What if a wise and beautiful work of art could help you turn toward the challenges and promise of our time and inspire a new way forward?
The Divine Comedy is a poetic masterpiece by Dante Alighieri that has inspired readers for over seven centuries and remains one of the most actively translated works of all time. The poem’s lasting relevance speaks to the rewarding journey it offers readers to this day—from a place of troubled uncertainty and isolation to one of courage and community. In a world that can feel more divided than ever, we will turn to Dante and his souls in the Commedia for their wisdom and see how their stories can support our personal growth and the service we seek to provide our beloveds and communities.
This workshop will offer an introduction to Dante’s opus and a brief visit to his realms of the afterlife: Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso. Our activities will involve actively engaging the poem with medieval methods of reading and writing prompts while drawing on the plethora of artistic renderings of the poem to bridge the gap between 1302 and 2022. Attendees will be asked to participate individually and as a group in these brief reflection exercises that require no previous knowledge of the poem.
