Essay on The Historical Significance of Dante's Divine Comedy


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Outline the historical significance of Dante's `Divine Comedy' Dante's `Divine Comedy', the account of his journey through hell, purgatory and heaven is one of the worlds great poems, and a prime example of a most splendidly realized integration of life with art. More than being merely great poetry, or a chronicle of contemporary events, which it also is, the `Comedy' is a study of human nature by a man quite experienced with it.


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The sinners of literature being far more memorable than the saints I will choose `Inferno'. On first entering the folds of Dante's poetic fiction, `Inferno', one finds oneself, like the pilgrim therein, quite lost. To get beyond the enjoyment of it as sheer poetry, to understand its meaning and its historical significance, it presents a multitude of problems.


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This uncertainty does not go away if we seek guidance from some modern approaches to Dante's use of allegory such as tho... ... middle of paper ... ...e world in which he lived the `Comedy' is also a profound exploration of questions that transcend his time and place such as morality, in general as well as in politics and religion, concerns as apparent today as they were seven centuries ago.


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