Ironically enough the first known poet was a woman.
Her name is Enheduanna, the Sumerian daughter of Sargon the great.
Scholar Paul Kriwaczek writes:
Her compositions, though only rediscovered in modern times, remained models of petitionary prayer for [centuries]. Through the Babylonians, they influenced and inspired the prayers and psalms of the Hebrew Bible and the Homeric hymns of Greece. Through them, faint echoes of Enheduanna, the first named literary author in history, can even be heard in the hymnody of the early Christian church. (121)
Enheduanna’s name translates as 'High Priestess of An’ (the sky god) or 'En-Priestess, wife of the god Nanna'. She organized and presided over the city's temple complex, and successfully defended against an attempted coup by a Sumerian rebel named Lugal-Ane who forced her into exile. She writes about this event as a plea for help to the goddess Inanna.
According to Ancient History Encyclopedia:
"She is best known for her works Inninsagurra, Ninmesarra, and Inninmehusa, which translate as 'The Great-Hearted Mistress’, The Exaltation of Inanna’, and 'Goddess of the Fearsome Powers’, all three powerful hymns to the goddess Inanna (later identified with Ishtar and, still later, Aphrodite). These hymns re-defined the gods for the people of the Akkadian Empire under Sargon’s rule and helped provide the underlying religious homogeniety sought by the king. For over forty years Enheduanna held the office of high priestess, even surviving the attempted coup against her authority by Lugal-Ane.
In addition to her hymns, Enheduanna is remembered for the forty-two poems she wrote reflecting personal frustrations and hopes, religious devotion, her response to war, and feelings about the world she lived in. Her writing is very personal and direct and, as the historian Stephen Bertman notes:
The hymns provide us with the names of the major divinities the Mesopotamians worshipped and tell us where their chief temples were located [but] it is the prayers that teach us about humanity, for in prayers we encounter the hopes and fears of everyday mortal life. (172) "
Some examples of hymns (from The Mezzo Cammin Women Poets Timeline Project):
"mistress of the scheme of order
great Queen of queens
babe of a holy womb
greater than mother who bore you
You all knowing
You wise vision
Lady of all lands
life-giver for the many
faithful Goddess
worthy of powers
to sing your praise is exalted
You of the bountiful heart
You of the radiant heart
I will sing of your cosmic powers
***
truly for your gain
you drew me toward
my holy quarters
I
the High Priestess
I
Enheduanna
there I raised the ritual basket
there I sang the shout of joy"
Dorsch/Zgoll excerpt from www.angelfire.com (with line numbers): "Shall be known"
122. It shall be known, it shall be known:
Nanna has proclaimed no decree,
"It is yours" is what he has said!
123. That you are as high as heaven, shall be known!
124. That you are as wide as the earth, shall be known!
125. That you anhilate [sic] rebelling territiories [sic], shall be known! [footnote removed]
125a. That you roar against the enemy lands, shall be known!
126. That you crush the leaders, shall be known!
127. That you devour corpses like a predator, shall be known!
128. That your glance is terrible, shall be known!
129. That you raise your terrible glance, shall be known!
130. That your glance is sparkling, shall be known!
131. That you are unshakable and unyielding, shall be known!
132. That you always stand triumphant, shall be known!
133. That Nanna has not proclaimed (the decree),
that he has said, "It is yours",
134. My Queen- it has made you greater,
you have become the greatest!
135. My Queen, beloved of An,
I will announce all of your wrath!
For more info check out:
https://www.ancient.eu/Enheduanna/
http://www.mezzocammin.com/timeline/timeline.php?vol=timeline&iss=BCE&cat=2200&page=enheduanna