Paul Doiron

Dante Alighieri’s The Divine Comedy is an Italian narrative poetry written between 1308 and 1320, a year before his death in 1321. It is largely regarded as the most important work of Italian literature, as well as one of the greatest works of global literature.

The narrative is set in 1819 in a run-down boardinghouse on the left side of the Seine in Paris. Mme. Vauquer, a stingy widow, governs her tenants. Mlle. Michonneau, the old woman, Poiret, a puppet-like person, and Victorine Taillefer are among them.

William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s collection of poems, Lyrical Ballads, with a Few Other Poems, was originally published in 1798 and is generally regarded as the start of the English Romantic literary movement.

Herman Melville’s The Piazza Tales is a collection of tales. It was released in 1856. Five of the six pieces in the book had previously appeared in Putnam’s Monthly magazine; only the title story, “The Piazza,” was new to the collection.

Every human activity aims at some end that we consider good. The highest ends are ends in themselves, while subordinate ends may only be means to higher ends. Those highest ends, which we pursue for their own sake, must be the supreme Good.

In “Confessions,” a religious life is described, together with human prayer and thanksgiving. Augustine invokes God at the start of the piece, asking him to support him as he writes about his own life.