“Of heaven and earth, often dreaming
In one’s philosophic name-scheming;
Still more things observing–
Consid’ring unswerving–
With world full of wonders still-teeming.”
The 23 April 2023 Twitter limerick was posted in honor of William Shakespeare’s birthday. This April date has been one of my favorites to commemorate over what have now been five NaPoWriMo (National Poetry Writing Month) routines.
“Of heaven and earth, often dreaming /
In one’s philosophic name-scheming…”
This year’s poem alludes to a famous exchange from Hamlet.
“HORATIO.
O day and night, but this is wondrous strange.HAMLET.
Shakespeare’s Hamlet; Act One, Scene Five
And therefore as a stranger give it welcome. /
There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, /
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”
In context, the lines refer to Hamlet’s recent sighting of his father’s ghost, but the quote has been much more generalized in several other settings (including this one!).
“Still more things observing– /
Consid’ring unswerving– /
With world full of wonders still-teeming.”
In this poem’s case, the idea of “more things in heaven and earth… than are dreamt of” seems a resonant phrase across disciplines, emphasizing imagination, observation, and creativity. I also liked the link possible between the roles of natural philosophy (historically) and science. Revisiting a phrase from line two, “philosophic name-scheming” was a phrase that both noted Horatio and Hamlet’s discussion and hearkened back to last year’s poem. The latter had emphasized some links between roles of the poet and the scientist, in observing and naming phenomena, as commemorated in A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
***
This will be a relatively prosaic piece compared to last year’s (“more matter, with less art” often seems an unintentional theme of this 2024 sequence of essays, in a busy semester). However, it is again helpful to contemplate that spring, with all the highlights therein, is in sight.
Chemphasis 