Newton Demands the Muse

This book offers a revealing analysis of the influence of Isaac Newton’s Opticks on the poetic imagination during the first half of the eighteenth century. Marjorie Hope Nicolson considers the impact of Newtonian theories on the descriptive and “scientific” poets, and the aesthetic and metaphysical implications they found in his work. Originally published in 1946. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.