Great Poets

Clear, evocative, simply beautiful – words that describe this poet's work.

Their poetry is intersectional, inclusive, and powerful. 

Get to know this poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and leader of the Harlem Renaissance.

Let's start a new year by celebrating one of America's most influential poets!

Hi Poets! For the month of December, William Blake is YWP's Great Poet – recommended by YWP intern Anna O'Reilly.

Joy Harjo, a member of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, draws on her ancestors' experience in her award-winning poetry. She was the 23rd United States Poet Laureate (2019-22).

Get swept away by the haunting poetry of Ocean Vuong, an award-winning young Vietnamese-American poet, essayist, and novelist. 

Born in Seoul, Korea, Sandra Kim grew up in California and now lives in Massachusetts where she is an English professor and author of three poetry collections. Lim is the recent recipient of the 2023 Jackson Poetry Prize. 

American poet and essayist, Louise Glück (1943-2023) won the 2020 Nobel Prize in Literature, the Pulitzer Prize, and the National Book Award. She also had a strong connection to Vermont where she was poet laureate in the 1990s.

This Chilean poet, diplomat, senator began publishing under a pen name because his father discouraged him from writing poetry. Neruda went on to win the Nobel Prize for Literature.

What do ballroom dancing and poetry have in common? Rita Dove, an award-winning poet and dancer, will tell you.

Appointed the 24th Poet Laureate of the United States in 2022 and winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for Poetry. She's planning to send one of her poems into space in October 2024.