Background, literary devices Dante’s Inferno Background, literary devices

Allegory A narrative that serves as an extended metaphor. Allegories are written in the form of fables, parables, poems, stories, and almost any other style or genre. The main purpose of an allegory is to tell a story that has characters, a setting, as well as other types of symbols, that have both literal and figurative meanings. The difference between an allegory and a symbol is that an allegory is a complete narrative that conveys abstract ideas to get a point across, while a symbol is a representation of an idea or concept that can have a different meaning throughout a literary work.

Tripartite Structure The Divine Comedy is made up of three canticles, Inferno, Purgatorio and Paradiso, which together number one hundred cantos. Each canticle has its own tripartite structure. Cantos 1-9 of each canticle are a sort of "preface" to a larger segment that begins in canto 10. The Inferno contains 34 cantos. Canto 1 is the introduction to the Divine Comedy as a whole; it is followed by the 33 cantos of the Inferno proper (Purgatorio and Paradiso are the same length).

Canto A sub-division of an epic or narrative poem comparable to a chapter in a novel.

Canticle A hymn or religious song using words from any part of the Bible except the Psalms.

Tercet (or terzine) A three-line unit or stanza of poetry. It typically rhymes in an AAA or ABA pattern.

Terza Rima A three-line stanza form with interlocking rhymes that move from one stanza to the next. The typical pattern is ABA, BCB, CDC, DED, and so on.

Hendecasyllabic line A Classical Greek and Latin metrical line consisting of eleven syllables, a spondee (a metrical foot consisting of two accented syllables / ' ' /.) or trochee (a metrical foot consisting of an accented syllable followed by an unaccented syllable), a choriamb (Greek and Latin metrical foot consisting of long, short, short, and long syllables / ' ~ ~ ' /), and two iambs (a metrical foot consisting of an unaccented syllable followed by an accented one), the second of which has an additional syllable at the end / ' ' / ' ~ ~ ' / ~ ' / ~ ' /.

Contrapasso A thematic principle involving situational irony in which a punishment's nature corresponds exactly to the nature of a crime.

Psychopompos A spirit-guide who leads or escorts a soul into the realm of the dead. (In the Inferno this guide is Virgil)

Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) lived in a restless age of political conflict between popes and emperors there came the need for harmonizing philosophy and Christianity considered one of the last medieval poets (barely a generation later the first humanists were to spring up)

Dante Alighieri When he was nine Dante met a Florentine woman (also nine) whose grace and beauty so impressed him that in his poetry she became the idealized Beatrice. She is believed to have been Bice, the daughter of Folco Portinari, and later the wife of Simone dei Bardi. The young Beatrice died on June 8, 1290