Poetry Transcends Science

Manawatu Times, Volume 62, Issue 25, 30 January 1937, Page 14 (Supplement)

Poetry Transcends Science

“Science understands its object from without by the action of the intellect, analytic and synthetic, while poetry understands it from within by sympathy,” said the Archbishop of York, Dr. Temple, in a recent speech. “Poetry comes first. Poetry is the direct impact of the experienced world upon tho mind or soul. Science is analytical, and it tries to understand everything more fully and in greater detail. It is never content with the thing presented to it, and wants to understand it more thoroughly thuu by mere looking at it. But both are indispensable. Science is restlessly moving about in its attempt to understand an object from without, while poetry or art remains in still contemplation of it from within, and from this we got the result that old science is obsolete, while an ancient work of art is just as precious now to anyone who understands its medium as it ever was. In poetry or art you try to get the perfect impression of some certain object of experience, and once you have done that, generally it is there for ever.”