...Dente’s Inferno on European Society and History, a reflective essay “Abandon all hope, ye who enter here” resonates across the centuries. For over 650 years, from the time it was written until today, critics have analyzed and reinterpreted The Devine Comedy and especially Inferno, written by Dente Alighieri (1265–1321) while he was in exile from Florence, Italy . The fact that it has tremendous impact on art and literature is evident by the centuries of continuous study and the number of notable authors and artists whose works clearly reflect an influence from the theological, political or poetic value of the piece. T. S. Eliot (1888-1965) wrote in a 1929 essay that “Dante and Shakespeare divide the modern world between them; there is no third,”1 Certainly the word pictures in Inferno are vivid and memorable. But did Inferno actually influence society? Did it shape history? Did thought leaders of Dante’s time and over the centuries following find inspiration in its pages such that the Western world today is different than it might have been without Inferno? There are few works of literature to emerge from the Middle Ages with a lasting legacy to the modern world. Historically, Inferno was the first great literary work available in the vernacular, or common dialect, of a region. As such, it had an impact on the formation of the Italian language. More compelling, Dante’s work seems to be a dividing line between the epic poems of antiquity and the modern, humanistic, works emerging...
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...The Beasts and Monsters in Dante's Inferno The Inferno is the first section of Dante's three-part poem, The Divine Comedy. Throughout Dante's epic journey into the depths of Inferno he encounters thirty monsters and five hybrid creatures. The most significant of these monsters are of central importance to his journey and to the narrative, as they not only challenge Dante's presence in Inferno, but are custodians of Hell, keeping in order or guarding the "perduta gente". In this essay I am concentrating on these prominent beasts, namely Minos, Cerberus, Plutus and Geryon, establishing why they feature in Dante's eschatological vision and discussing the sources which influenced his inclusion of these particular creatures. These four monsters all fulfil important functions as well as representing important themes in Inferno, establishing them as symbols which reinforce Dante's allegory. Minos, as the infernal judge and agent of God's justice, represents our own conscience and morality. When the sinners come before him "tutta si confessa", which causes the reader to reflect on their own sins.His terrifying treatment of the souls is significant as after Charon, he is one of the first figures who they encounter on their passage into Hell, and his unique method of demonstrating which area of Hell that the souls should be sent to increases the horror and adds to the alarming atmosphere. His warning to Dante, is similar to several of the infernal custodians, who continually remind...
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...Culture and Religion: Atsumori and Inferno Various factors have been an influence in literature, both for past authors and present authors. These factors may stem from the culture in which we live and the religion in which we partake. In Dante’s Inferno and Motokiyo’s Atsumori, these influences were evident. In this paper, you will see how these influences affected these two historical pieces of literature. Dante’s Inferno included numerous elements suggesting to its’ religious influence. Dante also wrote two other pieces—Purgatorio and Paradiso-- during this time which lead to the belief that these three were symbolic to the Christian trinity; Father, Son, Holy Spirit (1827). Also notable about Dante’s writing is that he ended these three pieces with the same word, stelle (stars). He wrote of the different crimes (sins) and punishments that would be placed upon all citizens if necessary. Those who disobeyed would be cast in to purgatory. Some examples of these crimes were lust, violence against neighbors, and violence against God. These are also extremely comparable to The Ten Commandments in the Christian religion. He also spoke of Lord, Noah, and Abel in this piece (Canto IV, Lines 50-55). Culture also played a role in this piece of literature. Before this time, Dante had been extremely active in the military in Florence. He had lived most of his life supporting the church until later in his life when he began to think the church was corrupt. He lived many...
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...The presentation of death in Vergil’s work, The Aeneid, indicates the inescapable will of the gods. Written as Roman ktisis poetry, or a “foundation myth”, Vergil wrote The Aeneid to strengthen the political influence of Augustus and provide the citizens of Rome with an ethnic identity (Mianowski 68). To fulfill this purpose, throughout the poem, the themes and events Vergil presents are distinctly Roman. In The Aeneid, the scenes detailing Laocoon and his sons’ deaths, and Creusa’s suicide, show that Romans view the concept of death as a tool to serve the Gods’ purposes. Not only did The Aeneid provide the Roman citizens with a common cultural bond, it also influenced the image of the afterlife in other notable works. Creusa’s death, which...
