Greatest Playwrights of All Time

Now I must preface this list with a fair warning that I have never quite been a major proponent of theater, specifically that of Broadway. However I do admire the classical Greek plays, and especially  the legendary Shakespeare plays. Perhaps I am just a classicist at heart, and maybe some day I may come to admire the modern works of theater. But nonetheless I can still give credit where credit is due, as both classic and modern playwrights are ultimately presenting artistic literature.

There are some who may say the work of a play can hardly be considered literature. After all it is written more as an instructional narrative that relies heavily on the performance of actors, the backdrop of a stage, props, and often musical compositions. It is the summation of all these parts that presents the story to the audience. It is a presentation quite similar to a movie that is very different than the experience shared in a book between the writer and the reader. (Side note, I will not be making a post regarding screen writers. Many screen writers also serve as directors or producers, and I have already written plenty on this film category).

Back to the debate of plays as literature however, ultimately in order for all the tools of a play to come together they need some form of source material. The play needs a setting, some dialogue, some conflict, some resolution, and all the necessary ingredients of a story. Ultimately a play needs a writer to write a story and thus the writer of plays can be considered a writer of literature. For that reason I shall include them in this series regarding great writers. This list will serve as a study for myself in a genre I am not quite as familiar with. I have come up with this ranking based on the consensus of scholarly opinions as well as the names I am most familiar with.


Honorable Mention


Euripides

Years: 74 (480 BC- 406 BC)
Nationality: Greek
Literary Style: Classical tragedy
Notable Works:

• Alcestis (438 BC)
• Medea (431 BC)
• Hippolytus (428 BC)
• Electra (420 BC)
• Heracles (416 BC)

Significance: In the age of classical Athens and the Hellenistic Age, playwrights competed with one another for the best stories. Euripides specialized in the accounts of tragedy similar to other famous Greek playwrights such Aeschylus and Sophocles. Much of his characters revolved around present day Athenians as opposed to the heroic and mythological representations. His work demonstrated great intellectualism in the likes of Socrates and he was often parodied by the comic playwright, Aristophanes. He has gone on to influence many other playwrights such as Ibsen, Strindberg, and George Bernard Shaw.


George Bernard Shaw

Years: 94 (1856-1950)
Nationality: Irish
Literary Style: Contemporary Satire, Historical Allegory
Notable Awards: Noble Prize for Literature (1925), Academy Award (1938)
Notable Works:

• Arms and the Man (1894)
• Ceaser and Cleopatra (1898)
• Man and Superman (1902)
• Major Barbara (1905)
• The Doctor's Dilema (1906)
• Pygmalion (1912)
• Saint Joan (1923)

Significance: He is one of several great Irish authors and playwrights also renown for his political activism. He demonstrated his religious and political insights thru a stream of successful plays in the early 1900s. However he was often quite controversial for his views regarding British involvement in WWI and WWII and is believed to have supported dictatorship regimes such as that of Mussolini and Stalin's. He demonstrated a unique blend of satire and historical allegory in his works that eventually won him a Noble Prize for literature in 1925 and an Academy Award in 1938.


Aristophanes

Years: 60 (446 BC- 386 BC)
Nationality: Greek
Literary Style: Old Comedy
Notable Works:

• The Clouds (423 BC)
• The Wasps (422 BC)
• The Birds (414 BC)
• Lysistrata (411 BC)
• The Women at the Thesmophoria Festival (411)
• The Frogs (405 BC)

Significance: He is regarded as the father of comedy and was a counter to the classical tragedy plays presented by other playwrights such as Euripides, Aeschylus, and Sophocles. He specialized in presenting real Athenians with stories regarding current local topics. He often ridiculed and made parodies of famous philosophers and tragedians of the time, including Euripides and Socrates. Many scholars often attribute his popular play, The Clouds, as a slanderous account that led to the execution of Socrates. Nonetheless Aristophanes was influential in ushering in the genre of comedy as well as providing a thorough window into classical Greek culture.


August Strindberg

Years: 63 (1849-1912)
Nationality: Sweden
Literary Style: Naturalism, Expressionism, Modernism
Notable Works:

• Master Olaf (1872)
• The Red Room (1879)
• The Father (1887)
• Miss Julie (1888)
• Inferno (1897)
• To Damascus (1898)
• The Dance of Death (1900)
• A Dream Play (1902)
• The Ghost Sonata (1908)

Significance: He is regarded as one of Sweden's most famous novelists and playwrights of all time. He was heavily influenced by the spiritualist ideas of Emmanuel Swedenborg and furthered naturalists themes presented by Henrik Ibsen. He was a very skilled intellect and artist, in the likes of William Blake, he was also a poet, painter, and essayist. He lived a very engaged life, often attuning to leftist politics of which he was inspired by the Paris Commune of 1971 and the work of Emile Zola. His most famous plays were that of Master Olaf, Miss Julie, and The Father and he went on to inspire many other notable playwrights such as Eugene O'Neil.

