1. The Divine Comedy By Dante Alighieri

2. Dante called it “The Comedy of Dante Alighieri, a Florentine by birth but not in character.”

3. The Divine Comedy A poetic composition between nobility of tragedy and the popular elegy Does end happily a poem that mourns the death of a person or laments something lost

4. Vocabulary cantos:

5. Vocabulary cantos: divisions in a long poem

6. Vocabulary cantos: divisions in a long poem vernacular:

7. Vocabulary cantos: divisions in a long poem vernacular: the everyday speech of the people

8. Vocabulary cantos: divisions in a long poem vernacular: the everyday speech of the people allegory:

9. Vocabulary cantos: divisions in a long poem vernacular: the everyday speech of the people allegory: a moralistic story that incorporates many symbols

10. Vocabulary symbol

11. Vocabulary symbol: person, place, thing, or event that represents something beyond itself. Example: The dove is usually used as a symbol of peace. Try brainstorming your own list of symbols.

12. Background Written between 1308-1321

13. Background One of the most important epic poems

14. Background Divine is attached centuries later-- feelings about Italy’s greatest masterpiece

15. Background Christian allegory

16. The Divine Comedy was enormously popular when it was first published. Reasons include: Composed in the vernacular Topical references

17. The 100 Cantos are divided into three equal sections (Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso) InfernoPurgatorioParadiso

18. The Poem recounts the journey that Dante takes through Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise The journey begins on Good Friday, 1300 and takes three days, ending on Easter Sunday

19. Beatrice, a woman Dante loved, guides him through Paradise Virgil, the Roman poet, guides him through Hell and Purgatory

20. Dante is not a theologian but a storyteller. He places sinners according to the sin that their respective stories most embody.