List of national poets

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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, though many of the nations listed may also be states or countries. The terms "nation" (cultural), "country" (geographical) and "state" (political) are not synonyms.

List of national poets

 * Afghanistan - Khushal Khan Khattak
 * Albania - Gjergj Fishta
 * Argentina - JosÃ© HernÃ¡ndez
 * Austria - Peter Rosegger, Franz Grillparzer, Johann Nepomuk Nestroy
 * Australia - Adam Lindsay Gordon, Henry Lawson, Dorothea Mackellar, A. B. "Banjo" Paterson
 * Azerbaijan - FuzÃ»lÃ®, Nezami Ganjavi, Imadaddin Nasimi, Samad Vurgun
 * Bangladesh - Kazi Nazrul Islam
 * Belarus - Adam Mickiewicz, Yakub Kolas, Yanka Kupala
 * Brazil - GonÃ§alves Dias, Olavo Bilac, Carlos Drummond de Andrade, Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis.
 * Bulgaria - Hristo Botev, Ivan Vazov
 * Catalonia - Jacint Verdaguer
 * Croatia - Marko MaruliÄ‡, Miroslav KrleÅ¾a
 * Czech Republic - Karel Hynek MÃ¡cha, Jan Neruda
 * Chile - Pablo Neruda
 * China - Du Fu, Li Bai
 * Cuba - JosÃ© MartÃ­
 * Dagestan - Rasul Gamzatov
 * Denmark - Adam OehlenschlÃ¤ger
 * Dominican Republic - Pedro Mir
 * Ecuador - Jose Joaquin de Olmedo, Jorge Enrique Adoum, Karina Galvez
 * England - William Shakespeare
 * Finland - Johan Ludvig Runeberg
 * France - Victor Hugo, Charles Baudelaire
 * Friesland - Gysbert Japicx
 * Galicia - RosalÃ­a de Castro
 * Georgia - Shota Rustaveli
 * Germany - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Friedrich von Schiller
 * Greece - Homer, Dionisios Solomos
 * Guernsey - George MÃ©tivier
 * Hungary - SÃ¡ndor PetÅ‘fi
 * Iceland - HallgrÃ­mur PÃ©tursson, HalldÃ³r Laxness
 * India - Subramanya Bharathi
 * Israel - Yehuda Amichai, Hayyim Nahman Bialik
 * Iran - Ferdowsi, Hafez, Nezami, Saadi, Khayyam, Rumi, Naser Khosrow, Adib Boroumand
 * Ireland - Thomas Moore, William Butler Yeats
 * Italy - Dante Alighieri
 * Jews - Yehuda Halevi
 * Kashmir - Mahjoor
 * Kazakhstan - Abay Qunanbayuli
 * Latvia - Rainis
 * Lebanon - Gibran Khalil Gibran, Said Akl
 * Lithuania - Adam Mickiewicz
 * Luxembourg - Edmond de la Fontaine, known as "Dicks"
 * Macedonia - KoÄo Racin
 * Malaysia - Usman Awang
 * Malta - Dun Karm Psaila
 * the Netherlands - Joost van den Vondel, Jacob Cats
 * Nicaragua - Ruben Dario
 * Nigeria - Chinua Achebe
 * Ossetia - Kosta Xetagurov
 * Pakistan - Allama Muhammad Iqbal
 * Palestine - Mahmoud Darwish, (1917-2003), "the poet of Palestine"
 * Panama - Ricardo MirÃ³ (1883-1940)
 * Peru - CÃ©sar Vallejo
 * Philippines - Francisco Balagtas
 * Poland - the Three Bards: Adam Mickiewicz, Juliusz SÅ‚owacki, Zygmunt KrasiÅ„ski
 * Portugal - LuÃ­s de CamÃµes (author of the national epic, The Lusiads), Fernando Pessoa (author of the epic-lyric poem, Mensagem)
 * Quebec - Ã‰mile Nelligan, Gaston Miron, Octave CrÃ©mazie, Gilles Vigneault, FÃ©lix Leclerc
 * Republic of India - Rabindranath Tagore, Bankim Chandra Chatterjee, Subramanya Bharathi, K. V. Puttappa, Govind Pai, Kavi Pradeep, G.S. Shivarudrappa, N.L. Shraman
 * Romania and Moldova - Mihai Eminescu
 * Russia - Alexander Pushkin, Mikhail Lermontov, Fyodor Tyutchev
 * Saudi Arabia - Ghazi Abdul Rahman Algosaibi
 * Scotland - Robert Burns, Hugh MacDiarmid, John Barbour, Edwin Morgan
 * Serbia and Montenegro - Petar PetroviÄ‡ NjegoÅ¡
 * Slovakia - Pavol OrszÃ¡gh Hviezdoslav
 * Slovenia - France PreÅ¡eren
 * Somalia - Hassan Ganey - Abdillahi Suldaan Mohammed Timacade - Mohamed Ibrahim Warsame 'Hadrawi'
 * South Africa - Mazisi Kunene
 * Spain - Miguel de Cervantes
 * Sweden - Carl Michael Bellman, Evert Taube, Gustaf FrÃ¶ding, Verner von Heidenstam, Esaias TegnÃ©r
 * Syria - Nizar Qabbani
 * Tunisia - Aboul-Qacem Echebbi
 * Turkey - Mehmet Akif Ersoy
 * Ukraine - Taras Shevchenko
 * United States - Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson
 * Venezuela - RÃ³mulo Gallegos, AndrÃ©s Eloy Blanco
 * Vietnam - Nguyen Du
 * Wales - Dylan Thomas, Dafydd ap Gwilym

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 MoliÃ¨re or langue de Voltaire
 * German language: langue de Goethe
 * Greek language: langue de HomÃ¨re
 * Italian language: langue de Dante
 * Latin language: langue de CicÃ©ron
 * Norman language: langue de Wace
 * Polish language: langue de Adam Mickiewicz
 * Portuguese language: langue de LuÃ­s de CamÃµes
 * ProvenÃ§al language: langue de Mistral
 * Romanian language: langue de Mihai Eminescu
 * Russian language: langue de TolstoÃ¯ or langue de Pouchkine
 * Spanish language: langue de CervantÃ¨s