The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1897-11-30
iEkMS Or ST ESLkirriUN.
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 80, 1897.
SCIENCE AN POETRY NOT ANTAG-
ONISTS


the effect of too nue. science and no
literature upon two men Of science. Its
comment was this:
Most of this Is very true and very
pertinent. To the implied assumption.
however, nat the study of science
necessarily units the mind for the ap-
probation of poetry, We must demur.
The scientist necessarily deals with the
actual while the poet idealizes, but it
10y no means follows that the two may
not be combined in one individual.
Few men in recent years have been
more purely scientists than Thomas
Huxley. Yet is it necessary to call
sshe attention of the learned editor of
Che Messenger to the fact that when
Tennyson died the finest memorial
verses in the opinion of the best circles
were from the pen Of Huxley? Better
than S~winburne's majestic "~Threnody,"
better than Morris tribute. The poetic
hstinct goes by individuals not by
Glasses"
This comment is doubtless true in the
main. We would not say that no man
Of science have a real relish for poetry.
There are doubtless exceptions to this
rule as in other rules. Huxley may be
one. We have seen no poetic mpo
ton bearing his name, and, therefore,,
are ignorant Of his Memorial verses"
on the death of Tennyson. The best
renodie we saw were by an Ameri-
can, Rev. DR.. Henry a Dyke, and
William Watson of England. The first
was of exquisite charm and beauty.
The one by Watson was of much eleva-
ton of sentiment and purity of form,
and we thought at the time we read it
that 1t was not unworthy of the great
genius it celebrated in such melodious
numbers and noble thought. We are
not aware of any great poet who was a
great man Of science. Goethe might
perhaps be cited. We doubt if his know
ledge of science was very profound. At
any rate his life was devoted to letters
and not to scientific investigation. If
there is in all the galaxy Of illustrious
poets one solitary name that shone in
science and that bequeathed the world
cich and splendid lagesses of poetic
genius we are not acquainted with the
name, or at least can not recall it as we
write. We do not think that a life de-
voted to science is calculated to de-
velop any original poetic endowment.
lf this were not SO there would be more
born poets, rich in product, than adorn
the scientific roll of immortals. That
49, Charles r. Darwin, the eminent natur-
O.. a1ist, had any poetry in him is not APP
parent, and he was wholly unconscious
Of the least indication Of either poetic
sentimentor gift. His grandfather Eras-
mus was a physi -lOgist n poet, and
wrote "The Botanical Garden" that was
read by his contemporaries and some
thing admired at a time Of literary
sterility and poetic deadness. But who
reads the venerable Erasmus's verses
now? We grant that there need to be
no fatal or resolute a~ntagonism be-
tween science itself and the poetic art.
IN most cases, we suppose, where there
IS something Of original poetic endow-
r nent in men given to science, n
there is no productiveness in verse
writing of metrical excellence n gen.
Mine inspiration, it is owing to the alb
sorption Of science to the detriment
and paralysis Of the original bestow-
ment. If this were not so, scientific
men would be more given to poetic
writing, and would be found among
the eminent critics who analyze, dis
4cuss and magnify the great masters
in the rich poetical field.
TO cultivate the gift of metrical fellc-
ifies and pictorial expression original
genius must be cultivated or the dis
tinctive gift we'll deteriorate. The BAN
daged arm loses it's original power.
The mind however richly endowed with
sentiment and imagination will grad
uaIy cease to be potent in those be-
.stowments if there is no eXertion. The
characteristics of the mind need train
ing and development. and when there
Is no cultivation but absolute neglect,
there must be Of necessity a loss of
power. Of taste, Of enthusiasm as well
rs of any gift for diction and melody.
Science and poetry are not antagonists.
They have relations but they operate
on different planes, in other spheres.
Poetry deals with the highest realms
of thought and Of passion, but it con-
Germs itself habitually, u~nbrokenly with
musical forms, with metrical speech,
with the strictly poetic art that leads
to so much of marvellous beauty and
RESIGNATION and allies it forever with
the Good, the Beautiful and the True.
Hence we would not attach much i'm
p~ortance to William Watson's frantic
: denial Of God, or to any inspiration that
would grow out of such wild nineteenth
century v~aporings.
A Scotch writer a half century age
wrote that "Poetry.in it's true essence
and noblest realization, presents the
truths of reason in the forms Of sense
and that is ~felicfously put. Bacon was
"a philosopher, and his essays are re-