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Darwin: A Life in Poems
This remarkable book brings us an intimate and moving interpretation of the life and work of Charles Darwin, by Ruth Padel, an acclaimed British poet and a direct descendant of the famous scientist.
Charles Darwin, born in 1809, lost his mother at the age of eight, repressed all memory of her, and poured his passion into solitary walks, newt collecting, and shooting. His five-year voyage on H.M.S. Beagle, when he was in his twenties, changed his life. Afterward, he began publishing his findings and working privately on groundbreaking theories about the development of animal species, including human beings, and he made a nervous proposal to his cousin Emma.
Padel’s poems sparkle with nuance and feeling as she shows us the marriage that ensued, and the rich, creative atmosphere the Darwins provided for their ten children. Charles and Emma were happy in each other, but both were painfully aware of the gulf between her deep Christian faith and his increasing religious doubt. The death of three of their children accentuated this gulf. For Darwin, death and extinction were nature’s way of developing new the survival of the fittest; for Emma, death was a prelude to the afterlife.
These marvelous poems—enriched by helpful marginal notes and by Padel’s ability to move among multiple viewpoints, always keeping Darwin at the center—bring to life the great scientist as well as the private man and tender father. This is a biography in rare form, with an unquantifiable depth of family intimacy and warmth.
Charles Darwin, born in 1809, lost his mother at the age of eight, repressed all memory of her, and poured his passion into solitary walks, newt collecting, and shooting. His five-year voyage on H.M.S. Beagle, when he was in his twenties, changed his life. Afterward, he began publishing his findings and working privately on groundbreaking theories about the development of animal species, including human beings, and he made a nervous proposal to his cousin Emma.
Padel’s poems sparkle with nuance and feeling as she shows us the marriage that ensued, and the rich, creative atmosphere the Darwins provided for their ten children. Charles and Emma were happy in each other, but both were painfully aware of the gulf between her deep Christian faith and his increasing religious doubt. The death of three of their children accentuated this gulf. For Darwin, death and extinction were nature’s way of developing new the survival of the fittest; for Emma, death was a prelude to the afterlife.
These marvelous poems—enriched by helpful marginal notes and by Padel’s ability to move among multiple viewpoints, always keeping Darwin at the center—bring to life the great scientist as well as the private man and tender father. This is a biography in rare form, with an unquantifiable depth of family intimacy and warmth.
141 pages, Hardcover
First published February 12, 2009
7 people are currently reading
127 people want to read
About the author
Ruth Padel
55 books44 followersRuth is an English poet and writer. She has published poetry collections, novels, and books of non-fiction, including several on reading poetry. She has presented Radio 4′s Poetry Workshop, visiting poetry groups across the UK to discuss their poems.
Her awards include First Prize in the UK National Poetry Competition, a Cholmondeley Award from The Society of Authors, an Arts Council of England Writers’ Award and a British Council Darwin Now Research Award for her novel Where the Serpent Lives.
Ruth lives in London and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, a Member of the Bombay Natural History Society, an Ambassador for New Networks for Nature, a Patron of 21st-Century Tiger and a Council Member of the Zoological Society of London.
Her awards include First Prize in the UK National Poetry Competition, a Cholmondeley Award from The Society of Authors, an Arts Council of England Writers’ Award and a British Council Darwin Now Research Award for her novel Where the Serpent Lives.
Ruth lives in London and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, a Member of the Bombay Natural History Society, an Ambassador for New Networks for Nature, a Patron of 21st-Century Tiger and a Council Member of the Zoological Society of London.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews
November 15, 2014
Darwin: A Life in Poems is an interesting endeavour, though it doesn't quite work for me. Bits of Darwin's words, descriptions of his life, little details -- it makes for an interesting collection for its own sake, but the poetry mostly doesn't read right. Some of the detail plucked from Darwin's letters and work is interesting, some bits of it work startlingly well, but as a whole, it's not a project that works for me.
A sort-of similar project making music around Darwin's life worked much better for me -- Karine Polwart's song can bring tears to my eyes in the right mood. The Darwin Song Project is worth checking out, though their site now seems to be defunct. You can at least find Karine's song on youtube.
A sort-of similar project making music around Darwin's life worked much better for me -- Karine Polwart's song can bring tears to my eyes in the right mood. The Darwin Song Project is worth checking out, though their site now seems to be defunct. You can at least find Karine's song on youtube.
February 6, 2019
I don’t know what it is about Darwin’s story that is so enchanting, and so readily lends itself to artistic representations (thinking also, of course, of the stellar Darwin Song Project folk album). Perhaps it’s that this one man seems to personally embody the entire 150-year struggle to understand the relationship between science and faith. Or maybe it’s the way his identity combined the provincial English Victorian gentleman life with the intrepid traveller seeing the tropics and collecting wondrous specimens of flora and fauna. Or it might just be that he’s a bit of an underdog, sickly and cantankerous but nonetheless capable of changing the world.
