A Renaissance Today? (Editorial, Summer 2023)

Editor

In our age of accelerated technological progress, rapid mobility, and lightspeed communication, our world may appear more complex than one might imagine the age of, say, Dante, Homer, or Shakespeare. From the quick spread of new ideas and narratives to cutting-edge forms of behavioral science and modern propaganda, while civilization has experienced many new degrees of complexity, unleashing both good and bad changes, we believe that although the details are infinite the Truth remains simple. 

Perhaps more than any other medium, poetry serves to remind us of the simple truths, which however complex or advanced a society becomes, must still be rediscovered with each new generation. As Robert Frost famously said, “Poetry serves as a reminder of those things which it would impoverish us to forget.” 

While our modern Brave New World may offer many novel distractions and titillating imitations capable of distracting us from “the real thing,” despite a seemingly endless web of complexity, we …