Scan barcode
A review by monasterymonochrome
Darwin: A Life in Poems by Ruth Padel
4.0
I admire Padel's ability to seamlessly interweave direct quotes from historical documents with wholly original lines and somehow have it all come off as poetic and beautiful and cohesive. From the surviving written remnants of Darwin's life (which are surprisingly vast in quantity) and her own impressions and conclusions about the man, Padel crafts a character who is complex, emotional and, most importantly, human. In the latter half of the book, she also reaches into different perspectives, most notably those of Darwin's wife, Emma, and Alfred Russel Wallace, who simultaneously but independently reached many of the same conclusions about evolution as Darwin, to give a more rounded view of Darwin's world.
For me, the book was most successful when it delved into the conflict between the logic of natural selection and Darwin's emotional sensitivity. An especially gutting section of the book deals with the death of Darwin's daughter, Annie, whom he calls his favorite child and whose passing he grieves deeply. Padel juxtaposes his raw outpourings of emotion against passages from his scientific works, higlighting the fact that though Annie's death may be understood as a mere function of natural selection, which Darwin knows, it is still nearly impossible for a father to fathom that his child's death is so arbitrary and inevitable; in this moment, his human emotions and attachments cannot be reconciled with his knowledge of the workings of nature. Similarly, Padel explores Darwin's increasing disbelief in religion, which is only intensified by Annie's death, and the tension this causes in his marriage.
Though largely composed of quoted text wrangled into a more poetic structure, the scattering of original lines throughout the work are gorgeous and evocative but simple enough not to seem jarring in comparison to the quotes. My only qualm with the book is that it's a bit overlong for a single volume of poetry, nearly 150 pages, and, as such, grows a bit repetitive and meandering in places.
For me, the book was most successful when it delved into the conflict between the logic of natural selection and Darwin's emotional sensitivity. An especially gutting section of the book deals with the death of Darwin's daughter, Annie, whom he calls his favorite child and whose passing he grieves deeply. Padel juxtaposes his raw outpourings of emotion against passages from his scientific works, higlighting the fact that though Annie's death may be understood as a mere function of natural selection, which Darwin knows, it is still nearly impossible for a father to fathom that his child's death is so arbitrary and inevitable; in this moment, his human emotions and attachments cannot be reconciled with his knowledge of the workings of nature. Similarly, Padel explores Darwin's increasing disbelief in religion, which is only intensified by Annie's death, and the tension this causes in his marriage.
Though largely composed of quoted text wrangled into a more poetic structure, the scattering of original lines throughout the work are gorgeous and evocative but simple enough not to seem jarring in comparison to the quotes. My only qualm with the book is that it's a bit overlong for a single volume of poetry, nearly 150 pages, and, as such, grows a bit repetitive and meandering in places.