Exploring Poetry

Although not well-known during her lifetime, Emily Dickinson (1830-1886) is now considered one of the greatest American poets.

Although her life ended tragically, Plath is one of America's greatest modern poetic voices.

Anne Sexton is highly regarded for her deeply personal, confessional style. She won the Pulitzer Prize in 1967 for her collection Live or Die.

Moore was an American modernist poet, often called America's "first lady of poetry." She won both the Pulitzer prize and National Book Award for her collected works.

Millay’s refreshing frankness and cynicism and her ardent appetite for life still burn brightly on the page more than half a century after her death. (Descriptive content provided by Syndetics™, a Bowker service)

Sappho (7th-6th Century BCE) was one of the greatest ancient Greek lyric poets. She was a native of the island of Lesbos, from which we get the word "lesbian." In her poems, she expresses passionate love for both men and women.

Famously imprisoned in 1895 for "sodomy and gross indecency," then a crime in England, Wilde is a preeminent figure in literature generally, and among gay writers in particular. He is legendary for his wit and facility with the English language.

"The first declaration of a black, lesbian feminist identity took place in these poems, and set the terms—beautifully, forcefully—for contemporary multicultural and pluralist debate."—Publishers Weekly

Auden’s work has perhaps the widest range and the greatest depth of any English poet of the past three centuries. From the anxious warnings of his early verse through the expansive historical perspectives of his middle years to the celebrations and thanksgiving in his later work, Auden wrote in a voice that addressed readers personally rather than as part of a collective audience. (Descriptive content provided by Syndetics™, a Bowker service)

Arthur Rimbaud [rom-BO] was a highly influential late-19th Century French poet. His landmark poem Season in Hell explores themes of morality and homosexual desire. His work has inspired artists from Pablo Picasso to Bob Dylan.

Hilda Dolittle (H.D.) was a key imagist poet of the post-WWII period. Openly bisexual, some of her poetry addresses issues of sex and gender.

Elizabeth Bishop is considered one of the premier American poets of the post-war period. She wrote much of her great poetry while living in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with her companion Lota Soares.