Aeschylus

Years: 67 (523 BC- 456 BC)
Nationality: Greek
Literary Style: Classical Tragedy
Notable Works:

• The Persians (472 BC)
• The Suppliants (470 BC)
• Seven Against Thebes (467 BC)
• Oresteia (458 BC)

Significance: He is often regarded as the father of tragedy however only 7 of his 90 suspected plays survive to this day. It is believed he played a significant role in expanding the amount of characters in a play and also demonstrating political themes of the times. His play The Persians was an account of the Greco-Persian Wars and the glorious victory at the Battle of Marathon. He is considered among the earliest of famous playwrights during the 6th century as the theater was just beginning to make it's introduction.




Top Ten Greatest Playwrights


10. Eugene O'Neil

Years: 65 (1888-1953)
Nationality: American
Literary Style: Realism
Notable Awards: Pulitzer Prize for Drama (1920, 1922, 1928, 1957) Noble Prize for Literature (1936)
Notable Works:

• Beyond the Horizon (1920)
• The Emperor Jones (1920)
• Anna Christie (1922)
• Desire Under the Elms (1924)
• Strange Interlude (1924)
• Mourning Becomes Electra (1931)
• Ah, Wilderness! (1933)
• Long Day's Journey into the Night (1956)

Significance: He is regarded among 3 of the greatest modern American playwrights along with Tennessee Williams and Arthur Miller. His masterpiece Long Day's Journey into the Night is considered one of the best plays in the history of American theater. He was influenced by the realism works of Anton Chekov, Henrik Ibsen, and August Strindberg. During the early 1910s he spent time with a notable group of free-thinkers in Greenwich Village, most notably the founder of the American Communist Party, John Jack Reed. O'Neil was best known for his tragedy plays depicting characters falling into hopelessness, however he also produced several comedy plays.


9. Samuel Beckett

Years: 83 (1906-1989)

Nationality: Irish
University: Trinity College, Dublin
Literary Style: Tragicomedy, Minimalist
Notable Awards: Noble Prize for Literature (1969)
Notable Works:

• Murphy (1938)
• Molloy (1951)
• Malone Dias (1951)
• The Unnamable (1953)
• Waiting for Godot (1953)
• Watt (1953)
• Endgame (1957)
• Krapp's Last Tape (1958)
• How It Is (1960)
• Happy Days (1960)

Significance: Yet another highly regarded Irish novelist and playwright, Samuel Beckett is often considered the founder of absurd fiction. He specialized in tragicomedies presenting dark comedy and various themes of existentialism. Becket excelled as a child both academically and athletically as he was a top class cricket player. In college he demonstrated great interest in literature and met the recently famed Irish author, James Joyce. During the 1930s he began publishing his works of poetry and short stories as he traveled throughout Europe. He joined the French Resistance during WWII and afterwards began producing many of his famous plays in Paris. Becket went on to win a Noble Prize in 1969 and his work is celebrated for expanding the realist tradition into more abstract material.


8. Tennessee Williams

Years: 71 (1911-1983)

Nationality: American
University: University of Missouri, Washington University in St. Louis, University of Iowa
Literary Style: Realism
Notable Works:

• A Streetcar named Desire (1947)
• Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1955)
• Sweet Bird of Youth (1959)
• The Night of the Iguana (1961)

Significance: He is regarded among the 3 greatest American playwrights of all time with Eugene O'Neil and Arthur Miller. His greatest claim to fame was Streetcar named Desire, which was later adapted into a critically acclaimed movie in 1951 starring Vivien Leigh and Marlon Brando. Originally named Thomas Lanier Williams he later adopted the pen name as Tennessee Williams. He was influenced by the plays of Anton Chekov and the writings of William Faulkner, Emily Dickinson, and Ernest Hemingway. Much of his work was adapted in movies and he is also renown for his works of poetry, essays, and memoirs.


7. Oscar Wilde

Years: 46 (1854-1900) 
Nationality: Irish
University: Trinity College Dublin; Magalen College, Oxford
Literary Style: Aestheticism, Decadent movement
Notable Works:

• The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890)
• Salome (1891)
• Lady Windemere's Fan (1892)
• A Woman of No Importance (1893)
• An Ideal Husband (1895)
• The Importance of Being Ernest (1895)

Significance: He is considered one of the all time greatest Irish playwrights and was also a well renown author, for his masterful novel of The Picture of Dorian Gray. Oscar Wilde was born into a wealthy intellectual family in Dublin and was able to excel in his studies of literature and philosophy. By the 1880s he became affluent in notable social circles in London and developed himself a name as a notable journalist and essayist pertaining to the topic of aesthetics. Wilde's first major claim to fame came with the release of his novel The Picture of Dorian Gray, which demonstrated his philosophical, hedonistic, and even homosexual lifestyle. In the 1890s he began to thrive as a playwright producing a string of successful tragedies and comedies, such as his most famous play The Importance of Being Ernest. However after the success of this play, he began accused of his homosexual relationships in a series of trials that lead to his eventual arrest for gross indecency. After two years in prison, Wilde exiled himself from Britain and Ireland and died shortly after in France due to meningitis. Despite his short life, his literary work and plays however are often regarded among the finest works in literature. 


