Carol Ann Duffy, the first female and openly gay poet laureate in the U.K., took her place of literary prominence, ending 400 years of male dominance.
William Sieghart of the Forward Arts Foundation launched National Poetry Day in a British campaign to promote the benefits of poetry using public performances by leading poets.
Radical Beat poet Allen Ginsberg's epic poem, "Howl," exploded onto the poetry scene in San Francisco and revolutionized spoken word all over the world.
The ancient tale of Beowulf is the oldest surviving epic poem written in Old English with almost 3,200 alliterative lines.
The "Epic of Gilgamesh"was a series of Sumerian poems and has the distinction of being the first written poem in the world.
