I read Dante’s Inferno when growing up and like most who were assigned it in school, we only read that first part and weren’t assigned the rest of the Divine Comedy. Alas I don’t remember many specifics so I’m curious to dust it off again. But this article I just read put a different spin on it and made me want to read the whole thing Dante wrote. Take this quote:

When it comes down to it, though, the real problem modern readers have with [third section about heaven] is the idea of heaven itself. T.S. Eliot noted almost 80 years ago that “we have (whether we know it or not) a prejudice against beatitude as material for poetry.”

Wow. As a poet I’ve often noticed how I enjoy mining for material in tension and conflict. I’ve even asked myself if I’m capable of writing something that conveys joy in ways that aren’t cheesy. It’s so easy being cheesy, after all. Erm….I rest my case :-)

Dante’s hell seems a more enjoyable read to me. His vision of heaven I assumed couldn’t be any where near as captivating. This article poked at that assumption and I hope it pokes at yours as well. Here’s another quote:

Dante’s hell flatters us: It allows us to stand in judgment, to delight in the friction between what we know and what the damned don’t—to see things, in other words, from the perspective of God. Paradiso, however, puts us back in our place. Though the poet labors mightily to “show the merest shadow/ of the blessèd kingdom stamped within my mind,” he never lets us forget that it is only a shadow. Once we follow him to heaven, it’s we who lack the inside information, we who stand on the wrong end of the irony. Previously we judged hell; now heaven judges us.

I love The Slate. I’m more and more impressed with them and especially their religious coverage. I’ve covered some other articles I’ve found interesting before, too. I hope they keep up this kind of grand cultural reflection. It gives news a good name.