This thesis examines Erasmus Darwin's poem The Loves of the Plants (1789) for its boundary crossing expression of ecological theory that takes into consideration the influence of religious cosmology on our understanding of the natural world. Darwin (1731-1802) was the grandfather of naturalist Charles Darwin, whose theories we recognize now as the foundation of an entire field of biological study. But Darwin harboured his own beliefs of evolutionary theory long before his grandson was born, those which asserted a relatedness of all forms of life and pressed against the conceptions of existence that were so deeply rooted in the Euro-Western mind. I intend to demonstrate here the originality and complexity of Darwin's work as an exploration of cosmology, wherein the animation of his vegetal world invites readers to consider both the continuities between states of organic existence and the categories which were established in an attempt to keep them apart. By investigating the origins of these conceptions, from biblical creation to the Aristotelean tradition into the time in which Darwin wrote, I explore the ways in which these ideologies pertaining to the natural order of being have come to be and continue to be. Based on his interpretation of Carl Linnaeus' system of taxonomic classification, a system which remains in use to this day, Darwin's Loves manipulates a structure shaped by European religious and ideological assumptions to unravel the binding understanding of a separate and distant nature, one that has been implemented to discourage ways of perceiving otherwise. Because of its incorporation of Linnaean thought, this early work of Darwin's is often disregarded by scholars in conversations of innovative natural philosophy. Yet, in employing a historicist rhetorical and cultural analysis, this thesis examines Darwin's botanical poem inclusively, engaging with his decentering of the Christian understanding of the hierarchy of species that has been maintained for centuries, to illustrate that in composing a realm of personified flora he is melding the believed to be distinct worlds of the human and nonhuman to unite our species with an all-encompassing naturalism. Though this research is culturally specific, its sentiment may be carried forward to acknowledge the ideological histories and inheritances that influence our conceptions of other biological beings and our understandings of our own species as well. / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA) / This project focuses on a reading of Erasmus Darwin's The Loves of the Plants (1789) that emphasizes its purpose as an exploration of cosmology and the influence of ideological histories. Taking inspiration from the metaphors of Carl Linnaeus' system of plant classification, Darwin is able to introduce his readers to the world of botany, all the while pointing to the implications of following approaches to understanding the natural world that rely on religious conceptions. Looking specifically at Darwin's manipulation of the origins of Euro-Western ideas pertaining to our planetary natural order, those which stem from the creation myths of Genesis and were passed on through antiquity into the Age of Reason, I intend for this thesis to demonstrate how Darwin's reimagining of nonhuman beings serves to illustrate the ways in which our cosmologies, even those we believe to be removed from, are able to affect our understandings of the worlds around us and all the beings within them.

Erasmus Darwin’s task as a Deistic Dissenter poet who wished to promote science education to a mixed audience was complex. There was mainstream concern over what Deists and Dissenters actually believed about God, their involvement in science, and, especially, how their published works, whatever the subject, might affect public morality and politics. I argue that Darwin’s poetry is primarily in the genre of Lucretian didactic epic but that it also involves elements of other written traditions (literary and non-literary). I focus on English didactic poetry, the theological written traditions of Dissent and Deism, and a particular tradition of erotic satire. The genre of Lucretian didactic epic and the tradition of English didactic poetry are non-identical. In Darwin’s Lucretian didactic epic, resemblances to such poems as Pope’s Essay on Man challenge ideas about what kind of narrative a didactic poem in the English language can deliver. Techniques from the theological written traditions of Dissent and Deism reflect Darwin’s affiliations, signal that science education fits within a larger debate about intellectual freedom, and promote tolerance for differences of opinion about nature. Mimicry of a particular tradition of erotic satire helps to downplay the address to a mixed audience while satirising some common misconceptions about poetry, botany, and women in the period. Darwin’s poetry challenges ideas about what people from his community of belief meant to communicate or transmit by writing for the general public, what the general public was entitled to learn, and what poetry was able to teach. Perhaps Darwin’s biggest modification of Lucretian didactic epic was that he did not tell his readers exactly what to think, but how. / Thesis (Ph.D, English) -- Queen's University, 2012-07-09 10:04:51.446

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Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-28T14:16:18Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Sonia Bonduki.pdf: 1368571 bytes, checksum: 5c8014cd2991770ffe635484dc07c3a1 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-11-04 / Erasmus Darwin (1731-1803) was a doctor, botanist, philosopher, inventor and poet. A closer look into his life and work unveils an active 18th-century English man of science, who had a significant role in the foundation of learned societies, such as Birmingham s Lunar Society. Mostly known in the present time as Charles Darwin and Francis Galton s grandfather, he was eventually attributed some anticipations of the former s ideas on evolution. However, Zoonomia was written to introduce the foundations of medical theory and practice to colleagues. According to Darwin, the laws of organic life corresponded to the operation of the faculties of the principle of motions, which he named as spirit of animation. Having resource to some of the ideas most prevalent in his time, he listed such faculties as being four: irritation, sensitivity, sensitivity, volition, and association. Consistently, in his nosology, Darwin applied Carl von Linné´s botanical taxonomy to those faculties to formulate a rational classification of disease, which could also serve as a therapeutic guide / Erasmus Darwin (1731-1803) foi médico, botânico, filósofo, inventor e poeta. Ao se estudar mais profundamente sua vida e sua obra, encontra-se um ativo homem de ciência na Inglaterra do século XVIII, tendo, inclusive, participado da fundação de sociedades de estudiosos, tais como a Lunar Society de Birmingham. Atualmente mais conhecido por ter sido o avô de Charles Darwin e Francis Galton, chegou-se, inclusive, a se atribuir a ele uma antecipação das ideias evolucionistas do primeiro. No entanto, Zoonomia é uma obra destinada a apresentar os fundamentos da teoria e da prática da medicina aos seus colegas. De acordo com Darwin, as leis da vida orgânica se resumem à operação das faculdades do princípio de movimento, que chama de espírito de animação e, com base nas ideias prevalentes na época, reduz à irritação, à sensação, à vontade e à associação. Na sua nosologia, aplica a taxonomia botânica de Carl Von Linné a essas faculdades, de modo a apresentar uma classificação racional das doenças que, ao mesmo tempo, serve como base à terapêutica