Tercets // cantos // canticles // 34 - 33 - 33 (or) 1 - 33 - 33 - 33 = 100
Terza rima: ABA BCB CDC DED ... XYX YZY Z
The two Dantes: Dante the Poet // Dante the Pilgrim
Date of the journey: Holy Week 1300
Canto 1
epic qualities: in medias res
"res et signum" (the thing and the sign)
the "piè fermo": the "firm foot"
"homo claudus" (the "limping man")
the three beasts: lonza (leopard), leone (lion), lupa (she-wolf)
"captatio benevolentiae": the gaining of the good will of another
teleology
Rhetorical device: hysteron-proteron
Virgil: Why should he be Dante's guide? If Virgil is the allegorical representation of “human reason” in the poem, why not have Aristotle (the consummate philosopher) as the Pilgrim’s guide?
God as the "Emperor"
The "other world" as a city
The nature of election
Canto 2
Epic beginning: invocation to the Muses
The obstacle to be overcome: cowardice, insecurity
The great models: "I am not Aeneas, I am not Paul"
The great missions
Aeneas: the founding of Rome
Paul: the strengthening of the Church
The "chain of grace": Virgin Mary --> Lucy --> Beatrice
--> Virgil
Canto 3
The Gate of Hell: what does the gate say? Who wrote the words?
What is the model for the gate?
The gate of a medieval city? A Roman triumphal arch?
The "contrapasso": lex talionis: the law of just retribution
The souls in the Vestibule
"The shade of him / who made, through cowardice, the great refusal"
Celestine V? Pontius Pilate? Esau? Emperor Diocletian? Others?
Figural density
The Acheron and the boatman Charon
The transformation of classical figures in medieval texts into demonic beings
The influence of classical texts: the Aeneid
Virgil’s formula --> the golden bough
Canto 4
Circle 1: Limbo: The Virtuous Pagans
The Harrowing of Hell
The ancient poets: Homer, Ovid, Lucan, Horace, Virgil
Dante: "I was sixth among such intellects"
The "exalted castle" (nobile castello): the symbolism of the walls, gates and stream
Reminiscences of the sixth book of the Aeneid: Anchises shows Aeneas the future glories of Rome