An arch atheist reveals his poetic soul

[rug]

Polarising academic Richard Dawkins still has time for whimsy.



September 15, 2013
Jane Wheatley

In his new book, the arch-rationalist Richard Dawkins recalls himself as a young man, turned by poetry into ''byways of romantic fantasy'', in love with the idea of being in love. He quotes at length some of the verses that moved him: ''They were an important part of making me what I am,'' he writes, ''and they were all (in some cases still are) word perfect in my memory.''

He is sitting opposite me, the first volume of his autobiography lying closed between us on the table. Could he recite those verses now?

''I probably could,'' he says. What about the Yeats one with the phrase ''cloud-pale eyelids''? He nods - ''Oh yes, lovely'' - and takes a breath: ''And I dreamed my lost love came stealthily out of the wood/With her cloud-pale eyelids falling on dream-dimmed eyes …''

I feel quite privileged to be here listening to the author of The Selfish Gene and The God Delusion reciting poetry to me. Especially as interviews with the world's most controversial scientist carry a health warning. I've been told he is aloof and prickly about questions that threaten to stray into private realms. As we are here to talk about his life story - as opposed to the evolutionary and cultural arguments for which he is famous - such sensitivity was bound to be tricky.

http://www.theage.com.au/entertainment/books/an-arch-atheist-reveals-his-poetic-soul-20130914-2trbu.html

Published September 12. An interesting interview here.

[dimbear]

1. Dawkins doesn't seem embarrassed to enjoy a poet who, although he wandered, was fundamentally a

Protestant.

[rug]

2. I was more surprised to learn his father died just three years ago.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/lives-remembered-john-dawkins-2157459.html

[dimbear]

3. Another family struck from the mold of the Jameses and the Darwins and so on.

Thanks for the link.