The Figure of Beatrice

Dante is unequalled among poets for his extraordinary intensity of thought and experience, but this very power can make his work seem difficult to approach. Charles Williams's The Figure of Beatrice is outstanding in Dante scholarship and criticism for its sympathetic enthusiasm and clarity: without simplifying the achievement, Williams gives a highly personal yet approachable introduction to Dante's work. The first part of the book traces the way in which the central image of Beatrice, representing transcendent beauty in feminine form, animates Dante's earlier works; the second part richly expounds The Divine Comedy, meditating on its significance in Dantesque terms. Williams foreshadows the valuable modern emphasis on Dante as philosopher-poet, and he touches on many later concerns in Dante criticism, including ambiguities of language, the inherent self-contradiction of all powerful discourse, problems of authority and necessity, and the place of the feminine. The Figure of Beatrice is also a moving and poetic work in its own right.