6. Moliere

Years: 51 (1622-1673)

Nationality: French
University: College de Clermont (Lycee Louis-le-Grand)
Literary Style: Comedies, Farces, Tragicomedies
Notable Works:

• The Affected Ladies (1659)
• The School for Husbands (1661)
• The School for Wives (1662)
• Tartuffe (1664)
• Dom Juan (1665)

Significance: He is often considered as the French counterpart to England's William Shakespeare as he was the celebrated playwright of the French monarchy. Jean Baptiste Poquelin was born into prominence and thru notable patronage he was able to quickly ascend the ladder of the theater arts. He first began as an actor but after his studies he began his career as a playwright. He was soon frequently invited by the Sun King himself, King Louis XIV to perform his plays at the palace of Versailles and the Louvre. Moliere was granted permission by the king to open his own theater in Paris where he performed many successful pays. He later received the scorn of the Catholic church for his plays that depicted religious hypocrisy. He died of a tuberculosis at the young age of 51 however his work went on to influence many great French thinkers and writers such as Alexander Dumas. His legacy lives on today in Paris with the long standing Comedie-Francaise, also known as the House of Moliere, which is a state founded public theater celebrating his legendary status upon French art and culture.


5. Arthur Miller

Years: 89 (1915-2005)
Nationality: American
University: University of Michigan
Literary Style: Realism, Symbolism, Expressionist
Notable Awards: Pulitzer Prize for Drama (1949)
Notable Works:

• All My Sons (1947)
• Death of a Salesman (1949)
• The Crucible (1953)
• A View from the Bridge (1955)
• The Misfits (1961)

Significance: He is regarded as one of the all time greatest American playwrights, having produced over 50 works of note. His greatest play Death of a Salesman was considered his magnum opus which won him the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1949. He lived a very engaging life, born of Jewish descent in New York City, he quickly displayed a knack for writing and journalism. After he completed his studies at the University of Michigan he returned to New York City to begin producing numerous successful plays. One of the most controversial of his plays was The Crucible, which concerned the Salem Witch Trials. As a Communist sympathizer, Miller wrote the play as a historical allegory to the harsh purge brought on by McCarthyism. Arthur Miller is also renown for his contributions to Hollywood, writing several screenplays most notably The Misfits in 1961, which starred his wife at the time, the iconic Marilyn Monroe. Marilyn however was struggling with drugs at the time, and ended the marriage shortly after the film and died a year later. Despite his controversial dealings with Communism, and his marriage to Marilyn Monroe, Arthur Miller has gone on be one of the most recognizable names in American theater. His works demonstrated realistic social and political themes with elements of symbolism.


4. Sophocles

Years: 90 (497 BC- 405 BC)
Nationality: Greek
Literary Style: Classical tragedy
Notable Works:

• Ajax (5th century BC)
• Antigone (441 BC)
• Women of Trachis (5th century BC)
• Oedipus Rex (429 BC)
• Electra (5th century BC)
• Philoctetes (409 BC)
• Oedipus at Colonus (406 BC)

Significance: He is considered one of the greatest of the classic Greek Tragedians most notably for his masterpiece play of Oedipus Rex. This famous play revolves around a mythological Greek king of Thebes, who is driven mad when he discovers he has killed his father and married his mother. This famous play demonstrates Sophocles' masterful dramatization of mythological tales. He is credited with expanding the dialogue of actors on stage. During his time playwrights competed with one another and Sophocles was the undisputed champion of Athens, winning 24 of the 30 competitions he competed in. The only other playwrights close to his level were that of Aeschylus and Euripides.


3. Anton Chekov

Years: 44 (1860-1904)
Nationality: Russian
University: First Moscow State Medical University
Literary Style: Modernism
Notable Works:

• Ivanov (1887)
• The Seagull (1895)
• Uncle Vanya (1899)
• Three Sisters (1901)
• The Lady with the Dog (1903)
• The Cherry Orchard (1904)

Significance: He was born into a devout Orthodox Christian family and excelled in academic studies. However his father was declared bankrupt and Chekov pursued a career in medical studies to support his family. He still however made meager pay as a physician and chose not to charge the poor seeking treatment. While Chekov used his medical practice to get by financially, his true passion was literature. By the 1880s he had begun publishing short stories for various newspapers that begun attracting him attention. By 1887 he was commissioned to right his first play, Ivanov which was praised in Moscow. He followed these up with other successful plays such as The Seagull, Uncle Vanya, The Three Sisters, and the Cherry Orchard. He did not take well to criticism however Chekov's plays demonstrated the first modern format of realistic dialogue among character actors.  By the 1890s he became a celebrated Russian playwright and kept close ties with other famous writers such as Leo Tolstoy and Maxim Gorky. In 1903 he wrote one of his most famous short stories, The Lady with the Dog, which was said to inspire Vladimir Nabokov's literary works. Chekov died at the young age of 44 due to tuberculosis, however his plays and short stories are regarded among the finest examples of modernist literature. 


