Almost everyone expects poets to be harmless, full of loving thoughts and delicate that put the rhythm and rhymes of life in paper. It will be hard to believe that some of the revered poets who graced literature with their passion and brilliance are known to be of lowliest brutes that walked the earth as crooks, killers, rakes, drunkards, and much more.

Here are five of these madmen:

1. Francois Villon -

This man is a superb poet and acclaimed as the finest in 15th century France. Villion was brought up by a fine gentleman who was a canon law professor in Paris. He ended up as murdering thief, a low-life involved in riots, exiles, and imprisonment.

What brought him to this brigand life is unclear as his life records can only be surmised from his prison records.

2. Sir Thomas Wyatt -

Sir Thomas Wyatt was one of the leading poets who introduced Italian poetry into English verse.

He was a royal scalawag who belonged to the royal court and became close to Henry VIII.

For competing with the king to win Anne Boleyn's attention, he fell out of the King's favor and was sent off to France and Italy. In later years, His support for the troubled Queen Anne led to his incarceration by the Holy Roman Empire.

 3. Peter Bysshe Shelly was the son of an educated landowner and an idealist. His life as a revolutionary led to his reputation as the "Mad Shelly," a disturbing force in Britain during his time.

4. George Gordon, better known as Lord Byron, was a womanizer who destroyed his reputation by getting involved scandalous love affairs.

5. Alexander Pushkin was a drunkard a notorious hothead who was involved in many gun duels, mostly for insulted damsels in distress.

Those who want to become poets need not worry about their personal lives since it is only their literary work that can bring them the portals of glory.