"Dante and Shakespeare divide the world between them; there is no third." So said T. S. Eliot, one of many American poets so much influenced by the great Italian. This interest goes back to the nineteenth century, when one of its products was Longfellow's translation of "The Divine Comedy," and still it continues to grow. Now this new book provides a selection from the best modern American writing on "The Divine Comedy." The poet's theology, his more personal beliefs and attitudes, the subtleties of his allegory, and his technical mastery as a writer are among the topics discussed. Together these essays make up an expert introduction to the many glories and problems of this supreme masterpiece. Particularly, they place Dante in today's word, American and otherwise, 700 years after his birth.

1.Introduction: The living Dante / by Ernest Hatch Wilkins -- 2. Form and composition: Dante's Hundred cantos / by Allan H. Gilbert -- Dante's Terza rima / by J.S.P. Tatlock -- Dante's Addresses to the reader / by Erich Auerbach -- Reminiscence and anticipation in the Divine comedy / by Ernest Hatch Wilkins -- The art of Dante's Purgatorio / by Helmut Hatzfeld -- 3. Meaning: Dante's Allegory / by Charles S. Singleton -- Typological symbolism in medieval literature / by Erich Auerbach -- 4. Themes and episodes: On the personae of the Comedy / by Thomas G. Bergin -- Rex Iustus et Pius: Henry's throne and Dante's Christian prince / by Theodore Silverstein -- Dante's conception of love / by Joseph Anthony Mazzeo -- The wrath of Dante / by Giuseppe Antonio Borgese -- Voices of the Divine comedy / by Ernest Hatch Wilkins -- Dante's prophetic Morning-dreams / by Charles Speroni -- 5. Literary criticism: Modern literary scholarship as reflected in Dante criticism / by Helmut Hatzfeld -- 6. Influence: Dante after seven centuries / by Robert J. Clements.