Famous Funny Poets

Below are famous poets like Kenn Nesbitt, Shel Silverstein, Ogden Nash, and Edward Lear that are known for writing funny poetry. Where possible, we've provided links to examples of their poetry.

See also: Famous Funny Poems

RankFamous Poet
1
Shakespeare , William

William Shakespeare was born in April 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon, England. He is one of the world's most highly esteemed writers, and is thought to be the most quoted author in history, second only to the Bible. His plays and poems have been studied, analyzed, read, and loved for centuries. | Famous Funny Poet


2
Wilde , Oscar

An Anglo-Irish playwright, novelist, poet, short story writer and Freemason.. Irish writer playwright and poet | Famous Funny Poet

3
Hughes , Langston

Langston Hughes was an American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, short story writer, and newspaper columnist. He is noted as having been a creator of jazz poetry and as a leader of the Harlem Renaissance, an African American cultural movement that occurred during the 1920s and 1930s. | Famous Funny Poet

4
Silverstein , Shel

Sheldon Silverstein is American poet, songwriter, musician, composer, screenwriter, and author of children's literature from Chicago. | Famous Funny Poet

5
Kipling , Rudyard

Rudyard Kipling was a British short-story writer, poet, and novelist, born in Mumbai, India and educated in England. One of Kipling's most famous works is The Jungle Books; a collection of poems and stories. | Famous Funny Poet

6
Nash , Ogden

Frederic Ogden Nash (August 19, 1902 – May 19, 1971) was an American poet best known for writing pithy and funny light verse. At the time of his death in 1971, the New York Times said his "droll verse with its unconventional rhymes made him the country's best-known producer of humorous poetry". | Famous Funny Poet

7
Collins , Billy

Billy Collins is an American poet who served two terms as the 44th Poet Laureate of the United States from 2001–2003. He's arguably the greatest poet of the 21st century. | Famous Funny Poet

8
Keats , John

John Keats was an English poet who is now regarded as being one of the greatest lyric poets of his time and one of the principal poets of the English Romantic movement. He was born in London on October 31, 1795 and in his short lifetime had 54 poems published in various magazines and in three volumes of poetry. Recognition of his achievements as one of the leading poets of his time only came after his death in Rome on February 23, 1821. | Famous Funny Poet


9
Sandburg , Carl

An American poet, historian, novelist, balladeer and folklorist.. American poet writer and editor; three Pulitzer Prizes | Famous Funny Poet

10
Parker , Dorothy

“If you have any young friends who aspire to become writers, the second greatest favor you can do them is to present them with copies of "The Elements of Style." The first greatest, of course, is to shoot them now, while they’re happy.”---Dorothy Parker Parker was an American poet, short story writer, critic and satirist, best known for her wit, wisecracks, and eye for 20th-century urban foibles. | Famous Funny Poet

11
Burns , Robert

Robert Burns was a poet and songwriter widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland. This celebrated Scottish poet and lyricist was born at Alloway, near Ayr, in 1759. Burns' poem "A Red, Red Rose" is considered one of the greatest poems of all-time. | Famous Funny Poet

12
Prelutsky , Jack

Jack Prelutsky is an American creator of inventive poems for children and adults alike. He served as the Poetry Foundation’s Children’s Poet Laureate from 2006 to 2008. | Famous Funny Poet

13
Chesterton , G K

Gilbert Keith Chesterton was an English writer whose prolific and diverse output included philosophy, ontology, poetry, play writing, journalism, public lecturing and debating, literary and art criticism, biography, Christian apologetics, and fiction, including fantasy and detective fiction. | Famous Funny Poet

14
Lear , Edward

Edward Lear was an English artist, illustrator, author, and poet, renowned today primarily for his literary nonsense, in poetry and prose, and especially his limericks, a form that he popularized. | Famous Funny Poet

15
Hood , Thomas

English humorist and poet; father of playwright and editor. | Famous Funny Poet

16
Belloc , Hilaire

One of the most prolific writers in England during the early twentieth century.. Anglo-French writer and historian | Famous Funny Poet

17
Seuss , Dr.

Theodor Seuss Geisel was an American writer, poet, and cartoonist. He was most widely known for his children's books written and illustrated as Dr. Seuss. He had used the pen name Dr. Theophrastus Seuss in college and later used Theo LeSieg and Rosetta Stone. | Famous Funny Poet

18
Graves , Robert

An English scholar, poet, and novelist.. British author scholar | Famous Funny Poet

19
Nesbitt , Kenn

Kenn Nesbitt is a children's poet. He has written a number of collections of children's poetry, listed below. On June 11, 2013 he was named Children's Poet Laureate by the Poetry Foundation . | Famous Funny Poet

20
Swift , Jonathan

An Irish priest, satirist, essayist, political pamphleteer, and poet.. Anglo-Irish satirist essayist political pamphleteer poet and cleric | Famous Funny Poet

21
Henley , William Ernest

. English poet critic and editor | Famous Funny Poet

22
Milne , Alan Alexander (A A)

English writer A.A. Milne was born on January 18, 1882, in London, England. He joined the staff of Punch in 1906 and produced successful light comedies and a memorable detective novel before verses written for his son Christopher Robin grew into children's book collections that became beloved classics about the adventures of Christopher Robin and the toy animal Winnie-the-Pooh. | Famous Funny Poet

23
Masood , Anwar

Anwar Masood (Urdu : ), (born November 8, 1935) is a Pakistani poet known for his comic poetry, however, his works include other genres as well. He writes in Punjabi, Urdu and Persian language. | Famous Funny Poet

24
Cope , Wendy

Wendy Cope, OBE (born 21 July 1945) is an award-winning contemporary English poet. She read history at St Hilda's College, Oxford. She now lives in Ely with the poet Lachlan Mackinnon.. English poet | Famous Funny Poet