I wrote this essay concurrently with doing research for a book on biomimetics. Two poems lived with me constantly during this process and provided epigraphs to most of the chapters. They exemplify one way in which poetry can engage with science. The poems are Greatness in Little by the seventeenth-century English poet Richard Leigh, and De Rerum Natura by the first century BC Roman poet Titus Lucretius. What Leigh and Lucretius had in common was a curiosity that burst the bounds of existing knowledge: they wanted to know what lay beyond human senses and received wisdom. Their works were prescient because they happened to light on areas of science that have been elucidated since. But even if we withhold praise for their getting it right, we must be moved by their missionary zeal. The poetry lies not especially in the poets' technique, although Lucretius is immensely readable in translation: it lies more in the subject matter and the blazing ardour brought to bear on it.
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机译：我在撰写有关仿生书籍的研究的同时撰写了这篇文章。在此过程中，有两首诗一直与我同住，并为大多数章节提供了题词。它们是诗歌与科学互动的一种方式。这首诗是十七世纪英国诗人理查德·利（Richard Leigh）的《小小的伟大》（Greatness in Little），以及公元前一世纪的罗马诗人泰特斯·卢克修蒂乌斯（Titus Lucretius）的《德鲁鲁·纳图拉（De Rerum Natura）》。 Leigh和Lucretius的共同点是好奇心打破了现有知识的范围：他们想知道人类感知之外的事物并获得了智慧。他们的工作是有先见之明的，因为他们偶然发现了自那时以来已经阐明的科学领域。但是，即使我们因赞扬他们的所作所为而对他们赞不绝口，我们也必须因他们的宣教热忱而感动。尽管卢克雷修斯在翻译中具有极大的可读性，但诗歌并不特别依赖于诗人的技巧：它更多地在于主题和由此产生的炽烈热情。
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