ABSTRACT
From the moment that the Principia appeared in 1687, Isaac Newton's achievements in astronomy and physics demanded the muse and the muse responded. Writers of Newtonian literature were important participants in humankind's extensive tradition of inventing and adapting elevated forms of linguistic and artistic expression to convey and preserve for posterity hard-won treasures of natural knowledge and cosmic understanding. For creative writers attracted to post-Newtonian astronomy and cosmology, classical texts by writers such as Hesiod, Aratus and Lucretius and the authoritative epic poems of Dante and Milton provided still-powerful literary models for expressing and harmonizing humanity's aesthetic, scientific and religious efforts to understand the cosmos. The historical, cultural and literary impact of Newtonian astronomy and science was extensive, complex and continuous. Most book-length studies of literature and astronomy conscientiously and effectively combine historically and technically accurate information with textual analysis and literary interpretation.
