His first volume, The Prince's Quest (1880), was in the Pre-Raphaelite (Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood) manner. Thereafter he became a poet of statement, concerned with current affairs. Watson's Wordsworth's Grave (1890), his Lachrymae Musarum (1892; on the death of Alfred, Lord Tennyson, the poet laureate), and his coronation ode for King Edward VII contributed to his reputation. He had strong liberal-imperialist political views and attacked the government on a number of issues. Watson's later poetry, appearing in an edition of 1936, remained firmly Victorian in idea and idiom.