Preface and Acknowledgements Introduction
1. The Central Man of All the World Part I: The Making of a Poet 2. Encounters on the Road to Montaperti: Florentine History to 1260
3. Heraldry, Prophecy, and the Individual Self
4. Dante's Family and the History of Florence in the Later Thirteenth Century
5. The Meeting with Beatrice
6. The Faithful Followers of Love
7. The Genealogy of Beatrice
8. Convergent Worlds: The Scientific and Symbolic Modes of Thought Available to Dante and His Contemporaries
9. La Vita Nuova and the Poetry of Praise Part II: Power, Exile, and the Works of Dante's Middle Years
10. The Taste of Power and the Salt of Exile
11. The Poet of Righteousness: Later Lyrics and De vulgari eloquentia
12. Invitation to the Banquet of Knowledge: II Convivio
13. The Descent of Henry of Luxemburg and the Writing of De Monarchia
14. The Last Years: Lucca, Verona and Raveena Part III: The Making of the Commedia
15. The Journey
16. Weight, Number and Measure in the Commedia 17. The Grace of Inspiration
18. The Six Guides and the Four Levels of Meaning
19. Change and Being: The Images of the Commedia
20. The Transformation of Man
21. The End of the Journey Appendix Abbreviations A Note on the Texts and Sources Notes Bibliography Index
