The Swiss physician and scholar Theodor Zwinger published the massive 'Theatrum Humanae Vitae' (Theater of Human Life) in Basel, Switzerland. This enormous, systematic encyclopedia organized human history, ethics, psychology, and behavior using elaborate typographical charts and structured analytical tables. Breaking away from simple alphabetization, Zwinger used a topical method designed to map the moral choices and actions of human life, creating a massive data repository of early modern knowledge.

Zwinger's 'theater' metaphor for human knowledge heavily influenced the dramatic structures of late Renaissance and Baroque poetry. The topical methodology provided a ready-made psychological framework for metaphysical poets exploring the multifaceted nature of human sin, virtue, and mortality.