Dante's Literary Style

Inferno as a Manifestation of the Pain of Dante Alighieri Dante's "Inferno" was a great epic poem of the early Renaissance. It was known for its astute commentary on political and religious levels, both deeply woven into the work through allegory. "Inferno," written in 1314 by Dante Alighieri, was the first canticle of the "Divine Comedy." Dante called it a comedy both because of its happy ending and its style, "which lies between that of the tragedy and that of the elegy. "(Vossler, 665) Although most respected writers of the time wrote in Latin, Dante wrote the "Divine Comedy" in the vernacular Italian language so that the common man could read it.

Amongst these writers was a man named Virgil who appears as a guide through Hell in Inferno. During his time in Florence, Dante met his love interest, Beatrice. Beatrice was described by Dante as his perfect women and also appears during Dante’s travels through heaven in Paradiso. Like many of those living in Florence at this time, Dante was involved in the Guelph-Ghibelline conflict. He fought against the Ghibellines and eventually supported the White Guelphs after achieving victory against the Ghibellines.

The plot of The Inferno mirrors a classic comedy for it progresses from the horrors of Hell to the joys of Heaven, nevertheless it is constantly presenting the reader with individual situations of tragedy. EX-alive b4 jesus(virgil,limbo),suicides…those who are good, gays. The Divine Comedy is a truly universal work for it deals with the most significant question of humanity, the existence of an afterlife and the consequences of our lives on Earth. His convo w Virgil, Dante asks why we are here. this Dante was so confident in his abilities as a poet that he attempted to answer such questions through the voice of the vernacular.

By introducing Virgil, Dante is foreshadowing for the thought process of the Aeneid in relation to the Inferno. In Canto I Virgil becomes Dante’s guide through the underworld after being titled, “you are my master, my author.” (page 7, line 85), much like Sibyl in the Aeneid. Throughout Dante’s Inferno, he continuously mimics the literary styles of Virgil’s epic poem. Virgil’s Aeneid defined Imperial Rome of his time and Dante wanted that same honor for 14th century Italy. Much of Dante’s inspiration came from Virgil, although he believed that there were flaws in Virgil’s work that need adjustments, hence the Inferno.

The ‘Up on your feet’ passage is a famous excerpt from Dante’s Inferno. It is quite inspirational, for good purpose; the passage is half directed at Dante the pilgrim, and half at Dante the poet (his self). He needed just as much inspiration to finish writing the dang thing as his fictional self needed inspiration to make it through hell. That is where Virgil’s brief monologue comes in. Through his words, he is able to hype Dante up enough to want to finish writing Inferno, and make it through hell.

Dante even includes people he had high respect for, like Jacopo Rusticucci and Tegghiaio Aldobrandi, whose policies and personalities Dante admired. As you can see, this Poem is not just an Everyman story, it 's also closely related to Dante 's personal life and experiences. While parts of the Inferno are based on real people and actual events, a lot of this poem is imaginative. This goes for the levels of hell and the punishments that correspond to the sins people committed. There is also a lot of Greek mythological figures, such as Zeus and Medusa.

He expressed his unique beliefs through his riveting poem Divine Comedy. As you can tell Dante’s Divine Comedy is an overwhelming poem that really tests everyones thought as to if they belong in hell, purgatory, or heaven. Now the only question is, is Dante’s view on the afterlife more logical than that of the traditional beliefs or is it the other way round? Works Cited Jones, Tony. "HEAVEN."

Outline the historical significance of Dante's `Divine Comedy' Dante's `Divine Comedy', the account of his journey through hell, purgatory and heaven is one of the worlds great poems, and a prime example of a most splendidly realized integration of life with art. More than being merely great poetry, or a chronicle of contemporary events, which it also is, the `Comedy' is a study of human nature by a man quite experienced with it. The main argument I will make in this essay is that Dante's `Comedy' is chiefly a work of historical significance because in it lies the essence of human life across all boundaries of time and place. I feel that such a reading is justified, nay invited, by Dante himself when he says; "Oh you who have sane intellects Take note of the teaching which is hidden Under the veil of these strange verses" Indeed so many are the concepts, moral issues and people "hidden under the veil of these strange verses", and due to word count restraints, I must limit myself to just one of its three chapters. The sinners of literature being far more memorable than the saints I will choose `Inferno'.

According to Dante's poem “Inferno”, he incorporated many elements, ideas and personalities from the ancient world, and synthesized these ideas into christian world. In Inferno, the author also known as the main character was traveling through a dark wood and lost his path. At this time, he met three beasts that were leopard ( represented lust), lion (represented violence), and she-wolf ( represented fraud), then they blocked his way. Also, Dante met a ghost of Virgil who was a great poet in ancient Rome world, then Virgil began to guide Dante to go back to his path through the hell and through the heaven. The reason that Virgil helped Dante was because of the woman in heaven who was Beatrice Dante’s departed love.

Another thing that Dante used was all of the same characters that Virgil used in his stories, and he encounters them all in hell because of the time difference in the creation of the two books, because the books were written fourteen-hundred years apart from each other. Another similarity that these books have is that both Dante and Aeneas ask for help from “other-worldly beings,” for in Dante’s journey, he asked help from Muses (which were ancient goddesses of art and poetry)... ... middle of paper ... ...ieve in God, and repent for what you have done, and show that you love God and that you do try to live a good life. That is the only way to receive forgiveness and live in paradise for eternity once you have died. In conclusion, for these books, they are both extremely similar, and if you were given both of these books to read without knowing who wrote them, you may think that both were written by the same person, but with different religious beliefs. Many people that have read these books and even studied them will argue that they are not the same and that they are completely different, but just look at everything that was explained, they both have identical hells, they both have the same characters, they both use god(s) int the books, and both were centered around one persons journey through hell, so all in all, these books are the same in just about every way.