Poets L-Z, WIL-ZUK
Discover poets whose language, rhythm, and imagination have distilled love, grief, protest, wonder, and everyday life into memorable lines.
Poets L-Z Encyclopedia Articles By Title
Williams, Helen Maria
Helen Maria Williams was an English poet, novelist, and social critic best known for her support of such radical......
Williams, Saul
Saul Williams is an American rapper, poet, and actor who has been a prominent figure in the scenes of alternative......
Williams, William
William Williams was a leader of the Methodist revival in Wales and its chief hymn writer. His parents were Nonconformists,......
Williams, William Carlos
William Carlos Williams was an American poet who succeeded in making the ordinary appear extraordinary through......
Wilson, August
August Wilson was a playwright who penned an acclaimed cycle of plays, each set in a different decade of the 20th......
Winters, Yvor
Yvor Winters was an American poet, critic, and teacher who held that literature should be evaluated for its moral......
Wither, George
George Wither was an English poet and Puritan pamphleteer, best remembered for a few songs and hymns. Wither entered......
Wittlin, Józef
Józef Wittlin was a Polish novelist, essayist, and poet, an Expressionist noted for his humanist views. Having......
Wivallius, Lars
Lars Wivallius was a Swedish poet and adventurer, whose lyrics show a feeling for the beauties of nature new to......
Woestijne, Karel van de
Karel van de Woestijne was a Flemish poet whose body of work constitutes a symbolic autobiography. Van de Woestijne......
Woiwode, Larry
Larry Woiwode was an American writer whose semi-autobiographical fiction reflects his early childhood in a tiny......
Wolfe, Charles
Charles Wolfe was an Irish poet and clergyman, whose “Burial of Sir John Moore” (1817), commemorating the commander......
Wolff, Betje
Betje Wolff was a Dutch writer and collaborator with Aagje Deken on the first Dutch novel, De historie van mejuffrouw......
Wolfram von Eschenbach
Wolfram von Eschenbach was a German poet whose epic Parzival, distinguished alike by its moral elevation and its......
Woodcock, George
George Woodcock was a Canadian poet, critic, historian, travel writer, playwright, scriptwriter, and editor, whose......
Woolsey, Sarah Chauncey
Sarah Chauncey Woolsey was an American children’s author whose vivacious and mischievous heroines presented a popular......
Wordsworth, William
William Wordsworth was an English poet whose Lyrical Ballads (1798), written with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped......
Wotton, Sir Henry
Sir Henry Wotton was an English poet, diplomat, and art connoisseur who was a friend of the poets John Donne and......
Wright, Charles
Charles Wright is an American poet known for his lyricism and use of lush imagery in his poems about nature, life......
Wright, James
James Wright was an American poet of the postmodern era who wrote about sorrow, salvation, and self-revelation,......
Wright, Judith
Judith Wright was an Australian poet whose verse, thoroughly modern in idiom, is noted for its skillful technique.......
Wu Cheng’en
Wu Cheng’en was a novelist and poet of the Ming dynasty (1368–1644), generally acknowledged as the author of the......
Wyatt, Sir Thomas
Sir Thomas Wyatt was a poet who introduced the Italian sonnet and terza rima verse form and the French rondeau......
Wylie, Elinor
Elinor Wylie was an American poet and novelist whose work, written from an aristocratic and traditionalist point......
Wyspiański, Stanisław
Stanisław Wyspiański was a Polish dramatist and painter, a leading artist of the early 20th-century period who......
Xenophanes
Xenophanes was a Greek poet and rhapsode, religious thinker, and reputed precursor of the Eleatic school of philosophy,......
Xie Lingyun
Xie Lingyun was a prominent Chinese writer of the Six Dynasties era, known chiefly as a nature poet. The scion......
Xin Qiji
Xin Qiji was a Chinese poet and master soldier whose ci (poems written to existing musical patterns) are considered......
Xu Zhimo
Xu Zhimo was a Chinese poet who strove to loosen Chinese poetry from its traditional forms and to reshape it under......
Yamanoue Okura
Yamanoue Okura was one of the most individualistic, even eccentric, of Japan’s classical poets, who lived and wrote......
Yamazaki Sōkan
Yamazaki Sōkan was a Japanese renga (“linked-verse”) poet of the late Muromachi period (1338–1573) who is best......
Yang Xiong
Yang Xiong was a Chinese poet and philosopher best known for his poetry written in the form known as fu. As a quiet......
Yavorov, Peyo
Peyo Yavorov was a Bulgarian poet and dramatist, the founder of the Symbolist movement in Bulgarian poetry. Yavorov......
Yeats, William Butler
William Butler Yeats was an Irish poet, dramatist, and prose writer who is considered one of the greatest English-language......
Yesenin, Sergey Aleksandrovich
Sergey Aleksandrovich Yesenin was the self-styled “last poet of wooden Russia,” whose dual image—that of a devout......
Yevtushenko, Yevgeny
Yevgeny Yevtushenko was a poet and spokesman for the younger post-Stalin generation of Russian poets. His internationally......
Yosano Akiko
Yosano Akiko was a Japanese poet whose new style caused a sensation in Japanese literary circles. Akiko was interested......
Yoshida Kenkō
Yoshida Kenkō was a Japanese poet and essayist, the outstanding literary figure of his time. His collection of......
Young, Edward
Edward Young was an English poet, dramatist, and literary critic, author of The Complaint: or, Night Thoughts (1742–45),......
Young, Kevin
Kevin Young is a poet, essayist, and editor whose work explores African American history and culture, in particular......
Young, Marguerite
Marguerite Young was an American writer best known for Miss MacIntosh, My Darling (1965), a mammoth, many-layered......
Yourcenar, Marguerite
Marguerite Yourcenar was a novelist, essayist, and short-story writer who became the first woman to be elected......
Yuan Zhen
Yuan Zhen was a key literary figure of the middle Tang dynasty of China, influential in the guwen (“ancient-style......
Yunus Emre
Yunus Emre was a poet and mystic who exercised a powerful influence on Turkish literature. Though legend obscures......
Zagajewski, Adam
Adam Zagajewski was a Polish poet, novelist, and essayist whose works were grounded in the turbulent history of......
Zhu Yizun
Zhu Yizun was a Chinese scholar and poet who helped revive the ci song form during the early Qing dynasty (1644–1911/12).......
Zhukovsky, Vasily Andreyevich
Vasily Andreyevich Zhukovsky was a Russian poet and translator, one of Aleksandr Pushkin’s most important precursors......
Zimorowic, Józef Bartłomiej
Józef Bartłomiej Zimorowic was a Polish-Latin Baroque writer, prolific author of satiric and erotic epigrams. When......
Zollinger, Albin
Albin Zollinger was a poet and novelist, the leading figure in the revival of Swiss poetry between World Wars I......
Zorrilla de San Martín, Juan
Juan Zorrilla de San Martín was a Uruguayan poet famous for a long historical verse epic, Tabaré (1886; final edition......
Zorrilla y Moral, José
José Zorrilla y Moral was a poet and dramatist, the major figure of the nationalist wing of the Spanish Romantic......
Zrínyi, Miklós
Miklós Zrínyi was a statesman, military leader, and author of the first epic poem in Hungarian literature. Born......
Zuhayr ibn Abī Sulmā
Zuhayr ibn Abī Sulmā was one of the greatest of the Arab poets of pre-Islamic times, best known for his long ode......
Zukofsky, Louis
Louis Zukofsky was an American poet, the founder of Objectivist poetry and author of the massive poem “A.” The......