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...The Greek poet Homer (who, if he was one person, was born between 850 and 1100 BCE) was, to use a modern term, the source code for Greek literature and poetry, and therefore for Western literature, heavily influencing practically everyone who followed him, including, of course, the great Florentine poet Dante Alighieri ( 1265-1321 A.D.). Both poets’ visions of Hell, as depicted in The Odyssey and Inferno, are noteworthy because they open important windows into the philosophical and theological underpinnings of the worlds into which these authors were born. Why is this important? Because their elaborately drawn visions of Hell represent the two great divides in how humans for 3,000 years have been seeing themselves and the universe they perceive surrounding them. In the Homeric vision, life is tragic and arbitrary. We as humans are mere playthings of the Fates and the gods. Sometimes justice occurs, but usually only by accident, and even then it comes wrapped up in irony. Good is punished and evil triumphs. The hero, instead of enjoying the fruits of his victory, is brought low by some tragic flaw. Homer’s portrayal of the gods and of hell in the Odyssey…[big long quote] For Dante, in sharp contrast, the universe is ordered and just. The wicked are, eventually, punished and the righteous are rewarded, if not in this life, then in the next. Existence, while often painful and scary, is not arbitrary, but proceeds according to a mysterious divine plan devised long ago by...
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...The Role of Virgil Virgil, the Roman poet, is more than Dante’s guide on this journey through the underworld. His relationship with the character of Dante in the poem is wide-ranging in importance and symbolism. He is a figure of authority, reason, and even a metaphorical father. Having traversed the territory before, Virgil serves as a figure of knowledge and safety to Dante, who is at times uncertain and timid about traversing such a treacherous terrain. In Canto II, Dante hesitates at the Vestibule that marks the entrance to hell. It is only through the reassurance of Virgil’s words that he finds fortitude. Dante feels compassion for Virgil as his master and mentor and states, “Thy words have moved my heart to its first purpose. My guide! My Lord! My Master! Now lead on”. At numerous other points also, Virgil shows his authority by dealing with deterrences that occur during their journey as in Canto III, when the ferryman, Charon, refuses Dante passage since he is a living man. Virgil forces Charon to grant them passage: “Charon, bite back your spleen:/This has been willed where what is willed must be/and is not yours to ask what it may mean.” Virgil’s influence, however, is limited. His power is associated with the power of reason, and this power is limited in Dante’s hell. At the very beginning, Virgil warns Dante of this. He says that at the end of the journey through hell that a worthier spirit shall be sent to guide Dante. Virgil cannot accompany Dante on into...
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...The Divine Comedy represents the mature Dante’s solution to the poet’s task annunciated in The New Life. Its three canticles (the Inferno, the Purgatorio, and the Paradiso) display a nearly limitless wealth of references to historical particulars of the late Middle Ages and to Dante’s life. Even so, its allegorical form allows these to function as symbols. The Pilgrim’s journey through Hell to Heaven thus becomes an emblem of all human experience and a recognition of life’s circularity. The “Comedy” of its title is, therefore, the situation of life and the accumulation of experience that attends it. Correspondingly, however, chronological placement of the narrative from Good Friday through Easter Sunday, 1300, particularizes the experience even as it implies the death and rebirth that attends a critical stage of any person’s life. The poet tells his readers in the first line of the Inferno that he is midway through life, and indeed Dante would have been thirty-five years of age in 1300. Though he maintains present tense throughout the poem, he is, however, actually writing in the years that follow the events that he describes. This extraordinary method allows the Poet to place what amounts to prophetic utterance in the mouth of the Pilgrim. Dante thus maintains and further develops the thesis of The New Life, that the progress of the Pilgrim corresponds directly to the progress of the Poet. The literal journey that the Pilgrim undertakes toward the Beatific Vision succeeds only...
