Dante: The Divine ComedyCambridge University Press, 2004 M01 19 - 118 pages In this accessible critical introduction to Dante's Divine Comedy Robin Kirkpatrick principally focuses on Dante as a poet and storyteller. He addresses important questions such as Dante's attitude towards Virgil, and demonstrates how an early work such as the Vita nuova is a principal source of the literary achievement of the Comedy. His detailed reading reveals how the great narrative poem explores the relationship that Dante believed to exist between God as creator of the universe and the human being as a creature of God. |
Contents
Approaches to The Divine Comedy | 1 |
Change vision and language the early works and Inferno Canto Two | 21 |
The Divine Comedy | 55 |
The Inferno | 57 |
The Purgatorio | 78 |
The Paradiso | 94 |
After Dante | 110 |
Guide to further reading | 115 |
Common terms and phrases
Aeneas Aeneid allegorical Aquinas Aristotle Arnaut Daniel Beatrice Beatrice's Boccaccio Boethius Brunetto cantica canto canzone Cavalcanti Christ Christian concern Convivio crisis damned Dante Dante's art death develop display Divine Comedy Donna Gentile Donne ch'avete Earthly Paradise emotion emphasises episode eternal example exile expressed Farinata fiction final Florence Francesca Guelphs Guido Guinizzelli Heaven Hell historical human I. A. Richards ignavi images imagination Inferno VII intellectual journey judgement justice language Latin linguistic literary lyric Malebolge meaning Michelangelo mind Monarchia moral myth narrative nature Paradiso passion philosophical Piccarda Piero poem poet poetic poetry Pope Boniface VIII praise prose protagonist providential Purg Purgatorio purpose rational reader reading realised reason recognise reveal seen sense sequence sinners speak speech sphere spiritual style tension terzina theme throughout the Comedy tion tragic truth Ulysses understanding vernacular verse Virgil Virgilian virtues Vita nuova voice Vulgari Eloquentia words writing XXIII