Originally Posted by
AuntShecky
I agree with JCamillo about Ovid and especially Petrarch, and of course would include Homer and Virgil. I also agree about Dante. But let's face it--he wasn't exactly a barrel of laughs. Only one joke in the whole Divine Comedy (and a cheap fart joke at that.)
I could never make a list. It would be far, far too lengthy and probably heavy with English poets as they formed the bulk of my education. I'm talking about the author of Beowulf, the Pearl poet, the author of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Chaucer, Shakespeare, the metaphysical poets, Milton, and later, Pope and Dryden. Tennyson was a giant, and then Wordsworth. I could go on and on.
See what I mean? Rather than list them or praise 'em I'd rather be reading 'em.