For all that has been written about the author of the Divine Comedy, Dante Alighieri(1265–1321) remains the best guide to his own life and work. Dante’s writings aretherefore never far away in this authoritative and comprehensive intellectual biography,which offers a fresh account of the medieval Florentine poet’s life and thought beforeand after his exile in 1302.Beginning with the often violent circumstances of Dante’s life, the book examineshis...

John Took provides an entirely original view of one of the most important poets and thinkers in all of Western literature, Dante Alighieri.The year 2021 marks the 700th anniversary of the death of Dante Alighieri, a poet who, as T. S. Eliot put it, 'divides the world with Shakespeare, there being no third'. His, like ours, was a world of moral uncertainty and political violence, all of which made not only for the agony of exile but for an ever deeper meditation on ...

Bloomsbury presents Why Dante Matters by John Took, read by Victor Vertunni.John Took provides an entirely original view of one of the most important poets and thinkers in all of Western literature, Dante Alighieri.The year 2021 marks the 700th anniversary of the death of Dante Alighieri, a poet who, as T. S. Eliot put it, ‘divides the world with Shakespeare, there being no third’. His, like ours, was a world of moral uncertainty and political violence, all of which made no...

Interdisciplinary and ecumenical in scope, Poetry and Prayer offers theoretical discussion on the profound connection between poetic inspiration and prayer as well as reflection on the work of individual writers and the traditions within which they stand. An international range of established and new scholars in literary studies and theology offer unique contributions to the neglected study of poetry in relation to prayer. Part I addresses the relationship of prayer and poetry. Parts II an...

In 1628 William Harvey published his discovery of the existence of the microcirculation which he deduced from careful anatomical and physiological study. Thirty-three years later, Malpighi confirmed the presence of capillaries through direct microscopical observation. Subsequent scientific advance has been slow, and in view of the fact that microvascular in the genesis and expression of many pathophysiology may be implicated diseases, our know ledge of human microvascular function is surpr...