A
national poet or
national bard is a
poet held by tradition and popular acclaim to represent the identity, beliefs and principles of a particular
national culture. The national poet as
culture hero is a long-standing symbol, to be distinguished from successive holders of a bureaucratically-appointed
poet-laureate office. The idea and honoring of national poets emerged primarily during
Romanticism, as a figure that helped consolidation of the
nation states, as it provided validation of their
ethno-linguistic groups.