Who is/was/are the greatest poet(s)?

[Muse]

I'll start with my fave, William Blake. I've always found him very transparent and accessible, penetrating, deep, to the core and heart of matters.

 

[Away]

Robert Browning is one of my favorites.

 

[brainhulk]

Brainhulk of course

For every dream you made come true,
For all the love I found in you, A light in the
Dark shining your love into my life, I'll be forever
Thankful baby you're the one who will be my wife

 

[KaOTiK]

Dr Seuss

 

[lxskllr]

Not a huge poetry fan, but I always liked Langston Hughes.

 

[Azraele]

Samuel Taylor Coleridge, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.

 

[brianmanahan]

in real life: t s eliot or e e cummings

on atot: no contest

 

[Joseph F]

Nobody mentioned Dante Alighieri or Homer yet? FFS...
Not to mention, John Milton.

 

[Muse]

Nobody mentioned Dante Alighieri or Homer yet? FFS...
Not to mention, John Milton.

I was thinking Milton and Homer deserved to be included. I read a page of Homer just yesterday, it's the first thing in my copy of Between a Rock and a Hard Place, the Aron Ralston account of his desert odyssey. Blake refers to Milton as one of the "true poets," an interesting concept. Blake regarded some famous artists as virtual imposters, I think.

No one's mentioned Keats yet, nobody's into Keats? Dante's famous for La commedia, later named La divina commedia (Divine Comedy), considered the greatest literary work composed in the Italian language and a masterpiece of world literature (clipped from wikipedia). I have a copy of it. It starts "midway through the course of this life..."

 

[chubbyfatazn]

"Roses are red,
my name is Dave.
This poem sucks,
microwave."