Non-Atomic Atomisms and Atomic Epistemologies in the Poetry of Margaret Cavendish and Lucy Hutchinson

Abstract

Neither Margaret Cavendish nor Lucy Hutchinson was ever an atomist or believed that atomic matter made up the universe, and this essay argues that we need to re-narrate the way we describe the development of Cavendish’s natural philosophy, as Cavendish is neither espousing atomism nor engaging with Lucretius in the atomic poetry that appears in her first publication. Nevertheless, both Hutchinson and Cavendish engage with atomism in their poetry. These two poets turn to atomism not because they hold atomic philosophical beliefs, but because atomism helps them to ask questions about what and how it is possible to know, including—for Cavendish as well as Hutchinson—in the realm of theology. Their poetic engagements with atomic philosophy allow each of them to carve out space for epistemologies beyond empiricism. [L.B.]