BOOKS

A poet is a person who writes poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as poets by others. A poet may simply be a writer of poetry, or may perform their art to an audience.

 

Postmortal fictional portrait of Slovak poet Janko Kráľ (1822-1876) - an idealized romanticized picture of "how a real poet should look like" in Western culture.

 

The work of a poet is essentially one of communication, either expressing ideas in a literal sense, such as writing about a specific event or place, or metaphorically. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary greatly in different cultures and time periods. Throughout each civilization and language, poets have used various styles that have changed through the course of literary history, resulting in a history of poets as diverse as the literature they have produced.

 

Poets of earlier times were often well read and highly educated people while others were to a large extent self educated. A few poets such as John Gower and John Milton were able to write poetry in more than one language.

 

Many universities offer degrees in creative writing though these only came into existence in the 20th century. While these courses are not necessary for a career as a poet, they can be helpful as training, and for giving the student several years of time focused on their writing.

 

THE CREATIVE REALM'S RECOMMENDED POETS

1. Langston Hughes 
2. Amy Lowell 
3. Kenneth Rexroth 
4. Emily Dickinson 
5. Kenneth Patchen