Literary notes about abysm (AI summary)
Writers often invoke "abysm" to evoke an image of a profound, sometimes ominous void that may be physical, temporal, or psychological in nature. In some works, the term depicts an approaching edge of despair or death, suggesting an inescapable plunge into darkness [1, 2]. In others, it expands into a metaphor for the unfathomable depths of time and space—illustrated by phrases like "the dark backward and abysm of time" [3, 4, 5]—or the mysterious, sometimes chaotic realms of human experience and existence [6, 7]. This versatile word thus becomes a powerful literary tool, capable of conveying both existential dread and the magnificent vastness of the unknown.