Editing His Dark Materials (section)

==Titles==
[[File:Paradise Lost 9.jpg|thumb|[[Satan]] struggling through the "wilde Abyss" separating Hell from Earth. Illustration by [[Gustave Doré]] for Milton's ''[[Paradise Lost]]''<ref name="Doré">{{cite web |title=Milton's Paradise lost illustrated by Gustave Doré |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=umn.31951d023518192&seq=143 |access-date=25 November 2024}}</ref> ]]
The title of the series comes from 17th-century poet [[John Milton]]'s ''[[Paradise Lost]]'':<ref>{{cite news |first=Roger |last=Highfield |work=[[The Daily Telegraph|The Telegraph]] |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/3340760/The-quest-for-dark-matter.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/3340760/The-quest-for-dark-matter.html |archive-date=12 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |title=The quest for dark matter |date=27 April 2005 |access-date=17 May 2020 }}{{cbignore}}</ref>
<blockquote><poem>
Into this wilde Abyss,
The Womb of nature and perhaps her Grave,
Of neither Sea, nor Shore, nor Air, nor Fire,
But all these in their pregnant causes mixt 
Confus'dly, and which thus must ever fight,
Unless th' Almighty Maker them ordain
'''''His dark materials''''' to create more Worlds,
Into this wilde Abyss the warie fiend
Stood on the brink of Hell and look'd a while,
Pondering his Voyage; for no narrow frith
He had to cross.
</poem>
— ''Paradise Lost'', Book 2, lines 910–920
</blockquote>
Pullman chose this particular phrase from Milton because it echoed the [[dark matter]] of astrophysics.<ref>
{{cite news |first=Celia |last=Dodd |work=[[The Sunday Times]] |url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/science/article/debate-human-nature-universally-acknowledged-k8tj068fcf8 |title=Debate: Human nature: Universally acknowledged |date=8 May 2004 |access-date=24 May 2020 
|quote=He explains how the title came about: "The notion of dark matter struck me as an intensely poetic idea, that the vast bulk of the universe is made up of stuff we can’t see at all and have no idea what it is. It’s intoxicatingly exciting. Then, when I was looking in Paradise Lost for the title of the trilogy, I came across this marvellous phrase, 'His dark materials', which fits in so well with dark matter. So I hoped and prayed that no one would discover what this stuff is before I finished the books. And, thank goodness, they didn’t."}}
</ref>

Pullman earlier proposed to name the series ''The Golden Compasses'', also a reference to ''Paradise Lost'', where it denotes the [[pair of compasses]] with which God set the bounds of all creation:

[[File:Europe a Prophecy, copy D, object 1 (Bentley 1, Erdman i, Keynes i) British Museum.jpg|thumb|''[[The Ancient of Days]]'' by [[William Blake]], illustrating the "golden compasses"]]
<blockquote>
<poem>
Then staid the fervid wheels, and in his hand
He took the '''''golden compasses''''', prepared
In God's eternal store, to circumscribe
This universe, and all created things:
One foot he centred, and the other turned
Round through the vast profundity obscure...
</poem>
— ''Paradise Lost'', Book 7, lines 224–229
</blockquote>

Although Pullman did not intend it as such, the American publishers interpreted this title as a reference to the alethiometer, a [[compass]]-like device that features prominently in the books. Pullman eventually settled on the titles ''His Dark Materials'' for the series and ''Northern Lights'' for the first book, but the American publishers disliked the latter title and chose to use ''The Golden Compass'' instead.<ref name="btts">{{cite web |url= http://www.bridgetothestars.net/index.php?p=FAQ#4|title= Frequently Asked Questions|access-date=20 August 2007 |publisher= BridgeToTheStars.net}}</ref>