Chariots of Steam

Erasmus Darwin imagines how steam power will change the world.

before 1789

King George III 1760-1820

Avion III, designed and drawn by Clément Ader.

By Clément Ader, photo © Roby, Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 2.0.

An artist’s impression of Avion III, made in 1897 by Clément Ader (1841–1925), who in addition to being a sports pioneer in French cycling, and establishing the telephone network in Paris, was an imaginative aviation engineer. His steam-powered aeroplane Avion III was given a trial before the French Army in October 1897. It was made of linen and wood, with a wingspan of 48 feet, and powered by two 30 hp steam engines, each one spinning a four-bladed tractor propeller. The aircraft had not gone beyond taxiing when it was blown off-course by a gust of wind, spooking the military who pulled their funding. In 1933, Americans George D. Besler and William J. Besler managed to fly a steam-powered Travel Air 2000 biplane at Oakland airport.

Introduction

Erasmus Darwin, father of pioneering zoologist Charles Darwin, wrote these lines in his poem The Botanic Garden, published in 1789 but written as many as twenty years earlier, when steam-powered vehicles were still decades away.

by Erasmus Darwin 1731-1802

Soon shall thy arm, unconquer’d Steam! afar
Drag the slow barge, or drive the rapid car;*
Or on wide-waving wings expanded bear
The flying-chariot through the fields of air.
Fair crews triumphant, leaning from above,
Shall wave their fluttering ’kerchiefs as they move
Or warrior-bands alarm the gaping crowd,
And armies shrink beneath the shadowy cloud.

by Erasmus Darwin 1731-1802

From ‘The Botanic Garden’ (1789) by Erasmus Darwin.

* Samuel Johnson in his dictionary (1755) defined a car as “a small carriage of burden, usually drawn by one horse or two,” that is, a freight waggon; or else as a poetical word for a chariot.

Précis

In 1789, or maybe earlier, Erasmus Darwin was already predicting that steam engines would move beyond factories. He envisaged steam-powered ships, carriages, and even aeroplanes with their cabin-crew smiling down on spectators; but he did not forget to introduce a sombre note, when he imagined the skies dark with steam-powered warplanes.

Questions for Critics

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.

Sevens

Suggest answers to this question. See if you can limit one answer to exactly seven words.

Whom did Darwin expect to see waving their handkerchiefs?

Suggestion

The cabin-crew of steam-powered aircraft flying overhead.

Jigsaws

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.

Darwin foretold the invention of aeroplanes. He assumed steam would power them. He was wrong.

See if you can include one or more of these words in your answer.

IDay. IIMistake. IIIRun.

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