A Short Summary of the Essay, "Sir Isaac Newton" by Nathaniel Hawthorne

Sir Isaac Newton by Nathaniel Hawthorne

About the Author:

Nathaniel Hawthorne was a well-known American novelist, and short story writer. Guilt was the important theme of his works. He is best known for The Scarlet Letter (1850) and The House of the Seven Gables (1851).


Summary of the Essay:

The present text was published in Hawthorne’s True Stories from History and Biography (1851). The essay is a short biography which can be read as a short story about life of Sir Isaac Newton. The story begins with the childhood and shows the brilliant mind of young Newton as he was interested in the workings of mechanics and mathematics. He shows his interests by his small inventions and replicas of windmills. The story later continues with his research about the nature of light. The short story brilliantly captures the nature of Newton’s personality.

Newton was born in a small village of Woolsthorpe, in England in 1642. After the death of Newton’s father, his mother married to a clergyman. Newton was left with his grandmother. His grandmother was a kind woman. She sent Newton to school. Newton was a very bright scholar and was interested in mechanical occupations. He had a set of tools and saws of various sizes, all manufactured by himself. With the aid of these, he would make many curious articles. His neighbours always think that he would become a carpenter or architect. He was also interested in repairing clocks. He has prepared water clock and sun dial. The sun-dial is still kept at his residence in Woolsthorpe.

Isaac had capacity of learning things by simplest means. He would jump against the wind and calculate the speed of the wind. There was a windmill near his grandmother’s house and Newton would often go there and watch with curiosity how the minute parts were made and how the machinery work. Very soon, he prepared a miniature windmill which performs the same function as the large windmill. People always wonder at his inventions.

As he grew up, he got interested in the working of this universe. He would be absorbed in thought or engaged in some book of mathematics or natural philosophy. At night, he would look at the stars with curiosity and would wonder whether they were worlds like our own.

When Isaac was fourteen years old, his mother came to live with him and wished her son to leave school to assist her in managing the farm. Newton tried his best in managing the farm but he was more interested in going college and acquiring knowledge; so, his mother again sent him to school and thereafter to the University of Cambridge.

Newton was the first to find out the nature of light. He was also the first who came with the theory of gravitational force which keeps binding heavenly bodies together. Thus, the boy had found out the mechanism of a windmill; the man explained the mechanism of the universe.

Newton was a great human being. Accidentally, all of the research Newton made was destroyed in fire which was caused by the little dog, Diamond but Newton didn’t become angry with the dog. He was always very humble and would say that he knows very little as compared to the existing knowledge. He was made a Member of Parliament and received the honour of knighthood. He was died at the age of 85.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Short Summary of the Poem "O My Luve's Like a Red, Red Rose" by Robert Burns

O My Luve's Like a Red, Red Rose by Robert Burns  About the Author:   Robert Burns was one of the early romantic poets. He wrote very simple and touching lyrics. He is called as the pioneer of the Romantic Movement in English literature. He also collected folk songs from all over Scotland and revised and adapted them for his use. Most of his poems are written in the Scottish dialect. They are about traditional Scottish culture, expressions of farm life and class and religious distinctions. Burns wrote in a variety of forms which include epistles to friends, ballads and songs. He is also well known for three hundred songs which he wrote about love, friendship, work and drink. He is called as the National Poet of Scotland.  Summary of the Poem:   The present poem is a simple and sweet song of love. It records the everlasting and permanent love that the speaker has for his beloved which cannot be shaken or removed at any cost. He makes a comparison of his love t...
Read more

A Short Summary of the Essay, "With the Photographer" by Stephen Leacock

With the Photographer by Stephen Leacock About the Author:       Stephen Leacock was born in Britain but brought up in Canada. He taught for some years at McGill University in Montreal. He is best known as a humorist. His many volumes of humourous essays and stories include Literary Lapses, Nonsense Novels and Friendship Fiction. Summary of the Essay:       With the Photographer is an interesting account of Leacock’s meeting with a photographer. He remembers his experience of getting a photograph taken with an observant eye for detail. He records his sharp reactions to having his face reshaped and retouched by the skilled photographer. Leacock shows a special kind of humour in this essay.       The writer wants to take his photograph. He goes to the photographer and tells him that he wants to take his photograph. The photographer is busy and asks him to wait. The photographer is a thin man with green eyes like a scientist. The ...
Read more

A Short Summary of the Poem "Where the Mind is without Fear" by Rabindranath Tagore

Where the Mind is without Fear by Rabindranath Tagore About the Author:  Rabindranath Tagore contributed greatly to giving a modern India a place on the world literary scene. He was a multi-faceted personality. He was a poet, a dramatist, a short story writer and a novelist. He was also a philosopher and a nation builder. He wrote primary in Bengali but translated his own works into English. His important translated volumes of poetry are Gitanjali and The Gardener. The songs of Gitanjali are mainly devotional poems in the Indian tradition. His Crescent Moon is a collection intended primary for children but it has a powerful appeal also for adults. The Gardener is mainly love poetry. Tagore's translations of his Bengali poems are in free verse. Tagore draws most of his imagery from Indian philosophy and spiritualism. Summary of the Poem:            Rabindranath Tagore's poem If is a part of a larger poem The Heaven of Freedom which is one of his mo...
Read more