Dante and Medieval Latin Traditions

Peter Dronke explores 'The Divine Comedy' by exploring the medieval Latin traditions of Dante's era.

Peter Dronke (Author)

9780521379601, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 24 February 1989

168 pages
21.6 x 14 x 0.1 cm, 0.2 kg

In this book, Peter Dronke illustrates how medieval Latin traditions can help us to understand Dante's great poem 'The Divine Comedy'. He first discusses medieval conceptions of allegory and vision, image and metaphor, symbol and myth, as well as some of Dante's own insights into the nature of poetic meaning. Later chapters relate particular moments in the Comedy - the giants in Inferno, the apocalyptic showings in Purgatorio, and the solar heaven in Paradiso - to Dante's Latin inheritance. All quotations from Italian are accompanied by English translations.

Preface
1. The Commedia and medieval modes of reading
2. The giants in Hell
3. The phantasmagoria in the earthly paradise
4. The first circle in the solar heaven
Excursus
Notes
Bibliographical note
Index.

Subject Areas: Literary studies: poetry & poets [DSC], Poetry by individual poets [DCF]