1803 – Marjory Fleming, poet scoţian (m. 1811)

1850 – Mihai Eminescu, poet român (m. 1889)

„Numai poetul,

Ca pasări ce zboară

Deasupra valurilor,

Trece peste nemărginirea timpului :

În ramurile gândului,

În sfintele lunci,

Unde pasări ca el

Se-ntrec în cântări.” (sursa http://ro.wikisource.org/wiki/Numai_poetul )

1891 – Osip Mandelstam, poet rus (m. 1938)

Misery is he whom, like a shadow,

A dog’s barking frightens, the wind cuts down.

Poor is he who, half-alive himself

Begs his shade for pittance. (sursa )

Ţăcănind pe granitul porfirului,

Se tot împiedică bietul căluţ de ţară,

Căţărându-se pe soclul pleşuv

Al răsunătoarei pietre statale (sursa )

1897 – Xu Zhimo, poet chinez (m. 1931)

But as for me, I cannot sing

this muted summer’s evening;

Even insects hush, as silence

plays the flute for leaving. (sursa )

1634 – Dorthe Engelbrechtsdatter, poetă norvegiană (m. 1716)

1874 – Robert W. Service, poet canadian (m. 1958)

I was once, I declare, a Stone-Age man,

And I roomed in the cool of a cave;

I have known, I will swear, in a new life-span,

The fret and the sweat of a slave:

For far over all that folks hold worth,

There lives and there leaps in me

A love of the lowly things of earth,

And a passion to be free. (sursa )

1897 – Carlos Pellicer, poet mexican (m. 1977)

1918 – Nel Benschop, poet olandez (m. 2005)

1923 – Anthony Hecht, poet american (m. 2004)

Book-bagged and padded out, at mouth and nose

…….They manufacture ghosts,

…….George Washington’s and Poe’s,

Banquo’s, the Union and Confederate hosts’,

And are themselves the ghosts, file cabinet gray,

…….Of some departed us,

…….Signing our lives away

On ferned and parslied windows of a bus. (sursa )

17 ianuarie
1902 – Nâzım Hikmet, poet turc (m. 1963)
Iarăşi devin insuportabil, nedormit, rău
ba lucrez de parcă aş bate un câine îndrăcit,
ba mă cert cu toată lumea,
ba îmi răsare leneş, ca o ţigară stinsă,
pe buze, un cântec.
Ziua întreagă stau tolănit,
simţind dispreţ şi milă faţă de mine însumi…
Iarăşi devin insuportabil, nedormit, rău,
şi iarăşi n-am dreptate:
ştiu bine, n-are sens, nu poate avea!
Ceea ce fac e ruşinos şi jalnic!
dar nu mă pot schimba…
Un gând mă stăpâneşte tot mai mult:
sunt bolnav şi gelos…
iertare!
(sursa )

1905 – Jan Zahradníček, poet ceh (m. 1960)

1914 – William Stafford, poet şi eseist american (m. 1993)

18 ianuarie
1840 – Henry Austin Dobson, poet englez (m. 1921)

1867 – Rubén Darío, poet, jurnalist şi diplomat nicaraguan (m. 1916)
AMA TU ritmo y ritma tus acciones
bajo su ley, así como tus versos;
eres un universo de universos
y tu alma una fuente de canciones.
(sursa )

1908 – Jacob Bronowski, matematician, poet şi fizician de origine poloneză (m. 1974)

1911 – José María Arguedas, romancier, poet şi antropolog peruvian (d. 1969).

19 ianuarie
1809 – Edgar Allan Poe, poet american (m. 1849)

From childhood’s hour I have not been
As others were – I have not seen
As others saw – I could not bring
My passions from a common spring –
From the same source I have not taken
My sorrow – I could not awaken
My heart to joy at the same tone –
And all I lov’d – I lov’d alone –
Then – in my childhood – in the dawn
Of a most stormy life (sursa)

1876 – Dragotin Kette, poet sloven (m. 1899)

1913 – Rex Ingamells, poet australian (m. 1955)

20 ianuarie
1926 – Jamiluddin Aali, poet, eseist, editorialist pakistanez

1950 – Edward Hirsch, American poet
Lay these words on the dead man’s lips
like burning tongs, a tongue of flame.
A scouring eagle wheels and shrieks.
Let God pray to us for this man. (sursa )

21 ianuarie
1878 – Vahan Tekeyan, poet şi ziarist armean (m.1923)
The day has come for me to confess
To all mankind that I am not what you think of me.
I am a mere weak man indeed,
Having no confidence in my belief,
Always suspicious and full of worries
About the truth of my movements (sursa )
Going towards evil darkness.

1883 – Olav Aukrust, poet norvegian

1731 a murit Ignjat Đurđević (sau Ignazio Giorgi, poet şi traducător croat) reprezentant al poeziei baroce (n.1675)