Nicolaus Copernicus published De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres) in 1543, proposing that Earth and planets orbit the Sun rather than vice versa. This heliocentric model challenged the geocentric Ptolemaic system endorsed by Church and classical authorities. Though cautiously presented and initially having limited immediate impact, the work initiated the Scientific Revolution that fundamentally altered humanity's understanding of its place in the cosmos.

Copernican cosmology destabilized the ordered universe that structured medieval poetry's symbolic frameworks, forcing poets to confront cosmic uncertainty. John Donne captured this anxiety in 'The new philosophy calls all in doubt,' while Milton struggled to reconcile traditional cosmology with new science in Paradise Lost. The displacement of Earth from the universe's center influenced poetry exploring human insignificance, existential isolation, and the sublime vastness of space, themes that intensified through Romantic and modernist verse.