11. Ben Jonson was named the first poet laureate of England in 1616. However, the title didn't become an official royal office until 1668 when John Dryden was appointed. A poet laureate is responsible for writing poems for national occasions.

12. Existing fragments of Aristotle's Poetics described the three genres of poetry: the epic, the comic, and the tragic. It also laid out the rules for developing each genre to its full potential.

13.French essayist and poet Sully rudhomme (1839-1907) was the first person to win the Nobel Prize in Literature.

14. Geoffrey Chaucer's name is derived from the French chausseur, meaning "shoemaker."

15. Known as the father of English literature, British author Geoffrey Chaucer (1343-1400) is also considered the father of poetry and the greatest English poet of the Middle Ages.

16. Geoffrey Chaucer was the first poet to be buried in Poets' Corner of Westminster Abbey.

17. In 1998, an original printing of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales sold at auction for $7.4 million.

18. The Victorian novelist Samuel Butler speculated that the ancient Greek poet Homer was a woman. Other scholars argue that the Iliad and the Odyssey were the work of many people.

19. Nicknamed the female Homer, Sappho has become an symbol of homosexual love between women. Her poetry skill was widely known, and Plato even called her the "tenth Muse."

20. E. E. Cummings self-published his book of poetry "No Thanks," financed by his mother. In the book, he listed the 13 publishers who rejected his work, which would later become a classic.

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