2. Henrik Ibsen

Years: 78 (1828-1906)

Nationality: Norwegian
Literary Style: Modernism, Realism, Naturalism
Notable Works:

• Brand (1867)
• Peer Gynt (1867)
• Emperor and Galilean (1873)
• A Doll's House (1879)
• Ghosts (1881)
• An Enemy of the People (1882)
• The Wild Duck (1884)
• Hedda Gabler (1891)
• The Master Builder (1893)
• When we Dead Awaken (1899)

Significance: He is often regarded as the greatest playwright of the modern era, and the father of realism. His plays are the most frequently performed only after that of William Shakespeare. His work demonstrates his humble upbringing thru a merchant family and demonstrates contemporary and realism themes. Many of his plays deal with financial struggles and represent societal conditions which he relates to his home land of Skien Norway. In his later work he demonstrated more scandalous and complex works such as A Doll's House and The Wild Duck which were some of the first successful tragic- comedies. His plays and poetry went on to inspire many playwrights to follow such as George Bernard Shaw, Arthur Miller, Oscar Wilde, James Joyce, and Eugene O'Neil.


1. William Shakespeare

Years: 52 (1564-1616)
Nationality: English
Literary Style: Comedies, histories, tragedies, tragicomedies
Notable Works:

• The Two Gentleman of Verona (1589)
• Merchant of Venice (1596)
• Romeo and Juliet (1597)
• Julius Caesar (1599)
• Hamlet (1599)
• Othello (1603)
• King Lear (1605)
• Macbeth (1606)
• The Tempest (1610)

Significance: He is regarded as the undisputed English master of writing, from stories, poetry, to plays. His career as a dramatist began at the age of 18 when he left his countryside wife of Anne Hathaway to pursue a career in the theater business of London. This was an era of English Renaissance brought about by Queen Elizabeth's golden reign. Shakespeare displayed great ambition for the theater and was quickly able to climb as an actor, writer, and owner of a company. Known as the Lord Chamberlains Men and later The King's Men he began producing many popular plays throughout London for the rest of his career. He wrote on various genres from romance, history, comedy, to tragedy including 39 plays, 154 sonnets, and two long narrative poems. Many of his famous plays were attended by the queen herself. Some of his most famous plays include that of Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, and Macbeth which are some of the most frequent plays performed to this day. His influence spanned beyond the theater and inspired many famous works of poetry and literature. He is regarded as an icon of English culture and without question the greatest playwright to have ever lived. 

Greatest Poets of All Time

So now I move on to the writing category of poetry. I confess it's never been one of my strong suits, neither writing nor comprehending the complexities of poetry. Though as a keen admirer of the art of writing there are times where I read a phrase and it strikes a chord. That is true poetry. Whether it's the rhyme, the rhythm, or just some allegorical metaphor, poetry has an appeal that can take the reader beyond the pages and into the clouds.

The power of poetry is not so much that it tells a story, yet rather how it strings together words in such delicate harmony. It is no doubt the highest form of literary art-form and only few possesses the gift to excel at it. Below is a list of whom I consider the greatest known poets of all time, from western literature as I am not familiar with eastern literature. I determined this list based on the quality, quantity, and legacy of their works. (Once again I will refrain from including Shakespeare on this list, since he falls more into the playwright category, which I will post about next).


Honorable Mention

Alfred Lord Tennyson

Years: 83 (1809-1892)
Nationality: English
University: Trinity College, Cambridge
Literary Style: Classical
Notable Works:

• The Lady of Shalott (1832)
• Break, Break, Break (1842)
• Poems (1842)
• Godiva (1847)
• Ring Out Wild Bells (1850)
• Idylls of the King (1859)

Significance: He is regarded as one of the most famous of English poets and served as poet laureate for most of the reign of Queen Victoria. While studying at college in the 1820s he joined an intellectual society and began publishing some of his written work. By 1830 he began receiving recognition for his work and soon began publishing poems on a regular basis. His greatest claim to fame was serving as Queen Victoria's poet laureate from 1850 until his death. The requirements of this position meant composing poems for special ceremonial events hosted by the monarchy. Tennyson's style was influenced by classical mythological themes and he coined many popular phrases used in common English tongue today.


