Dante and the Cosmos of Illumination

In an interview with the A.V. Club, Roberto Benigni enthused about his current project, TuttoDante, a one-man show about Dante Alighieri and The Divine Comedy. Interestingly enough, despite the fact that he never thought that his show would have an audience other than Dante scholars and 3rd year UA&P students taking Medieval Literature, he found himself playing to audiences of up to 10,000 people. Here are some excerpts from the interview:

Because Dante Alighieri has the most glorious imagination of modern poetry. So it’s talking about us, it’s concerning us. Everything in it conveys sentiment, emotions. He is really the greatest poet ever. So I am really very proud to present the shining pearl of Italian culture around the world. And also because Dante sometimes is very difficult and incomprehensible. But we need to talk sometimes about incomprehensible things. It’s very healthy...

...You don’t need also to understand Italian or to know Italian, because when Dante’s writing, when we recite Dante out loud, it explodes a cosmos of illumination like to recite music, a symphony. And it is very modern and ancient at the same time. It’s like a cross between Beethoven and Jimi Hendrix. Bach and Janis Joplin. It’s jazz, Duke Ellington, everybody, Wagner. It’s music.

The idea that The Divine Comedy is one of the finest examples of the ability of poesy to transcend simple apprehension is nothing new. My good friend, Paul Dumol, insists as much whenever he teaches Dante. But Benigni's wonderfully stilted exclamation "...when we recite Dante out loud, it explodes a cosmos of illumination like to recite music, a symphony" is worth reading through the entire interview.

Acquired Tastes: Poetry

While I never could write decent poetry, I remain very much in awe of people who can. It is this willingness to be "blown away" or thunderstruck, I think, that is responsible for whatever critical faculties I possess in appreciating good poetry. (Please note that my inability to properly, and accurately, convey the impact poetry has on me is indicative of my meager poetry writing skills.)

First, allow me to share a link to Robert Pinsky's Favorite Poem Project, a site dedicated towards celebrating, documenting and promoting poetry's role in Americans' lives. It's a laudable venture, if only for assuming that poetry still plays a vital role in the lives of everyday people. That charming conceit, among others, will probably keep me visiting the site.

Second, here is a link to a poem read by Freeman Rogers on Slate entitled The Gaijin in the Teachers' Room in December, which ends:

Instead, he scribbles: what's inside of me,
even as I try to be dutiful,
that makes me dread
the cold will spread
and snow will turn the dreary scenery
to something beautiful?

Lastly, here is an admonition from yours truly: live everyday as if you were a poem. It is only by doing so that we encounter, on a daily basis, a grace akin to truly great poetry.

Poetry Reading!

Due to the dizzying heights that this blogger has (with all due modesty) scaled in the oddly competitive world of blogging, the Literature Department of the University of Asia and the Pacific has asked me to promote its coolly classy culminating event: "Love, Lunacy and Poetry". The horrible attempt at alliteration aside (oops, there I go again), if you're in the area next Friday, March 2, please visit us at the 5th floor, ACB Building, Telengtan Hall, University of Asia and the Pacific, from 4:30 to 6:00 pm.

Guest readers run the gamut from distinguished men and women of letters (Dr. Paul Dumol, Dr. Lulu Gonzalez, Dr. Gemino Abad, Mrs. Peggy Manuel), to media personalities (Mari Kaimo), to readers distinguished only by their talent and dedication to poetry (beloved students and faculty). Admission is absolutely free!