Dante’s Divine Comedy: tasting notes 3 – the sweetness born of vision
![](https://westcountryvoices.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/traces-85412_1280-300x225.jpg)
In the final canto of the Paradiso, Dante is given a moment of perfetto veder, “perfect sight” – of union with the divine, when the seer and the seen become one. As his poem builds to this sublime climax, its creator loses his battle with language, yet captures that loss with words of such surpassing […]
Dante’s Divine Comedy: tasting notes 2 – birth of the human soul
![](https://westcountryvoices.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/9200397_BibliographicResource_3000126262041-1-300x149.jpg)
There’s no original sin in Dante’s account of human spirituality. The soul is born of joy and seeks to return to a state of joy. In my first three tasting notes I’m going to skip about, dipping once only into each canticle – Inferno, Purgatorio and Paradiso. Then, if you’d like more, you can come […]
Dante’s Divine Comedy: tasting notes 1 – the dark wood
![](https://westcountryvoices.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Dante_Domenico_di_Michelino_Duomo_Florence-300x225.jpg)
Dante is at once the most influential and the most neglected of Europe’s poets. Since the early 14th century, when he wrote, he has inspired countless other writers in almost every European language, yet today he has few readers outside academia and Italy. In this series of commentaries written to mark the 700th anniversary of […]
Issue Number 61 | 24 December 2023
![](https://westcountryvoices.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Compassion-300x223.jpg)
Includes a sprinkling of the year’s best, so watch out for article dates!
The Divine Comedy is life-changing!
![](https://westcountryvoices.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Statue-of-Dante-2-300x200.jpg)
That’s why you should read it, says Simon Chater. Widely revered but little read, Dante’s Divine Comedy turned 700 years old in 2021. I celebrated this anniversary by writing some Tasting Notes to introduce the poem to new readers. Shakespeare fans say God came to earth twice: the first time as Jesus, to show us […]
Issue Number 59 | 5 November 2023
![](https://westcountryvoices.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/HOUSES_OF_PARLIAMENT_DSC_7057_pano_2-1-300x161.jpg)
FREEPORT DISCUSSION NOVEMBER 17, 19:00: LIVE STREAM AVAILABLE HERE
Raw nerves: challenging Leave voters in a rural community
![](https://westcountryvoices.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/1-2-300x200.jpg)
Note: Names have been changed to protect identity. Ed. After seven years of abuse and apathy, I’ve called time on my local campaign against Brexit. Beyond the bubble They call it reaching “beyond the bubble”. The key to successful campaigning, say social media experts, is to win over new groups of supporters beyond those naturally […]
Street democracy – a message from Tavistock for Geoffrey Cox MP
![](https://westcountryvoices.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/316427156_8312862652117630_3465801697369258262_n-300x200.jpg)
Tavistock looked at its best this morning, its streets and buildings washed clean by overnight rain and gleaming under late November sun. Appearances are deceptive, though: a local told me the town was in decline, with shops closing and people increasingly resorting to food banks. In this it surely mirrors the fate of once prosperous […]
The culture test: Welcoming new citizens or a way to stop immigration?
![](https://westcountryvoices.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/padlock-300x200.jpg)
An elderly Italian lady, who has lived in the UK for 75 years and has British citizenship, was hoping that her niece could come over from Italy to be her ‘badante’ (carer). She said recently that her niece “can just come over with her ID card”… NO, post-Brexit she would now need an expensive passport, […]
Issue Number 15 – 18 February 2021 | new articles added daily
Please like and share our articles
Issue Number 14 – 1 February 2021 | new articles added daily
Please like and share our articles
Vaccine ‘wars’? What on earth is going on?
![globe, syringes like missiles doing battle](https://westcountryvoices.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/covid-vaccine-5860560_1920-300x169.jpg)
“EU vaccine war explodes,” screamed the Daily Mail in its first edition. Then hours later its headline had changed to “EU Jabs Climbdown” as it accused the EU of performing a ‘screeching U-turn’. Wait. What? There had been a war and it was all over eight hours later? What on earth was going on? It […]