The Divine Comedy - Dante

[Sarah147]

Hello,

I heard of this recently and I wondered if y'all could tell me about it. I take it that Dante was Catholic (mention of Purgatory in it)?

God bless you.

[Socrates]

[quote name='JoyfulLife' timestamp='1291071806' post='2189894']
Hello,

I heard of this recently and I wondered if y'all could tell me about it. I take it that Dante was Catholic (mention of Purgatory in it)?

God bless you.



[/quote]
Dante was Catholic, and he wrote back before the Protestant Revolt (1300s if I remember correctly).

It's a fictional poem, and not meant to be taken as any kind of infallible revelation, but there's nothing in it heretical.

[Era Might]

I've only read "The Inferno." I want to read the other two books. I'd love for someone to do a modern version of The Divine Comedy. Alas, I'm not sure there are any Dantes out there up to the task.

[Brother Adam]

His divine comedy is Inferno (hell), Purgatorio, and Paradiso. It is not only theological interesting, politically it is fascinating to study just who he puts into hell.

[Theoketos]

A couple of cool things not mentioned yet.

The trilogy is an poetic expression of Thomistic theology. It is also the first major work done in the vernacular. And it often scared the Hell out me reading it. Worth reading in order.

[Brother Adam]

Not to mention all the movies made out of it so far have been really bad. Peter Jackson needs to do a remake.

[Deus te Amat]

My University requires the reading of all three books for all undergraduates. Essentially, it is a poem of Dante being allowed to travel through hell, purgatory, and heaven as a spectator. The poem is quite beautiful, and it is theologically fascinating. There is nothing contrary to Catholic Doctrine, and it in fact is a rather interesting (and perhaps accurate? who knows...) representation of the three locations.

[Hinter dem Horizont]

[font=verdana, sans-serif][size=2]Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) wrote his epic poem, the [i]Divine Comedy[/i], during the last thirteen years of his life (circa 1308-21), while in exile from his native Florence. There are three parts to this massive work: [i]Inferno[/i], [i]Purgatory[/i] and [i]Paradise[/i]. In each section the poet recounts the travels of the Pilgrim—his alter ego—through hell, purgatory, and heaven, where he meets God face to face.[/size][/font]
[font=verdana, sans-serif][size=2]
[/size][/font]
[font=verdana, sans-serif][size=2]In the Inferno, you learn about the levels of hell. It's practically a cone shape. There is level 1, the Vestibule, which holds the indecisive, including the angels that never chose a side. Level 2, which is Limbo. Level 3, a place for the lustful. Level 4, the place of the gluttonous. Level 5, a place of the greedy and wasteful. Then finally, level 6, a place for the wrathful and the most hideous of persons. These levels correspond with the seven deadly sins. They are divided into circles. Circle 9 holds the worst criminals and sinners.They include[/size][/font][font=verdana, sans-serif][size=2] traitors to family, country, guests, and lords. They are also given names. One of the circles in circle 9 is called Caina after Cain, who killed his own brother.[/size][/font]

[YMNolan]

I've always wanted to read it. I own a copy of the entire DC. Kind of an intimidating read though. Eh, I should just smell of elderberries it up and go for it.

[sistersintigo]

The impact upon literature and arts alone, of The Divine Comedy, is enormous, it reverberated for centuries.
Italian opera alone has examples.
For instance: Gianni Schicchi is an historical Florentine character whom Dante consigns to the Inferno;
Puccini wrote a one-act comic opera on the subject, named for said character. It's the original Where's The Will, Let's Fake the Will cliche.

From comedy to tragedy: another character consigned to the Inferno, is Francesca da Rimini.
The opera named after her is full-length, tragic, and of the verismo composer Zandonai. Tchaikovsky also composed an orchestral, without-words,
"symphonic tone-poem" based on the same tragedy.

[cmotherofpirl]

http://danteworlds.laits.utexas.edu/

http://danteworlds.laits.utexas.edu/index2.html

a good summary:
http://www.angelfire.com/ak/Nyquil/Dante/Circle1.html

[ardillacid]

overrated

[sistersintigo]

ANOTHER bah humbug! Scrooge is out and about.

[Hinter dem Horizont]

[quote name='sistersintigo' timestamp='1291294022' post='2190332']
ANOTHER bah humbug! Scrooge is out and about.
[/quote]

There's always at least one...

[sistersintigo]

[quote name='Hinter dem Horizont' timestamp='1291294431' post='2190333']
There's always at least one...
[/quote]
Too true.