For medieval people, everything was a sign pregnant with meaning. "Dante's universe did not simply exist; it meant, and it meant intensely," writes Louis Markos. "The universe was less a thing to be studied than a poem to be loved and enjoyed." For the medievals, the whole world was an icon of the divine, a manifestation of God. That is, God wasn't a distant, absentee figure but as close as the sun in the sky, the wind in the trees, the cry of a baby, and the sigh of a lover.

Rod Dreher, How Dante Can Save Your Life, p. 45