Using Keat’s poetic lament that Newton had unwoven the rainbow by his discovery of the prism and the refraction of light, and thus drained that phenomenon of all poetry and wonder, Dawkins launches on an exploration of the incredible scientific discoveries connected with Newton’s work. Along the way, he shows that the knowledge which science can bestow on us can be as poetic and awe-inspiring as anything that Romantics (modern-day or otherwise) have to offer.
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