List of national poets

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A national poet or national bard is a poet held by tradition and popular acclaim to represent the identity, beliefs and principles of a particular national culture. The national poet as culture hero is a long-standing symbol, to be distinguished from the successive holders of a bureaucratically-appointed Poet Laureate office.

Most national poets are historical figures, although a few contemporary writers working in relatively new or revived national literatures are also considered "national" poets. Some nations may have more than one national poet; the idea of a single national poet is always an act of simplification.

There follows a list of nations. Note that this is not a list of sovereign states or countries, although many of the nations listed may also be states or countries. The words nation (cultural), country (geographical) and state (political) are not synonymous.

1 List of national poets
2 Sobriquets
3 See also
4 External links

[edit] List of national poets

Argentina - José Hernández
Austria - Peter Rosegger
Australia - Adam Lindsay Gordon
Bangladesh - Kazi Nazrul Islam
Brazil - Gonçalves Dias
Dagestan - Rasul Gamzatov
England - William Shakespeare
Finland - Johan Ludvig Runeberg
Galicia - Rosalía de Castro
Greece - Dionysios Solomos
Guernsey - George Métivier
Hungary - Sándor Petőfi
India - Ramdhari Singh 'Dinkar'(Rashtra kavi); Rabindranath Tagore wrote the National Anthem of India, Kuvempu
Italy - Dante Alighieri
Israel - Hayyim Nahman Bialik
Jews - Yehuda Halevi
Malta - Dun Karm Psaila
Moldova - Mihai Eminescu
Ossetia - Kosta Xetagurov
Pakistan - Muhammad Iqbal
Palestine - Fadwa Toukan, (1917-2003) known as the poet of Palestine
Poland - the Three Bards: Zygmunt Krasiński, Adam Mickiewicz, Juliusz Słowacki
Portugal - Luís de Camões
Romania - Mihai Eminescu
Russia - Alexander Pushkin, Mikhail Lermontov, Fyodor Tyutchev
Scotland - Robert Burns
Singapore - Chandran Nair
Slovakia - Pavol Országh Hviezdoslav
South Africa - Mazisi Kunene, poet laureate
Turkey - Mehmet Akif Ersoy
Vietnam - Nguyen Du

[edit] Sobriquets

The French language has a number of sobriquets to denote the origin of various literary languages. Many of these writers may be considered as the bard of their nation, even if they were primarily dramatists or prose writers.