Emerson's Sublime Science

This text explores relationships among Emerson's poetics, theory of the sublime, and engagement with electromagnetism. It illustrates how Davy's chemistry and Faraday's physics revealed to Emerson a sublime universe in which matter is boundless electricalforce. It argues that Emerson translated this discovery into a sublime writing style crafted to galvanize readers with the insight that matter is energy. In illuminating Emerson's project, this study also uncovers connections among British Romanticism, American Romanticism, and 19th century-science.