At the end of the eighteenth century, scientists for the first time demonstrated that ice is not lifeless but vital, a crystalline revelation of vigorous powers. At the same time, several Romantic figures-including Coleridge and Poe, Percy and Mary Shelley, Emerson, and Thoreau-challenged tradi-tional notions of ice as waste and instead celebrated crystals, glaciers, and the poles as special disclosures of a holistic principle of being. In this engaging literary history, Eric Wilson explores the secret history of ice and the romantic imagination inspired by it. The result is a fascinating explor-ation into the Romantic imagination and its intersection with crystallography, the glaciology of the Alps, and polar exploration.
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