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provides a direction to its movement towards perfection. In chapter seven Ardissino’s brings her critical investigation to a close with a reflection on Poetry as the utmost realisation of Dantean imagination as expressed in the exemplary sea metaphor systematically reiterated and reinvented throughout the whole Comedy. Relying on attentive selection and punctual textual criticism of exemplary episodes as well as reference to ancient and medieval sources, Ardissino’s book is a rich and complex contribution to Dante studies. It is a vigorous and illuminating exposition that guides the reader through a less travelled path in Dantean criticism as it attempts to foster a substantial re-evaluation of the ideological significance, narrative function and lyrical beauty of the anthropological universe represented in the Comedy and beyond.