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...generally assumed that there were many influences for Dante’s work of Inferno. Dante religiousness influenced Dante a great deal to his writing of Inferno. Inferno is one of the parts of the Devine Comedy. Some of it is mostly dealing with politics in his time. His writing of Inferno is to portray what was politics like in the 13th century. It is because everybody back then was hungry for power. There was not a really balanced government because there was a power struggle in the city. This power struggle had a very malevolent effect on Italy. The Power struggle was between the church and temporal authority. This also gave him a bigger influence to write his work of Inferno. But most of all what really influenced him was his love for Beatrice. His family made an arranged marriage with someone else. But Dante didn’t love this other person that his parents arranged for him to get married with. He was highly affectionate with Beatrice than the other person he was supposed to be in love with. “Dante met Beatrice when she was nine years old and apparently experienced love in first sight” (biography). There love was conjoined as one it was actually true love. It was Love that can never be replaced by anybody or any other object that comes by. He was truly devastated that his love was dead. Beatrice death was unexpected. Then 5 years later he publish a book called Vita Nuova it was dedicated for his love of Beatrice. Dante writing of Inferno was influenced by his love for Beatrice...
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...the Church believes. Separating the Churches beliefs of hell, and Dante’s is very difficult in terms of art. The amount of art that was created after the inferno was written that isn't heavily based off of the inferno is negligible. However, the Church believes that hell is just where people who go are completely separated from God, and there is no coming back. We can see the influence of Dante’s work in what basically everyone thinks of Hell, this horrible place that you go to be tortured for all of eternity physically, but the church believes that its more of a mental torture, knowing that you will...
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...Surname 1 Name: Instructor: Course: Inferno Symbolically, the Inferno signifies the Christian humanity seeing iniquity for what it actually is, and the three creatures denote three kinds of sin: the self-indulgent, the forceful, and the mean These three forms of sin too deliver the three key partitions of Dante's Hell: Upper Hell, outside the town of Dis, for the four iniquities of absolution which are gluttony, lust and anger; Circle 7 on behalf of the sins of forcefulness; and Circles 8 and 9 for the evils of meanness, fraud plus treachery. Additional to these are two dissimilar groups that are specially spiritual: Midpoint, in Circle 1, covers the righteous pagans who be situated not evil but were unconscious of Christ, and Circle 6 encloses the heretics who disputed the principle and mixed up the inner self of Christ. The circles numeral 9, with the account of Satan finalizing the configuration of 9 + 1 = 10. Love, a subject all over the Inferno, is predominantly significant for the outlining of iniquity on the Foothill of Purgatory. Although the love that comes from God is wholesome, it can turn out to be wicked as it streams over mortality. Hominids can sin by means of love towards inappropriate or spiteful ends or applying it to correct ends however with love that is moreover not strong enough or love that is else strong. Metaphorically, the Purgatorio characterizes the Christian natural life. Christian souls reach accompanied by a guardian angel. In his Message to Can...
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...While Dante’s placement of Mohammed in Hell is, in itself, implied, the latter’s damnation not only comes from a sense of divine justice but also acts as a reflection on and a warning to Dante on his individual journey to God. Dante, along with many of his peers and influences, views Islam as a false sect broken off from the core of Christianity and Mohammed as a Christian with a corrupted view of doctrine that lures potential followers from a true path of righteousness. Mohammed, like Dante, feels a spiritual discontentment that leads him on a reflective journey; however, as Mohammed turns his personal path, beliefs, and interpretations into its own doctrine, he varies from Dante’s poetic but applicable tale of salvation. Dante’s encounter...
