Darkness Visible

Posted on July 18, 2003 in Whimsies

I think you all had plenty of time to answer my pop quiz about the origin of the phrase “Darkness Visible”. Either you didn’t know or you didn’t bother to read that entry. But here is the answer:

Darkness visible is a descriptive from Milton’s Paradise Lost. It refers to the unnatural blackness of Hell. Think of it as the opposite of a “blinding light”.

T.S. Eliot thought it was pretty lame.