Poetry Guide: National Poets

Many nations have adopted a poet who is perceived to represent the identity, beliefs and principles of their culture. This person, whether officially or by popular acclaim, is often referred to as the national poet or national bard. Many are historical figures, whereas others are still writing today. Some nations have more than one national poet.

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.

List of national poets

• Austria - Peter Rosegger
• Australia - Adam Lindsay Gordon
• Bangladesh - Kazi Nazrul Islam
• Canada - Parliamentary Poet Laureate
• England - Andrew Motion, Poet Laureate
• Finland - Johan Ludvig Runeberg
• Guernsey - George Métivier
• Hungary - Sándor Petőfi
• Italy - Giosuè Carducci
• India - Kuvempu
• Israel - Hayyim Nahman Bialik
• Jews - Yehuda Halevi
• Malta - Dun Karm Psaila
• Moldova - Mihai Eminescu
• Ossetia - Kosta Xetagurov
• Pakistan - Muhammad Iqbal
• 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 -
  • official appointment: Edwin Morgan, The Scots Makar
  • traditionally: Robert Burns
• South Africa -
• Tamil Nadu - Kannadasan
• Turkey - Mehmet Akif Ersoy
• United States - Ted Kooser, Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress
• Vietnam - Nguyen Du
• Wales - it was announced in February 2005 that Wales is to have its own official national poet.

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.

• Dutch language : langue de Vondel
• English language : langue de Shakespeare
• Esperanto language : langue de Zamenhof
• French language : langue de Molière or langue de Voltaire
• German language : langue de Goethe
• Greek language : langue de Homère (Homer)
• Italian language : langue de Dante
• Latin language : langue de Cicéron (Cicero)
• Norman language : langue de Wace
• Portuguese language : langue de Camões
• Provençal language : langue de Mistral
• Russian language : langue de Tolstoï (Tolstoy)
• Spanish language : langue de Cervantès