What do computational models of allusion and text-reuse tell us about the human experience of finding meaning in similarity? With Walter J. Scheirer of the University of Notre Dame, I study the ways in which human and machine recognition illuminate one another, especially in the domain of poetry. This innovative research program is described in our new book, Quantitative Intertextuality, which sets research we and others have done on the subject of intertextuality within the larger context of pattern recognition, and demonstrates core methods for contemporary Digital Humanities approaches to literature and new media.