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Preface
—Niccolò Machiavelli
In the mid-sixteenth century, Nicholas Copernicus broke from the traditional view that the Earth rested immobile at the center of the Universe, asserting instead that the Sun was the immobile center. As the Earth lost its privileged position, so did humankind, prompting a reevaluation of all branches of learning in which humans considered themselves the center of attention.
Shakespeare's writing career began about a half century after this revolution in worldview. The bard was knowledgeable in many different areas of learning and was oftentimes ahead of his contemporaries, yet his Canon appears to lack a coherent account of contemporary cosmological thinking. It is simply not credible that a poet of this stature could remain ignorant of the cultural impact that the New Astronomy