How John Donne uses the prevelant theories of Astronomy (Copernican and Ptolemaic) in his poetry.

Today, we have a thorough understanding of the structure of our universe. We know that the earth is round, is the third planet from the sun, and the sun is the center of our universe. We also know that the space around our universe simply goes on forever - it is infinite. We know a great deal more, but these are the basics, and it is these fundamental facts that took humans so long to …

…relationship -- "dull, sublunary lovers'" ("A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning" 13) compared to pure, celestial lovers. The Copernican theory reflected Donne's doubts, for at first the Copernican theory did nothing but show how little man actually knew. John Donne expressed a profound and respectful knowledge of Astronomy in his writing. It only seems appropriate that as a zealous user of complex comparisons, he should live at a time when two extreme contradictory views of the universe existed.