Evolution and the Romantic Poets

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses the conflict between evolution and religion since the publication of Charles Darwin's work in the mid-nineteenth century. It specifically focuses on the way in which this conflict affected the romantic poets. The paper shows how the romantic poets displayed a sense of physical change in the world, of the evolution of nature and of man over time. It suggests that their perceptions were not identical to Darwin's ideas.

From the Paper:

"The Romantic poets had some sense of physical change in the world and of the evolution of nature and of man over time, though not in the way that Darwin would describe. Many also had a mystical link with Nature whether more as observers like Wordsworth or as spiritualists like Coleridge. Evolution and religion would conflict more in the next generation, but the Romantic poets found ways to accommodate both at a time when ideas about evolution were only just gaining strength."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Greenblatt, Stephen (ed.), The Norton Anthology of English Literature, Volume 2. 8th Edition. New York: W.W. Norton, 2005.
• Hill, John Spencer. Imagination in Coleridge. London: Macmillan, 1978.

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