Pick two poets who seem to have nothing to do with each other — a Gothic American and a pastoral Englishman, say — and see where the catalogue actually joins them: overlapping years, shared ground, distinctive themes, and the poems that secretly rhyme.
Alan Seeger
Robert Nathaniel Dett
A random pair who overlapped in time and whose poems already rhyme in the catalogue — a way into poets you may not have met.
Alan Seeger was born in New York City on 22 June 1888, into an American family whose comfort, education, and international connections gave him unusual freedom while also placing before him the question of what a privileged young man ought to do with his life. He died on 4 July 1916, age twenty-eight, in the Battle of the Somme while serving in the French Foreign Legion. In the years between those dates he became, in…
“The war has given me a new zest for life.”
Robert Nathaniel Dett entered the world on October 11, 1882, in the small village of Drummondville, Ontario—now absorbed into the bustling splendor of Niagara Falls, Canada—amid the roar of one of nature’s most awe-inspiring wonders. He left it on October 2, 1943, at the age of sixty, felled by a heart attack in Battle Creek, Michigan, while tirelessly touring with a USO chorus to lift the spirits of troops during Wo…
“The rhythm of the songs might very well be compared to that of the human pulse which is a series of throbs all of equal intensity.”
About 579 km separate New York City, New York, USA from Drummondville, Ontario, Canada. Shared ground: United States.
Distinctive words drawn from each poet’s critiqued poems — what they keep writing about, not just what their biographies mention.
Alan Seeger: new york city, battle of the somme, french foreign legion, i have a rendezvous with death, the torture of cuauhtemoc, charles seeger sr., elsie simmons adams seeger, pete seeger. Robert Nathaniel Dett: drummondville, niagara falls, battle creek, the album of a heart, after the cakewalk, listen to the lambs, hampton institute, antonín dvořák.
The closest poem-to-poem matches in critique space — the sort of kinship a listener hears before the catalogue admits it.
Notable events from the years they were both alive.
Alan Seeger: Longing, Tenderness, Wonder. Robert Nathaniel Dett: Tenderness, Joy, Longing.
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