Although medieval writers were as aware as we are of the limitations of their images (that is, they did not believe their metaphors were speaking any literal reality about spiritual truths), they were nevertheless willing to devote significant effort to trying to use positive pictures as symbols and “transpositions” of heavenly realities.5 And this medieval awareness of the task of “transposition” could serve as a guide to modern writers. Dante could teach modern writers how to cast one of those “spells . . . used for breaking enchantments,” as he put it in his “Weight of Glory” sermon,
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