Padel, a direct descendant of Darwin, is perfectly placed to translate his life into accomplished poems of charm and depth. She writes beautifully on any subject, but particularly well about animals: she is a fellow of the Zoological Society of London as well as of the Royal Society of Literature, and my favorite poem sequence from her collection The Soho Leopard was about urban foxes.
There are some remarkable descriptions of wildlife in these poems – particularly about orangutans seen in the wild and in the London zoo (“Her arms are brandy-snap sugar; her face / a prune-color damask,” from “Notebook M”) – but also tender words about faith and doubt, the tragedy of three children’s deaths, and the difficulties of working through both pain and writer’s block.
Best, though, is the poem cycle which alternates views of Darwin’s quiet life at Down with Alfred Russel Wallace’s Far Eastern odyssey in Borneo and Indonesia, “I never saw a more striking coincidence.” While Wallace shoots orangutans (once known as mias – who knew?) and scribbles out his theory of natural selection through a malarial haze, Darwin worries that in waiting so long he has missed his chance to be the first to present natural selection to the world.
Padel, a direct descendant of Darwin, is perfectly placed to translate his life into accomplished poems of charm and depth. She writes beautifully on any subject, but particularly well about animals: she is a fellow of the Zoological Society of London as well as of the Royal Society of Literature, and my favorite poem sequence from her collection The Soho Leopard was about urban foxes.
There are some remarkable descriptions of wildlife in these poems – particularly about orangutans seen in the wild and in the London zoo (“Her arms are brandy-snap sugar; her face / a prune-color damask,” from “Notebook M”) – but also tender words about faith and doubt, the tragedy of three children’s deaths, and the difficulties of working through both pain and writer’s block.
Best, though, is the poem cycle which alternates views of Darwin’s quiet life at Down with Alfred Russel Wallace’s Far Eastern odyssey in Borneo and Indonesia, “I never saw a more striking coincidence.” While Wallace shoots orangutans (once known as mias – who knew?) and scribbles out his theory of natural selection through a malarial haze, Darwin worries that in waiting so long he has missed his chance to be the first to present natural selection to the world.
February 26, 2023
Absolutely excellent. Beautiful concept, executed beautifully. I can’t believe I almost left this behind at the last library book sale.
Some notes
- Darwin’s wife Emma initially removed the parts of his autobiography that dealt with his rocky relationship with Christianity. Nora Barlow, his granddaughter, added it back in. Ruth Padel, Nora Barlow’s granddaughter, wrote this book. Wild!
- He ended up on the Beagle because he was too squeamish and disinterested in medical school (based)
- He was introduced to geology and natural history by a freed slave named John Edmonstone who continued to mentor him
- Charles, you didn’t label your specimens! He didn’t label the islands where the specimens came from! But his assistants on the Beagle did! Charlie that’s your whole thing! You gotta label everything!
- His relationship to Emma was really beautiful
- E conchis omnia babey
Some notes
- Darwin’s wife Emma initially removed the parts of his autobiography that dealt with his rocky relationship with Christianity. Nora Barlow, his granddaughter, added it back in. Ruth Padel, Nora Barlow’s granddaughter, wrote this book. Wild!
- He ended up on the Beagle because he was too squeamish and disinterested in medical school (based)
- He was introduced to geology and natural history by a freed slave named John Edmonstone who continued to mentor him
- Charles, you didn’t label your specimens! He didn’t label the islands where the specimens came from! But his assistants on the Beagle did! Charlie that’s your whole thing! You gotta label everything!
- His relationship to Emma was really beautiful
- E conchis omnia babey
June 9, 2023
'She took bread from a visitor, tilting her brow
at the keeper, to see whether this was allowed.
Man thinks himself, in his arrogance, a great work
and worthy a Deity's glance. More humble--
and true, I'd assert--to think him created, not bandbox new
but slowly. From this. From the animals.
Once you have granted one species may change
to another, the whole fabric totters and falls.'
from "Notebook M"
Ruth Padel, a literal descendant of Darwin, takes up her poetry to develop Darwin: A Life in Poems. Mixing her own verse with the words of Darwin and those around him--quoting journals, letters, books, memos--Padel does an excellent job providing a glimpse of the humanity and vulnerability of Darwin the Family Man in addition to Darwin the Scientist. Padel's marginal notes alongside her verse provide the necessary context to help the reader keep track of the people and significant events which drive her narrative forward.
I enjoyed this intersection of art and research immensely. Padel's effort in organizing all this copious research into a succinct poetic narrative is commendable. Granted, it's designed for a niche audience. If you're into poetry and into science, then chances are good you will be into this.
He wants, so much, to believe as she desires.
(The night is squashing him like magma.) But he can't buy
the Old Testament's revenge-filled deity;
and Christ's message, in the New, fulfills its prophecies.
I'll send my Comforter, the Spirit of Truth--
but where's the proof? Couldn't God, if He meant us to believe
all this, have given a more credible foundation?
from "Cold Water Thrown on the Head"
at the keeper, to see whether this was allowed.
Man thinks himself, in his arrogance, a great work
and worthy a Deity's glance. More humble--
and true, I'd assert--to think him created, not bandbox new
but slowly. From this. From the animals.
