It is important to realise that this poem is an example of
American Romanticism. Romanticism as a literary movement started in many ways as a kind
of backlash to rationalism and a period of history that resulted in many scientific
discoveries and a feeling that scientific method could be used to unlock and penetrate
even the most abstruse and recondite mysteries of
nature.
The section of the poem you have quoted features
the first four lines of the poem, and represents the triumph of the scientific method
and of rationalism. It appears as if the heavens themselves have been scientifically
understood, and almost seem to be chained in or encaged by the "proofs, the figures"
that were "ranged in columns before me." Looking at the stars from this scientific
viewpoint only makes the stars suitable objects to be quantified, as the diagrams and
charts that the speaker is shown can be used to "add, divide and measure them." This of
course shows the limitations of the scientific view, as it appears that this "learn'd
astronomer," in spite of his great intelligence and knowledge about the heavens, has
lost the simple human ability to marvel at what is beyond him. This section of the poem
presents the universe as if it were some easily explained scientific formula or
mathematical equation, which, if you read the rest of the poem, is what makes the poet
feel sick inside.
No comments:
Post a Comment