John Banister Tabb[a] (March 22, 1845 – November 19, 1909) was an American poet, Roman Catholic priest, and professor of English.

[2] A member of one of the state's oldest and wealthiest families, Tabb served on a blockade runner for the Confederacy during the Civil War, and spent eight months in a Union prison camp, where he formed a lifelong friendship with poet Sidney Lanier.

Tabb converted to the Roman Catholic Church in 1872, and taught literature at Saint Charles College in Ellicott City, Maryland, in 1878.

Plagued by eye problems his whole life, he continued to teach though he lost his sight completely about a year before his death.

English poet Alice Meynell made A Selection from the Verses of John B. Tabb (1906).