The Divine Comedy

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The Divine Comedy

• By Dante Alighieri

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• Dante called it The Comedy of Dante
• Alighieri, a Florentine by birth but not in
• character.

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The Divine Comedy

• A poetic composition between nobility of tragedy
  and the popular elegy
• Does end happily

a poem that mourns the death of a person or
laments something lost
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Vocabulary

• cantos

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Vocabulary

• cantos divisions in a long poem

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Vocabulary

• cantos divisions in a long poem
• vernacular

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Vocabulary

• cantos divisions in a long poem
• vernacular the everyday speech of the people

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Vocabulary

• cantos divisions in a long poem
• vernacular the everyday speech of the people
• allegory

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Vocabulary

• cantos divisions in a long poem
• vernacular the everyday speech of the people
• allegory a moralistic story that incorporates
  many symbols

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Vocabulary

• symbol

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Vocabulary

• symbol person, place, thing, or event that
  represents something beyond itself.
• Example The dove is usually used as a symbol of
  peace.
• Try brainstorming your own list of symbols.

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Background

• Written between 1308-1321

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Background

• One of the most important epic poems

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Background

• Divine is attached centuries later--feelings
  about Italys greatest masterpiece

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Background

• Christian allegory

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• The Divine Comedy
• was enormously
• popular when it was first
• published. Reasons
• include
• Composed in the vernacular
• Topical references

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• The 100 Cantos are divided into three equal
• sections (Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso)

Inferno
Purgatorio
Paradiso
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The Poem recounts the journey that Dante takes
through Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise

• The journey begins on Good Friday, 1300 and takes
  three days, ending on Easter Sunday

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• Beatrice, a woman
• Dante loved, guides
• him through Paradise

• Virgil, the Roman poet, guides him through Hell
  and Purgatory

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• Dante is not a theologian but a storyteller.
• He places sinners according to the sin that
• their respective stories most embody.

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