On March 11th, Wai Chee Dimock, a english professor at Yale University, added to our series through a lecture titled, “William Blake and Elizabeth Bishop in the Anthropocene.” The speaker selected literary works by these two poets and really elaborated on how science and the humanities must merge in order to facilitate public understanding of highly relevant environmental issues. My first impression of the lecture was how it was somewhat similar to a previous talk by Georgetown Professor Nathan K. Hensley regarding “Action After Nature: Climate Crisis & the Force of Literature.” Professor Hensley’s lecture highlighted the importance of the relationship between thought and action, and how it is influenced by past events. I found it fascinating how Professor Dimock drew parallels between the works of Bishop and Blake just how Professor Hensley connected Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland to a transitionary period. Having made this connection early on, I paired my previously formulated opinions about this field with Professor Dimock’s knowledge to further understand the parallels between science and the written word.
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