Poetry And Science Poem by Paul Hartal

Poetry and Science?
But what could be more different?
For, science concerns facts,
whereas poetry involves feelings.
Thus, they seem to represent
diametrical opposites, incompatible things.

Well, let's see.
Undoubtedly, in poetry imagination
and originality soar and triumph.
They play a central role
in creating memorable lines
and significant works of art.

Now, on the other hand,
imagination and originality in Science
are much less obvious performers.
Instead, accuracy, reliability
and repeatability are applauded
here as the protagonists.

Consider, however, that in reality
there is poetry in science
and science in poetry.
The use of language, for example, constructs
a solid bridge between them.
Furthermore, such cardinal concepts
in physics as space, time, matter, energy;
or quarks and atoms, are essentially metaphors.

Another fundamental common denominator
of poetry and science concerns intuition,
hunches and gut feelings, the ability
to know or discover something without
analytical reasoning.

Take, for instance, Johannes Kepler,
the great astronomer, who discovered
the cosmic laws of planetary motion
with a poetic heart and disposition
immersed in the music of the spheres.

And Isaac Newton's genius,
his creative, imaginative mind
discovered the laws of motion,
and gravitation and calculus, and a science
of light wherein the rainbow is enmeshed
reverberating in a colorful poetic vision.

The greatest scientist of the 20th century,
Albert Einstein wrote poetry and was
also an accomplished violinist.
His Theory of Relativity,
a magnificent scientific accomplishment
absorbed in stunning originality,
which also reveals
paramount poetic imagination
wherein space and time defy common sense
andgravity emerges as geometry.

And just as great scientists
can be seen as remarkable poets,
some outstanding poets reveal themselves
as uncommon scientists, too.
Goethe, for example, had also contributed
to the development of Botany and his Theory
of Colors endures as a challenging thesis
to Newton's Optics.

Another salient example can be found
through the work of Allen Edgar Poe, whose
"prose poem", Eureka, represents
a valid hypothesis of a cyclical universe
undergoing cosmic births and destructions.