The Divine Comedy: The Depth of Human Experience
Religious, structured, and orderly. Although this book is religious through and through, it is also very earthly. You seem to never leave the earth. In fact, there seems to be no difference between earth and the heavenly sphere.
It is a solid world, no distinction between mind and matter, everything is touchable. The physical expresses the spiritual, the spirit of God is physical and pervades the physical universe--it's all one place. There is no heaven and hell, it is just all here. For this reason, this book answers all of those questions you had as a kid in Sunday school and nobody could give you a satisfying answer, for instance, where do people go when they die, what does hell look like, what does heaven look like, what is purgatory, and how does one get from purgatory to heaven. Sunday school teachers should just read Dante to the kids--it is the end-all encyclopedia of heaven, hell, and purgatory.
The symbolism of the beginning is nice, that he is in a forest being chased by various animals. I can imagine that each of the animals represents some kind of vice and that the part in the woods symbolizes the sinful, confused life full of temptations. It was interesting that Virgil was his guide. I was expecting a more religious character, for instance, Moses--but it later turned out that he was sitting in hell himself! That was an eye-opener. It makes you realize the difference between the old and the new testaments. Even Noah was in hell.(!) But at least they weren't very deep in hell.
"All hope abandon ye who enter here."
I liked how Hell is an interactive place for Dante. He isn't afraid to "touch the merchandise."
Then seizing on his hinder scalp, I cried:
"Name thee, or not a hair shall tarry here."
He is human, he takes part and overreacts. And he keeps fainting. It's not a Universal Studios ride through hell, but you can actually grab ahold of the props, talk to old friends and acquaintences, and the guide will patiently wait for you when you faint.
Another aspect of hell that surprised me was that the devil was standing on a frozen lake. This isn't the picture of Larson's Far Side hell scenes, nor is the devil the cool, rebellious bad boy of Milton's Paradise Lost.
Abraham Lincoln was an intricate yet prosperous person, shown through his movement from poverty to politics. Lincoln was born to poverty in Kentucky in 1809 and settled in Illinois at the age fifteen. He was captain of the militia in Illinois during the Black Hawk War of 1832 and served four terms as a Whig in the state legislature and in Congress, from 1847 to 1849. Lincoln strayed away from politics for a little while to return to law but his interest rekindled as a result of the Kansas-Nebraska Act .
Abraham Lincoln was one of the greatest presidents to ever serve in office in the history of the U.S., serving from 1860 to 1865. A self-educated attorney from Illinois, he proved himself to be a brilliant leader throughout the Civil War period. Although President Abraham Lincoln faced the biggest crisis in American history, he saved the nation by preserving the Union during the Civil War, boosting the economy, by fighting for the abolition of slavery, and by boosting the Northern economy.
Women of any color were the same in this time era, Conde’ used the scene with Tituba and Hester in a prison cell to compare Hester, who was a white woman and Tituba who was a black woman in their ideas of what it means to be a woman or how they view being a woman in the society they live. Condé shows that Hester was not racist against Tituba, but of Black men. Although Condé was not a feminist, she showed acts that were of a feminist and her sexuality contributed in Tituba’s life.
While the picketing was done in regards to a private funeral, Phelps and his church were a good distance away from the service. Snyder even claims that he could only see the tops of the picketers signs from the funeral. Also, “there is no indication that the picketing interfered with the funeral service itself” (Snyder v. Phelps).
An important aspect of Abraham Lincoln’s overall performance is his personal and political background. Concerning his opinions on slavery, his personal background shaped his ideals in a very unique way. James McPherson, author of the short biography Abraham Lincoln, provides some insight into Lincoln’s background, writing that Lincoln’s fathe...
They demand the government to explain what really happened and that justice be fairly served. They have not had an open playing field, however, they received opposition at every move they make with explanations, counterarguments, and information from the government, police forces, first responders, and the residents of Newtown.
“Abandon All Hope Ye Who Enter Here.”(Alighieri 18) this statement is viewed while entering through The Gates of Hell. The Inferno by Dante Alighieri is one perspective of Hell that has been written. According to the Cambridge University Library, Hell is set up like a funnel that extends from the surface of the Earth located near Jerusalem; it expands down to the center of the Earth (Cambridge 2006). In this cone-like structure, there are circles that divide sins by the severity of the sin committed. Each circle is on a different ledge or level that separates them from each other (Alighieri 25). Dante and his guide Virgil travel through all the circles of Hell during the Lent season. Through their travels they inspect and comment on the variations
Four and a half months after the Union defeated the Confederacy at the Battle of Gettysburg, Abraham Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address on November 19, 1863. He gave the Union soldiers a new perspective on the war and a reason to fight in the Civil War. Before the address, the Civil War was based on states’ rights. Lincoln’s speech has the essence of America and the ideals that were instilled in the Declaration of Independence by the Founders. The sixteenth president of the United States was capable of using his speech to turn a war on states’ rights to a war on slavery and upholding the principles that America was founded upon. By turning the Civil War into a war about slavery he effortlessly ensured that no foreign country would recognize the South as an independent nation, ensuring Union success in the war. In his speech, Lincoln used the rhetorical devices of juxtaposition, repetition, and parallelism, to touch the hearts of its listeners.
