He often referred to the new philosophies - for example in his Meditations
This poem prompted me to find out when & how people would have heard the news of Galileos discoveries. Turned out to be remarkably quickly. The English ambassador to Venice sent a copy of the pamphlet straight away to the Court of King James, where it was eagerly discussed
And new philosophy calls all in doubt,
The element of fire is quite put out;
The sun is lost, & th'earth, & no mans wit
Can well direct him where to look for it.
And freely men confess that this worlds spent,
When in the planets, & the firmament
They seek so many new; they see that this
Is crumbled out again to his atomies.
Tis all in pieces, all coherence gone;
All just supply, & all relation:
Prince, subject, father, son, are things forgot,
For every man alone thinks he hath got
To be a phoenix, & that then can be
None of that kind, of which he is, but he.
John Donne . Anatomy of the World (The First Anniversary) 205
