Everything you need to understand or teach
Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri.
Products may contain comprehensive summaries, analysis, notes, articles, essays,
lesson plans and more. See below for details on what is included.
The Divine Comedy
by Dante Alighieri
Dante Alighieri was born into the minor nobility of Florence in May or June of 1265. He claims to have been just nine years old when he first set eyes on his be...
Read more
Inferno
by Dante Alighieri
Exiled from his native town of Florence, Dante Alighieri wrote the Divine Comedy, the first part of which is Inferno, as he wandered from city to city in northern Italy b...
Read more
BY DANTE ALIGHIERI
Complete
Translated By
The Rev. H. F. Cary
PURGATORY
Cantos 1 — 33
CANTO I
O’er better waves to speed her rapid course
The light bark of my genius lifts the sail,
Well p...
Read more
PARADISE
Canto 1 — 33
CANTO I
His glory, by whose might all things are mov’d,
Pierces the universe, and in one part
Sheds more resplendence, elsewhere less. In
heav’n,
That la...
Read more
The Italian poet Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) wrote "The Divine Comedy," the greatest poetic composition of the Christian Middle Ages and the first masterpiece of world literature written in a modern E...
Read more
Considered the finest poet that Italy has ever produced, Dante is also celebrated as a major influence on western European culture. His masterpiece, La divina commedia (The Divine Comedy), is uni vers...
Read more
The following essay looks at love in its various forms in Vita Nuova, Convivio, and the Divina Commedia.
The aim of this essay is to study Dante's love concept as revealed in the Vita Nuova (Ne...
Read more
The following essay elucidates the process of "demonic epiphany " in Dante's Divine Comedy whereby tragic heroes recognize their sin and suffer shame on the way to achieving great...
Read more
In the excerpt that follows, Tate explores reflected light as an image in the Comedy.
It is right even if it is not quite proper to observe at the beginning of a discourse on Dante, that no writer has...
Read more
In the following essay, the Inferno is esteemed—more so than the other two books of the Commedia—as an example of "sublime " storytelling and dramatic description of person...
Read more
In the following essay, Grayson contends that the Divina Commedia is a summa of poetic knowledge and technique.
When Dante, at the age of about forty, wrote his major work of poetic theory, entitled D...
Read more
In the following essay, originally published in 1913, Gardner examines mystical symbolism and concepts in the Paradiso in the context of medieval Catholic theological writings.
I
“Man,” ...
Read more
In this excerpt from an essay originally published in 1932, Eliot praises the Paradiso as a masterpiece by the greatest poet in the Western tradition.
The Paradiso is not monotonous. It is as various ...
Read more
In the following excerpt from an essay originally published in 1960, Brandeis describes the Paradiso as “the supreme test of Dante's poetic power,” since this work presented the f...
Read more
In the following essay, Reynolds describes the Paradiso as a work of timeless aesthetic and intellectual validity.
It has been said1 that the joys of Heaven would be for most of us, in our present con...
Read more
In the following essay, originally published in 1972, Mills Chiarenza explains how Dante's exquisite poetic imagery mysteriously leads the reader to an imageless vision of spiritual realms.
In ...
Read more
In the following essay, Crowe provides intellectual and philosophical context for the Paradiso, suggesting that Siger of Brabant, a controversial thinker whose ideas St. Thomas Aquinas vigorously disp...
Read more
In the following excerpt, originally published in 1982, Mandelbaum praises Dante's “poem of spectacle,” commenting on the poet's ability to traverse, in his mind, dizzying ...
Read more
In the following excerpt, Saly explores the third level of meaning of Paradiso, which Dante calls “anagogical” and which theologians, as Saly explains, define as mystical or spiritual.
T...
Read more
In the following excerpt from an essay originally delivered as a lecture in 1989, Pelikan discusses the theological foundations of the Paradiso, concluding that Dante closely followed St. Augustine&#x...
Read more
In the following essay, Jacoff defines the Paradiso as an admirable and powerfully suggestive attempt to stretch poetical imagination beyond the conventional limits of language.
The God Invented and g...
Read more
In the following essay, Carroll explains why Dante's markedly atypical conception of Purgatory, including locating it on a mountain instead of underground, was essential to the symbolism used i...
Read more
In the following essay, Gilson explores the nature and origin of the shades—the characters in Hell, Purgatory, and the lower circles of Paradise—and the motivation behind Dante's ...
Read more
In the following essay, Koffler contends that critics who decry a lack of drama in the Purgatorio are mistaken. Koffler states that the action is simply of a different type than that found in the Infe...
Read more
In the following essay, Demaray demonstrates how, in the Purgatorio, Dante drew from tales of actual Holy Land pilgrimages.
The theological virtue of hope, so Beatrice declares before St. James, enabl...
Read more
In the following essay, Blodgett contends that two types of elegy are present in the Purgatorio, a work that mourns the loss of Vergil and the inadequacies he represents.
Forse in Parnaso …
Pu...
Read more
In the following essay, Kaske interprets the images found in Cantos XXXII and XXXIII as the “figurative celebration of the beginning of Christianity.”
I suppose it is no great news that ...
Read more
In the following essay, Fengler and Stephany demonstrate Dante's knowledge of art as evidenced in Canto X of Purgatorio, and furnish examples of the type of art that he may have observed and be...
Read more
In the following essay, Wimsatt furnishes evidence found in Purgatorio that demonstrates that Dante depicted Beatrice as an analogue for, or surrogate of, the Virgin Mary.
The identification of ȁ...
Read more
In the following essay, Berk explains the significance of the Pilgrim's shadow, and examines Dante's poetic techniques in utilizing the shadow motif.
