about

This class is intended specifically for eavesdroppers of the sort Tolkien depicts in the Samwise/Gandalf scene (described in the blog Verdevivoverdechiaro, simply go to that page and search "samwise eavesdropping".) There will be a class on eavesdropping for the law geeks among us, and some of that material is required here to understand an eavesdropper with a mens rea versus one who wants to overhear angels, as Tolkien did in "leaf by niggle" or as Daniel or one of the old testament prophets yearning for the sounds of heaven.

Dante is more similar to Tolkien in his bio than many realize...and both resemble Christ, their hero. Both were caught in a Papal/political "lawfare" squabble, both from families that supported the pope as against the crown and both were effectively exiled because of it in different ways. Both seized on what might have been a tragedy and turned it into a "Divine Comedy" which they aimed at the masses, hoping to take myths that came from ancient cultures and make them accessible to their own respective time and place: Dante with the Greek myths and Tolkien using the Northern materials.