A List of Famous American Poets includes Poems and Biographical information of the most Famous American Poets. Read and Enjoy Poetry by American Poets. See also: Poets by Nationality | Contemporary American Poets | American Women Poets American Poets Born: Before 1400 | 1601-1700 | 1701-1800 | 1801-1900 | 1901-1950 | After 1951

A
Ai (1) (1947 - present)	John Ashbery (9) (1927 - present)	A. R. Ammons (26) (1926 - 2001)
Louisa May Alcott (16) (1832 - 1888)	Deborah Ager (10) (1971 - present)	Conrad Aiken (64) (1889 - 1973)
Catherine Anderson (3) (1954 - present)	Maggie Anderson (1) (1948 - present)	Ralph Angel (7) (1951 - present)
Kelli Russell Agodon (6) (1969 - present)	Julie Hill Alger (4) (1927 - 1994)	Tiel Aisha Ansari (3) (1964 - present)
B
Elizabeth Bishop (64) (1911 - 1979)	Charles Bukowski (120) (1920 - 1994)	Gwendolyn Brooks (13) (1917 - 2000)
John Berryman (150) (1914 - 1972)	Richard Brautigan (53) (1935 - 1984)	Stephen Vincent Benet (32) (1898 - 1943)
Louise Bogan (22) (1897 - 1970)	Ambrose Bierce (12) (1842 - 1914)	Wendell Berry (23) (1934 - present)
William Cullen Bryant (27) (1794 - 1878)	David Berman (6) (1967 - present)	Imamu Amiri Baraka (1) (1934 - present)
Gelett Burgess (10) (1866 - 1951)	Marvin Bell (7) (1937 - present)	Erin Belieu (8) (1965 - present)
April Bernard (2) (1956 - present)	D. C. Berry (8) (1942 - present)	Frank Bidart (12) (1939 - present)
Arna Bontemps (7) (1902 - 1973)	William Bronk (3) (1918 - 1999)	Ellis Parker Butler (72) (1869 - 1937)
Edgar Bowers (5) (1924 - 2000)	Joel Barlow (1) (1754 - 1812)	William Rose Benet (2) (1886 - 1950)
Hugh Henry Brackenridge (2) (1748 - 1816)	Jonathan Bohrn (10) (1957 - present)	Laure-Anne Bosselaar (6) (2006 - present)
Robert Bly (3) (1926 - present)	Michael Burch (34) (1958 - present)
C
E. E. Cummings (153) (1894 - 1962)	Billy Collins (42) (1941 - present)	Lucille Clifton (2) (1936 - present)
Countee Cullen (15) (1903 - 1946)	Stephen Crane (95) (1871 - 1900)	Robert Creeley (26) (1926 - present)
Gregory Corso (6) (1930 - 2001)	Hart Crane (13) (1899 - 1932)	Raymond Carver (16) (1938 - 1988)
Amy Clampitt (14) (1920 - 1994)	Jim Carroll (1) (1950 - present)	Hayden Carruth (2) (1921 - present)
Martha Collins (1) (1940 - present)	Geraldine Connolly (3) (1947 - present)	Andree Chedid (4) (1920 - present)
Peter Conners (3) (1970 - present)	Willa Cather (6) (1873 - 1947)	Craig Erick Chaffin (9) (1954 - present)
Anastasia Clark (2) (1959 - present)
D
Emily Dickinson (1779) (1830 - 1886)	Paul Laurence Dunbar (38) (1872 - 1906)	Hilda Doolittle (20) (1886 - 1961)
Rita Dove (2) (1952 - present)	Henry Van Dyke (114) (1852 - 1933)	Mark Doty (16) (1953 - present)
Stephen Dunn (15) (1939 - present)	Alan Dugan (6) (1923 - 2003)	Mark van Doren (10) (1894 - 1972)
Annie Dillard (1) (1945 - present)	Stephen Dobyns (1) (1941 - present)	Norman Dubie (5) (1945 - present)
