In the orderly cosmos of his Space Trilogy (Out of the Silent Planet [1938], Perelandra [1943], That Hideous Strength [1945]), Lewis repeatedly presents his characters (both terrestrial and celestial) speaking and acting in accordance with a system of propriety which literary theorists label decorum…. [Lewis uses various] examples of generic variety and propriety to demonstrate both the plenitude of being that fills Maleldil's (Christ's) fertile universe and the cosmic harmony by which this proliferation is ordered. Several times in the trilogy he presents pageants in which countless exotic animals, different races of hnau (rational beings), and eldila (angels) arrange themselves into patterns which seem intrinsic to their natures. (pp. 118-19)

The Renaissance, the period of specialization for Lewis the critic, generated much interest in decorum among literary theorists who tried to systematize the rules of propriety…. Despite disagreements on details, most theorists agreed that epic and tragedy should portray the nobility...