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An Analysis Of Dante's Divine Comedy

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Giovanna Samaha Goncalves
FDWLD 101 Section 12
April 1, 2015

Divine Comedy is Dante Alighieri’s masterpiece. Started around 1307, Dante completed his work shortly before his death in 1321. Written in Italian, this masterpiece is strictly symmetrical and a narrative poem that describes an odyssey through Hell, Purgatory and Paradise. The Divine Comedy is divided into 33 songs (each book), with approximately 40 to 50 triplets, ending with a single verse at the end. The three books rhyme in the last verse, because they end with the same word: stelle, meaning 'star '.
First, Dante called his work: Comedy. The adjective "Divine" was added for the first time in an edition of 1555. The Divine Comedy had great influence on poets, musicians, painters, …show more content…

When trying to escape the forest, he finds a mountain that can be his salvation, but is soon prevented from three beasts: a leopard, a lion and a wolf.
About to give up and return to the forest, Dante is surprised by the spirit of Virgil - poet of antiquity he admires - willing to guide him through an alternate path. Virgil was called by Beatriz, Dante 's childhood passion, she sees him in trouble and decides to help him. She comes down from heaven and fetched Virgil in Limbo.
The proposal by Virgil consists in a journey through the Earth’s center. Starting at the gates of hell, Dante would cross the underworld until he reaches the foot of the Purgatory Mount. Then, Virgil would lead Dante to the gates of heaven.
Dante then decides to follow Virgil who guides and protects throughout the long journey through the nine circles of hell, showing him where the diferente sins were purged, the suffering of the damned, infernal rivers, cities, monsters and demons, until the center of the earth, where Lucifer lives. Going through Lucifer, Dante can escape from hell by an underground path that leads to the other side of the earth, and again he can see the sky and the …show more content…

The mountain is so high that it exceeds the air ball and penetrates the ball of fire coming to reach the sky. On the mountain are the preliminary purgatory, where those who have repented of their sins later await the opportunity to enter the purgatory itself.
After passing through the two levels of the preliminary purgatory, poets go through a portal and begin their new odyssey, this time rising higher. They spend seven terraces, each higher than the other, which are purged each of the seven deadly sins.
In the Purgatory’s last round, Dante says goodbye to Virgil and follows, accompanied by an angel that takes him through a fire that separates the purgatory of the earthly paradise. Finally, on the banks of Lethe, Dante meets Beatrice and purifies, bathing in the river so he can continue his journey up to the stars.
Paradise
Dante 's Paradise is divided into two parts: a physical and a spiritual (where there is no matter). The material part follows the cosmological model of Ptolemy and consists of nine circles formed by the seven planets (Moon, Mercury, Venus, Sun, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn), the sky of the fixed stars and the Primum Mobile - crystalline and last circle clouds

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