Poetry and Science -- Poetry in Science
Poets are often stereotyped as being romantics and, like some of the poets of the Romantic Period in English literature, hostile to science. It was Keats, after all, that scolded Newton, probably the greatest scientist to have ever lived, for destroying the poetry of the rainbow by "reducing it to the prismatic colours", for unweaving the rainbow. Well, stereotypes often contain a grain of truth, but I credit poets with usually being fairly smart and having a sense of awe. Those two characteristics would suggest they have to be among the greatest appreciators of science. Scientists reveal the wonders of the universe, and poets should celebrate them. I try to.