Dividing Urdu's history into ten periods, there are the following:
1.) Proto Urdu (16-17th)
2.) Formative Period (17-18th)
3.) Classical Period (Golden Age) (18-19th)
4.) Late Classical Period (19th)
5.) Aligarh Movement/Dawn of Modernity (late 19th)
6.) Modern Period (20th)
7.) Progressive Writers' Movement (1930s-1950s)
8.) Modernist Movement (1950s-)
9.) Mass Media Period (late 20th)
10.) Mushaira Performers/Contemporary Period (20-21st)
Each of these periods was integral to the trajectory of Urdu's development. As the tenth most spoken language in the world, it is an important part of the human experience.
This is a work in progress, so I am adding to it and organizing in the best way possible.
Amir Khusro (d. 1325)
Bande Nawaz (d. 1442)
Kabir Das
Meera (Mira Bai) (1498)
Ibrahim Quli Qutb Shah Wali (d. 1580)
Abdul Rahim Khan i Khana (d. 1627)
Ali Adil Shah I (d. 1579)
Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah (d. 1611)
Ibrahim Adil Shah II (d. 1627)
Chandar Bhan Brahman (d. 1662)
Nusrati (d. 1674)
Mirza Abdul Qadir Bedil Dehlavi (d. 1720)
Wali Muhammad Wali (d. 1707)
Shah Mubarak Abroo (d. 1733)
Sirajuddin Ali Khan Arzu (d. 1756)
Mirza Mazhar Jane Janaan (d. 1781)
18th Century:
Mirza Muhammad Rafi Sauda (d. 1780)
Siraj Aurangabadi (d. 1763)
Muhammad Meer Soz Dehlvi (d. 1799)
Khwaja Mir Dard (d. 1785)
Qayem Chandpuri (d. 1793)
Mir Taqi Mir (d. 1810)
Nazeer Akbarabadi (d. 1830)
Qalandar Bakhsh Jurat (d. 1810)
Mashafi Ghulam Hamdani (d. 1824)
Insha Allah Khan (d. 1817)
Saadat Yaar Khan Rangin (d. 1835)
Bahadur Shah Zafar (d. 1862)
Imam Baksh Nasikh (d. 1838)
Khwaja Haidar Ali Atish (d. 1846)
Muhammad Ibrahim Khan Zauq (d. 1854)
Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib (d. 1869)
Chhannu Lal Dilgeer (d. 1848)
19th Century:
Momin Khan Momin (d. 1852)
Mirza Salamat Ali Dabeer (d. 1875)
Mir Babar Ali Anis (d. 1874)
Daya Shankar Kaul Nasim (d. 1845)
Amir Meenai (d. 1900)
Dagh Dehlvi (d. 1905)
Altaf Hussain Hali (d. 1914)
Akbar Allahabadi (d. 1921)
Ahmad Raza Khan Barelvi (d. 1921)
Hassan Raza Khan Barelvi (d. 1908)
Bekhud Badayuni (d. 1912)
Shibli Nomani (d. 1914)
Muztar Khairabadi (d. 1927)
Abul Aziz Alam (d. 1937)
Hafiz ikram Ahmad Zaigham (d. 1869)
Saqib Lakhnavi (d. 1946)
Tashna (d. 1931)
Zafar Ali Khan (d. 1956)
Arzoo Lakhnavi (d. 1951)
Syed Ghulam Bhik Nairang (d. 1952)
Hasrat Mohani (d. 1951)
Dil Shahjahanpuri (d. 1959)
Allama Iqbal (d. 1938)
Muhammad Ali Jauhar (d. 1931)
Fani Badayuni (d. 1941)
Seemab Akbarabadi (d. 1951)
Brij Narayan Chakbast (d. 1926)
Bekhud Dehlvi (d. 1955)
Niaz Fatehpuri (d. 1966)
Yagana Changezi (d. 1956)
Josh Malsiyani (d. 1976)
Asghar Gondvi (d. 1936)
Tilok Chand Mehroom (d. 1966)
Qamar Jalalvi (d. 1968)
Amjad Hyderabadi (d. 1961)
Jigar Moradabadi (d. 1960)
Raaz Chandpuri (d. 1969)
Zamin Ali (d. 1955)
Hakim Ahmad Shuja (d. 1969)
