Science and Poetry

Explore the complex relationship between scientific thought, human belief, and poetic experience in Science and Poetry, I. A. Richards’s influential study of the purpose and value of poetry in the modern age.

Writing at a time when scientific discoveries were rapidly transforming traditional ideas about nature, religion, knowledge, and human existence, Richards asks an important question: what role can poetry continue to play when older systems of belief are being challenged by modern science?

Through a series of closely argued chapters, Richards examines the nature of poetic experience, the meaning of value, the relationship between poetry and belief, and the psychological forces that shape a reader’s response to literature. Rather than treating poetry simply as ornament or entertainment, he considers it a powerful means of organizing emotions, attitudes, and human experience.

Science and Poetry is especially significant for its exploration of how poetic language can remain meaningful even when the literal beliefs associated with a poem are no longer accepted as factual truth. Richards distinguishes between scientific statements and the emotional or psychological functions of poetry, helping establish ideas that became central to modern literary criticism.

The book also engages with contemporary poetry and the cultural uncertainty of the early twentieth century, considering how writers respond when inherited traditions and assumptions lose their authority. In doing so, Richards connects literary criticism with psychology, philosophy, language, and the changing intellectual landscape of modern society.

Ideal for readers interested in literary theory, modernist poetry, philosophy of literature, psychology, language, and twentieth-century criticism, Science and Poetry remains an important work for understanding how poetry creates value and meaning in an increasingly scientific world.