Starry Messengers: Comets and the Cosmos in the Age of Shakespeare

How might Shakespeare and other Renaissance observers have interpreted the massive comet that hung in the sky for three months in 1577? Or Haley’s comet in 1607? Since the dawn of time comets have been a subject of fascination and fear for humans, who have often understood them as “starry messengers,” divine signs warning of everything from an impending plague to the birth of a king. Unlike the stars, which moved across the heavens in predictable ways, comets appeared dramatically and unpredictably, blazing across the sky for days or weeks at a time. 

In the Renaissance, observations of comets led to a series of discoveries that produced a seismic shift in Europeans’ conception of the cosmos, moving from Aristotle’s model of closed, perfect spheres to an infinite, Newtonian universe. But even as astronomers like Copernicus, Tycho Brahe, and Johannes Kepler developed a modern science of comets, most Europeans continued to perceive comets as messages from God. 

Shakespeare was fascinated by comets’ prophetic qualities, but his plays also suggest that he was aware of modern astronomical debates about comets and the nature of the cosmos. This talk will examine this fascinating period, exploring what Shakespeare, Galileo and others thought about this most fascinating and enduring of spectacles. 

Amanda Atkinson is a Visiting Lecturer in the TCU English Department as well as an adjunct instructor in the MLA program. After earning her M.Ed from Texas State in 2008, she spent years teaching high school and community college English in Fort Worth. In 2022 she earned her PhD in English Literature from SMU, specializing in the literature and culture of the English Renaissance and Enlightenment periods. Her research and publications examine the intersections of literature, science, and religion with a focus on learning and error.