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torifreeman17 's review for:
The Divine Comedy
by Dante Alighieri
**Starting WEDNESDAY!! It’s never too late to join! You are formally invited to join me and (hundreds of? thousands of??) readers around the world for the reiteration of 100 Days of Dante! Beginning Aug 31, we will read 3 cantos a week and finish at Easter. Baylor has considered every video in the series and reworked any that needed clarification or quality improvement, so that this year will be even more enriching than last! If you’re on the fence, just give it a chance; you’ve got nothing to lose, but a lot to gain. Visit 100DaysofDante.com to sign up!**
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I finished this book a month ago and have been pondering all the while how to succinctly summarize my thoughts regarding this book—as if such a thing were possible.
I first joined Dante on his pilgrimage as an undergrad student at Baylor. When my alma mater announced it would host a worldwide "100 Days of Dante" reading club in honor of Dante's 700th anniversary, nerdy I immediately jumped at the chance to revive my days in academia. After all, it has been said that you don't really read a thing until the second time you read it. And wow, what a journey it was.
The Divine Comedy is truly a masterpiece, one which I hope to revisit many times over. I am not qualified to offer my humble thoughts on such a grand piece of art, so instead I will only offer them on Paradiso, Canto 33.
In this final canto, the third of Dante's guides, St. Bernard, passes Dante off to Mary. When Dante turns to her, he finds her eyes "now fixed upon the supplicant," then "turned to the Eternal Light." And Dante, in evidence that he finally gets it, says nothing, asks no questions, but "nearing Him who is the end of all desires, as I ought, lifted my longing to its ardent limit." He follows her gaze to God. He understands at last that we aren't to focus on our intermediaries and teachers, but lift our own gaze onward toward where they're pointing us: ultimately, God.
And that's exactly what his poem does. Everything, every theme discussed, every question asked, every guide along the way, leads us at last to the Truth, the Eternal Light and Life and Love. As Dr. Sanders states in his final commentary (you can find Baylor's video commentaries for all cantos on YouTube), "[Dante's] restless heart is finally at rest in its Maker." And it is a beautiful thing to behold.
Thank you Baylor for making available such invaluable resources to all, that we might journey alongside Dante and direct our gaze, with him, toward "the Love that moves the sun and the other stars."
———
I finished this book a month ago and have been pondering all the while how to succinctly summarize my thoughts regarding this book—as if such a thing were possible.
I first joined Dante on his pilgrimage as an undergrad student at Baylor. When my alma mater announced it would host a worldwide "100 Days of Dante" reading club in honor of Dante's 700th anniversary, nerdy I immediately jumped at the chance to revive my days in academia. After all, it has been said that you don't really read a thing until the second time you read it. And wow, what a journey it was.
The Divine Comedy is truly a masterpiece, one which I hope to revisit many times over. I am not qualified to offer my humble thoughts on such a grand piece of art, so instead I will only offer them on Paradiso, Canto 33.
In this final canto, the third of Dante's guides, St. Bernard, passes Dante off to Mary. When Dante turns to her, he finds her eyes "now fixed upon the supplicant," then "turned to the Eternal Light." And Dante, in evidence that he finally gets it, says nothing, asks no questions, but "nearing Him who is the end of all desires, as I ought, lifted my longing to its ardent limit." He follows her gaze to God. He understands at last that we aren't to focus on our intermediaries and teachers, but lift our own gaze onward toward where they're pointing us: ultimately, God.
And that's exactly what his poem does. Everything, every theme discussed, every question asked, every guide along the way, leads us at last to the Truth, the Eternal Light and Life and Love. As Dr. Sanders states in his final commentary (you can find Baylor's video commentaries for all cantos on YouTube), "[Dante's] restless heart is finally at rest in its Maker." And it is a beautiful thing to behold.
Thank you Baylor for making available such invaluable resources to all, that we might journey alongside Dante and direct our gaze, with him, toward "the Love that moves the sun and the other stars."