Tag Archives: Dante

Commonplaces & Other Miracles

Posted on June 16, 2017 by Adam Penna

Periodically, I revise the direction of this blog.  Given my point of view about revision, and what its aims and objects are, this is a good thing.  And given the magnitude of the changes I’ve experienced in my life these … Continue reading →

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And And And

Posted on January 18, 2016 by Adam Penna

This week’s writing has been characterized by the feeling Dante describes in the first canto of the Inferno.  I find myself lost in a deep dark wood, fearing it’s a wood of error.  Still, I’m old enough and mature enough … Continue reading →

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Two Attitudes: The Power of Poetry

Posted on July 16, 2009 by Adam Penna

There are two basic attitudes regarding the power of poetry.  The first is summed up by Tennyson’s Ulysses who, though old, manages to convince his men to sail with him once again “to strive, to seek, to find and not … Continue reading →

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Noli Me Tangere

Posted on February 23, 2009 by Adam Penna

Our conceptions of God and God are not the same thing. This is why, for me, poetry surpasses religion in the knowing of God, because poetry looks to discard the concepts that don’t work to discover and embrace the ones … Continue reading →

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An Activity of the Spirit with Many Names

Posted on February 19, 2009 by Adam Penna

To write poems before midlife begins, really, is nothing much.  Nothing truly vital competes for one’s consciousness like it will soon.  And the longer we make adolescence, the less a risk writing poetry is for as long as one depends … Continue reading →

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On Dante’s Inferno, Cantos V & XV

Posted on February 13, 2009 by Adam Penna

I’ve been reading Dante lately, and have been meaning to say something about him on this blog.  Then a friend emailed me, asking about a few things related to the Inferno.  I thought I would paste my response here, since it pretty much … Continue reading →

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