poet and writer
* Valmiki poet harbinger in Sanskrit literature
* Cor van den Heuvel (born 1931), US haiku poet, editor and archivist
* Mona Van Duyn (1921–2004), US poet; U.S. Poet Laureate, 1992–1993
* Lin Van Hek (born 1944), Australian poet, writer and fashion designer
* Nikola Vaptsarov (1909–1942), Bulgarian poet
* Varand (born 1954), Armenian poet, writer and professor of literature
* Mahadevi Varma (1907–1987), Indian poet writing in Hindi
* Dimitris Varos (1949–2017), modern Greek poet, journalist and photographer
* Henry Vaughan (1621–1695), Welsh author, physician and metaphysical poet
* Thomas Vaux, 2nd Baron Vaux of Harrowden (1509–1556), English poet
* Meta Vaux Warrick Fuller (1877–1968), African-American poet, painter and sculptor
* Joana Vaz (c. 1500 – after 1570), Portuguese poet and courtier
* Vazha-Pshavela (aka Luka Razikashvili) (1861–1915), Georgian poet and writer
* Reetika Vazirani (1962–2003), US poet and educator
* Ivan Vazov (1850–1921), Bulgarian poet, novelist and playwright
* Attila Végh (born 1962), Hungarian poet and philosopher
* Maffeo Vegio (Latin: Maphaeus Vegius) (1407–1458), Italian poet in Latin
* Vemana (aka Kumaragiri Vema Reddy), Indian Telugu poet
* Gavril Stefanović Venclović (fl. 1680–1749), Serbian priest, writer, poet and illuminator
* Helen Vendler (born 1933), US poetry critic and professor
* Jacint Verdaguer (1845–1902), Catalan poet in Spain
* Paul Verlaine (1844–1896), French poet associated with Symbolist movement
* Paul Vermeersch (born 1973), Canadian poet
* Veturi (1936–2010), Telugu poet and songwriter
* Francis Vielé-Griffin (1864–1937), French symbolist poet
* Peter Viereck (1916–2006), US poet, professor and political thinker
* Gilles Vigneault (born 1928), Canadian Quebecois poet, publisher and singer-songwriter
* Judit Vihar (born 1944), Hungarian poet and literary historian
* Jose Garcia Villa (1908–1997), Philippines poet, literary critic and painter
* Xavier Villaurrutia (1903–1950), Mexican poet and playwright
* François Villon (c. 1431–1464), French poet, thief and barroom brawler
* Virgil (Publius Vergilius Maro; 70–19 BCE), ancient Roman poet
* Roemer Visscher (1547–1620), Dutch writer and poet
* Mihály Csokonai Vitéz (1773–1805), Hungarian poet
* Mihailo Vitković (1778–1829), Hungarian poet in Serbian and lawyer
* Walther von der Vogelweide (c. 1170 – c. 1230), celebrated Middle High German lyric poet
* Vincent Voiture (1597–1648), French poet
* Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet) (1694–1778), French Enlightenment writer
* Joost van den Vondel (1587–1679), Dutch playwright and poet
* Andrei Voznesensky (1933–2010), Soviet Russian poet
* Stanko Vraz (1810–1851), Croatian-Slovenian language poet
* Vyasa, considered author of Mahabharata and some Vedas

