Joseph Kameen’s essay, “Darkness Visible,” sparks a scholarly conversation at two levels: between the student and literary critics and between the student and the poet, mediated through his interpretation of Dante’s poem. In exploring the meaning of contrapasso in Dante’s Inferno, Kameen acknowledges the competing views of several scholars before staking out the intellectual territory of “a middle ground” between critics’ claims. The essay demonstrates the indispensable importance of close reading—of primary and secondary sources—as a prelude to textual interpretation and the formation of academic argument: even though the critics’ words seems right “at first glance,” he digs deeper to consider the limits and possibilities of the texts. While Kameen’s own argument about the poem may be less developed than his response to the critics, the essay represents a significant step in entering the scholarly conversation nonetheless; in understanding that each reader will adjust interpretations according to individual perspectives, Kameen recognizes the central and active role that close reading plays in the development of academic argument.