Those greedy popes, gluttons, hypocrites and eternally damned lovers in Dante Alighieri’s 14th century poem, The Divine Comedy, wherein Dante receives guided tours through Hell, Purgatory and Heaven: they’re meaningless to us today, right?

Not so fast, says poet Angela Alaimo O’Donnell in Dear Dante: Poems, the human condition is universal. O’Donnell teaches English, creative writing and Catholic studies at Fordham University. This, her 11th poetry collection, honors the 700th anniversary of Dante’s death by pairing brief epigraphs from 39 of The Divine Comedy cantos with 39 poems in her own decidedly-non-Dantean style.

The introduction describes the collection as “a species of accompaniment, an act of homage, a declaration of defiance, and a long love letter to Dante. It might also be read as a series of meditations that attest to how dear Dante is to us.” The “declaration of defiance” occurs when O’Donnell takes exception to Dante’s theology and “his oftentimes dark depictions of the consequences of human frailty.” Dante’s Hell and Purgatory are not nearly as compassionate as O’Donnell wishes they were in some cases, such as suicide and adulterous lovers. She reacts to them in 21st century fashion by reminding us that Dante was “subject to the limitations of his own time” and hinting, in several of her poems, that Christ would be more forgiving.

All of O’Donnell’s poems are “formal,” she says, “written in the forms Dante favored—the sonnet and, of course, terza rima, the ingenious verse form he invented.” Well, yes and no. Hers is not Dantean verse. She admires, but does not emulate, Dante’s poetic elegance. O’Donnell’s style uses the latest catchwords and wholeheartedly employs irregularity and informality within form. She breaks a lot of rules. This will drive some people crazy and delight others.

As an example, here is her response to Inferno IV:88-90 and 97-102, where Dante is guided by the poet Virgil and meets other great poets—Homer, Horace, Ovid and Lucan—in Hell.

It seems a sin to be happy in Hell, / but Dante finds a way to pull it off, / the grim news that he has to tell / less urgent now, the road less rough / when walked with poets who are gods / in his eyes. Let’s face it, he is chuffed / to be embraced by them. The odds / unlikely—and, truly—slim / of meeting his heroes, his squad / of genii here. Who can blame him / for loving his moment in the sun? / Even Virgil smiles. This whim- / sey Dante’s way of having fun, / a trick every poet knows, / claiming fame he’s not yet won. (“Dante Among the Poets”)

Dear Dante is sassy and accessible as O’Donnell shows how Dante can still affect us, 700 years later. She wrote to me, “I didn’t want Dear Dante to be a pious, reverent museum piece. I wanted it to crackle with the feel of lived life—with humor, with wit (both formal and linguistic), with affection, with annoyance, with impatience, with FanGirl admiration.”

Jane Greer is the author of the poetry collections Love like a Conflagration (2020) and The World as We Know It Is Falling Away (2022), both from Lambing Press.

Dear Dante: Poems, Angela Alaimo O’Donnell; Paraclete Press, 2024; 96 pages; $21.

This article appeared in the March 2025 edition of The Catholic Telegraph Magazine. For your complimentary subscription, click here.