Who is the Most Famous Poet Ever?

[billy]

but wasn't shakespeare paid for his poetry which was arguably not of his own hand?
Confucius is know by many for his wise quotes come couplets come poetry. though he did lead a religion his teachingins are often seen as poetical. anyway. while shakespeare was a playwright he was also a prolific poet as shown by his 151 sonnets to mention a few.

when i said famous poet i meant a poet that the most people had heard of or recognised as a poet.

my choice would be the likes of basho who was known through the ages by many in his own country and many elsewhere. same with yosa buson and kobyashi issa. [sp]. i'm not sure a modern poet would have had as much fame as an older classic poet. many poets are famous for for one poem in particular. call me a philistine but i thought of homer as a philosopher, i never new he was a poet

My own take on the question, i.e. trying to understand what was meant by it rather than begging it with both hands...

"Famous" = known to many from his (or her) time to, and including, ours, which does *not* imply any of the many having read his or her work, and
"Poet" = famous principally for being a poet (though poetry was not necessarily the person's principal occupation).

By this composite definition, I'd include Homer (despite his likely being a composite himself) though not Shakespeare (principally known as a playwright), Carl Sandburg but not David or Mao (principally known as rulers), Tennyson and Byron but not PBUH (principally known for founding a religion, though this is a close call due to his generally accepted excellence as a poet).

We do have the problem of languages.  Schiller or Byron? Omar Khayaam or Tennyson?  Vergil or Li Bai? (I got that last one straight from DuckDuckGo, never heard of him before, but probably known to more human beings, living or dead, than any other poet.)

One test might be that when you say one name, everyone thinks "poet" (another reason Shakespeare doesn't make the cut).  And then there's the issue of quality ignored:  some of us may think Whitman was better than Tennyson, but more have heard of T than W as a poet.

So, in the Anglosphere, I suspect a survey would turn up Tennyson, Kipling, and Homer among those who were asked to "name a poet" without providing a list for multiple choice, with the nod perhaps going to Homer.  Fame is just, well, fame.