Oftentimes scientists, from physicists to biologists, get so engulfed in their work that they eventually forget about the beauty which compelled them to study it in the first place. Constant exposure to numbers, equations, and regimented thinking has the potential to wear down their ability to think outside the box, and be childishly curious about the unknown.
Poets and artists use their passions to escape the regimented reality that can often be seen in the scientific fields. They relish in the opportunity to think boundlessly, viewing metaphysics as a more worthy pursuit than actual physics.
However, science at its purest form is also an art. An art of using what we understand in the natural world to look for new knowledge, even if that sometimes means starting from a new canvas entirely.
By combining science and more traditional arts, both fields are respectively enhanced. Artists can use science to gain a deeper understanding of the wonder of the natural world, so that they are able to create even more wonderful metaphysical worlds. Scientists who are also artists are able to better appreciate the beauty of their work, and come to new conclusions with logic not previously used.
I was inspired to explore what link there may be between writing a creative poem about a piece of art and the simultaneous process of scientific creativity during this exercise.
I am grateful to my mentors, Dr. Kathryn Bufkin, my English teacher for 2 years, and Mr. Luis Fayat, my Physics teacher in high school, for their support in this project.
Dieter Manstein
Ransom Everglades School, ’25
Miami, Florida
Caravaggio’s The Seven Acts of Mercy masterfully depicts the interplay of light and shadow, revealing the depths of our humanity and highlighting acts of compassion. The dramatic chiaroscuro technique follows the movement of light through darkness and reminds us of principles of physics such as the reflection of light. This effect symbolizes spiritual illumination and philosophical insight, much as when humanity came out of the ‘darkness’ of the Middle Ages and entered the Renaissance and Enlightenment periods. The light also symbolizes the journey from birth to death—seeing ‘the light’ as we enter and leave life. These insights inspired ekphrastic poetry as a means to explore light as both a physical phenomenon and a metaphor for revelation, faith, and the cyclical nature of our existence.
The Seven Acts of Mercy by Caravaggio (1571-1610)
LIGHT
From a droplet
I saw the Universe
Of color twinkles
Pleased to observe.
Elusive traveler,
Your absence soothes,
Often despairs.
Equally charged,
Photons, emotions.
You carry life,
Carry our souls.
Lead to discover,
From the abyss
Within our souls,
Into our minds,
Into the core
Of man and Universe,
Ever so bound.
Gate to my travels,
Cyclical partner,
A lapsed goodbye
Takes you away,
Until I thee
See once again.
Dieter Manstein