Dante Aligheri (1265-1321)
The Divine Comedy (ca. 1300-1321)
Middle Ages (500-1500 A.D.):
- Begins with collapse of Western Roman Empire (See
Timelines
)
- Ends with
- "discovery" of Western Hemisphere,
- Invention of printing press (1455: Gutenberg Bible),
- Break in the religous unity through Protestant
Reformation, and
- Renewal of direct contact with Greek Art, Thought, and
Literature
Literature reflects, as did The Iliad, a Heroic Age:
- Main heroes are kings or chieftains
- Main concerns are war, power, wealth, and glory
- In 14th C., Warrior begins to play a smaller role.
Transition from Roman Empire to Medieval Europe:
- Roman Empire: Strong Political Unity, Spiritual Variety
- Medieval Europe: Political Disunity, Spiritual &
Intellectual Unity
- Question: What was the standard language of
Europe?
Other Things to Consider:
- Imagery
- Relationship between Catholic and Pagan ideas/stories
- Symbolic Retribution: Examples
- "Numerology"
- Chronology (i.e. Easter Weekend)
- Italian History
- Ghibellines and Guelphs (Black & White)
- Allegory
- Influence of Virgil's Aeneid
- terza rima
- See map of the journey
** Homework Questions **
- What is "symbolic retribution"? Provide an example
from the Inferno.
1050:
1051:
- Explain the numerical significance of the Divine
Comedy.
Inferno:
Canto II: The Descent
1057:
- What literary technique is employed in lines 7-9 of the
Canto?
1060:
- Explain the epic simile at the end of the Canto
(2.127-30).
Canto III: Vestibule: The Opportunists
1063:
- Explain: "[I]t is Divine Justice that spurs them
on,/turning the fear they have into desire" (3.125-26).
Canto V: Circle Two: The Carnal
1065:
- Has anyone ever left this Limbo/Hell for Paradise? Was
Eve one of them?
1069:
- Who is "she who killed herself for love,/and broke faith
with the ashes of Sychaeus" (5.61-62)?
1070:
- Why does Dante swoon after hearing Francesca's tale?
Canto XXXIV: Center: Satan
1170:
- Why does Satan have three faces? Whom does he chew with
them?
Other Discussion Questions:
- What do these "things" symbolize?
- Virgil
- Beatrice
- Wood
- Sun
- Mountain
- Panther/Leopard
- Lion
- She-Wolf
- Easter
1049:
- Describe
the political climate in Florence around 1300.
- What was
Dante's role in this political climate?
- Explain the
relationship between the Guelphs and the Ghibellines.
Canto I: The Dark Wood of Error
1050:
- Why was Dante exiled from Florence in 1302?
- Explain the organization of the Divine Comedy.
1051:
- Who was Beatrice Portinari (1266-1290) ?
- Explain: "[T]he vividness of the landscape is mirrored in
the emotional affect of the narrator" (1051).
1053:
- How old is Dante when he begins this journey?
1055:
- What does Dante think about Virgil?
1056:
- Explain Virgil's lines: "because that Emperor
dwelling on high/will not let me lead any to His city,/since I
in life rebelled against his law" (1.124-26).
Canto II: The Descent
1057:
- Why does Dante hesitate to begin the journey?
1058:
- How does Virgil respond to Dante's hesitation?
1059:
- How does Beatrice leave Heaven and "have no fear of
coming here" (2.87).
Canto III: The Vestibule: The Opportunists
1060:
- Explain: "ABANDON EVERY HOPE, ALL YOU WHO
ENTER"(3.9).
1061:
- What is the punishment for those "neither nor unfaithful
to their God,/who undecided stood but for themselves"
(3.38-39)?
1062:
1063:
- Who is Charon?
- Explain: "A good soul never comes to make this
crossing" (3.127).
- Why does Dante faint?
Canto IV: Circle One: Limbo: Virtuous
Pagans
1064:
- Why does Virgil become "deathly pale" (4.14)?
- Explain: "In this alone we suffer:/cut off from hope,
we live on in desire" (4.41-42). What is the punishment
for the Virtuous Pagans?
1065:
- Why is Jesus's name not mentioned?
- Explain: "Before these souls were taken,/no human soul
had ever reached salvation" (4.62-63).
1066:
- Who is honoring whom by including Dante "among" Homer,
Virgil, Horace, Ovid, and Lucan?
- What does the "splendid castle" (4.106) represent?
- Who inhabits it?
Canto V: Circle Two: The Carnal
1067:
1069:
- Why are Dido and Achilles here? Why isn't she with
the Suicides (included in a later Canto)?
Canto XXXIV: Center: Satan
1169:
1170:
- Describe Satan's position.
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