SOURCE: "A Huxley Essay as 'Poem'," in Victorian Studies, Vol. XIV, No. 2, December, 1970, pp. 177-91.

In the essay that follows, Gardner explores the literary devices used by Huxley to support his claim that "On the Physical Basis of Life" is poetry.

Of all the acknowledged nineteenth-century masters of non-fictional prose, Thomas Henry Huxley raises in its most acute form the critical problem of justifying nonfiction as "literature" and "art." As scientist, educator, and agnostic, Huxley more than makes good a claim to significance as "background" and grist for the mills of intellectual and social history. Nor would many deny that his writings—whether they be treatises addressed to the Royal Society or essays published in the Fortnightly—are remarkable for their clarity, forcefulness, and grace of style. But on what grounds can any of them be termed "literature" and in what sense can their author be called an...