From the words of Leonard Cohen, “Poetry is just the evidence of life. If your life is burning well, poetry is just the ash.” The simple act of communication is heightened and made more complex, far-reaching and encompassing with the simple rearrangement and choice of words and imagery.

Poetry reflects more than the inner musings of the writer. It is a reflection of the poet’s upbringing, culture and the society that surrounds him. Master poets know the power of words and they strive to breathe life into phrases and their written masterpieces to give voice not just to themselves but also to entire nations and generations.

The works and words of a great poet can live on for centuries. For this article, we’ll focus on the most popular and the most influential poets of the 20th century. The article provides you with a brief background on each poet and his or her writing style.

1. E.E. Cummings

Born Edward Estlin Cummings, but later popularly known as simply E. E. Cummings, this great American poet is considered a leading voice in 20th century poetry. His influence and the popularity of his prose and poetry have made him a household name.

E. E. Cummings is known for his versatility as a poet, often writing in blues form, acrostics and sonnets. His poetry primarily deals with such themes as nature, love and man’s relationship to society and the world. Most of his poems are noted for the satire snugly situated beneath carefully chosen words and imagery.

A master of idiosyncrasy of syntax, unusual use of punctuation symbols, and unconventional arrangement and creation of compound words, E.E. Cummings is no doubt one of the greatest masters of 20th century poetry.

2. W. H. Auden

Wystan Hugh Auden, or simply W.H. Auden, was an Anglo-American poet popular due to his prolific writing and unique literary style. He published approximately 400 poems, two of them book-length, throughout his lifetime. Main themes of his poetry include citizenship and politics, love, morals, religion and how a human being copes with the world.

His poetry is noted for its technical and stylistic achievements,and for tackling various issues relevant even today. Auden’s sophisticated writing varies from limericks to ballads, villanelles to haiku, and modern to traditional-style writing.

3. W. B. Yeats

William Butler Yeats was an Irish dramatist and poet. He is known as one of the 20th century’s most prominent figures in literature. In 1923, Yeats was awarded a Nobel Prize in Literature due to his massive contribution to the world of poetry. After receiving a Nobel Prize, Yeats continued to produce some of his greatest works, including “The Winding Stair and Other Poems” and “The Tower.”

From the start of the 1900s until his death, W. B. Yeats’ poetry became more realistic and physical. He no longer wrote with the same transcendentalism as he did during his youth. He is renowned as a Symbolist poet due to his mastery in writing using vivid imagery and symbolic structure.

He started out as a poet who drew heavily from Irish folklore, myths and culture. A drastic transformation of his writing style is marked by his later works, with their highly contemporary content found underneath symbols and “surface meanings.”

4. Sylvia Plath

The sad reality is that the world has a tendency to remember Plath as the great poetess who stuck her head inside an oven to die, rather than to laud her as one of the greatest poets to have advanced the genre of confessional poetry started by W.D. Snodgrass and Robert Lowell.

Her works are often compared to Anne Sexton’s and W.D. Snograss’. Most of her works present the world with heavy allusions to the Holocaust. She does all this with an uncanny grasp of striking metaphor and intense imagery.

Sylvia Plath, apart from her poetry, also wrote a semi-autobiographical novel titled “The Bell Jar”, portraying a young woman slowly undergoing a mental breakdown.

5. TS Eliot

T.S. Eliot, or Thomas Stearns Eliot, was one of the world’s brightest poets. He was also a literary critic and an acclaimed dramatist. In 1948, this master poet received a Nobel Prize for Literature. His most famous works include “The Waste Land,” “Ash Wednesday,” “Hollow Men” and “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.”

Throughout his life, T.S. Eliot was more proficient than prolific, contributing exceptional works in small quantities.

6. Maya Angelou

Maya Angelou is the second woman on our top ten list. Named as one of the most powerful women around the world, she is an American poet, actress, memoirist, and one of the most prominent figures in the American Civil Rights Movement.

She is renowned for her witty, honest and straightforward writing. She became popular due to her series of autobiographies. Her poetry liberates the mind from prejudice and a lifetime of insecurity, furthering a movement against racism and sexism. “Phenomenal Woman” is one of her most popular poems.

7. Allen Ginsberg

Irwin Allen Ginsberg’s contribution to the world does not simply rely on his contribution to poetry. His writings have managed to influence great minds into action and careful deliberation on contemporary “taboos.” Ginsberg’s most popular literary work, called “Howl,” is widely celebrated due to its attack against conformity and materialism in the United States.

This great American poet admits that his writing can be described as an extended autobiography, showcasing not only his sentiments and reflections on society as he saw it, but his conflicted emotions as well. Ginsberg is known as one of the bravest poets who was unafraid to tackle anything stamped as “taboo” by American society. This trait made him one of the most controversial and significant figures in the literary world.

Until his death, Ginsberg wrote about controversial issues. He also played a role in anti-Vietnam War protests and was unashamed to discuss his connections to communism. He was also openly a homosexual, and was vocal about his opinions on Gay Rights and free speech.

8. Elizabeth Bishop

The last woman in our top ten list, Elizabeth Bishop was one of America’s greatest poets. Her works created an immediate and lasting impact due to their clever use of imagery and careful choice of precise words that heightened the underlying message found beneath stringed words.

From 1949 until 1950, Bishop was the Poet Laureate of the United States. She also won the Houghton Mifflin Prize after Marianne Moore suggested her as one of the candidates.

9. Pablo Neruda

What is a top ten list of great poets without Neruda? Pablo Neruda is the penname, and later the legal name, of the communist politician and the Chilean poet and writer, Neftalí Ricardo Reyes Basoalto. Throughout his literary career, Neruda wrote hundreds of poems using various literary styles. His works ranged from surrealist poems to historical epics, erotic love poems and political manifestos.

In 1971, this master poet won the Nobel Prize for Literature. He is known today as one of the most influential and greatest poets to have lived in the 20th century.

10. Charles Bukowski

Capping off our top ten list of the greatest 20th century poets is the amazingly influential poet and novelist, Henry Charles Bukowski. Bukowski is one of the most prolific writers in our list. Throughout his lifetime, he wrote six novels, hundreds of short stories and thousands of amazing poems.

All of his writing is markedly influenced by the atmosphere and the geography of Los Angeles, his home city. Bukowski today is often referred to as “The Poet Laureate of Skid Row.”

What would today’s world of literature be without these contemporary masters of poetry? Probably a lot less bright and a lot more dreary without their words to come by.

These men, who are undoubtedly some of the Top Ten 20th Century Writers have truly changed the way we view the world forever.