Examining the Language of Science in the Prose of William Harvey and the Poetry of Margaret Cavendish, Mintra Tantikijrungruang

This interdisciplinary paper crosses a study of science with a study of literature. It will examine the language of science in a work of seventeenth century scientific prose and a piece of seventeenth century scientific poetry.  This is done through a comparison between William Harvey’s medical treatise on the circulatory system entitled ‘On the Motion of the Heart and Blood in Animals’ (1628) and Margaret Cavendish’s poem on the same subject entitled ‘The Motion of the Blood’ (1653). Both textual artefacts will be explored within the wider context of the seventeenth century debate over the appropriate language style for science.