The Grand Mechanic
The more that pioneering engineer George Stephenson understood of the world around him, the more his sense of wonder grew.
before 1848
Queen Victoria 1837-1901
The more that pioneering engineer George Stephenson understood of the world around him, the more his sense of wonder grew.
before 1848
Queen Victoria 1837-1901
Many Victorian scientists rebelled against the Church, at that time dominated by a colourless Calvinism that stifled wonder and mistrusted enthusiasm. But in private, many retained a powerful sense of the reality of God through wondering at his creation, as railway pioneer George Stephenson did.
WHILST walking in the woods or through the grounds, he [George Stephenson] would arrest his friend’s attention by allusion to some simple object, — such as a leaf, a blade of grass, a bit of bark, a nest of birds, or an ant carrying its eggs across the path, — and descant in glowing terms upon the creative power of the Divine Mechanician, whose contrivances were so exhaustless and so wonderful. This was a theme upon which he was often accustomed to dwell in reverential admiration, when in the society of his more intimate friends.
One night, when walking under the stars, and gazing up into the field of suns, each the probable centre of a system, forming the Milky Way, a friend said to him, “What an insignificant creature is man in sight of so immense a creation as that!” “Yes!” was his reply; “but how wonderful a creature also is man, to be able to think and reason, and even in some measure to comprehend works so infinite!”*
See Romans 1:20: “the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead”.
1. What is the author aiming to achieve in writing this?
2. Note any words, devices or turns of phrase that strike you. How do they help the author communicate his ideas more effectively?
3. What impression does this passage make on you? How might you put that impression into words?
Based on The English Critic (1939) by NL Clay, drawing on The New Criticism: A Lecture Delivered at Columbia University, March 9, 1910, by J. E. Spingarn, Professor of Comparative Literature in Columbia University, USA.
Suggest answers to this question. See if you can limit one answer to exactly seven words.
What was it that often prompted Stephenson to speak warmly of God’s creation?
Express the ideas below in a single sentence, using different words as much as possible. Do not be satisfied with the first answer you think of; think of several, and choose the best.
Stephenson often walked in the open air. He noticed lots of plants and animals. He expressed admiration for God as Creator.