The Dream of Gerontius

St John Henry Newman’s Dream of Gerontius is a beautiful and subtle poem about the soul of a man who has died in a state of grace, as he is led by his guardian angel past the bounds of material existence toward the merciful judgment seat of God.

In the vein of Dante and Calderón, Newman’s poem gives exquisite expression to the content of Catholic theology by placing it in the dramatic context of the most central human action: the life of the soul striving upward towards its greatest good, eternal union with God.