Denise Duhamel (11) (1961 - present)	Michael Donaghy (1) (1954 - 2004)	James Dickey (3) (1923 - 1997)
Edward Dorn (2) (1929 - 1999)	Robert Duncan (3) (1919 - 1988)
E
T. S. Eliot (45) (1888 - 1965)	Ralph Waldo Emerson (65) (1803 - 1882)	Russell Edson (54) (1935 - present)
Cornelius Eady (1) (1954 - present)	James A. Emanuel (21) (1921 - present)	Maggie Estep (8) (1962 - present)
F
Robert Frost (180) (1874 - 1963)	Lawrence Ferlinghetti (11) (1919 - present)	Robert Francis (20) (1901 - 1987)
Edward Field (6) (1924 - present)	Nick Flynn (9) (1960 - present)	Carolyn Forche (7) (1950 - present)
Philip Freneau (14) (1752 - 1832)	Daisy Fried (1) (1967 - present)	Eugene Field (148) (1850 - 1895)
John Gould Fletcher (2) (1886 - 1950)	Raymond A. Foss (2594) (1960 - present)	Jessie Redmon Fauset (1) (1882 - 1961)
Annie Finch (4) (1956 - present)	Gary R. Ferris (107) (1965 - present)
G
Allen Ginsberg (40) (1926 - 1997)	Nikki Giovanni (1) (1943 - present)	Louise Gluck (48) (1943 - present)
Jack Gilbert (12) (1925 - present)	Judy Grahn (1) (1940 - present)	Patricia Goedicke (1) (1931 - present)
Jorie Graham (13) (1950 - present)	Maria Mazziotti Gillan (4) (1940 - present)	Thomas Godfrey (2) (1736 - 1763)
R.George (2) (1948 - present)	Bernadette Geyer (2) (1968 - present)
H
Langston Hughes (29) (1902 - 1967)	Robert Hayden (12) (1913 - 1980)	Donald Hall (14) (1928 - present)
Oliver Wendell Holmes (36) (1809 - 1894)	Tony Hoagland (5) (1953 - present)	Edward Hirsch (3) (1950 - present)
Anthony Hecht (18) (1923 - 2004)	Richard Hugo (6) (1923 - 1982)	Bob Hicok (7) (1960 - present)
Andrew Hudgins (3) (1951 - present)	Marilyn Hacker (12) (1942 - present)	Forrest Hamer (4) (1956 - present)
Mac Hammond (2) (1926 - 1997)	Brooks Haxton (9) (1950 - present)	Mark Hillringhouse (1) (1954 - present)
Jupiter Hammon (1) (1711 - 1806)	Bret Harte (1) (1836 - 1902)	Julia Ward Howe (5) (1819 - 1910)
William Dean Howells (1) (1837 - 1920)	Dale Harcombe (6) (1947 - present)	Joy Harjo (2) (1951 - present)
Suheir Hammad (5) (1973 - present)	Robert M. Hensel (8) (1969 - present)
I
David Ignatow (2) (1914 - 1997)	Mark Irwin (1) (1953 - present)
J
Randall Jarrell (24) (1914 - 1965)	Erica Jong (25) (1942 - present)	Robinson Jeffers (58) (1887 - 1962)
Donald Justice (20) (1925 - present)	Richard Jones (6) (1953 - present)	Helen Hunt Jackson (39) (1831 - 1885)
Laura Riding Jackson (7) (1901 - 1991)	James Lee Jobe (7) (1956 - present)	David St. John (2) (2006 - present)
K
Ted Kooser (4) (1939 - present)	Jack Kerouac (3) (1922 - 1969)	Kenneth Koch (4) (1925 - 2002)
Stanley Kunitz (21) (1905 - present)	Jane Kenyon (14) (1947 - 1995)	Yusef Komunyakaa (3) (1947 - present)
Joyce Kilmer (59) (1886 - 1918)	Galway Kinnell (15) (1927 - present)	Etheridge Knight (7) (1931 - 1991)