Josh Malihabadi (d. 1982)
Muhammad Mustafa Jauhar (d. 1985)
Firaq Gorakhpuri (d. 1982)
Ram Prasad Bismil (d. 1927)
Abr Ahasani Gunnauri Munavvar (d. 1970)
Ahmad Phaphoondvi (d. 1957)
Abdur Rauf Urooj (d. 1990)
1900
Maghfoor Ahmad Ajazi (d. 1966)
Hafeez Jalandhari (d. 1982)
Talib Chakwali Manohar Lal Kapur Talib (d. 1988)
Pandit Harichand Akhtar (d. 1958)
Alam Muzaffarnagari (d. 1969)
Bismil Saeedi (d. 1977)
Khushtar Girami (d. 1988)
Anand Narain Mulla (d. 1997)
Zaheen Shah Taji (d. 1978)
Syed Sajjad Zaheer (d. 1973)
Zulfiqar Ali Bukhari (d. 1975)
Akhtar Sheerani (d. 1948)
Saghar Nizami (d. 1984)
Abid Ali Abid (d. 1971)
Gopal Mittal (d. 1993)
Ratan Pandoravi (d. 1998)
Makhdum Muhiuddin (d. 1969)
Arsh Malsiani (d. 1979)
Majaz Asrar ul Haq (. 1955)
Abdul Hamid Adam (d. 1981)
Sayyid Ahmedullah Qadri (d. 1985)
Kunwar Mohinder Singh Bedi Sahar (d. 1998)
1910
Noon Meem Rashid (d. 1975)
Faiz Ahmed Faiz (d. 1984)
Syed Faiz ul Hassan Shah (d. 1984)
Aijaz Siddiqi (d. 1978)
Ravish Siddiqi (d. 1971)
Nushoor Wahidi (d. 1981)
Meeraji (d. 1949)
Shifa Gwaliori (d. 1968)
Shamim Karhani (d. 1975)
Mehr Lal Soni Zia Fatehabadi (d. 1986)
Dr Rafiq Hussain (d. 1990)
Sahir Hoshiarpuri (d. 1994)
Ali Sardar Jafri (d. 2000)
Raza Naqvi Wahi (d. 2002)
Mir Gul Khan Nasir (d. 1983)
Rais Amrohvi (d. 1988)
Ehsan Danish (d. 1982)
Jan Nisar Akhtar (d. 1976)
Majeed Amjad (d. 1974)
Sikandar Ali Wajd (d. 1983)
Akhtar ul Iman (d. 1996)
Ahmad Nadeem Qasmi (d. 2006)
Zamir Jafri (d. 1999)
Shakeel Badayuni (d. 1970)
Agha Shorish Kashmiri (d. 1975)
Shan ul Haq Haqqee (d. 2005)
Rishi Patialvi (d. 1999)
Jagan Nath Azad (d. 2004)
Kaifi Azmi (d. 2002)
Fikr Taunsvi (d. 1987)
Naeem Hashmi (d. 1976)
Majrooh Sultanpuri (d. 2000)
Khumar Barabankvi (d. 1999)
Qateel Shifai (d. 2001)
Masud Husain Khan (d. 2010)
1920
Salaam Machhalishahari (d. 1972)
Sahir Ludhianvi (d. 1980)
Krishan Mohan (d. 2004)
Wazir Agha (d. 2010)
Sulaiman Areeb (d. 1970)
Nazish Pratapgarhi (d. 1981)
Ada Jafri (1924–)
Nasir Kazmi (d. 1972)
Bekas Akbarabadi,
M.G Gupta wrote Urdu anthology, Rahat-i-Ruh (2004),(1925–2011)
Rahi Masoom Raza (d. 1992)
Himayat Ali Shair (1926)
Kanwal Ziai Hardayal Singh Datta (d. 2012)
Naresh Kumar Shad (d. 1969)
Khadija Mastoor (d. 1982)
Ibn e Insha (d. 1978)
Bekal Utsahi (d. 2016)
Sagar Siddiqui (d. 1974)
Raja Mehdi Ali Khan (d. 1966)
Habib Jalib (d. 1993)
Dilawar Figar (d. 1998)
Munir Niazi (d. 2006)
Shabnam Romani (d. 2009)
Mazhar Imam (d. 2012)
Wasif Ali Wasif (d. 1993)
Dilawar Figar (d. 1998)
1930
Mustafa Zaidi (d. 1970)
Harbans Bhalla (d. 1993)
Ahmad Faraz (d. 2008)
Jaun Elia (d. 2003)
Rajendar Nath Rehbar (1931)
Satyapal Anand (1931)
Syed Amin Ashraf (1931)
Ahmar Lari (d. 2011)
Shakeb Jalali (d. 1966)
Rajinder Manchanda Bani (d. 1981)
Mohsin Bhopali (d. 2007)
Sardar Panchhi (1932)
Muzaffar Warsi (d. 2011)
Syed Waheed Ashraf (1933)
Waheed Akhtar (d. 1996)
