Sonnt – To Science
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Sonnet – To Science
In the poem Sonnet – To Science by Edgar Allan Poe, he compares what once was to what things are like today. He first speaks of how things were along time ago and how this is better than the way that it is today. This view is a very typical of a Romantic poet. Romantics typically see things for what they used to be and then living in the present they continually feel as if they are lacking.
In the poem Poe is addressing Science directly. He is says that it has changed everything that was once known. From what he says it seems that he is upset with the changes that have occurred because they took the natural magic out of life. Science has taken out the mystery and beliefs that so many have held for so long. Instead it has picked apart and rationalized anything that was ever questioned. The poem does not allow anyone to be creative or draw their own conclusions. It rationalizes that which should not be rationalized. Poe, being a poet, is arguing for the opposite. He says that in life one should be allowed to “soar with an undaunted wing” (8) or even sit blissfully under a tree.
Poe portrays science as an evil institution in the poem. By using the words “vulture”(4) and “preyest”(3) he shows that he thinks that science is like an enemy. These two words are in connotation with bad or harmful things in life. Meaning that Poe thinks that science is attacking humans. It is destroying peoples imaginations and creativity. It is forcing people to accept blunt answers to questions instead of allowing them to dream up their own conclusions.
Poe directly addresses specific things that science has changed and destroyed. He also speaks generally. “Albeit he soared with an undaunted wing”(8) shows that once one was able to fly carelessly. Science has changed this. One is no able to do whatever they please but rather they are daunted by facts and restrictions. One can no longer allow themselves to dream freely. And this is a result of the institution of science.
In line 9, when Poe says “Hast thou not dragged Diana from her car?”, he contrasts what was before science to what it is now. Diana in this sentence is in reference to the mythical goddess of the Moon. This shows Poes opinion of how science has ruined peoples imaginations. It shows that in the time before science was such a key factor in life, people were capable of imagining things of such a great creative capacity. There were no limits to what could be possible. And above all nothing had to be explained or rationalized. Diana was not the only god-like figure that was imagined, there was her twin brother, Apollo, and her father, Jupiter, and so on. This shows that Poe thinks that things were better before science came because people dreamed up magical mystical things that can only exist in ones imagination. And then science destroyed this.
In lines 10 & 11, “And driven the Hamadryad from the wood/To seek a shelter in some happier star?” Poe shows yet another way that science has destroyed the imaginations of humans. The Hamadryad is a Greek mythological figure that lives in trees. Once they are removed from their tree the subsequently die. By using this example Poe shows that he thinks that science, by forcing there to be reason in everything is killing part of the human spirit. It is destroying one of the most beautiful aspects of a person, ones ability to dream and draw their own conclusions.
Again, in line