Sonnet - to Science
Sonnet - to Science - form Summary
Sonnet as Plaintive Address
Poe frames the poem as a direct address to Science in the compact sonnet form. He personifies Science as a relentless force that strips myth and imagination from the world, lamenting how inquiry replaces poetic wonder. The speaker accuses Science of driving away classical, supernatural figures and of robbing him of a personal "summer dream," making the sonnet a concentrated, elegiac protest against disenchantment.
Read Complete AnalysesScience! true daughter of Old Time thou art! Who alterest all things with thy peering eyes. Why preyest thou thus upon the poet’s heart, Vulture, whose wings are dull realities? How should he love thee? or how deem thee wise, Who wouldst not leave him in his wandering To seek for treasure in the jewelled skies, Albeit he soared with an undaunted wing? Hast thou not dragged Diana from her car? And driven the Hamadryad from the wood To seek a shelter in some happier star? Hast thou not torn the Naiad from her flood, The Elfin from the green grass, and from me The summer dream beneath the tamarind tree?
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