Best Poet?

[BrokenSilence]

Shakespeare, Khalil Gibran, Philip Larkin

Shakespeare is in a class of his own.

Larkin's poem "Aubade" and Gibran's "The prophet" were both extremely influential to me as a young man

[S_Fadel]

Stephen Crane is my favorite writer when it comes to poetry. I'm a little surprised that no one else has mentioned him as a candidate.

[Embracing_Madness]

I'm not too familiar with poetry, but I have never been hit so hard by nor remembered so well any poem aside from Willliam Ernest Henley's Invictus:

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate,
I am the captain of my soul.

[RussetDivinity]

I love me some Richard Siken. The last section of "You Are Jeff" gives me so many feelings.

Richard Siken! I read Crush for a poetry class and loved it. Anne Carson is also great, as is Brian Henry.

For the older poets, I like W. B. Yeats and Robert Browning.

[Sauroke]

Pablo Neruda is one of my favorites. Some of the deepest love expressed in words I have ever read.

[knowledgeoutburst24]

My Favorite Poet, This Poem Later Became a Popular Song In The 1950s

Trees
BY JOYCE KILMER
I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.

A tree whose hungry mouth is prest
Against the earth’s sweet flowing breast;

A tree that looks at God all day,
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;

A tree that may in Summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair;

Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives with rain.

Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.

[Ryan]

I don't have a favourite poet, but I enjoy reading Wilfred Owen's poems a lot. I also love various sixteenth- and seventeenth-century poets, such as John Donne, Shakespeare, John Milton, Christopher Marlowe and others. The Renaissance generally fascinates me

[rainydayluck]

Edgar Allen Poe and Christopher Poindexter are my favorites

-- 13 Oct 2014, 05:33 --

Edgar Allen Poe and Christopher Poindexter are my favorites

[falloutlunartic]

I really enjoy Emily Dickinson's poetry because she leaves you thinking and pondering over her such few of words.

[DATo]

I don't have a favourite poet, but I enjoy reading Wilfred Owen's poems a lot. I also love various sixteenth- and seventeenth-century poets, such as John Donne, Shakespeare, John Milton, Christopher Marlowe and others. The Renaissance generally fascinates me

I agree with @ryanj1. I don't think I can claim a single favorite poet, nor do I necessarily think there is a "best" poet. One must always avoid superlatives when discussing any form of art for art is subjective and what may resonate with one person may not affect another; but, I think if you like poetry and search the anthologies of any established poet you will in all probability sooner or later find at least one poem which will strike a nerve with you.

[Bigirimana Celestin]

Right now i have no favorite poet but Joyce Kilmer

[MarkBrantingham]

Robert E. Howard

[Carmen]

Edgar Allen Poe and Dante

[trilok]

Shakespeare is good and my best

[MaroBenipayo]

Shakespeare and Edgar Allan Poe