Bards that were ...                     and that affected me.

Before I continue, direct gloat extended to Daniel who quibbled over the meaning of "bard." He said, and I quote, "My experience with this word has led me to believe that it refers to poets and storytellers who wander this land telling tales of heroes. Now, I understand your need to use a "cool" word in order to gain popularity and gain self-esteem, never the less it is still inappropriate and uncalled for."
Okay, sure Dan. How about you go here?
Now, I like all sorts of writers, but my favourite reads have been:

Anne Rice - "The Vampire Chronicles" still turn a walk down the street into a surreal, feverish journey into the psychotic realms of the relationship between puny human nature and the power of the beyond.

Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe - "Faust" is an operatic study of man's relationship with God and the Devil (I'm still coming to terms with it - it wasn't written for a stunted 17 year old understanding).

Eugene O'Neill - "Mourning Becomes Electra" is superficially a melodrama, but it has real emotion (those who saw the Sydney Theatre Company Production will agree) and Barrie Kosky (S.T.C. Director in 1998) describes it as part melodrama, part family drama and part psychotic nightmare.

Sophocles - "The Three Theban Plays" (Antigone, Oedipus The King and Oedipus at Colonus) paved the way for understanding psychology. Greek Theatre is cool too! Freud's Oedipus Complex (all boys would like to take the place of their father in their relations with their mother, even if it means his death) came from the play, and when I think about it alongside the Electra Complex that came from aforementioned "Mourning Becomes Electra" (girls' mother hatred, father love and boys' father hatred, mother love) it holds a special intrigue for me.

Nostradamus - Michel De Nostradame predicts the end of the world next year. He predicted his own death, the French Revolution, the two world wars and the rise and death of Hitler all perfectly, amongst many things. He was also wrong about things. Those aside, he chronologically orders the apocolypse in the hundreds of quatrains he wrote over four hundred years ago. They are fascinating to think about - the world ... ending ... next year?   Now these are in more detail for you and your own judgement. Three poets of great force:
John Keats Little Johnny Cockney wrote some affecting poetry    Dr Suess He studied things that most fail to even notice    William Shakespeare Of course. Bard par excellence.   These are contempory artists - lyrics from songs that profoundly affect me. These artists strike fibres in my body with little electric pincers:  
Alanis Morissette She gets me good.    Maya Angelou Beautiful, beautiful insights.