When I first attended this class, I was eager to have the instructors show me the relationship between science and poetry, as I could not construct a meaningful connection between the two subjects myself. In trying to do so, I came up with feeble ideas that seemed to stretch the application too far. Now, however, I do not doubt that science and poetry are related having learned that both the scientist and the poet utilize keen analysis, previous observations, and a "hands on" approach to learning.
Just as a scientist creates opportunities to observe more closely the wonders of the world, the poet also seeks to analyze these minute details. We are told in the film that Bishop makes a "microscopic inspection of things" and we can see evidence of this in her poem entitled "The Fish." Based on her past experiences of cleaning fish, Bishop imagines this fish has "coarse white flesh packed in like feathers, the big bones and little bones, the dramatic reds and blacks of his shiny entrails, and the pink swim bladder like a big peony" (42). While I have seen fish cleaned many times, seeing the fish's entrails evoked an initial response and no more. Bishop, however, takes the time to analyze her subject in order to give a colorful, yet accurate, description. Likewise, Wordsworth in his poem entitled "Lines" laments the effect that nature has upon him and states that "with an eye made quiet by the power Of harmony, and the deep power of joy, We see into the life of things.".
Pasteur also looked into the life of things while conducting his own research. His interest was sparked because of his dissatisfaction with the popular theory of spontaneous generation. Using the information formerly gathered by his colleagues, Pasteur sought to give an even better explanation. This layering of the evidence builds a database of knowledge from which the scientist creates an experimental foundation.