Primarily, America’s opulence initiated with Lincoln’s determination to preserve and to strengthen the moral cause of the Union, starting off with focusing on abolishing slavery. Initially, his “paramount object in this struggle [was] to save the Union, and [was] not either to save or to destroy slavery.” The institute of slavery was a controversy in America for decades. Although his intentions were never to radically demand immediate freedom for 4 million black slaves, his Emancipation Proclamation, which was issued during his third year fighting the Civil War, finally conveyed the annihilation of slavery. What really caused Lincoln to reverse his original thoughts regarding the emancipation of slaves was a calling for “an act of justice.” He felt that God called upon him to free the slaves, similarly to how Moses felt when God spoke to him through the burning bush to liberate the Jewish slaves in Egypt. Moreover, slavery, the state of an individual having absolute power over another individual’s life and liberty, was finally recognized as an evil concept according to Lincoln. The purpose of the Emancipation Proclamation was not solely on freeing the slaves, bu...
Dante came a long way in reaching the lower part of Hell in the “Inferno” to not be to be highly satisfied with what he experienced from seeing, hearing, reflecting, and questioning. Throughout the journey we can see that Dante had two sides to him the one in which his felt sympathy for the sinners and felt frightened along the way and the other Dante in which he judgment that the sinners should have a more cruel punishment. Dante encountered many challenges as he progressed to each level.
Hell, it isn 't a place where anyone really wants to end up, well permanently that is. Dante Alighieri however really enjoys taking a “trip” to hell to teach us and enlighten us on the ins and outs and where exactly all the sinners end up. Alighieri tackles this daunting task of making all of hell fit into a small pocket-able, yet very enjoyable story by using a variety of literary styles and devices. However, let’s take a look at one specifically, symbolism. This is one of the most prevalent and obvious device, but it is the most important because it not only makes the story easier for the reader to understand, as well as make the book as enjoyable as it was.
The first thing you would notice is the overall irony of Hell itself. As mentioned, most people have a view that Hell is very chaotic and in disarray. However, In Canto IV we find out that Hell is actually very organized. The structure of it is in fact “a great funnel-shaped cave… with its bottom point at the Earth’s center. Around this great circular depression runs a series of ledges, each of which Dante calls a CIRCLE.” (Alighieri 25). Most pictures you see of hell show images of very distressed people and demons running around in turmoil. They are usually all over the place and no sense of organization is apparent. There is also a map of hell that Dante has drawn in order to give us a clearer image of what Hell supposedly looks like (Alighieri 26). Through this we find that Dante has applied his use irony into the very structure of Hell. We also see that the people we thought were myths actually exist – in Dante’s eyes. Scattered throughout the book, we see several mythological characters that have indeed descended into Hell. On...
He had meticulously described it to illuminate the Bible’s interpretation, especially for the degrees of sin. For instance, during his journey through Hell, he had traveled through nine rings, each containing different forms of sin. Within the rings, Dante had met individuals who were cast into Hell for adultery and heretical beliefs. However, Dante had not only described who he saw, but also the quality of their lives in Hell. D’Epiro states, “The poet’s most famous portrait of flawed grandeur is that of Ulysses, whose sins as a false counselor have caused him to be enveloped in flames like a human torch.” (99) Dante had wanted to put an emphasis on how perilous Hell was because of the time period’s grasp on religion in 1320.
Despite the obvious flaws of Dante himself, he does give a clear vision of how punishments will be taken forth in the afterlife. He gives reason to fear and respect the law of God lest eternal punishment be your only promise in the afterlife. These punishments are as relevant as can be, so he offers a very vivid picture of hell. The men that he puts in hell give it a realistic twist, enhancing the fear that is felt upon reading this work
He states, “Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, president of the U.S. by the power in me vested as Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy… as a fit and necessary war measure” (Lincolns EP found at Civil War Trust). Lincoln released the Emancipation Proclamation to grant freedom to the slaves in the Confederate states. Even though he wasn’t a big fan of Confederate supporter, he made sure that the slaves were granted freedom. Just like Abraham Lincon, all presidents should have a strong and kind attitude. “also, under this proclamation, freedom would only come to the slaves if the Union won the war” (Civil War Trust). Finally, union defeated the Confederate which left them free. Instead of having a sharp end to the war, Lincoln caused an ending to it that nobody would forget. He granted lives to many working