Science poetry

Scientific poetry is the theory of the French poet Rene Gilles developed at the end of the 19th century ^[1] , according to which the poetic art of the present and the future should be based more on rational principles and interact more closely with the scientific worldview (analogue of Zola’s experimental novel ) ^[2] .

According to a generalized retelling of Valery Bryusov , in the framework of the concept of Gil

poetry should comprehend reality, establish its relationship to the constant laws of history and sociology. <...> Only the interaction of art and science can create the true culture of this era. Poetry must complement science, and vice versa. By the power of creative intuition, the poet must grasp between the elements of the world and life - connections that have not yet been established by exact knowledge, and predict new ways in which science can go to new conquests. And if art should be sent from the data of science, then, in turn, science should look for life-giving breath in art ^[3] .

In one form or another, Gil noted, the ideal of the interaction of poetry and positive knowledge was realized before: in particular, the works of Lucretius , the poetry of Goethe and Shelley were close to this ideal. Companion Gilya Rene Arkos ranked among the forerunners of "scientific poetry" and a number of other authors, from Empedocles and Parmenides to Emil Verkharn . Gil himself over the course of two decades developed and promoted his teaching - both in the theoretical work repeatedly published with additions and amendments, first published in 1887 under the title "Treatise on the Word" ( French Traité du Verbe ), and in his large-scale poetic works: it was noted, in particular, that Gil’s “verbal instrumentation” - selection of vocabulary, the sound system of which corresponds to the theme of the work - was influenced by German Helmholtz ’s ideas about “sound impressions” ^[1] . Gil's successors to one degree or another were such poets and prose writers of the turn of the century, such as Charles Wildrack , Jules Romaine , Georges Duhamel .