Final answer:
Edgar Allan Poe refers to science as a "vulture" in his poem 'Sonnet to Science', illustrating a conflict between the imaginative realm of poetry and the empirical world of science, which was a common theme among poets in the 19th century.
Step-by-step explanation:
In the poem Sonnet to Science by Edgar Allan Poe, science is referred to as a "vulture," which suggests a predatory nature toward imagination. Poe's depiction expresses a conflict between the creative world of poetry and the rational world of science. This conflict manifests as Poe questions whether scientific progress enhances humanity's understanding of the world or instead strips away the poetic elements that give life its mystique. This reflects the larger 19th-century debate among poets and philosophers about the impact of science on humanity and the natural world. Poets like Arthur Hugh Clough, John Donne, and others wrote about the transformative effects of science, sometimes with ambivalence or outright lament for the loss of a more mystical comprehension of the universe.