Weldon Kees (21) (1914 - 1955)	Steve Kowit (3) (1938 - present)	Francis Scott Key (1) (1779 - 1843)
Maxine Kumin (4) (1925 - present)	Bob Kaufman (4) (1925 - 1986)	Carolyn Kizer (13) (1925 - present)
L
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (136) (1807 - 1882)	Robert Lowell (17) (1917 - 1977)	Amy Lowell (152) (1874 - 1925)
Philip Levine (94) (1928 - present)	Vachel Lindsay (168) (1879 - 1931)	Emma Lazarus (24) (1849 - 1887)
Sidney Lanier (75) (1842 - 1881)	Thomas Lux (17) (1946 - present)	Audre Lorde (8) (1934 - 1992)
Larry Levis (3) (1946 - 1996)	Michael Lally (1) (1942 - present)	David Lehman (58) (1948 - present)
Major Henry Livingston, Jr. (23) (1748 - 1828)	Sharmagne Leland-St. John (5) (1953 - present)	Sharon Esther Lampert (19) (0 - present)
M
Claude McKay (76) (1889 - 1948)	Marianne Moore (18) (1887 - 1972)	Edna St. Vincent Millay (165) (1892 - 1950)
W. S. Merwin (23) (1927 - present)	Edgar Lee Masters (251) (1868 - 1950)	William Matthews (10) (1942 - 1997)
Archibald MacLeish (10) (1892 - 1982)	Herman Melville (16) (1819 - 1891)	Frances Mayes (1) (1940 - present)
Heather McHugh (8) (1948 - present)	Alice Duer Miller (1) (1874 - 1942)	John Montague (5) (1929 - present)
Christopher Morley (6) (1890 - 1957)	James Merrill (1) (1926 - 1995)	William Vaughn Moody (6) (1869 - 1910)
Edwin Markham (5) (1852 - 1940)	Joaquin Miller (3) (1841 - 1913)	Jonas Mekas (3) (1922 - present)
N
Maya Angelou (18) (1928 - present)	Ogden Nash (106) (1902 - 1971)	Naomi Shihab Nye (2) (1952 - present)
Howard Nemerov (26) (1920 - 1991)
O
Mary Oliver (87) (1935 - present)	Sharon Olds (17) (1942 - present)	Peter Orlovsky (4) (1933 - present)
P
Edgar Allan Poe (50) (1809 - 1849)	Sylvia Plath (121) (1932 - 1963)	Jack Prelutsky (7) (1940 - present)
Dorothy Parker (181) (1893 - 1967)	Ezra Pound (71) (1885 - 1972)	Marge Piercy (23) (1936 - present)
Linda Pastan (17) (1932 - present)	Robert Pinsky (8) (1940 - present)	Kenneth Patchen (17) (1911 - 1972)
Ron Padgett (1) (1942 - present)	Grace Paley (2) (1922 - present)	Katha Pollitt (1) (1949 - present)
Katherine Anne Porter (1) (1890 - 1980)	Wanda Phipps (8) (1960 - present)	Diane di Prima (1) (1934 - present)
Vanessa Perkins (1) (1968 - present)
R
Theodore Roethke (22) (1908 - 1963)	Edwin Arlington Robinson (176) (1869 - 1935)	Lizette Woodworth Reese (6) (1856 - 1935)
Lola Ridge (1) (1873 - 1941)	Susan Rich (3) (2006 - present)	John Crowe Ransom (11) (1888 - 1974)
Jennifer Reeser (17) (1968 - present)	Carl Rakosi (1) (1903 - 2004)	Jerome Rothenberg (6) (1931 - present)
Muriel Rukeyser (2) (1913 - 1980)	Russell Hughes Ragsdale (1) (1944 - present)
S
Shel Silverstein (19) (1932 - 1999)	Carl Sandburg (440) (1878 - 1967)	Gary Soto (1) (1952 - present)
May Swenson (3) (1913 - 1989)	Wallace Stevens (33) (1879 - 1955)	William Stafford (20) (1914 - 1993)
Karl Shapiro (3) (1913 - 2000)