Radi Os

by Ronald Johnson

Poetry. First published in 1977, Ronald Johnson's RADI OS revises the first four books of Paradise Lost by excising words, discovering a modern and visionary poem within the seventeenth-century text. As the author explains, "To etch is 'to cut away, ' and each page, as in Blake's concept of a book, is a single picture." With God and Satan crossed out, RADI OS reduces Milton's Baroque poem to elemental forces. In this retelling of the Fall, song precipitates from chaos, sight from fire: "in the shape / as of / above the / rose / through / rose / rising / the radiant sun.

Genres: Poetry, Literature, American, Classics, School

107 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1977

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

Reviews

[Anthony · Rating 5 out of 5]

Inspired by a modern composer's somewhat similar treatment of a Handel concerto, Johnson composed "Radi Os" by erasing words in his copy of "Paradise Lost". The remaining words are Milton's; Johnson "composed the holes". Readers intimately familiar with Milton's poem will experience something perhaps like when the power goes out in your home and the familiarity of the space only sharpens the feeling of disorientation when objects and doorways are not where you expect them to be, groping in the dark. This book stresses me out a little (I almost want to open my Milton to see that the lines are still there!) and it also impresses me; it must have taken a lot of guts to have held such an extended conversation with one of the great poems of all time.

[Derek H · Rating 4 out of 5]

...I'm assuming that this is referring to the recent Flood edition.

While I'm ecstatic that anyone would be doing their part to get Johnson's name back onto bookshelves, I'm disappointed, in this case, that the words haven't made it back onto the shelves as well. RADI OS, as an erasure of Milton's Paradise Lost, is deeply invested in the material of Milton's text. The original 1976 Sand Dollar edition is a facsimile reproduction of Johnson's erasure of a 1892 edition of the poem. The fact that it is facsimile, and not a transcription, is crucial to a reader's interaction with the poem--the original positioning of the text on the erased page refers us more forcefully, more directly, to Milton's original (as well as Milton's own erasures and recoveries). It would be a shame to lose Johnson's introductory remarks and nods to Blake; I'd argue that this is a more fundamental loss--we've lost the poem itself.

So, while I salute the good folks at Flood press, I lament the loss of the original type, which is as much a part of the art of the poem as the text itself.

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Poetry derived from poetic influence to the most literal degree. It is Milton taken down to its bare bones; making Paradise Lost reflect post-modern life rather than the era that Milton wrote in. It's a miracle that something could be done like this. I can't even fathom the work that went it. Not only is the poem complex and powerful, but it retains the beauty of Milton's language while still being rejuvenated by Johnson in a way. The afterword by Davenport is incredible as well. A must read if you have an edition that contains it.

[Eric · Rating 5 out of 5]

In "Radi os" Mr Johnson is doing what all our great poets have done--the inhabiting of a master and the finding in that master's work a work of one's own. Mr Johnson is simply more forward about it, he does not try to embellish (or worse, to hide) the local debt--it is all owed, yet it is something powerfully new, the poem is powerfully new, it is radically different precisely in the way that it is similar to its foretexts, as witness the way--the same way--by which Milton found his "Lycidas" in Virgil, Blake his "Milton" in Milton, Ruskin his "Sesame and Lilies" in "Lycidas," and Davenport his "Flowers and Leaves" in the Milton of "Lycidas," the Blake of "Milton," and the Ruskin of "Sesame and Lilies." We have justification indeed, to do away with this business of "debt" when that word is too often charged with an understanding of Satanic interest rates--we have that justification because literature (all art, really) thrives on this free exchange of idea and feeling for the written character and its concernful arrangement, as of the component parts of a still life, on a page contiguous with the tattered ones we continue to find in caves, which if not literally then figuratively are as old as the species.

[Cooper Renner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Despite the fact that Johnson’s book was created by erasing most of the words from the first four books of Paradise Lost, the feel is not unlike the work, mostly later, of Susan Howe who pulls her words out of the air.

[M.W.P.M. · Rating 4 out of 5]

* * *

[Shaun · Rating 5 out of 5]

full review to follow, suffice it to say that this poem does an excellent etching of John Milton's original.

[Queer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved the idea. I’d probably have to enjoy Milton more to appreciate this text in its full glory.

[Neal Montgomery · Rating 2 out of 5]

I enjoyed the idea of this poem but I’m not artistic enough to enjoy the poem itself.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this one because I heard it mentioned with Tree of Codes by Jonathan Safran Foer, which in turn is taken from the collection of stories The Street of Crocodiles. Both revisions are interesting in that they take away from the original work, leaving a slender selection highlighted for the reader. The words in Radi Os are particularly striking because for all that they seem cut up and disjointed, there is a musicality and flow to them too, and reading them along with the white space makes the poem sound like a radio station fading in and out of static.

A significant amount of meaning here hangs on the reader's knowledge of the original text, which is Milton's Paradise Lost. Otherwise, I find it difficult to draw meaning from the fragments. There are no characters, no narrative, no subject-verb action that we normally rely on, even in most lyric poems. Still, it is a lovely work of art. I enjoyed reading it, and I have thought a lot about it in the days after I read it, so it has done its job as a poem for me.

[Scot · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really beautiful four part poem created by feeling and choosing certain words from Paradise Lost and removing the rest. Though not a lot of words remain from the original, the re-imagination/tribute brings out the essence of the original in a way that is truly powerful. I was really moved by this work and though many would be frustrated if they either thought they were getting something along the lines of Paradise Lost or if they do not like works that are taken from others, I would suggest trying it anyway and if necessary allowing yourself to forget where it comes from so you can appreciate the magic of what Johnson puts before you. If you took ModPo through CourseA and liked the final chapter, you will definitely enjoy this.

[Samantha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Admittedly, I'm not a Paradise Lost fan (or I wasn't in high school when I was forced to trudge through it, anyway), so, being fairly new to reader erasure poetry, I was weary about buying and reading this. Naturally, of course, I read it in one sitting and it blew me away. Highly recommended for poetry fans, don't let the erasure thing turn you off (as it seems to do for some people).

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

An extraordinary poem that Johnson distilled and reconstituted from Milton's masterpiece.
Refreshing, provocative and inspirational-
"Make It New" is the phrase that Ezra Pound took from the Chinese "Tao Hio" and transformed 20th century literature- Johnson is part of this great chain of being.

[Gary Norris · Rating 5 out of 5]

i need a new copy of this.