Essays on the most celebrated Italian poet by eminent poets of the twentieth century"Perhaps confessions by poets, of what Dante has meant to them, may even contribute something to the appreciation of Dante himself."-T. S. Eliot The great fourteenth-century poet has been an unequaled influence on many writers in the twentieth century, whose "confessions" may well foster a deeper appreciation of Dante. Previously published essays by some of this century's most renowned poets-Pound, Eliot, Mandelstam, Robert Fitzgerald, Borges, Merrill, Montale, Lowell, Duncan, Auden, Yeats, Charles Williams, Nemerov, Heaney-join new essays commissioned by the editors. Contemporary poets Mary Campbell, W. S. Di Piero, J. D. McClatchy, W. S. Merwin, Robert Pinsky, Rosanna Warren, Alan Williamson, and Charles Wright reflect on Dante as well as on their own complex (and often contentious) relationship to his legacy. Their engagement with his work offers a fresh perspective on the Commedia and its author that more academic writing does not provide.As the editors write, a new consideration of Dante "should generate insights not only about his work but also about poetry written in our own language and time.

PrefaceIntroductionPart IErza Pound from DanteWilliam Butler Yeats from A VisionCharles Williams from The Figure of BeatriceT.S. Eliot, What Dante Means to MeOsip Mandelstam, Conversation about DanteEugenio Montale, Dante, Yesterday and TodayJorge Luis Borges, The Divine ComedyW.H. Auden from The Visions of ErosRobert Fitzgerald, Mirroring the Commedia: An Appreciation of Laurence Binyon's VersionRobert Lowell, Dante's Actuality and Greatness of Dante's Divine ComedyHoward Nemerov, The Dream of DanteJames Merrill, Divine PoemPart IISeamus Heaney, Envies and Identifications: Dante and the Modern PoetCharles Wright, Dantino MioJacqueline Osherow, She's Come Undone: An American Jew Looks at DanteJ.D. McClatchy, His EnamelW.S. Merwin, Poetry Rising from the DeadRobert Pinsky, The Pageant of UnbeingGeoffrey Hill, Between Politics and Eternity Rosanna Warren, Words and BloodW.S. Di Piero, Our Sweating SelvesDaniel Halpern, Dante is PerpignanAlan Williamson, The Tears of CocytusMark Doty, Rooting for the DamnedC.K. Williams, SoulsMary Blaine Campbell, Wrath, Order, ParadiseEdward Hirsch, Summoning Shades