Dylan Thomas

Years: 39 (1914-1953)
Nationality: Welsh
Literary Style: Modernism
Notable Works:

• 18 poems (1934)
• Deaths and Entrances (1946)
• Under Milk Wood (1954)
• A Child's Christmas in Wales (1955)

Significance: He was a very influential poet of the modern era, having inspired other notable artists such as fellow poets Sylvia Plath and the musical legend, Bob Dylan. He worked for a short time as a journalist and later found work as a voice actor on BBC radio broadcasts. It was his radio recordings that brought him instant fame and he was thus able to uplift his poetry. However also during this time his drinking worsened and as he traveled to America he began to display erratic behavior and died at the young age of 39.


Ezra Pound

Years: 87 (1885-1972)
Nationality: American
University: Hamilton College
Literary Style: Imagisim, Vorticism
Philosophy: Fascism, Nazism
Notable Works:

• Ripostes (1912)
• Hugh Selwyn Mauberley (1920)
• The Cantos (1917-1969)

Significance: He was raised in a Christian family in Idaho and showed great academic prowess as a young boy, excelling in Latin and other romantic languages. He later moved to London and Paris where he began his career as a magazine editor and a poet. He took part in the famous literary circles of the 1920s known as the Lost Generation and later moved to Italy. His political ideals began to shift towards fascism and he supported Benito Mussolini and Hitler during WWII which has lead to much controversy regarding his work. He was later tried for treason and imprisoned in a detention camp in Italy for some time. He spent the last of his years living in exile in Italy.


Sylvia Plath

Years: 30 (1932-1963)
Nationality: American
University: Smith College (Boston), Newnham College (University of Cambridge)
Literary Style: Confessional poetry, landscape
Notable Awards: Pulitzer Prize for Poetry (1982)
Notable Works:

• The Colossus and Other Poems (1963)
• The Bell Jar (1963)
• Ariel (1965)

Significance: Her life and work is celebrated posthumously perhaps due to her intense struggle with depression and suicide at the very young age of 30. She was raised into an intellectual family, her father being a professor at Boston College. She excelled at a very young age and demonstrated a very high IQ. She began to experience severe depression while attending Smith College. She later moved to England to study at Cambridge where she met and married English poet Ted Hughes. They later moved back to Boston, where Sylvia worked as a teacher at Boston College, had two children, and continued to write on her free time. However she also continued to struggle with depression, which she talked about openly and sought help for, but it eventually got the better of her in 1963. Much of her work today reflects the struggles of depression, and displays her brilliance poetic technique.


Maya Angelou

Years: 86 (1928-2014)
Nationality: American
Literary Style: Memoirs
Philosophy: Civil Rights advocate
Notable Works:

• I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1969)
• Gather Together in My Name (1974)
• Singing and Swinging and Getting Merry Like Christmas (1976)
• The Heart of a Woman (1981)
• All God's Children Need Traveling Shoes (1986)
• A Song Flung Up to Heaven (2002)
• Mom & Me & Mom (2013)

Significance: She is the greatest poet of our lifetime, her claim to fame being her unique life she lived and shared in her 7 poetic auto-biographies. She was raped as a child in St. Louis, worked as a night club dancer in Oakland, moved to pursue a writing career in New York, moved to Africa to become an administrator at Ghana University, and then returned to the US in the 1960s to support Malcom X and Martin Luther King Jr's Civil Rights campaign. By 1969 after many years of unusual experiences as a young black woman, she shared her poetic memoir in her most famous work, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. Years later she published many other auto-biographies and poems, including a famous recital at the inauguration of president Bill Clinton in 1996.


WB Yeats

Years: 74(1865-1939)
Nationality: Irish
Literary Style: Realism, symbolist
Philosophy: Spiritualism, Irish nationalism
Notable Awards: Noble Prize (1923)
Notable Works:

• The Lake Isle of Innisfree (1890)
• In the Seven Woods (1903)
• Easter 1916 (1916)
• The Wild Swans at Coole (1917)
• The Second Coming (1920)
• The Tower (1928)
• The Winding Stair and Other Poems (1933)

Significance: He is yet another iconic Irish author and one of the most significant modern poets of Irish history. His early poetic style demonstrates his interest in Irish mythology and spiritualism. During the late 1890s and early 1900s WB Yeats became a renown poet and advocate of Irish nationalism. He had ties with many other famous writers such as Ezra Pound and Douglas Hyde, who would later become the first president of Ireland. In 1904 he and other writers opened the Abbey Theater in Dublin, Ireland which became the headquarters of the Irish literary Revival and remains a cultural institution today.


