Poetry as an Expression of Gratitude towards a Physician: Robert Bloomfield’s “Song” for Doctor Edward Jenner, the Father of Immunology
In human medical and social history, one can encounter the deaths of hundreds, thousands or even millions of people caused by either deadly viruses or other worst diseases prevalent in a whole country or the world. Pandemic diseases are also the cause of many deaths as we experience in today’s world...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Gaziantep University
2022-07-01
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| Series: | Gaziantep University Journal of Social Sciences |
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| Online Access: | https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/download/article-file/2246975 |
| Summary: | In human medical and social history, one can encounter the deaths of hundreds, thousands or even millions of people caused by either deadly viruses or other worst diseases prevalent in a whole country or the world. Pandemic diseases are also the cause of many deaths as we experience in today’s world. Today we experience an unprecedented pandemic due to a corona virus called Covid-19, which has caused the deaths of an estimated five million people till now. In the world’s history, we have also observed that people have produced songs, poems, and other literary or artworks to alleviate the challenging situation and help people overcome the extreme stress caused by epidemics or pandemics. When we look at literary history, we witness the existence of literary works produced to appreciate science and the scientists who invented new things and came up with novel ideas. The English poet Robert Bloomfield’s “Song, Sung by Mr. Bloomfield” is one of them. This poem, written in 1803 for the anniversary of Doctor Edward Jenner’s birthday, attracts the attention of today’s readers due to its appreciation of the physician who invented vaccination against smallpox. In this regard, the poem may be considered the expression of gratitude. The purpose of this study is to highlight the elements of praise in the poem to indicate how Bloomfield expressed not only his gratitude to Jenner but also the gratitude that all the other people should feel towards him, and thus constituted an appreciative response to the scientist’s noble act of inventing vaccination against smallpox, a fatal disease. |
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| ISSN: | 1303-0094 2149-5459 |