(New Statesman) A.N. Wilson–Dante, a poet for all seasons

Yet Dante was the greatest poet of the Middle Ages. It could be argued that he was the greatest of all European poets, of any time or place. But while most non-Italian readers are prepared to take this on trust, they sidestep his work, making him one of the great unreads. In so doing, they leave unsavoured one of the greatest aesthetic, imaginative, emotional and intellectual experiences on offer.

They are like those who have never attended a performance of Mozart’s Don Giovanni, or of Shakespeare’s Lear; who have never heard a symphony by Beethoven or visited Paris. Quite simply, they are missing out.

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