Once you have granted one species may change
to another, the whole fabric totters and falls.'
from "Notebook M"
Ruth Padel, a literal descendant of Darwin, takes up her poetry to develop Darwin: A Life in Poems. Mixing her own verse with the words of Darwin and those around him--quoting journals, letters, books, memos--Padel does an excellent job providing a glimpse of the humanity and vulnerability of Darwin the Family Man in addition to Darwin the Scientist. Padel's marginal notes alongside her verse provide the necessary context to help the reader keep track of the people and significant events which drive her narrative forward.
I enjoyed this intersection of art and research immensely. Padel's effort in organizing all this copious research into a succinct poetic narrative is commendable. Granted, it's designed for a niche audience. If you're into poetry and into science, then chances are good you will be into this.
He wants, so much, to believe as she desires.
(The night is squashing him like magma.) But he can't buy
the Old Testament's revenge-filled deity;
and Christ's message, in the New, fulfills its prophecies.
I'll send my Comforter, the Spirit of Truth--
but where's the proof? Couldn't God, if He meant us to believe
all this, have given a more credible foundation?
from "Cold Water Thrown on the Head"
February 22, 2023
Lyrical and interesting, a thoroughly enjoyable overview of both the personal and professional arcs of Darwin's life and settings. As some other reviews have said, the poems sometimes felt a bit forced or humdrum as poems, especially those made up almost entirely of quotes from letters and diaries, but Darwin was an eloquent writer himself so it didn't bother me too much. And other poems really sing. Overall I would say it works as both a biography and a poetry collection, with a dash of science communication. The kind of thing I aspire to write, actually.
May 25, 2015
I admire Padel's ability to seamlessly interweave direct quotes from historical documents with wholly original lines and somehow have it all come off as poetic and beautiful and cohesive. From the surviving written remnants of Darwin's life (which are surprisingly vast in quantity) and her own impressions and conclusions about the man, Padel crafts a character who is complex, emotional and, most importantly, human. In the latter half of the book, she also reaches into different perspectives, most notably those of Darwin's wife, Emma, and Alfred Russel Wallace, who simultaneously but independently reached many of the same conclusions about evolution as Darwin, to give a more rounded view of Darwin's world.
For me, the book was most successful when it delved into the conflict between the logic of natural selection and Darwin's emotional sensitivity. An especially gutting section of the book deals with the death of Darwin's daughter, Annie, whom he calls his favorite child and whose passing he grieves deeply. Padel juxtaposes his raw outpourings of emotion against passages from his scientific works, higlighting the fact that though Annie's death may be understood as a mere function of natural selection, which Darwin knows, it is still nearly impossible for a father to fathom that his child's death is so arbitrary and inevitable; in this moment, his human emotions and attachments cannot be reconciled with his knowledge of the workings of nature. Similarly, Padel explores Darwin's increasing disbelief in religion, which is only intensified by Annie's death, and the tension this causes in his marriage.
Though largely composed of quoted text wrangled into a more poetic structure, the scattering of original lines throughout the work are gorgeous and evocative but simple enough not to seem jarring in comparison to the quotes. My only qualm with the book is that it's a bit overlong for a single volume of poetry, nearly 150 pages, and, as such, grows a bit repetitive and meandering in places.
For me, the book was most successful when it delved into the conflict between the logic of natural selection and Darwin's emotional sensitivity. An especially gutting section of the book deals with the death of Darwin's daughter, Annie, whom he calls his favorite child and whose passing he grieves deeply. Padel juxtaposes his raw outpourings of emotion against passages from his scientific works, higlighting the fact that though Annie's death may be understood as a mere function of natural selection, which Darwin knows, it is still nearly impossible for a father to fathom that his child's death is so arbitrary and inevitable; in this moment, his human emotions and attachments cannot be reconciled with his knowledge of the workings of nature. Similarly, Padel explores Darwin's increasing disbelief in religion, which is only intensified by Annie's death, and the tension this causes in his marriage.
Though largely composed of quoted text wrangled into a more poetic structure, the scattering of original lines throughout the work are gorgeous and evocative but simple enough not to seem jarring in comparison to the quotes. My only qualm with the book is that it's a bit overlong for a single volume of poetry, nearly 150 pages, and, as such, grows a bit repetitive and meandering in places.
October 8, 2009
DARWIN, A Life in Poems, by Ruth Padel, New York, Alfred A. Knopf, 2009.
Ruth Padel has written a brilliant book. It is a historical biography written in poetry with side notes. The titles are worth the price of the book. They are printed in CAPITAL LETTERS. She said that she gave up tenure in 1985 to write poems.
Padel has a poem called, ON ASKING A MUSEUM GUARD TO DRAW THE CURTAIN EFORE TITIAN’S VENUS . She says that Darwin went to see it in the museum, though the one he saw may be a copy. She writes that “the museum hung curtains over paintings of nudes to protect the modesty of women visitors.” Indeed! All this information is in a very small font running down a column on the left side of the page. Meanwhile, on the poem’s right, she is drawing you into the eyes of this youth, Darwin, as he comes into his sexuality:"Her sudden body. Bare vellum, horizontal:/thighs crossed and lower knee flexed/below the upper calf. He knows the lines by heart:/her fingers curving down and nesting – he can't see the tips..."
