from the Inferno from The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri Introducing the Epic Literary Focus: Allegory Reading Skills: Making Generalizations Feature Menu

from the Inferno by Dante Alighieri The Divine Comedy: Inferno

The Divine Comedy, written between 1308 and 1321, tells the story of an imaginary epic journey. from the Inferno by Dante Alighieri Unlike the journeys in Homer ’ s Odyssey or Virgil ’ s Aeneid, Dante ’ s journey is symbolic, representing the spiritual quest for salvation.

Dante ’ s story of the soul ’ s progress toward redemption takes him through from the Inferno by Dante Alighieri Hell (Inferno)—where he recognizes sin and sees the horrors that await sinners Purgatory (Purgatorio)—where he rejects sin and awaits redemption Paradise (Paradiso)—where, having achieved salvation, he sees the light of God

The number three is especially important in The Divine Comedy. from the Inferno by Dante Alighieri The number three represents the Christian Holy Trinity— the union of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in one God. Also, Dante ’ s three-day journey begins on Good Friday—the day Christ died—and ends on Easter Sunday.

[End of Section] from the Inferno by Dante Alighieri The Divine Comedy has three sections, representing three places or stages of the journey. Each section has thirty-three cantos, or chapters. The rhyme scheme is terza rima. More about terza rima Every stanza is a tercet—three lines.

from the Inferno by Dante Alighieri Terza rima is an interlocking, three-line stanza form with the rhyme scheme aba bcb cdc ded... Terza rima is an Italian rhyme scheme first used by Dante in The Divine Comedy. John Ciardi was careful to follow the rhyme scheme in the English translation you will read.

In an allegory, characters, settings, and events stand for abstract or moral concepts. from the Inferno Literary Focus: Allegory An allegory tells one story on a literal level and another story on a symbolic level. Dante ’ s journey through Hell and Purgatory to Paradise The individual ’ s quest for spiritual salvation

Literal: Dante encounters three fearsome beasts—a leopard, a lion, and a she-wolf—who block his way. from the Inferno Literary Focus: Allegory [End of Section] Allegorical: Human errors—sins—separate the soul from salvation: Leopard = Malice and Fraud Lion = Violence and Ambition She-Wolf = Incontinence

A generalization is a broad conclusion drawn from explicit examples in the text. from the Inferno Reading Skills: Making Generalizations A generalization is usually built on a series of inferences based on specific instances or details in the text. DetailInference Generalization Detail Inference

Dante finds different types of sinners in different levels of Hell. The deeper he goes into Hell, the worse the sins—and the more horrible the punishments. from the Inferno Reading Skills: Making Generalizations [End of Section] As you read, note how Dante ranks sinners. What generalizations can you make about Dante ’ s own moral views—his standards of right and wrong? Chart of Hell

Background

Three women guide Dante ’ s journey: from the Inferno Background the Virgin Mary Dante ’ s patron saint, Santa Lucia (loo CHEE uh) Beatrice (bay ah TREE chay), who leads him into Paradise Dante and Beatrice

from the Inferno Background Dante met the real Beatrice in 1274, when they were children. He fell in love with her, but she married another man and died in Heartbroken, Dante vowed to write something about her that would be like nothing ever before written about any woman—The Divine Comedy.

Roman poet who wrote the Aeneid, guides and instructs Dante Virgil from the Inferno Background: Virgil Revered by Dante as the ultimate symbol of what human reason can achieve Can never achieve salvation because he ’ s a pagan Represents the tension between emerging humanist ideals of the Renaissance and Christian beliefs

from the Inferno Background: Vernacular Language The Divine Comedy is considered the finest poetry ever written in Italian. Instead of using Latin, Dante chose to write in the everyday language of his readers—the vernacular. Dante ’ s language is also sparse, direct, and idiomatic—not the lofty, stylized language of most epics and tragedies. [End of Section] Page from the Inferno

Vocabulary

Previewing the Vocabulary despicable adj.: hateful; abominable. reprimand n.: rebuke; scolding. writhes v.: squirms in agony; contorts the body. dexterously adv.: nimbly. clambered v.: climbed with difficulty. from the Inferno Vocabulary

Substitute one of the Vocabulary words for each of the underlined words or phrases in the sentences below. [End of Section] from the Inferno Vocabulary clambered dexterously writhes reprimand despicable As Ray scrambled awkwardly up the rope, he recalled glumly how smoothly, how adroitly, Bob had done the same feat. The convicted vandal squirms in discomfort as the judge begins a strongly worded rebuke, “ I find your behavior contemptible and outrageous. ”

Meet the Writer

from the Inferno Meet the Writer Dante Alighieri ( ) is considered by many to be the greatest Italian poet. His masterpiece, The Divine Comedy, was written in Italian, the language of the common people, and was a literary form unlike anything that had come before it. More about the writer. [End of Section]