More for the Collection

Higher priority commitments (I do need to get paid, and saving Wellington's fellow GSDs does rank a tad higher than my personal projects) means that the long-awaited Milton biography for the AI Illustrated Edition is still not finished although some progress has been paid - he has now finished university!

Of course, that hasn't stopped me from purchasing more versions to add to the collection and this latest batch has a couple of interesting items.

Collins Classics Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained (2013)

Probably the most recent edition in the collection at less than 10 years old. However, it's a decent edition with both poems with two slightly novel features. The first is the Life and Times and while it's functionally similar to the usual biography it does expand on the context of events at the time of the poem's writing. Unfortunately, it is quite brief.

The other feature is a glossary of words and phrases from the time and this is much more extensive and quite a useful companion to the two poems. I'm tempted to do something similar although maybe as a separate booklet so that it can be more easily referenced while reading the main.

I have to confess that the main reason I picked this up (apart from the crazy goal of collecting a copy of every edition) was Gustav Dore's fantastic illustration. I'm more used to seeing the black and white illustrations and was struck by this bold rendition of the original.

The Poetical Works of Milton, Oxford University Press (1941)

This is a nice understated edition with soft leather binding and little ornamentation apart from thin gold lettering and motif on the spine, and a frame embossing on the covers. It's a lovely edition to hold, just the right weight and size something that seems to be rare with modern hardbacks. The comparison is a little unfair as age adds appeal but even so, there's clearly a difference. Perhaps due to more people reading hardbacks as paperbacks just weren't as common and before hardbacks became relegated to the collector or superfan.

There's a preface that examines each of the included poems with some brief history and also some commentary revealing some insight into each. While hardly extensive it does provide a compelling introduction to the book.

One of my favourite aspects of buying secondhand books is the personal history you occasionally discover. Inside it's handwritten to or from Marjorie Pearson dated Christmas 1941 and there's also an interesting sticker identifying the book as owned by Harold Hartley. There's no indication of a connection but I did wonder did the book provide some comfort to someone during the war or away from their family.  

John Milton's Paradise Lost in Plain English by Lanzara

This book is a line-by-line transliteration of the complete poem. Unlike Daniel Danielson's Parallel Prose edition there's little effort to make the plain English text a pleasing read in its own right. Against each line is a plain English version and I'd suggest that this probably works better as a companion, so if stuck on a particular line you can look it up here to learn the meaning.

It's a shame that it doesn't expand upon the basic meaning to help the reader understand the many classical and sometimes obscure references in the poem. It does exactly what the title states so it's unfair to judge it too harshly beyond that.

The author also write a novelisation of Paradise Lost which is a more pleasing read - you can find more of my thoughts on that book here:

https://paradiselostaiedition.blogspot.com/2022/11/paradise-lost-novel-by-joseph-lanzara.html

From Paradise Lost to Paradise Regained (1972)

This book demonstrates that I should do at least a modicum of research before purchasing. Technically this isn't a Jehovah's Witness edition of Paradise Lost I assumed from the title although it does cover the same ground. I've only had a quick look so far and I think I'll have to give it a proper read as it looks like they've adapted the creation story to follow some form of science.

The copy is as old as I am and in a similar well-loved condition :-) It's aimed at younger readers with cheerful simple illustrations and many pen highlights. I think I'll probably buy another copy at some stage although I'll see if I can get an original 1958 print.

Drabble Classics - Paradise Lost by John Milton

Nearly a decade ago I wrote a lot more than I do currently and that included Drabbles. Drabbles are a short form of writing (typically fiction) of precisely 100 words not including the title. They are typically self-enclosed stories so they should be able to be read on their own. Still, I also created varied series (I really must finish The Imp series at some stage as he was an excellent character and so much fun to write. So much so that he's tattooed on my arm :-) The ending also wasn't too far away. If you want to discover who the Imp is then pay a visit here - http://thecultofme.blogspot.com/p/tales-of-imp.html), but even in a series, the individual drabble should tell a story of its own. 

