The Implications of Chaos in Paradise Lost

Abstract

<p>I plan to trace the implications of Chaos in Paradise Lost as a place, an illuminating allegorical figure, and as a constant fact of fallen reality. "The heav'ns and earth / Rose out of Chaos", says Milton (I, 9-10), and I intend to establish its cosmological reference points before investigating Chaos, as it is presented in the poem, with its frightening extrapolations for man's fallen state. By recognizing the enormity of Chaos we gain a sense of its overwhelming presence, and a heightened awareness of its everthreatening encroachment on our fallen world.</p>