Author and Contexts

• Dante Alighieri - Italian Poet, known for his work, La Divina Commedia
• The Divine Comedy is also called La Divina Commedia
• The Divine Comedy is considered one of the most important pieces of world literature.
• • The purpose of Dante's Divine Comedy was to show people the horrors their souls would go through if they did not obey God's laws and did not live righteously.
• Dante - Protagonist of La Divina Comemdia
• Dante's two guides:

  • Virgil
  • Beatrice
• Virgil - Dante's guide who guided him to inferno and purgatory
• Beatrice - Dante's guide who guided him to paradiso.
• La Divina Commedia is divided into three parts:

  • Inferno
  • Purgatorio
  • Paradiso
• Hell - A part of Dante's journey that represents the rejection of one's sin.
• Comedy - A style of poem that starts off oppressive but end on a happy note.
• 1274 - The year Dante meets his first love.
• Gemma Donati - The wife of Dante
• Purgatory - A part of Dante's journey that represents the redemption of the soul
• Narrative - The Divine Comedy is a aprt of the Late Medieval Literature that is considered this type of literary work.
• Virgil - The character that represents reason in The Divine Comedy
• La Vita Nuova - Collection of sonnets and odes inspired by Dante's love for Beatrice
• Heaven - A part of Dante's journey that represents unification between soul and God
• The Divine Comedy is originally written in Italian
• Beatrice Portinari - Dante's First Love
• 1290 - The year when Beatrice Portinari died
• 1292 - The year when Dante wrote Vita Nuova
• 1314 - Year when Inferno is Published
• The Divine Commedy is also known as a religious allegory
• Allegory - This is derived from Dante's last name
• Allegory - Discussion of one subject by disguising it as another which resembles the first in some striking way
• Dante represents every human being
• Dante begins his journey through hell on Good Friday and ends on Easter Sunday
• Virgil is the Roman author of The Aeneid
• Virgil is the Roman author of The Aeneid
• The Aeneid is the national epic of Rome
• Virgil is Dante's guide through hell
• Numbers were very important in the medieval society.
• Numbers were very important in the medieval society.
• 100 - The perfect number
• Each Cantica contains 33 (number) cantos with an additional canto in inferno serving as a prolouge
• The three divisions or the three canticas in the Divine Comedy symbolizes the Holy Trinity
• Four types of sin in Dante's Inferno and the outside of hell

  • Opportunism - Vestibule
  • Paganism - Circle 1
  • Incontinence - Circle 2-6
  • Violence - Circle 7
  • Fraud - Circle 8-9
• Dante ends each of the three parts with the word "stars"