/lit/ - Literature

>>16348318
There's also pretty heavy speculation that Dante had a mystical experience that strongly informs what's in the Paradiso. So it's possible he actually did have a vision of Heaven.

Paradiso is beautiful. Why does it get such a bad rap? It seems to be everybody's least favorite canticle in the Divine Comedy, yet I'm only a little ways into it but I'm already blown away by the astounding beauty of the imagery and the dialogues. Seeing Justinian in the Sphere of Mercury was amazing.

>>15905900
This is what I've always loved the most about the Comedy. Dante is basically taking all major literature and all major philosophy and all major theology up to his own time and putting it all in one work. It's essentially taking every single substantial /lit/ achievement prior to it and funneling it all into one current, a current that is directed upwards for the glory of God.

I honestly think Dante should be canonized for writing it, it's the greatest artistic glorification of God that has ever been created.

Why do people dislike the Paradiso, or say it's boring? I'm reading it right now and it's great. Yet you always hear people say that it's the least-loved part of the Comedy.

What are some works of literature that were specifically written to praise and glorify God? I'm interested in seeing how many of these we can post.

Obviously the two that come to mind first are the great Christian epics, Dante's Divine Comedy and Milton's Paradise Lost. Both poems were written to praise God and illuminate God's justice and mercy, with Milton specifically saying that he intends "to justify the ways of God to men."

Do you ever think about creating great Catholic art, something that would glorify God and draw souls to Christ through its power?

I'm a writer and a poet, and it's my dream to create a great work of literature that does this. I think of Dante, and how the Divine Comedy is one great glorification of God, and how it elucidates the beauty and the justice and the loveliness of the Divine. My dream is to create a work of art that is as great as the Comedy, and that glorifies God as much as the Comedy does.