John Donne and Annie Proulx

One of the greatest pleasures of being a (retired) English teacher is that former students who have gone into the same field will occasionally send me ideas that worked well in their classes. Recently, I heard from one such correspondent, noting that discussion of a showing of "Brokeback Mountain" opened up immensely when she gave everyone a copy of Donne's "The Ecstasy." Amazing, these artistic and emotional connections across hundreds of years--but, with a poet of Donne's great insight to the human condition, this connection should probably be no surprise. Now, I'm hooked on reading Donne--another good byproduct of connection-making.
Any other older poets (besides Shakespeare!) who strike you as particularly illuminating of modern times?