Introduction

This research project examines the significance of poetry and rhetoric in the history of the natural sciences at early modern universities.

Myths and cultural narratives formed an important part of early modern scientific writing and experiences of nature. Understanding nature from a cultural perspective requires attention to the literary forms, genres, and rhetorical strategies through which it was depicted. In this project, scientific literature is approached specifically as literature, with its historically evolving modes of expression.

Early modern universities produced a large number of Latin dissertations as well as occasional poetry composed for disputations and academic ceremonies. The project investigates this extensive yet little‑studied corpus of dissertations and rhetorical threshold poems, revealing the roles that poetry and rhetoric played in the history of knowledge and in the development of the natural sciences. Rather than serving merely as conventional ceremonial verse, epideictic poetry fulfilled diverse cultural, social, and epistemic functions in addressing natural phenomena.

Aim

The project generates new knowledge about the relationships between poetry, rhetoric, and natural history in the early modern period. At the same time, it sheds broader light on early occasional poetry and the history of rhetoric.

A multifaceted understanding of the history of science has social relevance: it highlights that scientific development is not a straightforward narrative of progress but unfolds within diverse cultural contexts.

Funding

Research Council of Finland, 2026-2031

Researchers

Sari Kivistö, Academy Professor