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.
The story of Conrad Potter Aiken (August 5, 1889 – August 17, 1973) reads like something from a Gothic novel, yet it is the true foundation upon which one of twentieth-century America's most psychologically complex poets built his life and work. Born into comfortable circumstances in Savannah, Georgia, Aiken seemed destined for the privileged life his family background suggested. His father, William Ford Aiken, had s…
“Chinese poetry seems more than any other a cry from the bewildered heart of humanity.”
Neighbourhood:
American Poets, Death & Mortality, Modernist Poets, Symbolist Poets
The Woodberrys—or Woodburys, as various spellings of the name exist—were an old New England family who had immigrated early in the colonial period and established deep roots along Massachusetts's North Shore. Since settlement took hold in Beverly and neighboring seaport towns, the family had been native to this maritime region, and many of Woodberry's forebears were sea captains and sailors. This ancestral connection…
“The life of a poet is the life of a man who has accepted the burden of beauty.”
Neighbourhood:
American Poets, Edwardian Poets, Nature Poets, Victorian Poets
They overlapped for 42 years (1889–1930).
When Conrad Aiken was born, George Edward Woodberry was about 34.
Conrad Aiken was about 41 when George Edward Woodberry died.
Conrad Aiken:
savannah, georgia, william ford aiken, anna potter aiken, ushant, the charnel rose, the jig of forslin, the house of dust, senlin: a biography.
George Edward Woodberry:
massachusetts, harvard college, edgar allan poe, the north shore watch, the nation, columbia university, comparative literature, philosophy.
Poems that secretly rhyme
The closest poem-to-poem matches in critique space — the sort of kinship a listener hears before the catalogue admits it.
