In 1693, astronomer Edmond Halley published mortality tables based on birth and death records from Breslau, providing the first actuarially sound basis for calculating life insurance premiums and annuities. Halley's work represented a significant advancement in the field of actuarial science, allowing for more accurate assessments of risk and financial planning. His contributions laid the foundation for modern life insurance practices and the development of statistical methods in economics.

Halley's quantification of human mortality — reducing life expectancy to calculation — contributed to the Enlightenment's rationalisation of fate and death, themes that Augustan poets like Pope addressed in their moral essays and elegies. This shift in perspective influenced the way poets approached the subject of mortality.