Citings & Sightings of Dante's Works in Contemporary Culture
Etsy user @SinontheBeach features a handmade twill silk scarf referencing the iconic final line of Dante’s Paradiso, “‘l’amor che move il sole e l’altre stelle”. —SinontheBeach,”twill Silk scarf with our own beautiful print ‘l’amor che move il sole e l’altre stelle,'” Etsy, (retrieved on March 20, 2024)
“Parole che risvegliano emozioni.
Parole che senti tue e che desideri condividere.
Parole come gioielli da indossare.” —”Gioielli di Pace, bracciale: ‘L’Amor che move il sole e l’altre stelle,'” Shanti Gioielli, (retrieved, March 20 2024)
Mary Taylor, in her blog, utilizes Dante’s words from Paradiso 33 to counter the claims of a conditional love on behalf of God by Clive Hamilton:
“For many, religion is little more than a cluster of stories that are only acceptable if they function as utilitarian aids to the ultimate end, the Summum Bonum of ‘saving the earth.’ This movement is part of a larger picture which eventually culminates in what David C. Schindler called the “tendency to reduce thinking to politics,” and an impoverished conception of reason that ultimately forces us to see every question in terms of an eternal struggle between ‘liberals’ and ‘conservatives’ (political terms left over from the French Revolution that should have no place in discussions of Catholic faith and teaching).
“But reductionism is double-edged: like holding up a stencil or template to the world, great swatches of our vision are blocked out entirely, and whatever else remains to be seen is forced into a certain shape. ‘The alternative to seeing what is there,’ says Frank Sheed, ‘is either not seeing what is there, and this is darkness; or seeing what is not there, and this is error, derangement, a kind of double darkness.'” —Mary Taylor, “‘Love that Moves the Sun’: Catholicism’s Deeper Ecology – A Response to Clive Hamilton,” ABC, March 16, 2021 (retrieved March 6, 2024)
“Ducati’s satellite MotoGP team Pramac will run a special livery in the Italian Grand Prix at Mugello, with the colour scheme paying tribute to Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy.
“The team’s riders Johann Zarco and Jorge Martin will both run a two-sided paint scheme, with one side referencing Inferno – the first part of the Divine Comedy – and the second themed after Paradiso – the third and final part.
“Inscribed on the Inferno part is the famous ‘abandon all hope ye who enter here,’ while the other side features another line from Dante’s poem, translating to ‘the love that moves the sun and the other stars.’” —Valentin Khorounzhiy, Simon Patterson, “Pramac to Race Split The Divine Comedy Livery at Mugello,” The Race, June 8, 2023 (retrieved December 15, 2023)
Contributed by Max Matukhin
“The word desire comes from the Latin desiderare: ‘to long for,’ but the Latin desiderare comes from de sidere: ‘from the stars.’ From the stars.
“I find this extraordinary: to think that somehow our desire, our longing, is connected to the very stars in the sky. The stars, which share their light with us across such impossible distances of time and space. The poets might say our desire is a gift from the stars and is ultimately for them and the beauty and mystery and the creative fire and energy of which they are for us a sign.
“I’m reminded of the very last line of Dante’s Divine Comedy — Dante, the great medieval poet guided by his love for a human woman, Beatrice. In his imagination, his love and his longing for her lead him on a great journey all the way to Paradise and to a final vision of the love which moves and connects all things: l’amor che move il sole e le altre stelle… ‘the love that moves the sun and the other stars.’
“This love that moves the sun and the stars is with you too, body and spirit, and with everything and everyone. If we can live out of that, the rest will take care of itself.” –Laura Horton-Ludwig, “Our Desire is a Gift From the Stars,” Unitarian Universalist Association
All submissions will be considered for posting. Bibliographic references and scholarly essays are also welcome for consideration.
Coggeshall, Elizabeth, and Arielle Saiber, eds. Dante Today: Citings and Sightings of Dante’s Works in Contemporary Culture. Website. Access date.
