Most Famous American Poets

United States has produced 137 notable poets throughout history, led by Edgar Allan Poe. Rankings are drawn from a cross-verified academic dataset of 152,953 people.

Top Ranked

  1. Edgar Allan Poe — American Poet (1809–1849) , ranked #48
  2. Henry David Thoreau — American Poet (1817–1862) , ranked #475
  3. Walt Whitman — American Poet (1819–1892) , ranked #676
  4. Ezra Pound — American Poet (1885–1972) , ranked #921
  5. Langston Hughes — American Poet (1902–1967) , ranked #1797
  6. John Updike — American Poet (1932–2009) , ranked #2434
  7. Thomas Merton — American Poet (1915–1968) , ranked #4195
  8. Dorothy Parker — American Poet (1893–1967) , ranked #4214
  9. William Carlos Williams — American Poet (1883–1963) , ranked #4696
  10. Carl Sandburg — American Poet (1878–1967) , ranked #5093
  11. Richard Wright (author) — American Poet (1908–1960) , ranked #5638
  12. Carson McCullers — American Poet (1917–1967) , ranked #6565
  13. Francis Scott Key — American Poet (1779–1843) , ranked #7858
  14. Phillis Wheatley — American Poet (1753–1784) , ranked #7904
  15. Djuna Barnes — American Poet (1892–1982) , ranked #9560
  16. Robert Penn Warren — American Poet (1905–1989) , ranked #10777
  17. John Perry Barlow — American Poet (1947–2018) , ranked #12599
  18. Hart Crane — American Poet (1899–1932) , ranked #13176
  19. Louise Erdrich — American Poet (Born 1954) , ranked #14646
  20. William Cullen Bryant — American Poet (1794–1878) , ranked #14840