Today is Edgar Allan Poe's birthday! While he was most famous for The Raven, we should recognize how he was influenced by and influenced scientific imagination. Last January there was an article in Scientific American asking if he foresaw modern physics and cosmology, and Smithsonian.com published an interesting article on Poe and the world of astronomy. The arts and sciences influence and inspire each other, and Poe is one of many in that long tradition!
Sonnet—To Science
BY EDGAR ALLAN POE
Science! true daughter of Old Time thou art!
Who alterest all things with thy peering eyes.
Why preyest thou thus upon the poet’s heart,
Vulture, whose wings are dull realities?
How should he love thee? or how deem thee wise,
Who wouldst not leave him in his wandering
To seek for treasure in the jewelled skies,
Albeit he soared with an undaunted wing?
Hast thou not dragged Diana from her car,
And driven the Hamadryad from the wood
To seek a shelter in some happier star?
Hast thou not torn the Naiad from her flood,
The Elfin from the green grass, and from me
The summer dream beneath the tamarind tree?
No comments:
Post a Comment