Philippine E-Journals

A Poet-critic Looks at Science: The Young Cleanth Brooks

Discipline: Humanities

 

Abstract:

The quarrel between poetry and science is not as ancient as the quarrel between poetry and philosophy, but it is just as destructive. The lack of communication between the two cultures may no longer be the emotional issue it was in the early sixties, but it is still a major problem in the history of thought. Poets and scientists need to get together if the world is to be truly unified not only politically, but also ideologically. But poets harbor suspicions about scientists. To understand how difficult it will be to reconcile the two cultures, we can study the early works of a man distinguished for his quasi-scientific criticism. Even Cleanth Brooks, who demanded scientific rigor in literary criticism, displayed, in his early works, a deep-rooted dislike of science.