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Jean Keats wrote a poem in 1818 that criticized philosophy and modern science as a means for ruining what the world believes in and cherishes. He specifically attacked the discoveries of Newton in that objects do not have “color” they simply reflect light which leads to the perception of “color.” To this Keats wrote,

“Philosophy will clip an Angel’s wings,
Conquer all mysteries by rule and line,
Empty the haunted air, and gnomed mine -
Unweave a rainbow” -Jean Keats

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Whether or not Newton felt that he had made a discovery that would have negative effects is irrelevant. In order to understand where Keats’ hostility arose from, it is important to understand more about “color.” Color is a perception that has three components. The first is hue- the quality that distinguishes blue from green. The second is brightness- related to perceived quantity of light emitted by stimulus. The third is saturation- “paleness” of a perceived stimulus. Together these three components work to create a spectrum of perceived colors. Newton was able to first isolate hues. He did so by passing a beam of white light through a prism and saw that the resulting light on a white backdrop was an array of hues (the rainbow). This was a major discovery and Newton concluded that white light is made up of all the individual “colors” and can be broken down.

 Newton’s discovery however, resulted in a negative backlash from the poetic thinkers. His prism model suggested that white light was made up of many colors which was the opposite of what thinkers such as Goethe believed. To them white light was the most pure and Newton was questioning their beliefs suggesting that white light is “tainted by all the colors.” This argument seems quite ridiculous from a modern standpoint, but at the time of Goethe it was a matter of universal beliefs.

Newton continued his hypothesese regarding components of color perception. He developed color circles that demonstrated the properties earlier discussed (hue, brightness, and saturation) and proposed that objects in the environment reflect light. By reflecting some wavelengths of light and absorbing others humans are able to perceive an “object’s color.” The research that Newton conducted to prove this statement once again was in conflict with traditional beliefs that we live in a colorful world and everything has its own color. Newton proved otherwise. He would agree that an apple is every color except red, meaning that red is the only wavelength that is reflected by the apple’s surface and is therefore what we perceive, yet the colors it absorbs are everything else.

It is this proposal that led Jean Keats to accuse Newton of “unweaving the rainbow.” His poem suggests that discoveries such as Newton’s serve no purpose other than to destroy the beliefs and faith of people. It is true that Newton proposed the world is no beautiful and colorful place, but this does not directly influence our perceptions of the world. Because Newton’s discoveries have proven to be scientifically sound facts and the world is not crumbling down, I must support him and regard the complaints of the poetic philosophers as mere opportunities to complain about something else.

Regardless of my opinion, stop and think for a moment that we live in a colorless world (similar to how it looks at dusk) and the only reason why we see color is because of the light reflected off of objects. How does this influence the way you perceive your environment? Or maybe you can’t even wrap your mind around the idea that this could be so. Did Newton really unweave the rainbow?

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