Why was Dickens posted twice? Because I was editing this at three in the morning. I shouldn't be doing that.
I included Woolf, but I wonder about Emily Dickinson or Sylvia Plath?
For me personally, Shakespeare doesn't go high on the list. Influential, certainly, but not more than the King James Bible. (Should the translators be included?) His stories, except occasionally, aren't exceptional, his language too dense, his monologues often dull. I find Plato exhilarating and Dante, while also a bit dense, with note to be brilliant.