Oh You Possessed of Sturdy Intellects, observe the teaching that is hidden here/Beneath the veil of verses so obscure

1. Oh You Possessed of Sturdy Intellects, observe the teaching that is hidden here/Beneath the veil of verses so obscure

2. Dante’s Inferno

3. A big jump in time and worlds • Our last jump took us 450 years from the youthful Roman Empire of Virgil to the dying empire of Augustine • Our latest jump takes us 800 years from the death of Augustine in 430 to the birth of Dante in 1265 • We leap over most of the middle ages, that period of European Collapse and Regrouping • We “touch down” in the Dante’s Era: The High Middle ages of Italy in a world of great religious, intellectual, and political fermenting

4. Dante and his Times • Dante’s Europe could be seen as a clash between “centripetal” and “centrifugal” forces • Centripetal Forces • Religious Unity under the Church • Attempts at political unity under the “Holy Roman Empire” • Unity of all knowledge under scholastic philosophy • Centrifugal forces • Religious unity undermined by • Political ambitions of the papacy • Forces of religious dissent • Political unity undermined by • Rising nation states clashing with each other and Holy Roman Empire • Papacy clashing with everyone • Unity of knowledge temporarily secure • Dante’s Italy as an intense battleground of Centripetal and centrifugal forces • Clash of City States with one Another • Clash of Popes and Holy Roman Emperors Dante’s life marred and poetry made by these clashes.

5. Poetic and Political Life • Born in the city of Florence in 1265 • His poetic inspiration • At 9 years old a “casual meeting” with the 9 year old Beatrice Portinari “kindled an unquenchable flame” as Ruth Fox writes in (Fox, Ruth Mary. Dante Lights the Way. Milwaukee: Bruce, 60 • Love at first sight has seldom left such permanent monument • From it came a “new life” which he celebrated in in his early work of the same name, “La Vita Nuova” • Beatrice as a “God-bearing” image (Sayers) • His political disaster • Became a leader in the triumphant Guelf Party • Mafia-like” family feuds split that party into two factions, the “Whites” and the “Blacks • Dante was a “White” • While on a mission to the pope, Blacks seize power and exile Dante • Divine Comedy reflects bitterness of exile

6. The Divine Comedy as a Poetic “Cathedral • Cathedrals take their architecture from Christian doctrine • An Instance: Design of a Cathedral reflects the doctrine of God • 3 spires, 3 portals, 3 aisles reflect the trinity: • Dante’s “architecture” also based on Christian doctrine • Trinitarian” verse pattern • Three line “tercets” reflect “tri-personality • 11 syllables in each line reflect “oneness.” • Trinitarian structure • Poem has 3 divisions, each division has 33 cantos; hell as 3divisions; purgatory has 9 (3X3); • But the poem has one introductory canto, 100 full cantos, all reflecting the “oneness

7. Other Cathedral-like Aspects • Cathedrals overwhelm and draw attention upward—as does The Comedy • Cathedrals combine a passion for detail with a thirst for unity—as does The Comedy • What The Comedy “crowds” together. • Christian Doctrine • Ethics, psychology, and spirituality of Medieval Church • The philosophy and science of the era • The political realities of the day • The union of the classical world with the Christian • The love of a woman who becomes a “God-bearing” image

8. “MODEL” OF A CATHEDRAL

9. Comedy and Allegory • Definition of Comedy • Definition of Allegory: The use of characters, images, or events to “stand for” abstract ideas—usually of a moral or spiritual nature • Examples of Allegory: • Canto 1: The lepard=self-indulgence, the lion=violence, and the she-wolf=fraud • Canto 2: Beatrice stands for Divine Grace • Canto 5. The whirling winds of 3rd circle stand for uncontrolled lust. • Allegory means that the poem proceeds on two levels: • The literal story • And the allegorical message.