Richard Holmes defines Romantic science as "the second scientific revolution, which swept through Britain at the end of the eighteenth century and produced a new vision." Although most think of Romanticism as opposed to the aims and processes of science, Holmes sees both forces as being united by the notion of wonder.
Keats, for instance, uses the thrill of discovery as experienced by astronomers and explorers to explain his own thrill at reading Chapman's translation of Homer: "Then felt I like some watcher of the skies / When a new planet swims into his ken / Or like stout Cortez, when with wond'ring eyes [the MS original, later changed to "eagle eyes] / He star'd at the Pacific--and all his men / Look'd at each other with a wild surmise..." It's an exuberant book, filled with the wonder and delight he describes, and thoroughly entertaining.
The "new planet" was Uranus, discovered by William Herschel, and Holmes devotes much time in this account to Herschel. Holmes's method is mainly biographical, looking at important Romantic scientists and explorers like Herschel and his astronomer sister Caroline, Joseph Banks, Humphrey Davy, and Mungo Park. Throughout, he brings in writers like Coleridge, Keats, Percy Bysshe and Mary Shelley, showing how exciting new ideas and tropes circulated back and forth among poets, writers, and opinion makers.
The new science could also seem dark and disturbing, and Holmes discusses Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and his Creature in this light. Shelley's achievement seems all the more brilliant here in how perfectly she captures ambivalence toward the growing power of scientists (a word first invented in this time period) to penetrate nature's secrets.
I loved this insightful, informative, energetic book, which doesn't just describe but transmits the excitement and wonder of the age.
No comments:
Post a Comment