In the early 1700s, German chemist Georg Ernst Stahl developed the phlogiston theory, proposing that combustion was the release of a substance called phlogiston. This theory dominated scientific thought for several decades, influencing the study of chemistry and combustion. However, it would later be challenged and ultimately disproven, paving the way for modern chemical understanding and the role of oxygen in combustion.

Georg Stahl's development of phlogiston theory in 1700 provided a unifying framework for understanding combustion, which influenced Enlightenment literature. Poets began to rationalize natural phenomena, using scientific concepts as metaphors in their works, thus bridging the gap between science and poetic expression.