Robert Frost

Years: 88 (1874-1963)
Nationality: American
University: Dartmouth College, Harvard
Literary Style: Realism
Notable Awards: Pulitzer Prize (1923, 1931, 1937, 1943)
Notable Works:

• A Boy's Will (1913)
• North of Boston (1914)
• Mountain Interval (1916)
• New Hampshire (1924)
• West Running Brook (1928)
• A Further Range (1936)
• A Witness Tree (1942)

Significance: He is one of the most iconic American poets of the modern era demonstrating the realistic and rural lifestyle of the country. He was born of British immigrants in San Francisco, moved to New England as a child, and later attended Dartmouth College where he excelled as a writer. By 1894 he began publishing his poems, attended Harvard University for some time, and worked as a teacher for nearly most his life. His style is renown for it's virtue, his rural deceptions of American life, and his mastery of the common tongue.


Edgar Allen Poe

Years: 40 (1809-1849)

Nationality: American
University: University of Virginia
Literary Style: Prose, Mystery, Macabre
Notable Works:

• Tamerlane and Other Poems (1827)
• The Fall of the House of Usher (1840)
• The Masque of Red Death (1842)
• The Pit and the Pendulum (1843)
• The Raven (1845)
• The Cask of Amontillado (1846)

Significance: He is one of the most iconic American poets, often associated for his darker Gothic elements. He was orphaned as a young child and later attended Virginia University and Military school however dropped out of both. He eventually did make a living as a writer for various newspaper periodicals, and married his 13 year old cousin in 1836. His claim to fame no doubt came with the publication of his poem, The Raven in 1846. However his wife died shortly after and he died a couple years later most likely due to alcoholism and a poor mental state.


Giovanni Boccaccio

Years: 62 (1313-1375)
Nationality: Italian (Florence)
University: University of Naples
Literary Style: Poetic Dialogue, Prose
Philosophy: Humanist
Notable Works:

• The Decameron (1353)
• On the Fates of Famous Men (1355)
• On Famous Women (1362)

Significance: He is among several great Italian poets of the Middle Ages, during the birth of The Renaissance. In the likes of Dante Alighieri and Petrarch, the philosophy of humanism was taken center stage in Florence and Naples. Boccaccio studied at the University of Naples where he began his passion for poetry and released some early works. However it was his return to Florence that brought on some of his greatest work, especially The Decameron. This collection of poetic stories recounts citizens retelling of the Black Death. The work is most notable for it's Prose style demonstrating Italian Dialogue. The work also went on to inspire much of Geoffrey Chaucer's work including the Canterbury Tales.


Hesiod

Years: Approx 750 BC-700 BC
Nationality: Greek
Literary Style: Didactic
Notable Works:

• Theogony (700 BC)
• Work and Days (700 BC)

Significance: Alongside Homer, he is regarded as the father of Greek Mythology as well as various other contributions to ancient Greek society. His most famous work of the Theogony depicts the origins of the Greek gods, and is believed to have come slightly after Homer's two epic poems. His second most famous poem is that of Work and Days which depicts various agriculture arts as well as the famous stories of Prometheus and Pandora. Along with his famous poems, Hesiod is also regarded as a leading economist, agriculturist, time-keeper, astronomer, and various other scientific contributions among ancient Greece.


Sappho

Years: 630-570 BC
Nationality: Greek
Literary Style: Lyric Poetry
Notable Works:

• Ode to Aphrodite (600 BC)
• Brothers Poem (600 BC)

Significance: She is considered one of the most prominent female poets of antiquity, well renown for her lyrical verse accompanied by the lyre. During the Hellenistic Period she was celebrated by Alexandrian scholars as one of the great nine lyric poets of ancient Greece. However much of her work was lost over time, perhaps during Caesar's siege of Alexandria and the burning of the ancient library. She is highly regarded for her depictions of emotion, identity, and sexuality. It is believed she had homosexual tendencies and the term lesbian is thus tied to her home island of Lesbos.



Top Ten Greatest Poets


10. TS Eliot

Years: 76 (1888-1965)
Nationality: American
University: Harvard, Merton College, Oxford
Literary Style: Modernism
Notable Awards: Noble Prize in Literature (1948)
Notable Works:

• The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock (1915)
• The Waste Land (1922)
• The Hollow Men (1925)
• Ash Wednesday (1930)
• Murder in the Cathedral (1935)
• Four Quartets (1943)
• The Cocktail Party (1949)

Significance: He is regarded as one of the most famous modern American poets, best known for his masterpiece The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock. He was raised into a wealthy family in New England, attended Harvard where he studied literature, languages, and philosophy. In 1914 he moved to London where he was influenced by fellow American poet, Ezra Pound. By the late 1920s he renounced his American citizenship and became a British citizen. He converted to Anglicanism and remained a British citizen until his death at the age of 76. Besides his great poems he was also regarded for other literary essays, and he produced 7 successful plays most notably the Murder in the Cathedral and The Cocktail Party.


