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[ericcoliu]

Darwin 200: A Life in Verse

Today marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin, who was considered the most dangerous man in the UK during his lifetime and even after his life.

Ruth Padel, Darwin’s great great granddaughter and award-winning British poet, publishes her seventh poetry book today, a mini-biography entitled Darwin: A Life in Poems.


Below are the excerpts from her book (via Book extract: Darwin: A life in poems by Ruth Padel):


I Think I shall Dislike it Very Much

(from Chapter Five: The coat of fur (1851-1882))

He's glad they're out there, young scientists,
ggiving the world his argument. It's out, it's done -
ggand he's spent nine years on plants.
gggNow The Descent of Man and Selection
ggin Relation to .. He's got to state, at last,
gghis vision of 1838, before they married.
'I shall be well abused.' She studies the first draft.

'I think it will be very interesting, but I
gshall dislike it very much. It is again putting God
ggeven farther off.' He thinks of an orang-utang
gggin a pink frock and frills, looking in his eyes,
ggbeing generous. Opening his palm
gto gift her treasure to him. Many moments in this marriage
have been saved - by both of them - with laughs.

(Editor's note: In 1868 Darwin published The Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication, and started the book on specifically human origins)



To be continued …
_________________
Time is nothing but a disquiet of the soul

[[ericcoliu]]

Darwin 200: A Life in Verse

Today marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin, who was considered the most dangerous man in the UK during his lifetime and even after his life.

Ruth Padel, Darwin’s great great granddaughter and award-winning British poet, publishes her seventh poetry book today, a mini-biography entitled Darwin: A Life in Poems.


Below are the excerpts from her book (via Book extract: Darwin: A life in poems by Ruth Padel):


I Think I shall Dislike it Very Much

(from Chapter Five: The coat of fur (1851-1882))

He's glad they're out there, young scientists,
ggiving the world his argument. It's out, it's done -
ggand he's spent nine years on plants.
gggNow The Descent of Man and Selection
ggin Relation to .. He's got to state, at last,
gghis vision of 1838, before they married.
'I shall be well abused.' She studies the first draft.

'I think it will be very interesting, but I
gshall dislike it very much. It is again putting God
ggeven farther off.' He thinks of an orang-utang
gggin a pink frock and frills, looking in his eyes,
ggbeing generous. Opening his palm
gto gift her treasure to him. Many moments in this marriage
have been saved - by both of them - with laughs.

(Editor's note: In 1868 Darwin published The Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication, and started the book on specifically human origins)



To be continued …
_________________
Time is nothing but a disquiet of the soul

[浴恩福]

[[浴恩福]]

[ericcoliu]

[[ericcoliu]]

[christine]

Below is another poem by Ruth Padel:

The Miser

(from Chapter One: Boy (1809-1831)

The passion for collecting, which leads a man to be a miser, a virtuoso, or a systematic naturalist, was very strong in me. It was clearly innate. None of my sisters or brother had this taste.

Darwin, Autobiography

Cross the Welsh Bridge out of town, go up the hill
on Frankwell Street and you'll see, above the Severn,
brick pillars with the sandy bloom of an ageing dog.
Around the back, Father's surgery and waiting-room.

Outside, the Stable Yard: hay chutes, a piggery and toolshed.
Lower down, a bothy on the river bank
where plates of jagged ice, harvested in winter from the river,
lean one against the other. A dairy, where these blocks are dragged

to cool the milk and cream. The Quarry Pool
where he fishes for newts and tadpoles.
Collecting: to assert control
over what's unbearable. To gather and to list.

'Stones, coins, franks, insects, minerals and shells.'
Collect yourself: to smother what you feel,
recall to order, summon in one place;
making, like Orpheus, a system against loss.

(Editor's note: Darwin's father was an affluent doctor. The estate of his house, The Mount, bordered the River Severn)

[[christine]]

Below is another poem by Ruth Padel:

The Miser

(from Chapter One: Boy (1809-1831)

The passion for collecting, which leads a man to be a miser, a virtuoso, or a systematic naturalist, was very strong in me. It was clearly innate. None of my sisters or brother had this taste.

Darwin, Autobiography

Cross the Welsh Bridge out of town, go up the hill
on Frankwell Street and you'll see, above the Severn,
brick pillars with the sandy bloom of an ageing dog.
Around the back, Father's surgery and waiting-room.

Outside, the Stable Yard: hay chutes, a piggery and toolshed.
Lower down, a bothy on the river bank
where plates of jagged ice, harvested in winter from the river,
lean one against the other. A dairy, where these blocks are dragged

to cool the milk and cream. The Quarry Pool
where he fishes for newts and tadpoles.
Collecting: to assert control
over what's unbearable. To gather and to list.

'Stones, coins, franks, insects, minerals and shells.'
Collect yourself: to smother what you feel,
recall to order, summon in one place;
making, like Orpheus, a system against loss.

(Editor's note: Darwin's father was an affluent doctor. The estate of his house, The Mount, bordered the River Severn)

[ericcoliu]

A fine fusion of poetic and prosaic elements.

Listen to Ruth reading her poems on the National Poetry Archive.
_________________
Time is nothing but a disquiet of the soul

[[ericcoliu]]

A fine fusion of poetic and prosaic elements.

Listen to Ruth reading her poems on the National Poetry Archive.
_________________
Time is nothing but a disquiet of the soul