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A bit about Erasmus Darwin

Erasmus Darwin was born on 12 December 1731 at Elston Hall, Nothinghamshire, England. He died on the 18th of April 1802. He was a British physician, poet, and botanist and was noted for his republican politics and early theories of evolution and photosynthesis.

Erasmus Darwin studied classics and mathematics at St John’s College, Cambridge, and then undertook three years of medical training at the University of Edinburgh. He moved to Lichfield, Staffordshire in 1756 where he had a flourishing medical practice and was elected a fellow of the Royal Society. He was a member of the Lunar Society and pioneered inventions like carriage steering and copying machines.

The gallery below features my photographs of St John’s College in Cambridge from a visit in 2017.

Erasmus Darwin’s literary achievements

Erasmus Darwin published his early theories of evolution in Zoonomia (1794-1796) and The Temple of Nature (1803), roughly 50 years before his grandson, Charles Darwin. He believed all living things evolved from a single common ancestor, often summarized with his motto «everything from shells».

He was a Poet of Science, writing a massive amount of his scientific inquiries in epic verse, including the popular book The Botanic Garden, which blended botany and poetry.

The photographs below are from my visit to Erasmus Darwin’s house in Lichfield in 2018.

The Botanic Garden by Erasmus Darwin

Erasmus Darwin wrote his long poem, The Botanic Garden in 1789. The poem was structured in rhyming couplets with extensive footnotes, addresses a range of scientific concerns, including the beginnings of his theory of evolution.

This is an extract from The Botanic Garden, “The Economy of Vegetation”: Canto I which can be found at the Poetry Foundation here: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/52827/the-botanic-garden-the-economy-of-vegetation-canto-i

“Winds of the north! restrain your icy gales,

Nor chill the bosom of these happy vales!

Hence in dark heaps, ye gathering clouds, revolve!

Disperse, ye lightnings! and, ye mists, dissolve!

—Hither, emerging from yon orient skies,

Botanic Goddess! bend thy radiant eyes;

O’er these soft scenes assume thy gentle reign,

Pomona, Ceres, Flora in thy train;

O’er the still dawn thy placid smile effuse,

And with thy silver sandals print the dews;

In noon’s bright blaze thy vermil vest unfold,

And wave thy emerald banner starr’d with gold.”

Thus spoke the Genius, as he stepp’d along,

And bade these lawns to Peace and Truth belong;

Down the steep slopes he led with modest skill;

The willing pathway, and the truant rill,

Stretch’d o’er the marshy vale yon willowy mound,

Where shines the lake amid the tufted ground,

Raised the young woodland, smooth’d the wavy green,

And gave to Beauty all the quiet scene.—

   She comes!—the Goddess!—through the whispering air,

Bright as the morn, descends her blushing car;

Each circling wheel a wreath of flowers entwines,

And gemm’d with flowers the silken harness shines;

The golden bits with flowery studs are deck’d,

And knots of flowers the crimson reins connect.—

And now on earth the silver axle rings,

And the shell sinks upon its slender springs;

Light from her airy seat the Goddess bounds,

And steps celestial press the pansied grounds.

About Robbie Cheadle

South African author, photographer, and artist, Robbie Cheadle, has written and illustrated seventeen children’s books, illustrated a further three children’s books, written and illustrated four poetry books and written and illustrated one celebration of cake and fondant art book with recipes. Her work has also appeared in poetry and short story anthologies.

Robbie also has two novels and a collection of short stories published under the name of Roberta Eaton Cheadle and has horror, paranormal, and fantasy short stories featured in several anthologies under this name.

You can find Robbie Cheadle’s artwork, fondant and cake artwork, and all her books on her website here: https://www.robbiecheadle.co.za/

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