Project Gutenberg 2008-10-09 Public domain in the USA. 578 Darwin, Erasmus 1731 1802 The Temple of Nature; or, the Origin of Society: A Poem, with Philosophical Notes Produced by Steven Gibbs, Christine P. Travers and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net "The Temple of Nature; or, the Origin of Society: A Poem, with Philosophical Notes" by Erasmus Darwin is a philosophical poem written in the early 19th century. This work explores themes surrounding the origins of life and society, intertwining natural phenomena with mythological and philosophical elements. It uses a poetic structure to delve into the progression of life and love, examining how they form the foundation of human society. At the start of the poem, the author invokes the muse, setting the tone for a grand exploration of life's creation and its inherent connections. The text presents a vivid depiction of Eden and the initial state of humanity with Adam and Eve, highlighting pleasures, societal structures, and the natural world. The invocation of Nature as a deity suggests a profound respect for life, while contrasting the joys of existence with the inevitability of suffering and mortality. The opening acts as a philosophical meditation on life's cyclical nature and the interconnectedness of all living beings, setting the stage for further exploration in the subsequent cantos. (This is an automatically generated summary.) Reading ease score: 45.1 (College-level). Difficult to read. en Life -- Origin -- Poetry Cosmology -- Poetry PR Text Browsing: Literature Browsing: Philosophy & Ethics Browsing: Poetry Category: Poetry Category: Philosophy & Ethics 600563 2025-06-11T07:17:33.942011 text/html 596226 2008-10-09T16:55:58 text/html; charset=iso-8859-1 191166 2008-10-09T16:55:58 text/html; charset=iso-8859-1 application/zip 299690 2025-06-11T07:17:51.030911 application/epub+zip 306063 2025-06-11T07:17:40.457006 application/epub+zip 272823 2025-06-11T07:17:37.636050 application/epub+zip 645847 2025-06-11T07:17:56.527890 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 592523 2025-06-11T07:17:48.051974 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 478259 2022-09-12T11:41:42.205747 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 513805 2025-06-11T07:17:32.043070 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 513554 2008-10-09T16:55:58 text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 177044 2008-10-09T16:55:58 text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 application/zip 513591 2008-10-09T16:55:58 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 176988 2008-10-09T16:55:58 text/plain; charset=us-ascii application/zip 20624 2025-06-11T07:17:56.683910 application/rdf+xml 24127 2025-06-11T07:17:38.280015 image/jpeg 4582 2025-06-11T07:17:37.958991 image/jpeg 284980 2025-06-11T07:17:33.992016 application/octet-stream application/zip Archives containing the RDF files for *all* our books can be downloaded at https://book.klll.cc/wiki/Gutenberg:Feeds#The_Complete_Project_Gutenberg_Catalog en.wikipedia