Physics, Classics, and the Bible: Elements of the Secular and the Sacred in Barthold Heinrich Brockes’ Irdisches Vergneugen in Gott, 1721

This book examines the nature description of Barthold Heinrich Brockes (1680-1747) as traditional rhetorical composition. Focusing on the first volume of the Irdisches Vergnuegen, the author traces the Hamburg poet’s development during the 15 years preceding its publication and demonstrates its connections with that period. A study of the volume’s contents, their arrangement, and the poet’s intentions leads to an analysis of his use of the language and rhetorical styles of natural history, classical literature, and the Bible and subsequent tradition as a vehicle for his portrayal of an earthly paradise.