What is there in 'Paradise Lost' to elevate and astonish like Herschel or Somerville?
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Scientific discoveries can inspire awe and elevate the mind just as much as great poetry.
- In plain terms
- Science lifts the soul like poetry does.
- What can you take from it?
- Find inspiration in scientific truth.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- Which inspires you more, data or art?
- How does science make you feel?
Another view
Poetry offers emotional depth that factual science might not reach.
More from Ralph Waldo Emerson
Quoted in Robert D. Richardson, Jr., Emerson, the Mind On Fire (Univ. of Calif Press 1995), p124
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Permalink to quote #30 I regard it as the irresistible effect of the Copernican astronomy to have made the theological scheme of redemption absolutely incredible
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