Famous gay poets

We've rounded up 25 of our favorite queer poets to close out National Poetry Month, which takes place in April. From seasoned legends to budding up-and-comers, here's 25 of the best. Here we take a look at 10 of the greatest gay or bisexual figures in classic literature. 1.

Oscar Wilde was born in ; and in the s, he was one of London’s most celebrated playwrights and poets. His plays were known and celebrated for their wit, humor, and attention to detail. On this list, readers will find ten of the best LGBTQ poems. They touch on topics like love, identity, and passion. These poems were written by poets ranging from Sappho and Walt Whitman to Audre Lorde and Allen Ginsberg.

Through a wide variety of techniques and perspectives, the poets on this list help define LGBTQ+ literature across the ages. Here are the 25 Most Influential Gay Authors You Should Know About. 1. Oscar Wilde by W. & D. Downey from Wikimedia Commons. The Irish poet cum playwright was born on 16 October His famous works are The Happy Prince and Other Tales published in and The Picture of Dorian Gray ().

Explore the rich tradition of gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and queer poets and poetry by browsing a selection of poems & audio. For more essays, video, and ephemera, check out our Pride Month roundup. Emmanuel Macron is under pressure to strike a blow for sexual diversity by ordering the "Pantheonisation" - interment at the national mausoleum in Paris - of two of France's best-loved poets, Arthur Rimbaud and Paul Verlaine.

A petition signed by 10 former culture ministers, as well as a long list of artists and intellectuals, says the two poets - who had an intense but ultimately violent affair in the early s - "were symbols of diversity". They suffered the harsh homophobia of their time. They are the French Oscar Wildes. Current Culture Minister Roselyne Bachelot, while not signing the petition, nevertheless said she agreed.

The call, however, has triggered an angry backlash, with opponents saying the poets are being made the victims of a 21st Century cultural power-grab, and that absolutely nothing in their lives or work suggests suitability for a patriotic Valhalla. Rimbaud and Verlaine are certainly among the most revered of French poets - and it is also true that of the 75 residents of the Pantheon, none is there for poetry.

Victor Hugo was transferred for his political achievement. Supporters say there are both literary and moral reasons for their re-interment.

queer poets

Not only has "their genius nourished for more than a century our literary and poetic imagination", but also their current burial places - in Charleville-Mezieres, Ardennes for Rimbaud, in a cemetery off the Paris ring road for Verlaine - are "unworthy". There is also the homophobic persecution which Verlaine above all had to endure.

Famously, the poets' relationship ended in when Verlaine fired a gun and lightly wounded Rimbaud in Brussels. Rimbaud refused to press charges, but Belgian police went ahead anyway and their report was heavily slanted by their distaste for the poets' relationship. Arthur Rimbaud: 20 October - 10 November France's culture minister says she sometimes arrives at cabinet meetings with Rimbaud's poem The Drunken Boat coursing through her head.

As I was going down impassive Rivers, I no longer felt myself guided by haulers. Yelping redskins had taken them as targets, And had nailed them naked to coloured stakes. Paul Verlaine: 30 March - 8 January But opponents of Pantheonisation say it would make a mockery of what the poets actually stood for - which was certainly not membership of the French establishment. Rather it was liberty, rebellion, and a refusal to kowtow to the cultural zeitgeist.

With the help of academia and government, it is trying to co-opt them. Others have pointed out that support for the motherland was not exactly the poets' strong point. In the Franco-Prussian war, Rimbaud even said he would welcome a Prussian victory. And of the Pantheon itself, the poet once said that it was an "official acropolis which takes modern barbarity to new extremes".

Skip to content. Rimbaud and Verlaine: France agonises over digging up gay poets. Share Save. Getty Images. Arthur Rimbaud was portrayed in this Jef Rosman painting in his bed after Verlaine had lightly wounded him. Paul Verlaine is currently buried in a cemetery off the Paris ring road. Arguments for and against moving the poets. The revolver that Verlaine used to try to kill his lover was sold at auction in