"The ideal way of reading The Divine Comedy would be to start at the first line and go straight through to the end, surrendering to the vigour of the story-telling and the swift movement of the verse, and not bothering about any historical allusions or theological explanations which do not occur in the text itself." [...]
Category: Dante
Longfellow Poems 5 & 6
Here are the last two of Longfellow's six sonnets about Dante. Remember, Longfellow wasn't Catholic, he was a Unitarian. Then read Sonnet V right to its lovely end. Sonnet VI might be pointing to Italian history of the 1800's but I don't know for sure. I do know that there is lots of commentary about [...]
Longfellow: Dante sonnets 3 & 4
Longfellow was not Catholic. I don't know how he felt about Catholicism but his translation of Dante, and these sonnets, amazing meditations on confession, are evidence of a sympathy at least. He was friends with Nathaniel Hawthorne whose daughter Rose became a Catholic nun. She is currently listed as a Servant of God. He also [...]
Longfellow
Included with the Longfellow translation of The Divine Comedy on Project Gutenberg are six sonnets. Here are the first two. I Oft have I seen at some cathedral door A laborer, pausing in the dust and heat, Let down his burden, and with reverent feet Enter, and cross himself, and on the floor Kneel to [...]
What is Science?
One of the reasons that I loved Dante, once I figured out how to read him, was that his attitude towards the world was one of careful observation. He knew, for example, where the stars were in the heavens at different times of the year, and different times of night, and different parts of the [...]
Janey's blog 