Top 10 Poets of the 17th Century

William Shakespeare was born in April 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon, England. He is one of the world's most highly esteemed writers, and is thought to be the most quoted author in history, second only to the Bible. His plays and poems have been studied, analyzed, read, and loved for centuries.

John Donne (1572 – March 31, 1631) was a Jacobean poet, satirist, lawyer and preacher/cleric in the Church of England. He is considered the founding figure of the so-called metaphysical poetry movement.

Matsuo Basho (1644–1694), renku and haiku poet

George Herbert was a Welsh poet, orator and Anglican priest. Being born into an artistic and wealthy family, he received a good education which led to his holding prominent positions at Cambridge University and Parliament. As a student at Trinity College, Cambridge, England, George Herbert excelled in languages and music. He went to college with the intention of becoming a priest, but his scholarship attracted the attention of King James I/VI. Herbert served in parliament for two years. public orator and poet

Ben (Benjamin) Jonson was a noted English poet, literary critic, and playwright during the late 16th and early 17th Centuries.

John Milton was an English poet, polemicist, man of letters, and a civil servant for the Commonwealth of England under Oliver Cromwell. He is known for the works: Paradise Lost, Paradise Regained, Lycidas, L'Allegro, and Il Penseroso.

Sir Walter Raleigh is a famed English writer, poet, courtier, aristocrat, and explorer. His most influential work of poetry was entitled "The Lie." He was born in Devon, England and died in London.

A 17th century English poet.. English poet

Anne Dudley Bradstreet was the first female poet to be published from either Puritan America or England. Her work met with a positive reception in both the Old World and the New World.. Landed in Salem Massachusetts June 14 1630 America's first published poet

Alexander Pope was an eighteenth-century English poet, best known for his satirical verse and for his translation of Homer. He is the third most frequently quoted writer in The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, after Shakespeare and Tennyson. Pope is famous for his use of the heroic couplet.. English poet