## W
### Wa–Wh

* Wace (c. 1110 – post-1174), Norman poet
* Sidney Wade (born 1951), US poet and professor
* Madge Morris Wagner (1862–1924), US poet, journalist, novelist, edito
* John Wain (1925–1994), English poet, novelist and critic
* Diane Wakoski (born 1937), US poet linked with deep image, confessional and Beat generation poets
* Derek Walcott (1930–2017), Saint Lucia poet and playwright; 1992 Nobel Prize in Literature
* Anne Waldman (born 1945), US poet
* Rosmarie Waldrop (born 1935), German-US poet, translator and publisher
* Arthur Waley (1889–1966), English orientalist and Sinologist, poet and translator
* Alice Walker (born 1944), US author, poet and activist
* Margaret Walker (1915–1998), African-US writer
* Edmund Waller (1606–1687), English poet and politician
* Martin Walser (born 1927), German writer
* Robert Walser (1878–1956), German-speaking Swiss writer
* Wan Shenzi (1856–1923), Chinese couplet writer
* Connie Wanek (born 1952), US 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, US poet
* Sylvia Townsend Warner (1893–1978), English novelist and poet
* Robert Penn Warren (1905–1989), US poet, novelist and critic; U.S. Poet Laureate, 1944–1945 and 1986–1987
* Lewis Warsh (1944–1920), US poet, writer and visual artist
* Thomas Warton (1728–1790), English literary historian, critic and poet
* Albert Wass (1908–1998), Hungarian poet and novelist exiled in US
* Aleksander Wat (1900–1967), Polish poet and memoirist
* Vernon Watkins (1906–1967), Welsh poet, translator and painter
* Thomas Watson (1555–1592), English lyric poet in English and Latin
* Samuel Wagan Watson (born 1972), Australian poet
* George Watsky (born 1986), US poet and rapper
* Barrett Watten (born 1948), US poet, editor and educator linked 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
* Adam Ważyk (1905–1982), Polish poet and essayist
* Francis Webb (1925–1973), Australian poet
* John Webster (c. 1580 – c. 1634), English dramatist
* Rebecca Wee, US poet and professor
* Hannah Weiner (1928–1997), US Language poet
* Sándor Weöres (1913–1989), Hungarian poet and translator
* Wei Yingwu (737–792), Chinese poet
* Wen Yiduo (1899–1946), Chinese poet
* Marjory Heath Wentworth (born 1958), US poet; South Carolina Poet Laureate, 2003–2020
* Charles Wesley (1707–1788), English Methodist leader and hymnist
* Gilbert West (1703–1756), English poet, translator and Christian apologist
* Philip Whalen (1923–2002), US 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-US poet
* Billy Edd Wheeler (born 1932), US songwriter, performer and poet
* E.B. White (1899–1985), US essayist, author and humorist
* Henry Kirke White (1785–1806), English poet
* James L. White (1936–1981), US poet, editor and teacher
* Robert Whitehall (1624–1685), English poet
* Walt Whitman (1819–1892), US poet, essayist and humanist
* Isabella Whitney (fl. 1567–1573), English poet
* Reed Whittemore (1919–2012), US poet, biographer and critic; U.S. Poet Laureate, 1964–1965 and 1984–1985
* John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892), US poet

### Wi–Wy

* Anna Wickham (Edith Alice Mary Harper) (1884–1947), English poet raised in Australia
* Les Wicks (born 1955), Australian poet, publisher and editor
* Ulrika Widström (1764–1841), Swedish poet and translator
* John Wieners (1934–2002), US lyric poet
* Kazimierz Wierzyński (1894–1969), Polish poet and journalist
* Richard Wilbur (1921–2017), US poet; U.S. Poet Laureate, 1987–1988
* Peter Wild (1940–2009), US poet and historian
* 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), earliest troubadour poet whose work survives
* Aeneas Francon Williams (1886–1971), Anglo-Scottish poet, writer and missionary
* Emmett Williams (1925–2007), US poet and visual artist
* Jonathan Williams (1929–2008), US poet, publisher and essayist
* Heathcote Williams (1941–2017), English poet, political activist and dramatist
* Miller Williams (1930–2015), US poet, translator and editor
* Oscar Williams (1900–1964), Jewish Ukrainian-US anthologist and poet
* Saul Williams (born 1972), African-US singer, poet, writer and actor
* Sherley Anne Williams (1944–1999), African-US poet, novelist and social critic
* Waldo Williams (1904–1971), Welsh poet in Welsh
* William Carlos Williams (1883–1963), poet and physician linked with modernism and imagism; U.S. Poet Laureate, 1952
* 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), US poet and editor
* Anne Elizabeth Wilson (1901–1946), US-born Canadian poet, writer, editor
* Peter Lamborn Wilson (Hakim Bey, 1945–2022), US political and cultural writer, essayist and poet
* Christian Wiman (born 1966), US poet and editor
* David Wingate (1828–1892), Scottish poet
* Yvor Winters (1900–1968), US poet and literary critic
* George Wither (1588–1667), English poet, pamphleteer and satirist
* Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz (Witkacy, 1885–1939), Polish poet, writer and philosopher
* Stefan Witwicki (1801–1847), Polish poet
* Woeser (born 1966), Tibetan activist, poet and essayist
* Rafał Wojaczek (1945–1971), Polish poet
* Grażyna Wojcieszko (born 1957), Polish poet and essayist
* 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-US poet, literary translator and playwright
* Maryla Wolska (Iwo Płomieńczyk, 1873–1930), Polish poet
* George Woodcock (1912–1995), Canadian poet and writer of biography and history
* 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 (1949–2016), US poet
* Charles Wright (born 1935), US poet; 1998 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry; U.S. Poet Laureate, 2014–2015
* David Wright (1920–1994), South African-born poet and author
* Franz Wright (1953–2015), US poet, son of James Wright; 2004 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry
* James Wright (1927–1980), US poet, father of Franz Wright
* Jay Wright (born 1935), African-US poet, playwright and essayist
* Judith Wright (1915–2000), Australian poet and environmentalist
* Lady Mary Wroth (1587 – c. 1651), English poet
* Thomas Wyatt (1503–1542), English ambassador and lyric poet
* Józef Wybicki (1747–1822), Polish poet and national-anthem writer
* Elinor Wylie (1885–1928), US poet and novelist
* Hedd Wyn (1887–1917), Welsh poet in Welsh
* Edward Alexander Wyon (1842–1872), English architect and poet
* Stanisław Wyspiański (1869–1907), Polish poet, playwright and painter

