According to a BBC poll, Rudyard Kipling’s poem “If” is Britain’s most popular poem, along with Elizabeth Barratt Browning’s “Sonnet 43″. But just how many famous poems could you recite, or even name?

Today is National Poetry Day, so we thought we would celebrate by exploring some of Wales’ finest poets. For a small country, we have an awful lot of impressive poetry writers – well, we are the land of poetry and song after all!

• Dylan Thomas – perhaps the most famous of all the Welsh poets, his villanelle “Do not go gentle into that good night” is one of the most well known poems of the 20th century. Thomas’ daughter Aeronwy Thomas was also an accomplished poet. Dylan Thomas was born in Swansea in 1914 but lived all over south and west wales until his death in 1953, aged just 39. He is almost as famous for his fast paced and alcohol-fuelled lifestyle as he is for his poetry!
• R.S.Thomas – a poet and a priest, Thomas was born in Cardiff in 1913 but his work as a priest took him all over Wales, and his final post was at Aberdaron on the Llyn Peninsula. Noted for his metaphysical poems, Thomas was greatly influenced by the Welsh landscape and communities around him. His ashes are buried at St John’s Church in Porthmadog.
• Aneirin Ap Talfan – As well as writing his own poetry, Aneirin translated the poetry of Christina Rossetti into Welsh and was a respected literary critic.
• John Ceiriog Hughes – Hughes’ bardic name comes from the beautiful Ceiriog valley in which he was born in 1832. He wrote poetry all his life, but was also a grocer and a station master. He was another of the Welsh poets who liked a drink… sadly he died in poverty in 1887.
• Iolo Morgannwg – Morgannwg was an 18th century poet who had a huge influence on later Welsh culture and poetry. Although he is usually more renowned for forging ancient collections of Welsh literary works than his own poetry!
• Owen Sheers – Owen is a modern poet, born in 1974 and raised in Abergavenny. He was the first writer in residence to be appointed by a national rugby team.
• Gillian Clarke – one of Wales’ most well known National Poets (appointed in 2008), Clarke’s poetry is enjoyed by adults and children. She co-founded Plas Newydd near Criccieth, which is a writers retreat and tuition centre.
• Hedd Wyn – one of North Wales’ most famous poets, Hedd Wyn is noted for his poetry describing the farming landscape into which he was born. He was tragically killed during WWI so he wasn’t able to collect his prize (the bard’s chair) at the National Eisteddfod of 1917. His childhood home in Trawsfynydd is being transformed into a museum and memorial centre.

 You can find out more about National Poetry Day here