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.
William Edward Burghardt Du Bois
Lucian B. Watkins
A random pair who overlapped in time and whose poems already rhyme in the catalogue — a way into poets you may not have met.
William Edward Burghardt Du Bois entered the world on February 23, 1868, in the small, rolling hills of Great Barrington, Massachusetts—a town where the air carried the crisp scent of New England pines and the quiet rhythms of rural life. Born into a family of mixed African, Dutch, and French Huguenot heritage, he was the son of Alfred Du Bois, a restless barber and laborer of Haitian descent who soon vanished from t…
“The problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the color-line.”
Lucian Bottow Watkins lived a life etched in the quiet heroism of ordinary struggle and extraordinary expression. Born into the lingering shadows of American slavery yet propelled by an unquenchable thirst for beauty, knowledge, and justice, he became a soldier-poet whose verses captured the soul of a people awakening to their own power. Though his time on earth spanned only a little over four decades—he was born on…
About 645 km separate Great Barrington, Massachusetts, USA from Otterdale, Chesterfield County, Virginia, USA. Shared ground: United States.
Distinctive words drawn from each poet’s critiqued poems — what they keep writing about, not just what their biographies mention.
William Edward Burghardt Du Bois: great barrington, alfred du bois, mary silvina burghardt, fisk university, the souls of black folk, double consciousness, color line, niagara movement. Lucian B. Watkins: otterdale, chesterfield county, fort mchenry hospital, new negro movement, robert t. kerlin, household queen, voices of solitude, the old log cabin.
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.
William Edward Burghardt Du Bois: Sorrow, Despair, Longing. Lucian B. Watkins: Spirituality, Wonder, Peace.
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