Works by Dante Alighieri

Was Dante Trying to Scare the Hell Out of Us? (A discussion of how Dante’s The Inferno, is used as a moral propaedeutic) “Heaven would be wonderful, but it looks even more wonderful when there is also a threat of Hell. People probably believe in Heaven more when they have just been threatened with Hell.” (Heflick). People of the church are often known for their ability to make individuals who do not attend church feel lesser and more sinful than themselves. This seems to be the case because…

particular sins, in canto I Dante is climbing a hillside and winds up spotting three beasts before him that have a more significant meaning than just instilling fear in Dante. The three beasts, the leopard, lion and she-wolf, all represent different things in what is to be seen during Dante’s journey. In this scene, the reader is given an idea of what is to come during Dante’s journey through Hell while also making a big point with his response to the encounter. The beasts that Dante…

because the reactions that Aeneas and Dante show when presented with events in hell are very similar, The Sybil and Aeneas act like a guide and follower much similar to Virgil and Dante's relationship, and We see many similarities between the paths both Aeneas and Virgil take. The first major influence from Virgil’s Aeneid that we see on Dante's Hell are the similar reactions to the suffering of the souls…

Milton’s Paradise Lost, in which it is rather described as a place full of fire, a literal furnace. Our minds are immediately drawn to a fiery Hell, as that is what is traditionally pictured in modern-day pop culture and the like. However, I believe Dante was right in his description, that ice is a metaphor better suited to Hell than fire. Firstly, I must start with what fire represents in literature and culture. Hestia, who is the goddess of the hearth in Greek mythology, is known as a kind…

be like, one may turn to Dante’s work of epic poetry, Inferno, for guidance as it sets up Dante’s idea of what Hell is like and how sinners are organized. It becomes obvious that Dante looks upon his Christian values to determine his idea of Hell, but it may also be thought that Dante uses his knowledge and personal feelings of the people he condemns as well as his own life experiences as a guide to determine where in Hell sinners will go. This is apparent when Dante enters the ninth circle of…

who wanted good for their society, including Dante Alighieri, who wrote the epic poem The Inferno. In the epic, Alighieri creates his own structure of Hell and names a protagonist after himself, Dante. Dante experiences all the horrors of Hell with his guide Virgil, who is portrayed as the symbol of human reason. This is not only…

In Dante Alighieri’s Inferno, Alighieri describes many punishments due to sin. Although this purpose might upset modern readers who do not think of themselves as sinners, Alighieri’s audience, however, believed the greater the sin, the greater the grace would be. Fully aware of their sins, the audience saw God’s overwhelming love manifested through the mercy of forgiveness, so they could have hope in the midst of the bleakness of sin. When reading Inferno, the reader must also remember that the…

First of all the "Beowulf " poem from The Norton Anthology of World Literature, in the section of "the Hero Comes to Heorot" Beowulf said " They had seen me blotered in the blood of enemies / when I battled and bound five beasts, / raided a troll-nest and in the night-sea slaughtered sea-brutes."(419-22 900) to King Hrothgar when he asked for a permission to fight Grendel in behalf of Danish people. From this line the reader could see the true character of the Beowulf ,a fearsome warrior who…

motion, giving us an immediate look into the vivid descriptions of Hell through the eyes of Dante the pilgrim. Not only do we ‘see’ that which is happening through his journey, but we also begin to feel Dante’s emotions as well; his hope in seeing the sunlight over the mountaintop and then his fear of the unknown- the beasts who block his path to hope and salvation. At the beginning of this poem, Dante, in the dark forest, had just awoken, and had wandered away from the right-true path (way)…

right before us on the lustrous green the mighty shades were pointed out to me (my heart felt glory when I looked at them). There was Elektra standing with the group, among whom I saw Hector and Aeneas, and Caesar, Falcon-eyed, and fully armed.” (ALIGHIERI)(Canto IV, Lines 119-123) Here the writer is describing his admiration for these great…