Greatest Poets

[Ric.ror]

Who are considered the greatest poets ?

[3Styler]

personal opinion; Heaney and Frost.  Wouldn't really know who are considered the greatest poets but don't really think it matters that much, as it's your personal preference and how they relate to you as an individual.

[Lilacw1ne]

I think Thomas Hardy was a great poet as well as a great novelist.

[woofgang]

here's a link to a similar question that I posted

http://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/Arts-and-Literature/Question77549.html

[woofgang]

and this guy just makes me smile

http://www.mcgonagall-online.org.uk/links.htm

[maxi29]

An interesting question and one that I've never seen debated in the 100 Greatest ... type programmes. My guess is, that if there were such an undertaking, that Dante would just pip Ovid and Shakespeare to the honour but that's just my gut feeling.
The problem with this type of debate is that poetry, more than any other form of literature, is best heard in the poet's original tongue. So such a debate, if carried out in English, would be dominated by British, Irish and American poets, which seems unfair on the many excellent poets writing in other languages. The English-language poets that I would expect to feature, in no particular order, would be Shakespeare, MIlton, Eliot. Keats, Byron, Wordsworth, Chaucer, Whitman, Heaney, Hopkins, Yeats and my big favourite, Blake., but as 3styler says, it's all down to personal opinion.

[waiglet]

What, no Shelley?? (my personal favourite).

And even as a resident of Ayr I'm glad to see no one mentioning Robert Burns. I have never been able to fathom out why people get so worked up about the rantings of an Ayrshire farmer. Just my opinion.

[KebabMeister]

It all comes down to your ability to identify with their style.  I personally like DH Lawrence and PB Shelley.

[mystress]

Well, at the risk of being accused of sexism (I AM Female)

I think my favourite(which is different to the greatest) poets are:~

Christina Rossetti

&

Emily Dickinson.

[firefly]

The most influential poet was probably, Homer, with his Iliad and Odyssey.

[amarillis]

My favourites (which doesn't necessarily mean they are the greatest) are Edgar Allan Poe and AB 'Banjo' Patterson. Extremely different styles and eras, but both great poets.

[Katie22]

I'd say some of the first world war poets, i.e. Sassoon, Owen and Brooke

[Trillipse]

auden

 

when you are old and grey ......