Fact and artefact: poetry, science, and a few thoughts on Ian McEwan's Saturday

Abstract

In this article I think through the kind of knowledge a poem constitutes. I summarise some of the main arguments of Matthew Arnold (1822–88) and I. A. Richards (1893–1979) in their writings on the differences between science and poetry, before considering the imaginative exploration of such differences in Ian McEwan's recent novel Saturday. McEwan uses Arnold's poem 'Dover Beach' as a focus in his novel, both thematically and in terms of plot. I go on to ask why this might be, suggesting that perpetuation of the divisions between poetry and science is ultimately unhelpful.