BY Ryan, Robert M. ( Author ) [ Charles Darwin and the Church of Wordsworth ] 04-2016 Hardcover

Synopsis

Charles Darwin And The Church Of William Wordsworth Is A Study Of The Cultural Connections Between Two Of The Nineteenth Century's Most Influential Figures, Charles Darwin And William Wordsworth. In The Second Half Of The Nineteenth Century They Came To Represent Two Strikingly Different Visions Of The Moral And Religious Meaning Of The Natural World. Long After His Death The Poet Remained The English-speaking World's Most Influential Religious Thinker ;his Conception Of Nature As A Benign, Harmonious Source Of Moral Inspiration And Spiritual Blessing And A Medium Of Communion With The Divine Challenged Darwin's Effort To Remove Any Supernatural Dimensionfrom The Processes Of Nature. The Two Writers Competed For Attention Among Those Seeking To Understand Humanity's Relationship With The Natural World And The Lessons, Scientific And Ethical, That Might Be Learned From Nature. Their Followers Engaged In A Mutually Transformative Dialogue In Which The Poet's Cultural Authority Affected The Public Response To Darwinian Science, And The Science Adjusted Interpretation And Evaluation Of The Poetry. In Our Time The Poet's Idea Of Communion Withnature Continues To Resist The Materialist Character Of Darwin's Legacy.