In this strikingly illustrated talk, poet Dana Gioia examines the idea of Beauty in both its secular and sacred dimensions. He not only defines beauty but shows how it helps us better understand ourselves and the world. Ultimately, he demonstrates that the rehabilitation of beauty as both a concept and a value is necessary to rebuild our culture, our churches, and society.

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Dana Gioia is an internationally acclaimed and award-winning poet. Former Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, Gioia is a native Californian of Italian and Mexican descent. He received a BA and an MBA from Stanford University and an MA in Comparative Literature from Harvard University. Gioia has published five full-length collections of poetry, as well as eight chapbooks. His poetry collection, Interrogations at Noon, won the 2002 American Book Award. Gioia is an influential critic as well. His 1991 volume Can Poetry Matter?, which was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle award, is credited with helping to revive the role of poetry in American public culture. In 2014 he won the Aiken-Taylor Award for lifetime achievement in American poetry.