Great Books III Study Questions for Assignment 15, Dante, The Divine Comedy
- Begin by reading this brief but very good Columbia Encyclopedia entry on Dante.
What are the years of his birth and death? Of what city was he a native before his exile? When was the word "divine" added to the title of his epic?
Sayers' Introduction to Dante, pgs. 9-69
- Page 15, top half. What are the literal and allegorical meanings of the Comedy, according to Dante himself?
- Pages 9, top half, and 11, top half. What would be the best way to read this epic? Why?
- Pages 12-18. What are the two kinds of allegorical symbols? Which does Dante use most heavily? How does this explain the necessity of annotation for the modern reader?
- Pages 25-28. What was the significance of Beatrice to Dante throughout his life? That is, what did she represent for him?
- Pages 29-39. Recount briefly the civil turmoil in Florence in Dante's day, and how it led to his exile.
- Pages. 43-48. What hopes did Dante have for earthly peace in Italy (especially Florence), and what became of those hopes?
- Pages 49-50. For what kind of reader did Dante intend his poem? How would you describe the tone of the top paragraph of pg. 50? What does Sayers think of Dante's character and temperament as revealed in the Comedy?
- Page 60, middle. How should the poetry be read? (Assuming "aloud", of course)
Dante, Hell, Cantos 1-17
- Canto 1, lines 112-129. What journey does Virgil tell Dante he must take, and who will lead him?
- Canto 2. Why do Beatrice, Mary, and St. Lucy come to Dante's aid?
- Canto 3. What is the significance of lines 4-6 for the rest of the journey through Hell?
- Canto 4. What is the Harrowing of Hell?
- Canto 5. What kind of sins does the Circle of Incontinence punish?
- Canto 6, lines 103-111. What will be the final condition of the damned after the Great Sentence?
- Canto 7, lines 67-96. How does Virgil describe Fortune, and how does his explanation compare to Boethius's?
- Canto 10. What is Farinata's explanation of how the damned know something of the past and future, but not the present?
- Canto 13. What will happen to the bodies of suicides at the Last Day?
- Cantos 14-16. How are the punishments of the Violent against Heaven, Nature, and Art appropriate to their sins?
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