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Apr 23, 1564
William Shakespeare
Shakespeare died April 26, 1616. He was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. -
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Emerson passed on April 27, 1882. He was an American lecturer, essayist, and poet, best remembered for leading the Transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century. -
Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe died October 7, 1849. He was a part of the American Romantic Movement and is famous for his mysteries, short stories, and introduction to early science fiction. -
Henry David Thoreau
Thoreau died May 6, 1862. He was an American author, poet, abolitionist, naturalist, tax resister, development critic, surveyor, historian, and philosopher. His most famous work was his book "Walden". -
Emily Dickinson
Dickinson died May 15, 1886.Dickinson's poems are unique for the era in which she wrote; they contain short lines, typically lack titles, and often use slant rhyme as well as unconventional capitalization and punctuation. Many of her poems deal with themes of death and immortality, two recurring topics in letters to her friends. -
Langston Hughes
Hughes passed on May 22, 1967. He was an American novelist, playwright, short story writer, and columnist. He was one of the earliest innovators of the new literary art form jazz poetry. Hughes is best-known for his work during the Harlem Renaissance. He famously wrote about the Harlem Renaissance, saying that "Harlem was in vogue". -
Maya Angelou
Angelou is an American autobiographer and poet who has been called "America's most visible black female autobiographer" by scholar Joanne M. Braxton. She is best known for her series of six autobiographical volumes, which focus on her childhood and early adult experiences. -
Shel Silverstein
Shel Silverstein died May 10, 1999. He was an author, short story writer, poet, cartoonist, song writer, and playwright. On of his most famous books was "Where the Sidewalk Ends". -
Jack Prelutsky
Prelutsky has written more than 50 poetry collections, and has also compiled numerous children's anthologies comprising poems of others.