Dante rises to the beatific vision of divinity itself, in a flash of insight, difficult to remember, difficult to put into words, but his poetry is up to it, and carries us to the end of the poem.
I've already started back at the beginning! He left me hanging in a grand crescendo and I had to find out what happened after he got back. It feels like I followed the Pilgrim the first time through, and now I can start to see the gift the Poet left us.
Yes, that's a fine, and important, way to go. You'll be surprised at how much the poem will have changed on a second reading, though of course it's not the poem that changed, but you, and the circumstances you're reading in.
And so you've come to the top, to the selfless union with the divine. Now what? In one sense there is nowhere else to go but back to Inferno, canto 1. -- But perhaps one should wait a while before plunging in again. It's amazing how different the poem seems on another reading!
I've already started back at the beginning! He left me hanging in a grand crescendo and I had to find out what happened after he got back. It feels like I followed the Pilgrim the first time through, and now I can start to see the gift the Poet left us.
Yes, that's a fine, and important, way to go. You'll be surprised at how much the poem will have changed on a second reading, though of course it's not the poem that changed, but you, and the circumstances you're reading in.
You may also be interested in my latest radio show, on the topic of Staying Safe in a Mad World, where, towards the end, I take a fairly rapid run through the Inferno (the ultimate Mad World), seeing how Dante stays sane there. http://momentsunderlamplight.co.uk/2024/11/18/evening-under-lamplight-327-staying-sane-in-a-mad-world/
Keep in touch as you journey along!
🥲🙏🏻namaste
And so you've come to the top, to the selfless union with the divine. Now what? In one sense there is nowhere else to go but back to Inferno, canto 1. -- But perhaps one should wait a while before plunging in again. It's amazing how different the poem seems on another reading!