1. Oh You Possessed of Sturdy Intellects, observe the teaching that is hidden here/Beneath the veil of verses so obscure

2. Dante’s Inferno

3. A big jump in time and worlds
Our last jump took us 450 years from the youthful Roman Empire of Virgil to the dying empire of Augustine
Our latest jump takes us 800 years from the death of Augustine in 430 to the birth of Dante in 1265
We leap over most of the middle ages, that period of European Collapse and Regrouping
We “touch down” in the Dante’s Era: The High Middle ages of Italy in a world of great religious, intellectual, and political ferment ing

4. Dante and his Times
Dante’s Europe could be seen as a clash between “centripetal” and “centrifugal” forces
Centripetal Forces
Religious Unity under the Church
Attempts at political unity under the “Holy Roman Empire”
Unity of all knowledge under scholastic philosophy
Centrifugal forces
Religious unity undermined by
Political ambitions of the papacy
Forces of religious dissent
Political unity undermined by
Rising nation states clashing with each other and Holy Roman Empire
Papacy clashing with everyone
Unity of knowledge temporarily secure
Dante’s Italy as an intense battleground of Centripetal and centrifugal forces
Clash of City States with one Another
Clash of Popes and Holy Roman Emperors
Dante’s life marred and poetry made by these clashes.

5. Poetic and Political Life
Born in the city of Florence in 1265
His poetic inspiration
At 9 years old a “casual meeting” with the 9 year old Beatrice Portinari “kindled an unquenchable flame” as Ruth Fox writes in (Fox, Ruth Mary. Dante Lights the Way. Milwaukee: Bruce, 60
Love at first sight has seldom left such permanent monument
From it came a “new life” which he celebrated in in his early work of the same name, “La Vita Nuova”
Beatrice as a “God-bearing” image (Sayers)
His political disaster
Became a leader in the triumphant Guelf Party
Mafia-like” family feuds split that party into two factions, the “Whites” and the “Blacks
Dante was a “White”
While on a mission to the pope, Blacks seize power and exile Dante
Divine Comedy reflects bitterness of exile

6. The Divine Comedy as a Poetic “Cathedral
Cathedrals take their architecture from Christian doctrine
An Instance: Design of a Cathedral reflects the doctrine of God
3 spires, 3 portals, 3 aisles reflect the trinity:
Dante’s “architecture” also based on Christian doctrine
Trinitarian” verse pattern
Three line “tercets” reflect “tri-personality
11 syllables in each line reflect “oneness.”
Trinitarian structure
Poem has 3 divisions, each division has 33 cantos; hell as 3divisions; purgatory has 9 (3X3);
But the poem has one introductory canto, 100 full cantos, all reflecting the “oneness

7. Other Cathedral-like Aspects
Cathedrals overwhelm and draw attention upward—as does The Comedy
Cathedrals combine a passion for detail with a thirst for unity—as does The Comedy
What The Comedy “crowds” together.
Christian Doctrine
Ethics, psychology, and spirituality of Medieval Church
The philosophy and science of the era
The political realities of the day
The union of the classical world with the Christian
The love of a woman who becomes a “God-bearing” image

8. “MODEL” OF A CATHEDRAL

9. Comedy and Allegory Definition of Comedy
Definition of Allegory: The use of characters, images, or events to “stand for” abstract ideas—usually of a moral or spiritual nature
Examples of Allegory:
Canto 1: The lepard=self-indulgence, the lion=violence, and the she-wolf=fraud
Canto 2: Beatrice stands for Divine Grace
Canto 5. The whirling winds of 3rd circle stand for uncontrolled lust.
Allegory means that the poem proceeds on two levels:
The literal story
And the allegorical message.