The next poem, A DESPERATE WAY TO AVOID PAYING YOUR TAILOR describes how he signs on the H.M.S. Beagle. His job is to attend the captain as “a gentleman companion, naturalist, and savant, for a survey of South America.”
He pulls away from a career in medicine, SLIDING GIDDILY OFF INTO THE UNKNOWN with the notes printed on the poem’s right this time: “They finally left [Plymouth harbor:] on 27 December, 1831. Darwin continued to be badly seasick throughout the five years’ voyage.” Five years, seasick!!@?! Padel is descended from Darwin, and with a persistent eye for detail about his life, pulls us onto the deck of the ship, into the jungle, and captures his delight in the dizzying new sights. On Cape Verde Island he sees his first tropical vegetation... [The rest of the review is on my blog www.completeword.com:]
Ruth Padel has written a brilliant book. It is a historical biography written in poetry with side notes. The titles are worth the price of the book. They are printed in CAPITAL LETTERS. She said that she gave up tenure in 1985 to write poems.
Padel has a poem called, ON ASKING A MUSEUM GUARD TO DRAW THE CURTAIN EFORE TITIAN’S VENUS . She says that Darwin went to see it in the museum, though the one he saw may be a copy. She writes that “the museum hung curtains over paintings of nudes to protect the modesty of women visitors.” Indeed! All this information is in a very small font running down a column on the left side of the page. Meanwhile, on the poem’s right, she is drawing you into the eyes of this youth, Darwin, as he comes into his sexuality:"Her sudden body. Bare vellum, horizontal:/thighs crossed and lower knee flexed/below the upper calf. He knows the lines by heart:/her fingers curving down and nesting – he can't see the tips..."
The next poem, A DESPERATE WAY TO AVOID PAYING YOUR TAILOR describes how he signs on the H.M.S. Beagle. His job is to attend the captain as “a gentleman companion, naturalist, and savant, for a survey of South America.”
He pulls away from a career in medicine, SLIDING GIDDILY OFF INTO THE UNKNOWN with the notes printed on the poem’s right this time: “They finally left [Plymouth harbor:] on 27 December, 1831. Darwin continued to be badly seasick throughout the five years’ voyage.” Five years, seasick!!@?! Padel is descended from Darwin, and with a persistent eye for detail about his life, pulls us onto the deck of the ship, into the jungle, and captures his delight in the dizzying new sights. On Cape Verde Island he sees his first tropical vegetation... [The rest of the review is on my blog www.completeword.com:]
September 30, 2011
For a biography written in poems, this book was quite readable. I learned a lot about Darwin that I didn't know before. For example, I didn't know he married one of Josiah Wedgwood's daughters, or that they had ten children, or that his tenth child had Down syndrome. I appreciated the notes that accompany each poem, providing the reader with the background behind them; however, I wish those notes had been in a bigger font! One note was particularly interesting (p.115): "Asked afterwards why it was himself [Alfred Russel Wallace] and Darwin who discovered the role of natural selection in evolution, Wallace said they were both avid beetle-hunters early on; both were fascinated by variety and loved collecting; both observed variety in action in the place of the greatest variety, the tropics; and both read Malthus at a key point in their thinking. Another vital factor was that they both saw variety in action on a group of islands." So it IS possible for two people to independently arrive at the same conclusion at the same time.
Padel quotes from letters and Darwin's notes in her poems, and expresses Darwin's thoughts and emotions, a nice accompaniment to the facts explained in the notes. When I finished the book, it left me wanting to know more about Darwin's life and his relationship with Emma, and to read in particular the 2010 Michael L. Printz Award honor book Charles and Emma: the Darwins' Leap of Faith by Deborah Heiligman. This book is one of the better efforts to write a life in poems, and I'll certainly be ordering this for my library. Recommended!
Padel quotes from letters and Darwin's notes in her poems, and expresses Darwin's thoughts and emotions, a nice accompaniment to the facts explained in the notes. When I finished the book, it left me wanting to know more about Darwin's life and his relationship with Emma, and to read in particular the 2010 Michael L. Printz Award honor book Charles and Emma: the Darwins' Leap of Faith by Deborah Heiligman. This book is one of the better efforts to write a life in poems, and I'll certainly be ordering this for my library. Recommended!
March 5, 2016
The poetry is both beautiful and deeply interesting as it describes the life of Darwin, his achievements, and his life devoted to science and the processes of evolution. But in addition, what I found fascinating, was the view of Victorian England and even more the intricacy of his love for Emma, his wife and the sadness and profound pain his work brought to them, even as he was successful in developing his findings.
March 12, 2016
Surprised by how much I enjoyed this!
May 27, 2019
I'll admit that I came into this, expecting not to like it. Padel, descendant of the great man himself. She has some baggage coming from poetic self-promotion. I'd heard her give a public reading which I found not memorable. But, once again, I was WRONG.
