The Age of Wonder is a history of the Romantic period in England, which Holmes defines as the period between Captain Cook's first voyage in 1768 and Charles Darwin's voyage on the Beagle in 1831. Conventional wisdom says that the Romantic poets staged a rebellion against science — a view I most recently encountered in The Master and His Emissary — but Holmes aims to show that Romantic literature and science developed together.
He states his thesis in the Introduction, then leaves it implicit during the rest of the book. The main characters are the major natural philosophers of the period: Joseph Banks, William Herschel, and especially Humphrey Davy. The Romantic writers Coleridge, Shelley, and Keats make prominent appearances as well. The scientists write poetry and the poets add scientific footnotes to their poems.
An enjoyable read and a fine corrective to the simplified vision of the period.
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