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Loading... The Botanic Garden: A Poem in Two Partsby Erasmus Darwin
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. A science book in the form of a poem? Erasmus Darwin was more of a romantic than his famous son, Charles, and chose the poetic style to acquaint the reader with the history and nature of the system of naming genus and species developed by Linnaeus. It is a curiosity of literature and is well worth a look, especially if you have some knowledge of biology. no reviews | add a review
The career of Erasmus Darwin (1731-1802) affords an extraordinary glimpse into the intellectual ferment of late-eighteenth- and early-nineteenth-century Britain. As a popular poet, practicing physician, inventor of speaking machines and mechanical birds, essayer of natural history from geology to meteorology, and proponent of an evolutionary theory that inspired his famous grandson Charles, he left a lasting impression on almost every branch of knowledge. His magnum opus, and the synthesis of his myriad interests, is The Botanic Garden (1792) -- an epic poem that aims to "enlist the Imagination under the banner of Science." Part I, The Economy of Vegetation, sings the praises of British industry as a dance of supernatural creatures while part II, The Loves of the Plants, wittily employs metaphors of human courtship to describe the reproductive cycles of hundreds of flowers. Darwin supplements his accomplished verses with (often much longer) "philosophical notes" that offer his idiosyncratic perspective on the scholarly controversies of the day. Despite a recent surge of academic interest in Darwin, however, no authoritative critical edition of The Botanic Garden exists, presenting a barrier to further scholarship. This two volume set comprises a complete, meticulously transcribed, reading text -- including all the poetry, prose apparatus, and illustrations -- along with extensive commentary that situates Darwin within contemporary debates about the natural sciences. This set will be of interest to readers as the definitive reference edition of The Botanic Garden and due to its efforts to make the work more practically and intellectually accessible to seasoned and novice readers alike This second volume includes the full version of the second part of The Botanic Garden, The Lives of Plants along with the related textual apparatus consisting of the editors' annotations, discussion of the illustrations, textual notes, and a taxonomic table of the flowers mentioned. No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)821.6Literature English & Old English literatures English poetry 1745-1799LC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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