## X

* Xenokleides (4th c. BCE), Athenian poet
* Xin Qiji (1140–1207), Chinese poet
* Cali Xuseen Xirsi (also Yam Yam) (1946–2005), Somali poet active in 1960s
* Xu Pei (born 1966), Chinese-born German poet
* Xu Zhimo (1897–1931), Chinese poet
* Halima Xudoyberdiyeva (1947–2018), Uzbek poet

## Y

* Jūkichi Yagi (1898–1927), Japanese religious poet
* Leo Yankevich (born 1961), US poet and editor
* Peyo Yavorov (1878–1914), Bulgarian Symbolist poet
* Raushan Yazdani (1918–1967), Bengali poet and researcher
* W. B. Yeats (1865–1939), Irish poet; 1923 Nobel Prize in Literature
* Sergei Yesenin (1895–1925), Russian lyrical poet
* Yevgeny Yevtushenko (1933–2017), Soviet Russian poet, dramatist and film director
* Yi Suhyŏng (1435–1528), politician and Confucian scholar, writer, and poet
* Lin Yining (1655 – c. 1730), Chinese poet, painter and composer
* Akiko Yosano (1878–1942), Japanese poet, feminist and pacifist
* Nima Yooshij (1895–1960), Iranian poet, Persian poet
* Andrew Young (1885–1971), Scottish poet and clergyman
* Edward Young (1681–1765), English poet
* Ian Young (born 1945), English/Canadian poet
* Kevin Young (born 1970), US poet and teacher
* Marguerite Young (1908–1995), US author of poetry, fiction and non-fiction
* Simpson Charles Younger (1850–1943), baseball player, soldier during the American Civil War, civil rights campaigner, and poet
* A. W. Yrjänä (Aki Ville Yrjänä; born 1967), Finnish poet, musician and songwriter
* Yuan Mei (1716–1797), Chinese poet, scholar and gastronome

## Z

* Tymon Zaborowski (1799–1828), Polish poet
* Adam Zagajewski (1945–2021), Polish poet, novelist and essayist
* Józef Bohdan Zaleski (1802–1886), Polish poet
* Wacław Michał Zaleski (1799–1849), Polish poet, critic and politician
* Esperanza Zambrano (1901–1992), Mexican poet
* Alessio Zanelli (born 1963), Italian poet in English
* Andrea Zanzotto (1921–2011), Italian poet
* Matthew Zapruder (born 1967), US poet, translator and professor
* Marya Zaturenska (1902–1982), US lyric poet
* Kazimiera Zawistowska (1870–1902), Polish poet and translator
* Abd al-Wahhab Abu Zayd (living), Saudi poet and translator
* Piotr Zbylitowski (1569–1649), Polish poet and courtier
* Katarzyna Ewa Zdanowicz-Cyganiak (born 1979), Polish poet and journalist
* Mao Zedong (1893-1976), Chinese poet, politician, political theorist, military strategist, revolutionary, and founder of the People's Republic of China
* Emil Zegadłowicz (1888–1941), Polish poet, playwright and translator
* Ludwig Zeller (1927–2019), Chilean poet
* Robert Zend (1929–1985), Hungarian-Canadian poet, fiction writer and artist
* Benjamin Zephaniah (1958–2023), English writer, dub poet and Rastafarian
* Hristofor Zhefarovich (c. 1690–1753), Serbian painter, writer and poet
* Calvin Ziegler (1854–1930), German-US poet in Pennsylvania Dutch
* Narcyza Żmichowska (Gabryella, 1819–1876), Polish poet and novelist
* Radovan Zogović (1907–1986), Serbian/Montenegrin poet
* Miklós Zrínyi (1620–1664), Hungarian poet and statesman
* Zuhayr ibn Abī Sūlmā (520–609), pre-Islamic Arabian poet
* Louis Zukofsky (1904–1978), US objectivist poets
* Jerzy Żuławski (1874–1915), Polish poet, novelist and philosopher
* Juliusz Żuławski (1910–1999), Polish poet, critic and translator
* Huldrych Zwingli (1484–1531), Swish poet, hymnist and Reformation leader
* Eugeniusz Żytomirski (1911–1975), Polish poet, playwright and novelist in Russia and Canada