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...ARISTOTLE TRANSFIGURED Dante and the Structure of the Inferno and the Purgatorio by Donald J. Hambrick Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Phüosophy Dalhousie University Halifax, Nova Scotia August, 1997 Q copyright by Donald J. Harnbrick, 1997 N l*lofational Library Canada Bibliothèque.nationale du Canada Acquisitions and Bibliogaphic Services Acquisitions et seMces bibliographiques 395 Wdingtoci Street OttawaON K 1 A W 395, rua Wellington Ottawa ON K I A O N 4 canada Canada The author has granted a nonexclusive licence allowing the National Library of Canada to reproduce, loan, distribute or sell copies of this thesis in microfonn, paper or electronic formats. L'auteur a accorde une licence non exclusive permettant à la Bibliothèque nationale du Canada de reproduire, prêter' distribuer ou vendre des copies de cette thèse sous la forme de microfiche/nlm, de reproduction sur papier ou sur format électronique. The author retains ownership of the L'auteur conserve la proprieté du droit d'auteur q ui protège cette thèse. Ni la thèse ni des extraits substantiels de celle-ci ne doivent être imprimés ou autrement reproduits sans son autorisation. copyright i this thesis. Neither the n thesis nor substantid extracts fkom it may be printed or otherwise reproduced without the author's permission. To Those Who Teach. .. TABLE OF CONTEWS INTRODUCTION...
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...Chapter 1 The Christmas dinner dispute introduces the political landscape of late nineteenth-century Ireland into the novel. This is the first Christmas meal at which Stephen is allowed to sit at the grown-up table, a milestone in his path toward adulthood. The dispute that unfolds among Dante, Mr. Dedalus, and Mr. Casey makes Stephen quickly realize, however, that adulthood is fraught with conflicts, doubts, and anger. This discussion engenders no harmonious Christmas feeling of family togetherness. Rather, the growing boy learns that politics is often such a charged subject that it can cause huge rifts even within a single home. Dante's tumultuous departure from the dinner table is the first in a pattern of incidents in which characters declare independence and break away from a group for political and ideological reasons. Indeed, the political landscape of Ireland is deeply divided when the action of the novel occurs. Secularists like Mr. Dedalus and Mr. Casey feel that religion is keeping Ireland from progress and independence, while the orthodox, like Dante, feel that religion should take precedence in Irish culture. The secularists consider Parnell the savior of Ireland, but Parnell's shame at being caught in an extramarital affair tarnishes his political luster and earns him the church's condemnation. This condemnation on the part of the church mirrors Stephen's shame over expressing a desire to marry Eileen Vance, who is Protestant. On the whole, however, Stephen's reaction...
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...understand human behaviour and learn how to approach different struggles using compassion and integrity. Greek mythology has also influenced poetry, art pieces, operas, ballets, plays, and current movies and books. Many paintings such as Raphael’s Triumph of Galatea and writings including Dante’s Inferno and the works of Virgil and Ovid are inspired by Greek mythology. Greek myths are represented in the heavens through constellations and mentioned in phrases still used today (narcissism, Pandora’s Box, Achilles’ Heel etc.) It is quite common for works to contain allusions to mythology; therefore, background knowledge of the ancient Greek deities is necessary for comprehension. Learning about the beliefs of the ancient Greeks allows students to start examining their own culture to discover what has been influenced by mythology. This act results in a realization of the connection our society has with a civilization that existed approximately 2500 years ago. It is important to understand mythology in order to recognize why the ancient Greeks acted and thought the way they did. To this day, scholars use Greek myths to decipher the political and religious aspects of ancient Greece and the influence the gods had on both ancient Greece and the Western...
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...as early as the age of ten. He attended Cambridge Rindge and Latin School as a teenager. In 1926, his father was killed in a car accident. The death of his father had an enormous impact on Cummings works, as he started to focus more on the aspects of life within his works(New World Encyclopedia). Cummings was first married to Elaine Thayer. This relationship began as an affair with the wife of his friend. In 1919, Elaine gave birth to a daughter, Nancy. They were not married however until 1924, this marriage however was doomed to fail in a divorce in 1925(Poetry Foundation). Cummings then married Anne...
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