I'll cheat another way: top ten 20th-century poets (I'm a modern girl):
Philip Larkin (agreed--so moving and so fiercely honest) Czeslaw Milosz Sharon Olds (consistently, breathtakingly risky) Seamus Heaney W. B. Yeats Ranier Maria Rilke John Berryman Edna St. Vincent Millay E.E. Cummings (These last two choices are a bit wet, but I can't help myself) Bob Dylan (gasp! I was going to put HD or Mina Loy here, but Bob has probably given me more pleasure in the long run)
I Will Make it Ten
Philip Larkin (agreed--so moving and so fiercely honest)
Czeslaw Milosz
Sharon Olds (consistently, breathtakingly risky)
Seamus Heaney
W. B. Yeats
Ranier Maria Rilke
John Berryman
Edna St. Vincent Millay
E.E. Cummings
(These last two choices are a bit wet, but I can't help myself)
Bob Dylan (gasp! I was going to put HD or Mina Loy here, but Bob has probably given me more pleasure in the long run)