Clik here to view.
Dante’s Transformed Love: Musings on the Poet’s Love for Beatrice
If the “Vita Nuova” had been the only major work Dante had made, this work alone would have earned him the reputation as a great poet of Western Civilization. It is well-known that Dante is one of the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Dante’s Holy Women
Whereas Shakespeare’s virtuously iconic heroines are saints in the making, fighting the good fight for the Church Militant in the hope of heaven, Dante’s holy women have already won the fight and are...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Fictional Saints and Sinners
The world of literature is awash with villains and villainy, but the presence of saints and sanctity is more subtle and understated. It is much easier to be a sinner than to become a saint. The former...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Guided by Pleasure
As another school year draws toward its close, it is a good occasion to consider what the whole of an education or “leading out” really entails. Who better than Dante to remind us? In Canto 27 of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Identity and Its Discontents
Who, in this climate, when identity politics rule the publishing world, would have dared to publish Dante or Shakespeare, both of whom imagined characters who were different from themselves? The realm...
View ArticleClik here to view.
“Thoughts That Wound From Behind”: Great Books & the Power of Allusion
One value of reading truly great works of literature, works that have stood the test of time for decades or even centuries, is the opportunity such reading affords for exploring the tradition that has...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Dante on Virtuous Pagans
It was there, in the first circle of Hell, that I first understood what it meant to be a virtuous pagan. It meant to be led by the dim but true light of reason, to seek continually after the higher...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Poetry & Politics?
Great poetry can come from deep engagement with the problems of politics, but it is especially moving to see how exile—often the consequence of that engagement—subtly becomes the symbol of the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Last Witness: Dante
As medieval Christendom plunged into the abyss, a cry went up, stronger, perhaps, and more moving than any that had yet been heard. This voice gave utterance in immortal language to the sublimity of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Dante and the Beatific Vision
In light of the beatific vision, “The Divine Comedy” should be read as an avenue for personal formation because it is a deeply interactive work. As Dante learns to reorder his affections, readers are...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Russell Kirk’s “Saviourgate”: Timeless Moments & the Paradisical Journey
Set in Yorkshire, England on Christmas Eve, Russell Kirk’s short story “Saviourgate” is a story about the soul’s journey through the afterlife. Whereas many ghost stories explore only the diabolical...
View ArticleClik here to view.
“God’s Own Descent”: Dante, the Incarnation, & Frost’s “The Trial by Existence”
“The Trial by Existence” is an example of Robert Frost’s strong and brilliant reworking of Dante’s poetic tradition in his own work. He incorporates many of Dante’s images, but he also pushes past the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Inferno: A Novel
In taking his autobiographical protagonist through hell, Winston Brady does many things that would, I believe, have pleased Dante Alighieri. Like Dante’s “Inferno,” Brady’s “Inferno” tests the will...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Fairy Tales and Holy Week
During this Holy Week, perhaps we can pray that the uncanny pull so many feel toward the ever-after will lead to a deeper reflection on the paradises, earthly and heavenly, from which the fairy...
View Article
