The spiritual history of ice : romanticism, science, and the imagination

At the end of the eighteenth century, scientists for the first time demonstrated what medieval and renaissance alchemists had long suspected; ice is not lifeless but vital, a crystalline revelation of vigorous powers. Studied in esoteric and exoterical representations of frozen phenomena, several Romantic figures - including Coleridge and Poe, Percy and Mary Shelley, Emerson and Thoreau - challenged traditional notions of ice as waste and instead celebrated crystals, glaciers, and the poles as special disclosures of a holistic principle of being. The Spiritual History of Ice explores this ecology of frozen shapes in fascinating detail, revealing not only a neglected current of the Romantic age but also a secret history and psychology of ice.

at The Turn Of The Nineteenth Century, Crystallographers, Glaciologists, And Polar Explorers For The First Time Demonstrated That Frozen Shapes Are Not Dead But Bearers Of Vital Powers. Aware Of This New Scientific Information, Romantic Figures In England And America--including Coleridge And Poe, Percy And Mary Shelley, Emerson And Thoreau--challenged Traditional Representations Of Ice As Waste And Celebrated Crystals, Glaciers, And The Poles As Revelations Of Life As Well As Models Of Poetic Composition. the Spiritual History Of Ice explores This Ecology Of Ice In Fascinating Detail, Revealing Not Only A Neglected Context Of The Romantic Age But Also The Esoteric History And Psychology Of Frozen Phenomena

At the turn of the nineteenth century, crystallographers, glaciologists, and polar explorers for the first time demonstrated that frozen shapes are not dead but bearers of vital powers. Aware of this new scientific information, Romantic figures in England and America - including Coleridge and Poe, Percy and Mary Shelley, Emerson and Thoreau - challenged traditional representations of ice as waste and celebrated crystals, glaciers, and the poles as revelations of life as well as models of poetic composition. The Spiritual History of Iceexplores this ecology of ice in fascinating detail, revealing not only a neglected context of the Romantic age but also the esoteric history and psychology of frozen phenomena At the turn of the nineteenth century, crystallographers, glaciologists, and polar explorers for the first time demonstrated that frozen shapes are not dead but bearers of vital powers. Aware of this new scientific information, Romantic figures in England and America - including Coleridge and Poe, Percy and Mary Shelley, Emerson and Thoreau - challenged traditional representations of ice as waste and celebrated crystals, glaciers, and the poles as revelations of life as well as models of poetic composition. Eric G. Wilson explores this ecology of ice in detail, revealing not only a neglected context of the Romantic age but also the esoteric history and psychology of frozen phenomena. Cover 1 Contents 4 Acknowledgments 6 Abbreviations 8 Introduction: Frozen Apocalypse 12 One: Crystals 18 Two: Glaciers 82 Three: The Poles 150 Conclusion: Melting and Genesis 228 Notes 232 Index 282 A 282 B 282 C 283 D 284 E 284 F 284 G 284 H 285 I 285 J 285 K 285 L 286 M 286 N 286 O 286 P 287 R 287 S 288 T 288 U 289 V 289 W 289 Y 289 Z 289 In Pseudodoxia Epidemica (1646), Sir Thomas Browne, an essayist close to the heart of Thoreau, reports that authorities as venerable as Pliny, Seneca, Saint Augustine, and Gregory the Great believed that crystals were "nothing else, but Ice or Snow concreted, and by duration of time, congealed beyond liquation." Publisher Fact Sheet A fascinating look at the science and magic of ice -- glaciers, the poles, and crystals -- and their central place in the Romantic imagination