Poetry and Science
Many are familiar with the fact that the 20th-century poet William Carlos Williams was also a physician; perhaps less familiar is a long tradition of combining poetry with the study of nature. Francesco Redi, Ferdinand II's physician as well as a member of the Accademia del Cimento, wrote a great deal of poetry when he wasn’t busy dissecting vipers and studying insects through a microscope (see also Redi's work in the sections entitled Fauna and Beyond Italy). Carlo Dati, another member of the Cimento, is best remembered as a poet, and also edited and collected the work of other Florentine poets. While we now associate Galileo's name primarily with his scientific accomplishments, in the 17th century he also enjoyed a reputation as a poet, and his poetry is still taught today.
Francesco Redi.
Bacco in Toscana; ditirambo.
Florence: Piero Matini, 1685.
Raccolta delle poesie di Francesco Redi.
London: Si vende in Livorno presso Gio. Tommaso Masie Comp., 1781.
First published in 1628.
Galileo Galilei.
Le rime.
Ed. Antonio Marzo. Roma: Salerno, 2001. Memorial Library
_______.
Scritti letterari.
Ed. Alberto Chiari. Florence: F. Le Monnier, 1970. Memorial Library
Carlo Dati, ed.
Prose fiorentine raccolte dallo Smarrito accademico della Crusca.
Venice: Remondini, 1751.