List of national poets
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 successive holders of a bureaucratically-appointed poet-laureate office.
Most national poets are historic figures, though 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 one is always a simplification.
Following is a list of nations, with their associated national poets. It is not a list of sovereign states or countries, though many of the nations listed may also be such. The terms "nation" (as cultural concept), "country" (as geographical concept) and "state" (as political concept) are not synonyms.
Africa
Asia
- Afghanistan - Khushal Khan Khattak[1]
- Azerbaijan - Fuzûlî, Nizami Ganjavi, Imadaddin Nasimi, Samad Vurgun
- Bangladesh - Kazi Nazrul Islam[2]
- Cambodia - Krom Ngoy, Chuon Nath
- China - Du Fu, Li Bai
- India - Rabindranath Tagore, Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, Subramanya Bharathi
- Iran - Ferdowsi, Hafiz, Nizami, Saadi, Khayyam, Rumi, Naser Khosrow, Adib Boroumand
- Israel - Yehuda Amichai, Hayyim Nahman Bialik, Yehuda Halevi
- Kashmir - Mahjoor
- Kazakhstan - Abay Qunanbayuli
- Lebanon - Gibran Khalil Gibran, Said Akl
- Malaysia - Usman Awang
- Ossetia - Kosta Xetagurov
- Pakistan - Allama Muhammad Iqbal
- Palestine - Mahmoud Darwish (1917-2003)
- Philippines - Francisco Balagtas
- Saudi Arabia - Ghazi Abdul Rahman Algosaibi
- Syria - Nizar Qabbani
- Turkey - Mehmet Akif Ersoy
- Vietnam - Nguyen Du
Europe
- Albania - Gjergj Fishta, Naim Frashëri
- Armenia - Hovhannes Tumanyan
- Austria - Peter Rosegger, Franz Grillparzer, Johann Nepomuk Nestroy
- Belarus - Yakub Kolas, Yanka Kupala
- Bulgaria - Hristo Botev,[3] Ivan Vazov
- Catalonia - Jacint Verdaguer
- Croatia - Marko Marulić, Miroslav Krleža
- Czech Republic - Karel Hynek Mácha, Jan Neruda
- Dagestan - Rasul Gamzatov
- Denmark - Adam Oehlenschläger
- England - William Shakespeare
- Finland - Johan Ludvig Runeberg
- France - Victor Hugo, Charles Baudelaire
- Friesland - Gysbert Japicx
- Galicia - Rosalía de Castro
- Georgia - Shota Rustaveli
- Germany - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Friedrich von Schiller
- Greece - Homer, Dionisios Solomos
- Guernsey - George Métivier
- Hungary - Sándor Petőfi
- Iceland - Hallgrímur Pétursson, Halldór Laxness
- Ireland - Thomas Moore, William Butler Yeats
- Italy - Dante Alighieri
- Latvia - Rainis
- Lithuania - Adam Mickiewicz
- Luxembourg - Edmond de la Fontaine, known as "Dicks"
- Macedonia - Kočo Racin, Gjorgjija Pulevski and Kole Nedelkovski
- Malta - Dun Karm Psaila
- Moldova - Mihai Eminescu
- Netherlands - Joost van den Vondel, Jacob Cats
- Poland - the Three Bards: Adam Mickiewicz, Juliusz Słowacki, Zygmunt Krasiński
- Portugal - Luís de Camões (author of the national epic, The Lusiads), Fernando Pessoa (author of the epic-lyric poem, Mensagem)
- Romania - Mihai Eminescu
- Russia - Alexander Pushkin,[4] Mikhail Lermontov, Fyodor Tyutchev
- Scotland - Robert Burns, Hugh MacDiarmid, John Barbour, Edwin Morgan
- Serbia and Montenegro - Petar Petrović Njegoš
- Slovakia - Pavol Országh Hviezdoslav
- Slovenia - France Prešeren
- Spain - Miguel de Cervantes, Federico Garcia Lorca
- Sweden - Carl Michael Bellman, Evert Taube, Gustaf Fröding, Verner von Heidenstam, Esaias Tegnér
- Ukraine - Taras Shevchenko
- Wales - Dylan Thomas, Dafydd ap Gwilym
North America
Oceania
South America
By language
Various peoples sometimes use sobriquets to denote certain languages by reference to their associated national poets. Listed below are sobriquets used in the French language. Many of the writers are considered the bards of their respective nations though they were principally dramatists or prose writers.
For the Yiddish language, Mark Warshawsky, Itzik Manger, Mordechai Gebirtig, Abraham Sutzkever are considered "national poets".
Notes
- ^ "Early Afghan literature" on culturalprofiles.net
- ^ Aparna Chatterjee, Kaazi Nazrul Islam; The National Poet of Bangladesh : A Profile Study on The Literary Shelf, Boloji.com. Accessed 9 March 2007.
- ^ Hristo Botev’s birth anniversary, Radio Bulgaria History and Religion, posted January 6, 2007, updated on January 12, 2007, accessed 9 March 2007
- ^ Stephanie Sandler, Commemorating Pushkin: Russia's Myth of a National Poet, Stanford University Press (2004) ISBN 0804734488
- ^ Daniel Balderston, Mike (2004). Encyclopedia of Latin American and Caribbean Literature, 1900-2003. Routledge. p. 666. ISBN 0415306876. http://books.google.com/books?id=gamNThQUZvEC&pg=PA356&lpg=PA356&dq=ricardo+mir%C3%B3+poet&source=web&ots=oTAnsTKfUM&sig=kbZv1Hbd7zC2IvxkMfu7oP4RFQc.
- ^ James Woodall, Borges: A Life, Basic Books (1996). ISBN 0-465-04361-5. Relevant excerpt available on the New York Times web site, accessed 9 March 2007.
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