Top 5 Greatest Poets Of All Time
In my literature class this year, I was introduced to many different poets from around the world, who are quite talented and whose styles are extraordinary. Poetry has been around since words have been recorded, which is why it is even more amazing that this artistic form of expression is still around and going strong.This is my list of the top five most eloqent and well-written poets of all time.
Remember, this is my opinion, and therefore, if you disagree with one of my choices and/or feel another poet should be listed, please comment respectfully below.
5.Wilfred Owen- Wilfred Owen was one of the many great English war poets during World War I.He died near the end of the war in 1918 at the age of 25, and most of his works were published posthumously.His most celebrated poem is one called "Dulce et Decorum Est," in which he talks about whether it really is "sweet and fitting to die for one's country." He uses an anecdote about a soldier he sees die in the trenches because he could not get his gas mask on in time, asking the question, "How fitting is it to die like that?" Owen had other realist works like this, that he wrote during the war.
4.Robert Frost- Robert Frost was a very well known poet in the twentieth century and, if I do say so myself, one of the most talented.Frost had a way with words and a way with twisting them to sound impeccable together.The first time I read his poem, "Fire and Ice," the first thing I noticed was his ability to twist the words around so that the message was still conveyed, but the poem flowed almost perfectly.He could do this like no other poet could.His poems, for the most part, were short, to the point, yet extremely powerful for their length.Some of his compositions that fit this description include "Fire and Ice," "Nothing Gold Can Stay," and "The Road Not Taken." It is for these reasons why Robert Frost's work will not be lost in time.
3.Dr.Seuss- I know some readers may be a little befuddled at why I have chosen to add Dr.Seuss to this list instead of millions of other great poets and add him above the likes of Robert Frost.There is a very good reason why Dr.Seuss has made this list of the greatest.Sure, his books are made up of easy rhymes, odd illustrations, and childish qualities, but at the same time, look at how many books he has released that are some of the most popular in history.His books are like long poems, and they are most certainly household names: "Green Eggs and Ham," "The Cat in the Hat," "The Lorax," and "How the Grinch Stole Christmas," just to name a few.He wrote most of his work in anapestic tetrameter, keeping it consistent and easy to read.Some of his childrens' stories even have a bit of satire involved, but I will not tell you where; you will have to research for yourself.
2.Edgar Allen Poe- The great nineteenth century poet, Edgar Allen Poe, is known for his more grim, dark works.I am excited to be able to put him on my list, as I have always been a big fan of Poe's, from "The Tell Tale Heart" to "The Raven" and in between.He has so many great works and certainly set the stage for some of the darker, gothic works that came after his own.He was an American poet, who is known to be one of the greatest contributors to the Romantic movement and for good reason.Unlike Frost, his poems were a bit longer in length and a bit more complicated to follow.Poe also had different circumstances that many other poets.He was poor for almost all of his life, his wife died very prematurely, and he never had any offspring or family to return to for holidays.He lived in a very dark world all alone, but the way he expressed it on paper made all the difference between being just another poet and being an extraordinary poet.
1.T.S.Eliot- This should not be too much of a shock, as T.S.Eliot has most certainly made a name for himself as a pioneer of the Modernist movement in American and English poetry and literature.Eliot is best known for his poem, "The Love Song of J.Alfred Prufrock," which is a must read poem about a middle-aged man who struggles to decide whether he should talk to the beautiful women across the room.The main character, Prufrock, is known for being insecure and indecisive with his thoughts and decisions.This poem is known to be one of the greatest of all time and, as fellow poet Ezra Pound described it, a masterpiece.Some of Eliot's other works received awards, including his poems, "The Hollow Men," and "Four Quartets," which consists of four long poems, each representing a different element, that Eliot proclaimed was his masterpiece.He won the Nobel Peace Prize for Literature after publishing "Four Quartets," and, in my opinion, T.S.Eliot deserves the title of best poet of all time.
Some other poets that just narrowly missed the list are as follows: Emily Dickinson, William Butler Yeats, Shel Silverstein, Siegfried Sassoon, Andrew Marvell, Matthew Arnold, and Percy Bysshe Shelley.
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