9. Pablo Neruda

Years: 69 (1904-1973)
Nationality: Chilean
University: Universidad de Chile
Literary Style: Modernism, political
Philosophy: Communist
Notable Awards: Noble Prize in Literature (1971)
Notable Works:

• Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair (1924)
• Residence on Earth (1933, 1935, 1947)
• Canto General (1950)
• Cien Sonetos de Amor (1959)

Significance: He is regarded as the undisputed greatest Latin American poet of all time and one of the leading figures of the modernist era of poetry. His work provides a unique blend of political, romantic, and an overall appreciation for nature and life. Neruda lived a very politically involved life and worked as a diplomat right out of college. He spent time posted in Spain during the Spanish Civil War and later in Mexico for some time before he returned home. During the 1940s he became involved with the Communist Part of Chile, until it was outlawed in 1948 by President Videla. Neruda later returned to advise the socialist president Salvador Allende in the 1970s, however he was later deposed by a coup d'etat under dictator Augusto Pinochet. Neruda died shortly after Pinochet began his military dictatorship, and there has been much speculation that he was killed by Pinochet. Nonetheless his poetry went on to inspire many other political figures such as Fidel Castro and Ernesto Che Guevera, as well as many other famous writers such as Gabriel Garcia Marquez. 


8. William Blake

Years: 69 (1757-1827)
Nationality: English
University: Royal Academy of Arts (Burlington House)
Literary Style: Romanticism, prophetic, Symbolism, Mythological
Philosophy: Revolutionary ideals, mysticism, spiritualism, free-love, Christian liberalism
Notable Works:

• Songs of the Innocence and of Experience (1789)
• The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1790)
• The Four Zoas (1797)
• Jerusalem The Emanation of the Giant Albion (1804)
• Milton (1804)

Significance: He is regarded as one of the most significant visual artists and poets of the Romantic Age, well renown for his creative and idiosyncratic style. His claim to fame was his original blending of illustrations and poems which he described as illuminated books or prophetic books. He learned printmaking at an early age and later went to study art in London. During this time he was greatly inspired by the American and French Revolutions and notable idealists such as Thomas Paine and Emmanuel Swedenborg. Throughout his career he demonstrated his brilliant appreciation of philosophy, politics, history, and religion with a vast collection of masterful illustrated poems.


7. Virgil

Years: 50 (70 BC-19 BC)

Nationality: Roman
Literary Style: Mythological
Notable Works:

• Eclogues (39 BC)
• Georgics (29 BC)
• Aeneid (29-19 BC)

Significance: Often considered one of the greatest writers/poets of the Roman Age, he took on the model set forth by the Greek poet, Homer. While little is known about his childhood, he is best renown for his 3 works that celebrate Roman history and culture. In his first major work, Eclogues, Virgil poetically demonstrated the recent revolutionary changes brought on by Julius Ceaser and Octavian. Following this work, he became a part of Octavian's intellectual advisers and was appointed the task to celebrate Roman history and culture. His second work the Georgics pertains to agriculture and rural society, while his third work, the Aeneid was considered his magnum opus. Influenced by Homer's Greek epic poem of The Illiad, Virgil establishes Roman Mythology with his epic poem about the heroic Aeneas and his founding of the city of Rome.


6. Homer

Years: Approx 800-700 BC

Nationality: Greek
Literary Style: Epic narrative poem
Notable Works:

• The Illiad (Approx 750 BC)
• The Odyssey (Approx 700 BC)

Significance: He is regarded as the father of Greek mythology as well as one of the oldest great writers of history. However as it was so long ago in an ancient time, there is much question regarding his life and his authorship. Scholars cannot seem to agree whether or not he wrote both narrative poems or rather it was a collection of various poems accredited to his name. Also there is much historical debate regarding the validity and scale of the Trojan War which may have occurred from 1200-1100 BC. Nonetheless as far as we know Homer's name has endured the testament of time and is still attributed as the source to these two poetic masterpieces that set the precedence for Greek society.


5. John Milton

Years: 65 (1608-1674)
Nationality: English
University: Christ's College, Cambridge
Literary Style: Blank verse, Prose
Philosophy: Monism, Individualism, humanist, Christian
Notable Works:

• Areopagitica (1644)
• 1645 Poems (1645)
• Paradise Lost (1667)

Significance: He is regarded by many as one of the all time greatest English poets specifically for his magnum opus that was Paradise Lost. In a similar fashion as Dante's Divine Comedy, this epic poem was written with allegorical Christian themes. The story gives a romantic depiction of the fall of Satan as well as the fall of Adam and Eve. This ingenious work by Milton was no doubt the product of a very enlightened life that he lived during a period of historical upheaval. Milton was the son of a musician, well studied in religious theology, and he served as a secretary for Oliver Cromwell's Commonwealth of England. He spent the last 20 years of his life completely blind. Following the Restoration of the monarchy, Milton spent the remaining of his years living a quiet life, while working on his epic poem of Paradise Lost. His publication was immediately praised as a masterpiece of which he was compared on the level of Shakespeare for many years to come.


