From people like Sylvia Plath to Maya Angelou, and many others who have spanned generations, geography, and ideologies, America has been blessed with so many famous female poets in its history. Most of these women are more than great women poets, as they are even among the greatest poets mankind has ever encountered and read.
Although many of them did not live long or win many awards, their works have stood the test of time and will live on in a time when there are no humans to read them.
Famous Poets in American History
1. Sylvia Plath
(October 27, 1932 – February 11, 1963)
For poets and poetry lovers, Sylvia Plath represents something quite different in poetry. Although she died at age 30, she would not only become one of the most famous poets in American history, but also one of the greatest poets of all time.
As is typical of many poets, his story can also be sad poetry, losing his father at a very young age and then suffering from a depression that would cost him his life. Plath started writing when she was only 8 years old.
Before taking her own life, Plath had published only one collection of poems, The Colossus and Other Poems in 1960. However, it was a body of her last writings in 1962 that would make her the poet she became.
2. Emily Dickinson
(December 10, 1830 – May 15, 1886)
Among America’s leading poets, you will find Emily Elizabeth Dickinson, who is considered one of the foundations of an American poetic style. Dickinson spent most of his life in seclusion, keeping in touch only through correspondence.
As she has always been a very powerful poet whose themes include morbidity and religion, she only became very popular after her death. She left many works published after her death. Emily Dickinson’s most famous poems include Hope Is the Feathered Thing and Because I Couldn’t Stop to Die.
3. Maya Angelou
(April 4, 1928 – May 28, 2014)
Born Marguerite Annie Johnson, Maya Angelo was also a civil rights activist. If she had decided to turn her life into fiction, she would have sold millions. She was sexually abused as a child, then grew up to be a sex worker, performer, cook, and nightclub dancer.
Around the age of 8, Maya’s world was turned upside down when she was raped by her mother’s boyfriend. He was tried and sentenced to a single day in prison. But when he came out, he was murdered, and although the culprit was not found, it was assumed that Maya’s uncles were responsible, as they were very upset at being told about the incident. It kept her mute for years, thinking her voice could kill. Years after finding his voice, it echoed in poetry to the end of the world.
The general themes of his poetry are mainly pain, loss, hope, love, racism and struggles. With 10 collections, one of his most recognized works is Et encore je me lève (1978). For her spoken word albums, Maya has three Grammy Awards, and in 2011 she was also awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
With 7 collections, she received the Pulitzer Prize, making her the first poet to obtain it posthumously.
4.Elizabeth Bishop
(February 9, 1911 – October 6, 1979)
The 20th century saw many poets, but Elizabeth Bishop is considered one of the best. Many people believe that the greatest poets have had a bitter past. Bishop enrolls in this class after losing her father when she was only 8 months old while her mother suffered from mental illness. Orphaned as a little girl, she had lived through many days of sadness and loneliness, her poems reflecting loss, sadness, childhood and much more.
She has numerous awards to her name, including the Houghton Mifflin Poetry Fellowship, Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, National Poetry Book Award, and in 2010 she was entered into the inaugural class of the New York Writers Hall of Fame.
5. Mary Oliver
(September 10, 1935 -)
Oliver is described by The New York Times as America’s best-selling poet, but the poetry world sees her as something far beyond the copies sold. Although she has her own voice, she remotely embodies Emily Dickinson in a style very close to solitude.
With more than 30 collections to her name and four works of fiction, she has been associated with nature-related poems and very simple and profound texts. She may not necessarily be the critics’ favorite, but she remains one of the most celebrated poets in American history. Some of his best poems are A Dream of Trees, A Visitor My Father, and Wild Goose.
6. Audre Lorde
(February 18, 1934 – November 17, 1992)
As a black woman born in America in the 1930s, Audre Lorde’s poems focus on topics such as social justice, feminism, race, and more. Since the age of 4, Audre Lorde began to learn to write thanks to the help of her mother and by the time she was in 8th grade, she had already written her first poem.
Growing up, she would come to have a very difficult relationship with her parents, something that is reflected in her works. She began publishing in the 1960s, becoming famous for the anger of her work and for the hope it gives.
Black, lesbian, mother, warrior and poet is her way of describing herself, her works revolve around these things. Some of his best poems are For Each of You Never Dream of Spiders, and Hanging Fire
7. Adrienne Rich
(May 16, 1929 – March 27, 2012)
A litany of the most famous poets in American history won’t be complete without one of the most confident poetic voices, Adrienne Rich. She is one of the most widely read and influential feminist, essayist and poet of the 20th century.
She was encouraged to read and write by her father when she was little. Since then, she did not stop writing until her death in 2012, leaving behind more than 25 collections including Tonight, No Poetry: Poems (2010) which is considered her final and most powerful work.
The themes of Adrienne Rich’s works are vast and include lesbian existence, feminism, love, and even a good sense of anger. Some of her best poems are Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers, Living In Sin, and A Prediction Forbidding Grieving.
8. Edna St. Vincent Millay
(February 22, 1892 – October 19, 1950)
Also a playwright, Edna St. Vincent Millay was a poet who is one of the most famous poets America has known, with some of the best sonnets. She was primarily raised alongside two sisters by their mother who had divorced their father. Growing up she was never afraid to speak up and it became important to her as a poet associated with feminist activism.
Although she died at 58, she accomplished a lot having started writing in her early teens. She published her poetry in magazines and a prestigious anthology, Current Literature, at the age of 15. She owns nearly 20 collections of poetry with one ( Troubling Dialogues) written under the pseudonym, Nancy Boyd. Some of his very popular poems are What Lips My Lips Have Kissed, Conscientious Objector, and Spring and Autumn
9. Anne Sexton
(November 9, 1928 – October 4, 1974)
Anne Sexton, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, is probably one of the most famous denominational poets. She shares the story of mental illness and depression that so many other poets have also suffered. Her works are revelations of what she has been through, including very personal things and even her relationships with her husband and children.
Due to her mental illness, Anne was encouraged by her therapist, Dr. Martin Orne to write poetry as a means of escape. Outside of her poetry, her life has not been without controversy, as she was accused after her death of sexually assaulting her daughter, Linda Gray Sexton. Clues have also emerged regarding her violent behavior towards her husband and daughters.
After numerous suicide attempts, she later managed to end her life. According to Dr. Orne, the suicide resulted from an affair with his therapist who replaced him.
Some of his most popular poems are 45 Mercy Street, Anna Who Was Crazy, and Briar Rose (Sleeping Beauty).
10. Gwendolyn Brooks
(June 7, 1917 – December 3, 2000)
Another of the most famous female poets is Gwendolyn Elizabeth who in 1950 became the first African American to be awarded the Pulitzer. His works are completely different from what you’ll get with most others, as his poetry has mostly revolved around people’s struggles and personal celebrations.
With a mother who was a schoolteacher, she was encouraged to start writing early as she was to become Lady Paul Laurence Dunbar. She published her first poem in American Childhood, a children’s magazine when she was only 13 years old. At the time of her death, she had already published numerous works with one ( In Montgomery and other poems) released after her death in 2003.
With many honors to her name, including being Illinois’ Poet Laureate from 1968 until her death, some of her most popular poems are We Real Cool, The Crazy Woman, and My Dreams, My Works, have to wait.