This is a very accomplished book. Moving, even. Of course, Darwin is such a good story -- the major work itself completely remaking our world-view; doing the work knowing full well what the world would think of it and him, even his very loving and quite devout wife; his accomplishing all that despite illness; the love and respect of his children; his scrupulousness about Wallace's work, even if he naturally felt competitive. All of this is very good stuff for a biography, even one in poems.
Padel quotes liberally from letters, journals, autobiographies, memoirs. There are perhaps more words by other people in here than there are of hers. She provides a gloss on the side of the poems that fills in the historical and publication details, the dates, etc. And it is all very direct, without too many flourishes or easy poetic descriptions.
But where then is the poetry? Where does it come from? I think it is safe to say that it comes from the selection of detail. Darwin lived a long life, wrote many difficult books, and there are almost as many books about him as there are about Shakespeare. Yet, she has it all in a 140 page collection of poetry. She can use the techniques of poetic association to jump over unnecessary details and put the emotional facts next to each other, letting them play off each other, building their own sense. For instance, the elegy in small sections about the death of his daughter Annie -- "The Sea Will Do Us All Good"-- just builds by these small moments from letters until it is almost overwhelming in its sadness. And the long poem that jumps between Wallace and Darwin -- "I Never Saw a More Striking Coincidence" -- is fair to both, I think. Neither comes across as deadly competitive. Both as admirable. Of course we know that both men were competitive, but Padel is making the poetic point that they could be so without being vicious, while appreciating each other's work.
So, yes, it is what its subtitle declares -- a life in poems. The given narrative shapes everything in the poem (and that might be given a bit more intensity because of Padel's personal connection to the family), and all that is just fine. It's a very good read, and a very successful poem.
This is a very accomplished book. Moving, even. Of course, Darwin is such a good story -- the major work itself completely remaking our world-view; doing the work knowing full well what the world would think of it and him, even his very loving and quite devout wife; his accomplishing all that despite illness; the love and respect of his children; his scrupulousness about Wallace's work, even if he naturally felt competitive. All of this is very good stuff for a biography, even one in poems.
Padel quotes liberally from letters, journals, autobiographies, memoirs. There are perhaps more words by other people in here than there are of hers. She provides a gloss on the side of the poems that fills in the historical and publication details, the dates, etc. And it is all very direct, without too many flourishes or easy poetic descriptions.
But where then is the poetry? Where does it come from? I think it is safe to say that it comes from the selection of detail. Darwin lived a long life, wrote many difficult books, and there are almost as many books about him as there are about Shakespeare. Yet, she has it all in a 140 page collection of poetry. She can use the techniques of poetic association to jump over unnecessary details and put the emotional facts next to each other, letting them play off each other, building their own sense. For instance, the elegy in small sections about the death of his daughter Annie -- "The Sea Will Do Us All Good"-- just builds by these small moments from letters until it is almost overwhelming in its sadness. And the long poem that jumps between Wallace and Darwin -- "I Never Saw a More Striking Coincidence" -- is fair to both, I think. Neither comes across as deadly competitive. Both as admirable. Of course we know that both men were competitive, but Padel is making the poetic point that they could be so without being vicious, while appreciating each other's work.
So, yes, it is what its subtitle declares -- a life in poems. The given narrative shapes everything in the poem (and that might be given a bit more intensity because of Padel's personal connection to the family), and all that is just fine. It's a very good read, and a very successful poem.
Read
August 30, 2020I was thinking how on earth it came that I,
that am fond of talking
and hardly ever out of spirits,
should so entirely rest
my notions of happiness
on quiet. The explanation, I believe,
is very simple. During the voyage
my whole pleasure was derived
from what passed in my own mind
admiring by myself extraordinary views
while travelling wild desert
and glorious forest. Excuse
this much egotism! I give it to you
because you will soon teach me
there's greater happiness
than building theories
and accumulating the facts
in silence and solitude.
This is, as the cover states, a biography of Darwin, written entirely in the form of poems. The writer, Ruth Padel, is the great-great-granddaughter of the man himself, Charles Darwin.
The poems are beautiful, the research extensive (which shows), and the whole book is presented in a very delicate, graceful manner.
The book is filled with footnotes, explaining things, the sources etc. I had the fortune of meeting her this year at the JLF, where I got my copy signed (nope, not bragging).
So, if you are a fan of poetry or someone who wants to know more about Darwin, I would highly suggest you pick this book up.
that am fond of talking
and hardly ever out of spirits,
should so entirely rest
my notions of happiness
on quiet. The explanation, I believe,
is very simple. During the voyage
my whole pleasure was derived
from what passed in my own mind
admiring by myself extraordinary views
while travelling wild desert
and glorious forest. Excuse
this much egotism! I give it to you
because you will soon teach me
there's greater happiness
than building theories
and accumulating the facts
in silence and solitude.
This is, as the cover states, a biography of Darwin, written entirely in the form of poems. The writer, Ruth Padel, is the great-great-granddaughter of the man himself, Charles Darwin.
The poems are beautiful, the research extensive (which shows), and the whole book is presented in a very delicate, graceful manner.