The question of precedence is a diff...
Read more
In the following essay, Scott emphasizes the elements of Cantos XII to XVII that show Dante's political hopes and beliefs, particularly the idea that both political and spiritual spheres can ha...
Read more
In the following essay, Vernon discusses the three divisions of Purgatory (Ante-Purgatory, Purgatory Proper, and The Terrestrial Paradise), the time occupied in passing through Purgatory, and the date...
Read more
In the following essay, Fergusson makes use of Dante's explanations to his benefactor, Can Grande della Scala, in discussing the importance of differentiating between Dante the author and Dante...
Read more
In the following essay, Cambon discusses the function of the humorous elements in Canto V, a canto he describes as “a ceremony enacting the progression of solicitude.”
It is not true of ...
Read more
In the following essay, Hardie discusses the importance of variant wording concerning dreams in Canto IX, thereby illustrating the type of problems which stem from the corruption of Dante's tex...
Read more
In the following essay, Stambler analyzes and interprets the three dream sequences in Purgatorio, discussing their function, roots in myth, sexual allusions, and implications.
The three dreams of Dant...
Read more
In the following essay, Bernardo explores the theme of rebirth in Dante's work, positing that it entails purification of both body and soul.
I
In defining the basic originality of Dante'...
Read more
In the following essay, Baker explores how Dante sought to represent pure beauty through images that function allegorically.
We should perhaps begin our reading of the Divine Comedy by keeping in mind...
Read more
In the following essay, originally published in 1952, Hatzfeld contends that Dante's esthetic choices are easier to understand when his style is viewed as one of magic realism.
Il mito non �...
Read more
All eras in history contribute different philosophies and ideas to future epochs. In each era, there are writers who produce material that, in their opinion, is the most important aspect of their time...
Read more
According to Catholic doctrine union with God is the basis of happiness, and separation from God is the greatest punishment for a human being. What enables us to become closer to God is our free will ...
Read more
Divine Justice and Grace in Inferno
The purpose of the pilgrim's journey through hell is to show, first hand, the divine justice of God and how Christian morality dictates how, and to what degree, s...
Read more
Movement and Stasis : The use of dynamics in the Divine Comedy
Movement is a crucial theme of the Divine Comedy. From the outset, we are confronted with the physicality of the lost Dante, wandering ...
Read more
Living in a different century can totally change a person's perception of good and evil or wrong and right. When Dante was writing his Divine Comedy in the 1300s, the principles were much different th...
Read more
The characters of Lewis, Ed, and the hillbilly rapists can be examined in terms of the circles of Hell found in Robert Pinsky's translation of "The Inferno of Dante." Each circle of Hell is rese...
Read more
Dante Alighieri's Inferno is one of the classic works of Western Literature. Like all great works, it is a corner stone for that which follows. One such work is Neil Gaiman's Sandman, which takes Da...
Read more
The Inferno
Imagine yourself hurled into Hell with no way to escape, except to travel through its deepest and darkest depths. Unfortunately, this was no such dream for Dante, the pilgrim. Dante awok...
Read more
All authors are faced with a common first dilemma: how to get the public interested in reading their work, after all if the book was not read then no amount of information would be pertinent. This is ...
Read more
Dante Alighieri and Miguel De Montaigne were two great writers of two different times. Dante wrote about religious beliefs of people in his era. In his work, The Divine Comedy, he wrote about where di...
Read more
According to Dante, truth and dishonesty are viewed as the most sinful act to be done in the mid-evil period. In Dante's eyes, liars are sent to hell and truth holds a high standard to life, wit...
Read more
As Virgil leads Dante through the layers of Hell, they come across evildoers who are trapped in the personification of their own sinful personalities. Their tortures are extreme versions of thei...
Read more
As a seventeen-year-old girl, I must admit the bubble of Wayne has shielded me from the harsh realities of the "real world." I'm sure when I become a middle-aged woman, I will have met quite a few sin...
Read more
Only one thing truly separates man from the animals: his ability to reason. This gift of thought allows man to make independent and conscious decisions, placing him on a pedestal above the rest of cre...
Read more
Dante's The Inferno, is an epic poem that has thrilled and informed the common man for centuries. He portrays a vivid description of one man's journey through hell and back with the past poet Virgil a...
Read more
Although Dante uses the Christian idea of Hell in The Inferno, he makes numerous references to classical mythology, at times intertwining the Christian faith with Greek and Roman mythology. These ref...
Read more
The Inferno, the depths of hell where all evil rests, is where Dante begins his journey. Dante's journey begins in a wilderness, and at this moment Dante's reasons for his journey become clear. Let u...
Read more
Canto XXV- Circle 8 (Malebolge) - Fraudulence:
Bolgia 7- The Thieves
Setting:
o In Circle 8, Bolgia 7
-a Bolgia is a ditch or pouch of evil within the actual circle
o a deep chasm filled with ...
Read more
Dante's epic poem, The Inferno, follows the descent of Dante himself into the bowels of hell in search of salvation. This poem follows the monomyth pattern very closely. There are ten parts to the mon...
Read more
The Inferno Book Notes is a free study guide on The Inferno by Dante Alighieri. Browse the summary below:
Author Biography / Context of the Work
One-Page Plot Summary
Charac...
Read more
The Divine Comedy
Inferno
The Divine Comedy by Dante, Illustrated, Paradise, Volume 3
Dante Alighieri
Dante Alighieri
Critical Essay by Domenico Vittorini
Love, Valor and Christianity in Dante and Montaigne
The Inferno
