Poets and Poetry Style

Great poets and their musical styles, here briefly using the examples of Homer, Schiller and Shakespeare.

Friedrich Schiller (1759-1805) was an outstanding German poet, dramatist and philosopher. He is known for his works in drama, poetry and historical treatises. Schiller's style is characterised by passionate and pathetic language, often informed by moral and political ideals. His works, such as "The Robbers", "Cabal and Love", and "William Tell", are characterised by great dramatic and emotional expression and show his ability to portray complex characters and conflicts.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616) is one of world literature's greatest playwrights and poets. His style is known for its versatility and ability to master different genres, including tragedies, comedies and historical plays. Shakespeare used vivid and figurative language imbued with wordplay, metaphors and poetic sophistication. His works such as Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Macbeth and A Midsummer Night's Dream are characterised by complex characters, deep emotional insights and universal themes that are still relevant today.

Homer is an ancient Greek poet believed to have written the epics "Iliad" and "Odyssey". These two works are considered the oldest and most important works of Greek literature and significantly shaped the literature and culture of ancient Greece. Homer's style is epic and heroic. His verse is characterised by rhythmic clarity and vivid storytelling. Homer uses repetitive phrases and describes in detail the deeds and adventures of his heroes. His style reflects the oral tradition in which the works were recited and handed down. Homer greatly influenced the development of epic poetry and influenced numerous subsequent poets and authors.

Here is a list of 30 poets with a known work and the associated poetry style:

Homer (8th century BC, Greece).

Well-known work: "Iliad" (epic poem)

Sappho (7th century BC, Greece)

Well-known work: "Ode to Aphrodite" (lyric poem)

Dante Alighieri (1265-1321, Italy)

Well-known work: "The Divine Comedy" (epic poem in terza rima)

William Shakespeare (1564-1616, England)

Well-known work: "Sonnets" (sonnet)

John Milton (1608-1674, England)

Well-known work: "Paradise Lost" (epic poem)

Alexander Pope (1688-1744, England)

Well-known work: "Essay on Man" (heroic couplet)

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832, Germany)

Well-known work: "Faust" (dramatic poem)

William Wordsworth (1770-1850, England)

Well-known work: "Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey" (lyric poem)

Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834, England)

Well-known work: "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" (ballad)

Lord Byron (1788-1824, England)

Well-known work: "Don Juan" (heroic stanza)

Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822, England)

Well-known work: "Ode to the West Wind" (ode)

John Keats (1795-1821, England)

Well-known work: "Ode to a Nightingale" (ode)

Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849, USA)

Well-known work: "The Raven" (Ballad)

Emily Dickinson (1830-1886, USA)

Well-known work: "Because I could not stop for Death" (poetry)

Charles Baudelaire (1821-1867, France)

Well-known work: "Les Fleurs du Mal" (poetry)

Walt Whitman (1819-1892, USA)

Well-known work: "Leaves of Grass" (free verse)

Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941, India)

Well-known work: "Gitanjali" (poetry)

Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926, Austria/Germany)

Well-known work: "Duino Elegies" (elegy)

William Butler Yeats (1865-1939, Ireland)

Well-known work: "The Second Coming" (poetry)

T.S. Eliot (1888-1965, USA/Great Britain)

Well-known work: "The Waste Land" (Modernist poem)

Fernando Pessoa (1888-1935, Portugal)

Well-known work: "Mensagem" (Poetry)

Federico García Lorca (1898-1936, Spain)

Well-known work: "Romancero gitano" (Ballad)

Langston Hughes (1902-1967, USA)

Well-known work: "The Negro Speaks of Rivers" (poetry)

Pablo Neruda (1904-1973, Chile)

Well-known work: "Canto General" (Epic poem)

Dylan Thomas (1914-1953, Wales)

Well-known work: "Do not go gentle into that good night" (Villanelle)

Seamus Heaney (1939-2013, Ireland)

Well-known work: "Digging" (poetry)

Maya Angelou (1928-2014, USA)

Well-known work: "Still I Rise" (spoken word poetry)

Wisława Szymborska (1923-2012, Poland)

Well-known work: "View with a Grain of Sand" (poetry)

Octavio Paz (1914-1998, Mexico)

Well-known work: "Piedra de sol" (poetry)

Derek Walcott (1930-2017, St. Lucia)

Well-known work: "Omeros" (epic poem)