Not only are drabbles a lot of fun and a quick way to blast out a story idea, but they are also an effective method for improving the brevity of your writing and improving your range of vocabulary. With this in mind, I created themed series that encouraged this development. One of those series was Drabble Classics and here I took a classic piece of literature and tried to fit it into a drabble. Naturally with my love of Paradise Lost, I decided to have a go with mixed success at the time. I think the rewrite is better, and the first drabble I've completed in years but you can judge the result for yourself.

Before we get to the drabble I also decided to create an illustration for it using Midjourney. I struggled a bit with this one for two main reasons. The first is that as this image would be a stand-alone I could try something in a different style. Here I lacked the method or vocabulary to accurately describe what I wanted. To a great extent, I ended up with many random iterations to edge closer to the vision.

More frustrating was Midjourney's ever-expanding list of banned words. I had noticed this previously, especially when creating horror-themed and darker-in-tone images. When it hampers trying to create Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden then I think it's gone too far! I do understand the reason for them, but it seems an inelegant way to tackle the issue of exploitative, pornographic or abusive imagery.  My top issue remains the difficulty in placing objects and subjects in the scene but the ridiculous selection of banned words has shot into my top[ three - so much so that I may have to cancel my subscription and look at an alternative solution.

Complaints aside I am still fairly happy with the end result although there's a certain irony here that I had to perform some manual edits as the generated source image was too sexually suggestive :-)

Adam and Eve depart from the Garden of Eden, no longer even able
to witness the splendour of the Earthly Paradise

Paradise Lost

Lucifer’s pride fomented rebellion and the Messiah’s might drove the rebels from Heaven. Remade as Satan, his pride undiminished, he plotted vengeance and declared to rule in Hell rather serve in Heaven.

From eternal night Satan entered the light of arboreal creation. With admiring hatred, Satan plotted against God’s favourites while clad in their innocence and Heavenly love they tended their splendid garden. 

With a serpent’s guile, Satan flattered Eve and she tasted the forbidden fruit. Despairing Adam consummated his wife’s original sin. Their disobedience expelled them from Eden their generations awaited the Messiah’s coming to return their paradise lost.

You can find drabbles based on other literary classics here:

http://thecultofme.blogspot.com/p/drabble-classics.html

Paradise Lost: The Novel by Joseph Lanzara

This was a recent addition to my collection of different editions and versions of John Milton's Paradise Lost. I discovered it after finding the author's website which is a useful read in itself and also a decent introduction to the poem and John Milton:

https://www.paradiselost.org/

The book is precisely what the title states - a novelisation of the original poem. It's not a line-for-line transliteration so not quite as useful as a direct introduction to the poem. However, for those interested in the story and not in the original then this is a decent alternative.

Even though it loses the original's structure the novel's style does retain a flamboyant and archaic style that does carry the tale well. I'll confess that it took a chapter for me to break through the feeling of reading a historical novel, but once in the flow it worked just fine. Unfortunately, it highlights an issue with modern languages for this type of tale in that it contains concepts that shouldn't be familiar or even exist for the characters in the story (except maybe God I guess). 

In truth, this is caused by how Milton creates backstories for the divine characters - especially the fallen angels and the personalities before becoming the Fallen. This naturally leads on to how any of it could have happened in the first place but that's a bit beyond outlining the merits and issues of this book.

I found two issues in particular problematic. The first was that the narrative flow of the story is rearranged into chronological order (sort of, although technically it's probably an order of causation as time didn't exist for the first part of the story). I understand why the author made the change, but for me, it felt unnecessary as it's far from convoluted in the original and in doing so loses some of the drama and immediacy of the poem.

This version loses a lot of the metaphors and references that Milton was so fond of. Now, this does simplify the text and so easier to comprehend but also loses some of the richness and mystery. There's an odd paradox here that while Milton wrote this Christian origins tale to promote that particular theology those historical connections grounded it more solidly within the wider world's history.

That all being said the novel does represent the plot and characters of the story well. The pacing is good and if you just want to experience the story or want a gentle introduction to the poem then this is well worth a look.

Discover Paradise Lost: The Novel by Joseph Lanzara on Goodreads:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22168372-paradise-lost