The book is filled with footnotes, explaining things, the sources etc. I had the fortune of meeting her this year at the JLF, where I got my copy signed (nope, not bragging).
So, if you are a fan of poetry or someone who wants to know more about Darwin, I would highly suggest you pick this book up.
December 21, 2023
Is it poetry? Is it a biography? Does it work?
In terms of the biography, yes. There is a careful interleaving of family writings in amongst the briefest touching on the science. The book humanises the thinking, and sets his family struggles alongside the great volumes of his research. A man if constant sorrows I think, with losing two of his children, and the constant illness; but a man of great affection for his wife friends and offspring.
The poetry though… I’m not sure it works as poetry. Whilst the forms are there, it’s sometimes hard to work out whether this is just prose organised in verses. If you were expecting a classic rhyming sonnet on barnacles for example, you would be disappointed!
That said, the variation in structure and line length allows you to skip from life event to life event without getting bogged down in turgid paragraphs. To that end the versification I think works to draw the reader into the story, with its ups and downs.
It’s good to see a wide range of characters, including Alfred Russel Wallace there. He’s always been a hero of mine, and it’s lovely to see him being woven into the narrative alongside Erasmus and Emma, and the Beagle.
Worth getting, worth reading.
In terms of the biography, yes. There is a careful interleaving of family writings in amongst the briefest touching on the science. The book humanises the thinking, and sets his family struggles alongside the great volumes of his research. A man if constant sorrows I think, with losing two of his children, and the constant illness; but a man of great affection for his wife friends and offspring.
The poetry though… I’m not sure it works as poetry. Whilst the forms are there, it’s sometimes hard to work out whether this is just prose organised in verses. If you were expecting a classic rhyming sonnet on barnacles for example, you would be disappointed!
That said, the variation in structure and line length allows you to skip from life event to life event without getting bogged down in turgid paragraphs. To that end the versification I think works to draw the reader into the story, with its ups and downs.
It’s good to see a wide range of characters, including Alfred Russel Wallace there. He’s always been a hero of mine, and it’s lovely to see him being woven into the narrative alongside Erasmus and Emma, and the Beagle.
Worth getting, worth reading.
June 4, 2023
Interesting book but, in poetic terms, it is only a qualified success. Padel does not strike me as an extravagantly gifted poet - her versifying feels rather pedestrian throughout. Not for her the dazzle of wordplay or the startling imagery. Only a handful of poems stood out for me for their poetic skill and vision, foremost among them Darwin on a walk in the Brazilian rainforest (“Lavender Light in a Leap Year”). But such gems in a 140-page book are relatively rare. There’s plenty of domestic detail though - enough to prompt me to take a second trip to Down House, hopefully maybe this summer?
All the same, you have to admire Padel’s moxie in tackling this project - how to render in verse the long life of a man who is perhaps unique in human history, a scientist who blew up five millennia of human metaphysics, and demolished the very foundation of man’s relationship with god. That’s a task to daunt the bravest of souls, but Padel soldiers on, with great diligence if rather less inspiration.
All the same, you have to admire Padel’s moxie in tackling this project - how to render in verse the long life of a man who is perhaps unique in human history, a scientist who blew up five millennia of human metaphysics, and demolished the very foundation of man’s relationship with god. That’s a task to daunt the bravest of souls, but Padel soldiers on, with great diligence if rather less inspiration.
July 23, 2022
I love this. We must humanise the Great Men; it shows we can all be great, even if not men. Also if you want to go far, go together(; and stick to your destination). The role of a life companion, at is simplest, is to just be there.
I enjoyed the writing too, which makes use of primary documents and complements them.
Beautiful and important.
I enjoyed the writing too, which makes use of primary documents and complements them.
Beautiful and important.
February 5, 2025
Ruth Padel is one of my favorite poets. This is my second favorite collection of hers (check out On Migration). This book is a sort of biography through poetic quotes and proems on themes of life of nature, God, love, and parenting.
June 16, 2017
Brilliant concept achieved with great flair. Very well done.
August 28, 2015
I read this summer Ruth Padel’s poetic biography of her great-great grandfather, Charles Darwin. What a curious collection of poesy and original source material. It works well. You see Darwin’s childhood, his self-assessment at various points in his life, his family relationships. Many of the poem’s are his writings or letters, or letters to him or about him (none, incidentally, appear to be from his correspondence with Asa Gray, which was made into a pretty good short play, Re:Design).
Padel’s “The Miser” starts with a quote from Darwin’s Autobiography: “The passion for collecting, which leads a man to be a miser, a virtuoso, or a systematic naturalist, was very strong in me.”
Padel writes,
“Collect yourself: to smother what you feel,
recall to order, summon in one place;
making, like Orpheus, a system against loss.”
As a boy, Darwin prays, and gets answers, though they are convenient. He thinks he’s ugly; at 15 “he dwells in the congealing shell of a giant tortoise.”
The poet writes “His father is the largest man he’ll ever know.” Quite possibly also the meanest, given that Dad once wrote to son, “You care for nothing but shooting, rat-catching and dogs! You’ll be a disgrace to yourself and your family.”
