The Poetry of George Boole

The purpose of this little book is twofold. First and most importantly it is to collect and preserve the seventy or so surviving poems written by the mathematician and logician George Boole (1815-1864) and to comment upon what light his poetry throws on his character and personality. Second it is to discuss a much-neglected topic the interaction between Science and the Arts with particular reference to mathematics and poetry.Poetry clearly meant a great deal to George Boole both to read and compose. From his early teens until about 1855 he used poetry as a form of recreational activity possibly as a form of relaxation from his more serious work in logic and mathematics. He was a competent if not exceptional translator and versifier who now and then wrote lines of real poetic merit. And in the debate about reciprocal contributions by artists to the sciences it would be difficult to find even a single established poet who made even a minor contribution to mathematics.