Sudarshan Faakir (d. 2008)
Murtaza Birlas (1934)
Mohsin Zaidi (d. 2003)
Anwar Masood (1935)
Bashar Nawaz (d. 2015)
Aftab Iqbal Shamim (1936)
Adil Mansuri (d. 2009)
Akhlaq Mohammed Khan Shahryar (d. 2012)
Gulzar (1936)
Shahzad A. Rizvi (1937)
Unwan Chishti Iftikharul Hasan Unwan (d. 2004)
Nida Fazli (d. 2016)
Makhmoor Saeedi (d. 2010)
Syed Mahmood Khundmiri (d. 2011)
Obaidullah Aleem (d. 1997)
Allama Talib Jauhari (1939– )
1940
Mahmood Shaam (1940)
Kishwar Naheed (1940)
Jazib Qureshi (1940)
Muzaffar Ahmad Lari (1940)
Riaz Ahmed Gohar Shahi (1941)
Ahfaz ur Rahman (1942)
Khalid Ahmad (1943)
Iftikhar Arif (1943)
Shamim Farooqui (d. 2014)
Amjad Islam Amjad (1944)
Ghulam Muhammad Qasir (d. 1999)
Bashir Badr (1945)
Javed Akhtar (1945)
Anwer Zahidi (1946)
Afzal Ahmed Syed (1946)
Shamim Hashimi (1947)
Saleem Kausar (1947)
Mohsin Naqvi (d. 1996)
Syed Ali Akhtar Rizvi (d. 2002)
Muhammad Izhar ul Haq (1948)
Fehmida Riaz (1948)
Pir Naseeruddin Naseer (d. 2009)
Zameer Akhtar Naqvi (d. 2020)
1950
Rahat Indori (d. 2020)
Zahid Abrol (1950)
Jamal Ehsani (d. 1998)
Ashfaq Hussain (1951–)
Haider Qureshi (1952–)
Munawwar Rana (1952–)
Parveen Shakir (d. 1994)
Abdul Hamid (1953–)
Sara Shagufta (d. 1984)
Kazim Jarwali (1955–)
Sibt-e-Jaafar Zaidi (d. 2013)
Noon Meem Danish (1958–)
Salma Shaheen (1954)
1960
Fareed Parbati (1961)
Samina Raja (1961)
Anjum Rehbar (1962)
Zahida Hina (1962–)
Muhammad Fazal Azim Taha (1962–)
Raees Warsi (1963)
Zulfiqar Naqvi (1965)
Harris Khalique (1966)
Idris Azad (1969)
Riaz Tasneem (1969)
1970
Irshad Kamil (1971)
Akhtar Raza Saleemi (1974)
Ali Akbar Natiq (1974)
Sarim Momin (1978)
Non Muslim Urdu Poets
Maharaja Chandu Lal Sadan (d. 1845)
Mah Laqa Bai (d. 1824)
Daya Shankar Kaul Nasim (d. 1845)
Maharaja Sir Kishen Pershad (d. 1940)
Brij Mohan Dattatreya Kaifi (d. 1955)
Brij Narayan Chakbast (d. 1926)
Tilok Chand Mehroom (d. 1966)
Firaq Gorakhpuri (d. 1982)
Ram Prasad Bismil (d. 1927)
Pandit Harichand Akhtar (d. 1958)
Anand Narain Mulla (d. 1997)
Khushtar Girami (d. 1988)
Gopal Mittal (d. 1993)
Ratan Pandoravi (d. 1998)
Arsh Malsiani (d. 1979)
Sahir Hoshiarpuri (d. 1994)
Mehr Lal Soni Zia Fatehabadi (d. 1986)
Rishi Patialvi (d. 1999)
Jagan Nath Azad (d. 2004)
Bhupendra Nath Kaushik (d. 2007)
Krishna Kumar Sharma (d. 2001)
Kanwal Ziai Hardayal Singh Datta (d. 2012)
Naresh Kumar Shad (d. 1969)
Harbans Bhalla (d. 1993)
Satyapal Anand (1931)
Raj Pathria (1933)
Dushyant Kumar (d. 1975)
Rajendar Nath Rehbar (d. 2022)
Sudarshan Faakir (d. 2008)
Mohinder Pratap Chand (1935)
Jayant Parmer (1954)
Fahmi Badayuni (d. 2024)
20th Century
Mashal Sultanpuri (d. 2020)
Meena Kumari (d. 1972)
Contemporary
Fuzail Ahmad Nasiri (1978-)
Others
Saleem Kausar
Shahin Badar
Siraj Aurangabadi
Ziauddin Ahmad
Sadhu Singh Hamdard
Qamar Jalalabadi
Kanwal Ziai
Kaif Bhopali
Sayeed Quadri
Khalid Irfan
Kashmiri Lal Zakir