We see his youthful passions, and his pre-Victorian interest in Titian’s “Venus,” as well as his encounters with Paley’s natural theology as he trains at Cambridge to become a minister.
One powerful poem against slavery, “The Thumbscrews of Rio,” is almost entirely from a Darwin letter or diary entry.
“Giant Bugs from the Pampas” puts a chilling cast to Darwin’s encounter with Chinches or Benchuga, the wingless insects that may have given him Chagas’ disease, which some think caused Darwin to go from robust youth to often infirm adult. Darwin holds out his finger and lets it gorge itself on his blood. In exchange giving him
…”The bacteria that will afflict this Charles and his unborn children
are life forms as occult as Kabbalah or that other
secret scripture DNA: a hidden barcode
invisible as a string of fireflies
sleeping on a leaf-edge in the pre-dusk blue of day.”
Padel expertly splices the old words and takes us through Darwin’s courtship and marriage, the births of his children, and wrenching deaths of three of them, his encounters with Wallace, and then the race to get his Origin of Species published before Wallace scoops him (including the recommendation that Darwin make the book one about pigeon breeding, and cut the rest, fortunately ignored by Darwin’s publisher).”Edit. Vomit. Edit.” So goes Padel, reminding us of Darwin’s ongoing illness.
The book perhaps falls short of great poetry, but it is a wonderfully concise and moving biography.
Padel’s “The Miser” starts with a quote from Darwin’s Autobiography: “The passion for collecting, which leads a man to be a miser, a virtuoso, or a systematic naturalist, was very strong in me.”
Padel writes,
“Collect yourself: to smother what you feel,
recall to order, summon in one place;
making, like Orpheus, a system against loss.”
As a boy, Darwin prays, and gets answers, though they are convenient. He thinks he’s ugly; at 15 “he dwells in the congealing shell of a giant tortoise.”
The poet writes “His father is the largest man he’ll ever know.” Quite possibly also the meanest, given that Dad once wrote to son, “You care for nothing but shooting, rat-catching and dogs! You’ll be a disgrace to yourself and your family.”
We see his youthful passions, and his pre-Victorian interest in Titian’s “Venus,” as well as his encounters with Paley’s natural theology as he trains at Cambridge to become a minister.
One powerful poem against slavery, “The Thumbscrews of Rio,” is almost entirely from a Darwin letter or diary entry.
“Giant Bugs from the Pampas” puts a chilling cast to Darwin’s encounter with Chinches or Benchuga, the wingless insects that may have given him Chagas’ disease, which some think caused Darwin to go from robust youth to often infirm adult. Darwin holds out his finger and lets it gorge itself on his blood. In exchange giving him
…”The bacteria that will afflict this Charles and his unborn children
are life forms as occult as Kabbalah or that other
secret scripture DNA: a hidden barcode
invisible as a string of fireflies
sleeping on a leaf-edge in the pre-dusk blue of day.”
Padel expertly splices the old words and takes us through Darwin’s courtship and marriage, the births of his children, and wrenching deaths of three of them, his encounters with Wallace, and then the race to get his Origin of Species published before Wallace scoops him (including the recommendation that Darwin make the book one about pigeon breeding, and cut the rest, fortunately ignored by Darwin’s publisher).”Edit. Vomit. Edit.” So goes Padel, reminding us of Darwin’s ongoing illness.
The book perhaps falls short of great poetry, but it is a wonderfully concise and moving biography.
September 2, 2009
I like the places in this book, the sense of place, whether city or country—the description of Darwin's father's estate in "The Miser", the dark streets and slip-passages in "The Efficacy of Prayer", the rooms in Christ's College, Cambridge, as described in the first part of "The Coddington Microscope".
The poems in the second section of the book, about Darwin's voyage on the Beagle, are wonderfully full of nature, of the tropics, of the sea: "The deck is dazzle, fish-stink, gauze-covered buckets," a poem called "Plankton" starts, and there's Darwin, over his bout of seasickness, studying plankton and pteropods. A page later he's on land, and full of wonder: "Like Giving to a Blind Man Eyes" captures so much enthusiasm, so much interest. A page after that and he's in the tropical forest, the "churchy breathing dark" of it, the suddenness of rain, all the new plants: "Leaves of all textures that a leaf/could be: palm, fluff, prickle, matte and plume;/bobbled, shaggy, plus. A thousand shades/of ochre, silver, emerald, smoky brass" (pp 32-33). (I think this section's my favorite, the sheer exuberance of it.)
The poems in the second section of the book, about Darwin's voyage on the Beagle, are wonderfully full of nature, of the tropics, of the sea: "The deck is dazzle, fish-stink, gauze-covered buckets," a poem called "Plankton" starts, and there's Darwin, over his bout of seasickness, studying plankton and pteropods. A page later he's on land, and full of wonder: "Like Giving to a Blind Man Eyes" captures so much enthusiasm, so much interest. A page after that and he's in the tropical forest, the "churchy breathing dark" of it, the suddenness of rain, all the new plants: "Leaves of all textures that a leaf/could be: palm, fluff, prickle, matte and plume;/bobbled, shaggy, plus. A thousand shades/of ochre, silver, emerald, smoky brass" (pp 32-33). (I think this section's my favorite, the sheer exuberance of it.)
