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.
John Sheffield
Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey
A random pair who overlapped in time and whose poems already rhyme in the catalogue — a way into poets you may not have met.
John Sheffield, who became the first Duke of Buckingham and Normanby, lived from 8 September 1647 to 24 February 1721, though older records occasionally create uncertainty about dates because of the calendar conventions and genealogical habits of the period. He was a nobleman, naval officer, soldier, courtier, politician, patron, critic, playwright, memoirist, and poet. Such a catalogue of roles can make him seem les…
“Sauntering was the true Sultana Queen of his Majesty's affections.”
In the turbulent court of Henry VIII, where political intrigue could mean the difference between elevation and execution, one young nobleman dared to revolutionize English poetry while dancing perilously close to the headsman's block. Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, lived only thirty years, yet in that brief span he fundamentally transformed the landscape of English verse, introducing innovations that would echo throug…
About 35 km separate London, England from Hunsdon, Hertfordshire, England. Both have ground in London.
Distinctive words drawn from each poet’s critiqued poems — what they keep writing about, not just what their biographies mention.
John Sheffield: first duke of buckingham, naval officer, battle of solebay, order of the garter, essay on satire, an essay upon poetry, restoration england, james duke of york. Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey: henry viii, thomas howard, sir thomas wyatt, petrarchan sonnet, shakespearean sonnet, blank verse, virgil's aeneid, frances de vere.
The closest poem-to-poem matches in critique space — the sort of kinship a listener hears before the catalogue admits it.
John Sheffield: Longing, Tenderness, Sorrow. Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey: Wonder, Tenderness, Longing.
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