4. Walt Whitman

Years: 72 (1819-1892)
Nationality: American
Literary Style: Free verse, symbolism
Philosophy: Patriotism, egalitarianism, humanist
Notable Works:

• Franklin Evans (1842)
• Leaves of Grass (1855)
• Drum Taps (1865)
• Democratic Vistas (1871)

Significance: Regarded alongside Emily Dickinson as one of the greatest American poets of all time.  He is often celebrated as the father of free verse poetry and was able to merge themes of transcendentalism with themes of realism. He instilled a patriotic identity to his work that celebrated the country, nature, as well as the human mind, body, and spirit. He was a true blue collar American, and began working as a young kid in a print shop in New York City. He later found various jobs in print-shops and a journalist throughout his life in which he was able to publish much of his poems. The publication of his magnum opus, Leaves of Grass brought him great attention and even admiration from fellow transcendentalists Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau. It is often believed he had homosexual tendencies and he lived an alcoholic vagabond lifestyle. However his work went on to inspire many writers, poets, and musicians to come and has thus served as the epitome of American poetry. 


3. Geoffrey Chaucer

Years: 57 (1343-1400)
Nationality: English
Literary Style: Vernacular literature, Verse, Prose
Philosophy: Christian Neoplatonism, influenced by Boethius and St. Thomas Aquinas
Notable Works:

• The Book of the Duchess (1368)
• The House of Fame (1379)
• The Legend of Good Women (1380s)
• Troilus and Criseyde (1380s)
• The Canterbury Tales (1387-1400)

Significance: He is regarded as the father of English literature, which is quite a significant title when you consider the many great English writers throughout history (Shakespeare, Dickens, John Milton, Jane Austen). He was born to a prominent family, was well educated, and later served in the king's circle thru various civil servant positions. He worked as a diplomat, bureaucrat, and courtier to the king in which he traveled much during the 1360s. When he later got the position of customs controller for the state, he spent much of his free time writing poetry, philosophy, and astronomy studies. It was during this time that he wrote many of his most famous literary poems, including his magnum opus The Canterbury Tales. The format of this work was inspired by Boccaccio's Decameron, as a variation of stories all with a common theme. In this masterpiece Chaucer demonstrates his great intellect yet also his appreciation for Christ and his country. 


2. Emily Dickinson

Years: 55 (1830-1886)
Nationality: American
University: Amherst Academy, Mount Holyoke Female Seminary
Literary Style: Slant rhyme
Philosophy: Christian
Notable Works:

• Complete Works of Emily Dickinson (1955)

Significance: She is regarded as one of the greatest female poets as well as American poets of all time. However she did not acheive fame during her lifetime, and much of her work was discovered after she died. She came from a prominent family in New England and studied at the Amherst Academy. At a young age she displayed great interest in literature and was influenced by the writings of William Woodworth, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Shakespeare, yet most especially Emily Bronte's novel of Jane Eyre. She wrote with themes of death, immortality, flowers, gardens, as well as many Christian themes. However she lived a very isolated lifestyle and spent most of her time in her bedroom writing. She was known for her eccentric behavior around town and also for always wearing white dresses. She never married nor had kids, and died at the young age of 55 from kidney disease as well a deteriorating mental state. Her full work was later discovered by her sister and published in the years to follow. Although it took some time for her to be recognized, by the 1950s her complete collection of works received critical praise. Unlike many other great poets, her work is not driven by a narrative or story, yet rather abstract thoughts, rhythmic verse, and pure poetry.


1. Dante Alighieri

Years: 56 (1265-1321)
Nationality: Italian
Literary Style: Allegorical, theological, epic narrative
Philosophy: Guelph political faction supporting Papal States against the Holy Roman Empire
Notable Works:

• La Vita Nuova (1295)
• The Divine Comedy (1320)

Significance: He is regarded as one of the most significant poets of the middle ages, well renown for his masterpiece of the Divine Comedy. Not much is known of his youth however it is indicated that he was influenced by the ancient Roman writers of Cicero, Ovid, and Virgil (whom serves a central guide in the Divine Comedy). Dante spent a good portion of his life involved in civil politics pertaining to the conflict of the Papal States and the Holy Roman Empire. He was later exiled from Rome and Florence and spent his final years working on his allegorical masterpiece. The Divine Comedy recounts a philosophical narrative of a person's journey through hell, purgatory, and heaven. In the poetic story he is guided by his inspiration Virgin thru the multi layers of Hell and Purgatory. He is later guided by a past love of his life, Beatrice thru the layers of heaven. This creative and romantic interpretation remains to this day a significant work of theological literature. It went on to inspire various other great writers and philosophers such as Geoffrey Chaucer, Alfred Tennyson, and John Milton and thus furthered philosophical views on the afterlife. It is for this reason I consider Dante the all time greatest and most influential poet of all time.

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