September 5, 2010
The idea of a biography in poems struck me as rather odd at first, but it ended up being very effective. Perhaps it would be more difficult with a less documented life than Darwin's: the sort of beautiful image or moment of transcendance that poetry loves to explore is precisely the sort of thing Darwin noted in his journals. I found the poems stronger in the more adult sections, probably for exactly this reason.
We can't know another person's life, no matter how thoroughly that life was recorded, no matter how minutely his or her biographer's have dissected it. These poems do not pretend to show every detail or the full scope. However, they pluck out the crucial moments, trace the threads of connection, and evoke the emotions the subject may have shared; they leave the reader with lasting impressions of having encountered Darwin, of understanding him better. What biographer could ask for more?
We can't know another person's life, no matter how thoroughly that life was recorded, no matter how minutely his or her biographer's have dissected it. These poems do not pretend to show every detail or the full scope. However, they pluck out the crucial moments, trace the threads of connection, and evoke the emotions the subject may have shared; they leave the reader with lasting impressions of having encountered Darwin, of understanding him better. What biographer could ask for more?
May 27, 2009
Padel, a descendent of Darwin and holder now of the Oxfor Poetry Professorship, draws extensively from Darwin's scientific journals as well as from his personal journals. In many poems she uses Darwin's own clear descriptive prose (usually edited for brievity and scanson). But what is outstanding about this book is how in 140 pages of poems Padel has presented us with the scope of his scientific career and juxtaposed it with events in his personal life. As his work continued over the years, he and his devoutly religious wife were distressed by the huge disparity in beliefs that the conclusions his work led him to. Their marriage is an amazing example of love and mutual respect; each honored the other unconditionally. One comes away, or least I did, with expanded admiration for Darwin, for the quality of his character.
April 22, 2009
We try to restrain these passions that derive from our descent.
--"What is an Emotion?"
This book delivers what the subtitle promises: "a life in poems." Skillfully selecting ideas from Darwin's journals, facts about his life, and remarks by people who know him, Ruth Padel (a direct descendant) constructs a portrait of the man that resonates with passion and complexity. The poems are skillfully written, accessible, and (from everything I've read about Darwin and his times) historically valid. A fabulous achievement.
--"What is an Emotion?"
This book delivers what the subtitle promises: "a life in poems." Skillfully selecting ideas from Darwin's journals, facts about his life, and remarks by people who know him, Ruth Padel (a direct descendant) constructs a portrait of the man that resonates with passion and complexity. The poems are skillfully written, accessible, and (from everything I've read about Darwin and his times) historically valid. A fabulous achievement.
May 16, 2009
Ruth Padel is Darwin's great-great-granddaughter, so had access to his letters & journals. Her poems include many of his own words, and go from school, university, his long voyage on The Beagle, his return and his marriage to Emma, the children, and the development of his theories. The book humanizes him so very well, especially in his sensitivity to Emma's fears that he would not go to heaven. She hopes that God will not throw out a son who searched so earnestly for truth. I'm reading it again and working on a poem of my own about Darwin.
February 26, 2014
Combines some of my favorite things in the world. Darwin and poetry. Beautiful and well wrought, these poems intimately capture the life of the most important scientist of the modern era. As a biologist and a poet, I could not applaud this work with more enthusiasm. My only consternation echoes Thomas Huxley's upon learning of the theory of evolution through natural selection, ""How extremely stupid not to have thought of that!"
January 28, 2017
His own writing is more poetic than I'd realized: "No man can stand unmoved in these solitudes without feeling there is more in man than the mere breath of his body." (1845) Yet he was honest with his wife about his doubts on salvation and an after-life. She wrote him a note about her unhappiness at the thought of not spending eternity together. Years later after his death she found her note and his response: "When I am dead, know I have kissed and cried over this many times."
April 20, 2016
I purchased this book on a whim at a book sale and was delighted by it! A thought-provoking, artful invitation to reflect on Darwin's life and accomplishments more carefully. I can only hope someday to find another biographical portrait that pays such close attention to the language and values important to its subject. If not, I will be content to reread this one. Thank you, Ruth Padel!
November 22, 2011
I was excited when I heard about this book, but a bit disappointed after I read it. I didn't find the language to be particularly lyrical, and too many of the poems incorporated Darwin's own writings. On the positive side, Padel's book did ecourage me to think about Darwin's life in new ways.
November 3, 2014
An excellent book of poems, highly readable and insightful (Darwin was Padel's great-great-great grandfather, if I've counted the generations correctly). The poems are various in form and perspective, and throw light on Darwin as a person, as distinct from the superhuman icon he's become.
August 26, 2010
I'll post my review on Sunday, when it officially appears in the Winnipeg Free Press.
January 9, 2013
Easy to read, educates you as a biography and on a deeper metaphorical level.
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