Why should they care that a 100-year-old, backwater colony chose to govern itself? The American Revolutionary War was hardly viewed as a driving force for change to the 2,000-year-old ruling monarchies in Europe.Д«ut in 1789 in France, the roots of democracy inspired the people and ignited the French Revolution. All of this was an entire world away to most Europeans however. The United States had overthrown English rule by 1783 and our founding fathers drafted the Constitution and built the foundations of a democracy by 1787. That's the scene you'd get in Europe during the time of the Romantic Poets (approximately 1790-1820). Then imagine this more intense version of the '60s spread across three or four decades. Afterwards you can tell me if you find the connections as eerie as I do.Д«efore we start though, a brief history lesson for context (for those of you perhaps a little unfamiliar with the Romantic Poets): Imagine the political and social upheaval of the 1960s multiplied by ten, or perhaps twenty, on the intensity scale. So I invite you to come along with me, as I explore (and explain) the link between the six Romantic Poets and the six kings of rap. Once I saw the relationships I knew I had to share this knowledge with the rest of the world. I suddenly realized that although separated by the Atlantic Ocean and more than 200 years of technological, social and political progress, Percy Bysshe Shelley and Jay-Z were, for all intents and purposes, cousins of a sort. The closer I looked, the more uncanny the parallels became. Then, once it did, I was floored by the obvious similarities. It wasn't until a few weeks later whilst ruminating on a piece of Wordsworthian poetry that the connection between the kings of rap and the Romantic Poets hit me. We were also three-hours deep into cocktail time, so I couldn't to find a suitable comeback. His well-timed, right hook caught me off guard. He told me that I had no business judging, critiquing or ranking the best rappers of all time because I'm a white dude from the suburbs. I never gave a thought to any possible similarities between the two groups until a late night pub argument with a friend. I grew up listening to Jay-Z, Dre and Snoop and I learned a lot about writing (and life) through the poetry of Wordsworth, Keats and Coleridge. Rap music scored most of my high school and college experiences and the Romantic Poets still influence my attempts at fiction. If these bonds appear fragile before you finish reading this post, then me let me just say, for now, that what 2 Pac and Blake truly have in common is me (as a fan). Chief among these correlations (beyond their wordsmith-related occupations) is the desire to be heard, to deliver a message and to affect change with that message. But digging a little deeper, I believe they share many common bonds, parallels and an almost eerie relation to one another.

What do Tupac Shakur and William Blake have in common? Well, on the surface of it, not much.

Wordsworth rapper