Science in Modern Poetry —— New Directions

As a scientist seeking an entrée to poetry writing, I found this an invaluable concise introduction to the state of literary criticism on science poetry, with the extra advantages of being reasonably affordable and portable. The bibliography is splendidly comprehensive. All the contributors are academics in English literature and none are scientists, which is perhaps a pity. But the book succeeds well in the editor's intention 'to embody current trends in research on science and modern poetry'. As a poet, I found Whitworth's chapter on scientific diction in twentieth century poetry one of the most relevant to my own process, and the third and final section of the book, 'Darwinian Dialogues: Four Modern Poets' the most interesting from the point of view of a biologist.