and so clearly that the least historically-minded reader can follow this story of shifting fortunes. But this isn't popular history; it's a book about a book. As with all poetry, the devil of the Divine Comedy is in its detail.Wilson shows just how intimately-lived political experience informed the work, creating an intricate cross-patterning that binds the poem together. Canto XXIV of Purgatorio portrays Corso Donati dealt, after death, the traditional punishment for a traitor: "dragged by the tail of a beast,/towards the valley where sins are not forgiven". Personal references sit side by side with contemporary events. Canto XX records the fatal imprisonment of Pope Boniface by the French army: "I see the Fleur-de-lis enter Anagni/and in his vicar Christ made prisoner./I see the gall and vinegar renewed;/I see Him being mocked a second time,/Killed once again between the living thieves."
from Fiona Sampson: The Independent: Dante in Love, By A.N. Wilson
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