The Starlight Night

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xxxii

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2. The Sky in Early Modern English Literature

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 1-1

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   2. The Stella Novae of 1572 and 1604

      • David H. Levy

      Pages 3-12

   3. Comets and Meteors: A Rich Harvest from 1573 to 1607

      • David H. Levy

      Pages 13-25

   4. These Late Eclipses

      • David H. Levy

      Pages 27-45

   5. Of Signs and Seasons

      • David H. Levy

      Pages 47-59

   6. The Telescope in Early Modern English Literature

      • David H. Levy

      Pages 61-76

3. The Sky in the Poetry of Tennyson and Hopkins

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 77-77

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   2. Bridging the Centuries: Astronomical Discoveries Between the Eras of Shakespeare and of Tennyson and Hopkins

      • David H. Levy

      Pages 79-90

   3. Leading up to Literature in the Victorian Age: Moving Toward Hopkins and Tennyson

      • David H. Levy

      Pages 91-96

   4. Arise and Fly

      • David H. Levy

      Pages 97-116

   5. Scarce Worth Discovery

      • David H. Levy

      Pages 117-126

   6. Hopkins and The Starlight Night

      • David H. Levy

      Pages 127-136

   7. Conclusion

      • David H. Levy

      Pages 137-140

4. Back Matter

   Pages 141-214

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In this updated second edition renowned amateur comet-searcher David H. Levy expands on his work about the intricate relationship between the night sky and the works of English Literature. This revised and expanded text includes new sections on Alfred Lord Tennyson and Gerald Manley Hopkins (both amateur astronomers), extending the time period analyzed in the first edition from early modern literature to encompass the Victorian age. Although the sky enters into much of literature through the ages, British authors offer an especially fertile connection to the heavens, and Levy links the works of seminal authors from Shakespeare on to specific celestial events and scientific advances.  

From the impact of comets and supernovae to eclipses, Levy’s ultimate goal in this book is to inspire his readers to do the same thing as their ancestors did so long ago—look up and appreciate the stars. His insights in this revised book spread farther and wider than ever before in this learned and enchanting tour of the skies.

• Alfred Lord Tennyson and Astronomy
• Comets and Meteors in English Literature
• English Literature
• Gerald Manley Hopkins and Astronomy
• Historical Astronomy
• Literature and Astronomy
• Poetic References to the Sky
• Relation Between Sky And literature
• The First Telescope
• William Shakespeare and Astronomy
• literary diction

• Jarnac Observatory, Inc., VAIL, USA

  David H. Levy

David H. Levy is one of the most successful comet discoverers in history. He has discovered 22 comets, nine of them using his own backyard telescopes. With Eugene and Carolyn Shoemaker at the Palomar Observatory in California he discovered Shoemaker-Levy 9, the comet that collided with Jupiter in 1994. That episode produced the most spectacular explosions ever witnessed in the solar system. Levy is currently involved with the Jarnac Comet Survey, which is based at the Jarnac Observatory in Vail, Arizona but which has telescopes planned for locations around the world.
Levy is the author or editor of 35 books and other products. He won an Emmy in 1998 as part of the writing team for the Discovery Channel documentary, "Three Minutes to Impact." As the Science Editor for Parade Magazine from 1997 to 2006, he was able to reach more than 80 million readers, almost a quarter of the population of the United States. A contributing editor for Sky and Telescope Magazine, he writes its monthly "Star Trails" column, and his "Nightfall" feature appears in each issue of the Canadian Magazine Sky news. In 2004 he was the Senator John Rhodes Chair in Public Policy and American Institutions at Arizona State University. He has been awarded five honorary doctorates and asteroid 3673 (Levy) was named in his honor. In 2010, David became the first person to discover comets visually, photographically and electronically.
Levy has a Ph. D. in English from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He is President of the National Sharing the Sky Foundation, an organization intended to inspire new generations to develop an inquiring interest in the sciences or in other words, to reach for the stars.

Policies and ethics