Write the central theme of the poem The Microscope.
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axine Kumin Questions and Answers
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What is the central theme of poem "The Microscope" by Maxine Kumin?
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JAY GILBERT, PH.D. eNotes educator | CERTIFIED EDUCATOR
This is an interesting poem which tells the story of Anton Leeuwenhoek, a scientific pioneer, in a misleadingly simplistic, almost childlike style which masks the profundity of its central idea. Leeuwenhoek, the poet says, sold "pincushions, cloth, and such," an occupation which he neglected in order to begin grinding lenses for a microscope. Possessed by the spirit of scientific inquiry, Leeuwenhoek spends his time examining everything he can think of under his lenses, everything from fish scales to his own blood to bugs so small they are hidden within a water drop. The irony here is that the scientist is making extensive and important scientific advancements, but the townsfolk aren't interested in this. They are only interested in why their store is not open, to provide them with their day-to-day necessities. Irritated by the scientist's deviation from the quotidian, they accuse him of being crazy, saying that he should be shipped off to Spain and calling him "dope." As the final line of the poem says, however, it is because of this man, striving for discovery in the face of public disapproval and mockery, that we "got the microscope."
The central idea of the poem, then, is that all science, when it is first developed, seems "crazy" to those who are interested only in what is immediately relevant to them. It is only the great innovators and geniuses—who can continue to work despite the disapproval of those around them—who actually advance our world.
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This is an interesting poem which tells the story of Anton Leeuwenhoek, a scientific pioneer, in a misleadingly simplistic, almost childlike style which masks the profundity of its central idea. Leeuwenhoek, the poet says, sold "pincushions, cloth, and such," an occupation which he neglected in order to begin grinding lenses for a microscope. Possessed by the spirit of scientific inquiry, Leeuwenhoek spends his time examining everything he can think of under his lenses, everything from fish scales to his own blood to bugs so small they are hidden within a water drop. The irony here is that the scientist is making extensive and important scientific advancements, but the townsfolk aren't interested in this. They are only interested in why their store is not open, to provide them with their day-to-day necessities. Irritated by the scientist's deviation from the quotidian, they accuse him of being crazy, saying that he should be shipped off to Spain and calling him "dope." As the final line of the poem says, however, it is because of this man, striving for discovery in the face of public disapproval and mockery, that we "got the microscope."
The central idea of the poem, then, is that all science, when it is first developed, seems "crazy" to those who are interested only in what is immediately relevant to them. It is only the great innovators and geniuses—who can continue to work despite the disapproval of those around them—who actually advance our world.
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