David Robey
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198184980
- eISBN:
- 9780191674419
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198184980.003.0002
- Subject:
- Literature, European Literature
What can we say about the sounds of Dante's Divine Comedy on the basis of an entirely, or almost entirely, automatic translation of the electronic text into a phonological representation: that is, ...
More
What can we say about the sounds of Dante's Divine Comedy on the basis of an entirely, or almost entirely, automatic translation of the electronic text into a phonological representation: that is, with the maximum of technology and the minimum of manual intervention? This entails one major limitation in the resultant analysis, that it cannot take accentual rhythm into account. We also need to recognize a number of other, less important limitations, resulting from other elements of the phonological system that are not reflected in Italian spelling. In part, these limitations depend on whether the phonological system is that of Tuscan or of other forms of the standard language. This chapter examines the distribution of vocalic and consonantal phonemes in the text of the Divine Comedy, and the distribution of vocalic and consonantal repetitions — assonances and alliterations. In all cases comparisons are made with a large range of related, and some unrelated, texts. Such repetitions have figured largely in modern Dante criticism and modern criticism in general.Less
What can we say about the sounds of Dante's Divine Comedy on the basis of an entirely, or almost entirely, automatic translation of the electronic text into a phonological representation: that is, with the maximum of technology and the minimum of manual intervention? This entails one major limitation in the resultant analysis, that it cannot take accentual rhythm into account. We also need to recognize a number of other, less important limitations, resulting from other elements of the phonological system that are not reflected in Italian spelling. In part, these limitations depend on whether the phonological system is that of Tuscan or of other forms of the standard language. This chapter examines the distribution of vocalic and consonantal phonemes in the text of the Divine Comedy, and the distribution of vocalic and consonantal repetitions — assonances and alliterations. In all cases comparisons are made with a large range of related, and some unrelated, texts. Such repetitions have figured largely in modern Dante criticism and modern criticism in general.
David Robey
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198184980
- eISBN:
- 9780191674419
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198184980.003.0005
- Subject:
- Literature, European Literature
In what way is it possible to represent the accentual rhythm of Dante's Divine Comedy, or any other Italian poem, systematically? Traditionally, the Italian hendecasyllable has been said to fall into ...
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In what way is it possible to represent the accentual rhythm of Dante's Divine Comedy, or any other Italian poem, systematically? Traditionally, the Italian hendecasyllable has been said to fall into three types, according to the location of accents in the line: on syllables 6 and 10; or 4, 8, and 10; or 4, 7, and 10. The first type is termed a maiore, the second and the third a minore. To say that syllable and phrase accentuation are a matter of stress means that they can be identified internally by the speaker, in terms of the energy with which he or she pronounces the syllables in question; and outwardly in terms of volume and length. In addressing the question of scansion, this chapter retains with very few exceptions the word accents of all polysyllables, whatever their position in the phrase, and assigns their accent to large classes of monosyllables on which an accent is possible in normal parlance.Less
In what way is it possible to represent the accentual rhythm of Dante's Divine Comedy, or any other Italian poem, systematically? Traditionally, the Italian hendecasyllable has been said to fall into three types, according to the location of accents in the line: on syllables 6 and 10; or 4, 8, and 10; or 4, 7, and 10. The first type is termed a maiore, the second and the third a minore. To say that syllable and phrase accentuation are a matter of stress means that they can be identified internally by the speaker, in terms of the energy with which he or she pronounces the syllables in question; and outwardly in terms of volume and length. In addressing the question of scansion, this chapter retains with very few exceptions the word accents of all polysyllables, whatever their position in the phrase, and assigns their accent to large classes of monosyllables on which an accent is possible in normal parlance.
David Robey
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198184980
- eISBN:
- 9780191674419
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198184980.003.0003
- Subject:
- Literature, European Literature
The near-phonological nature of Italian spelling, together with the relative simplicity of the rules for rhyme in traditional Italian metrics, mean that rhyme in Italian is susceptible of almost the ...
More
The near-phonological nature of Italian spelling, together with the relative simplicity of the rules for rhyme in traditional Italian metrics, mean that rhyme in Italian is susceptible of almost the same degree of electronic processing as the phonemes and alliterations in Dante's Divine Comedy. The ratio of types to tokens provides an index of the variety or range of rhymes in the poem: the more different rhymes there are in relation to the total number, clearly, the higher the ratio. The number of rhyme-types that occur only once within each cantica declines slightly from one to the next. The distribution of rhyme-words, as opposed to rhymes, does not strictly fall under our general heading of sounds, but it is a relevant consideration in this context, since the effect of a rhyme is inseparable from that of the word in which it is contained. This chapter also examines the distribution of accented vowels in rhyme in the Divine Comedy, the ten most common rhymes in the poem, and all phonemes in rhyme.Less
The near-phonological nature of Italian spelling, together with the relative simplicity of the rules for rhyme in traditional Italian metrics, mean that rhyme in Italian is susceptible of almost the same degree of electronic processing as the phonemes and alliterations in Dante's Divine Comedy. The ratio of types to tokens provides an index of the variety or range of rhymes in the poem: the more different rhymes there are in relation to the total number, clearly, the higher the ratio. The number of rhyme-types that occur only once within each cantica declines slightly from one to the next. The distribution of rhyme-words, as opposed to rhymes, does not strictly fall under our general heading of sounds, but it is a relevant consideration in this context, since the effect of a rhyme is inseparable from that of the word in which it is contained. This chapter also examines the distribution of accented vowels in rhyme in the Divine Comedy, the ten most common rhymes in the poem, and all phonemes in rhyme.
David Robey
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198184980
- eISBN:
- 9780191674419
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198184980.003.0004
- Subject:
- Literature, European Literature
The principles of syllable scansion in Dante's Divine Comedy have been most authoritatively treated in the Enciclopedia dantesca entries by Gian Luigi Beccaria on dialefe and dieresi. More recently, ...
More
The principles of syllable scansion in Dante's Divine Comedy have been most authoritatively treated in the Enciclopedia dantesca entries by Gian Luigi Beccaria on dialefe and dieresi. More recently, they have been treated in Pietro Beltrami's and Aldo Menichetti's substantial manuals of Italian metrics. Using a number of computer-based routines, this chapter examines the nature of Dante's practice, and particularly the degree of regularity that it displays. It also describes the accentual rhythm of the Divine Comedy and considers the basis on which syllable divisions are made. Defining Dante's practice in this respect means defining that practice as represented in Giorgio Petrocchi's edition of the Divine Comedy. This chapter also analyses exceptional sinalefe after polysyllables in the poem, along with vowels following dialefe and exceptional sinalefe.Less
The principles of syllable scansion in Dante's Divine Comedy have been most authoritatively treated in the Enciclopedia dantesca entries by Gian Luigi Beccaria on dialefe and dieresi. More recently, they have been treated in Pietro Beltrami's and Aldo Menichetti's substantial manuals of Italian metrics. Using a number of computer-based routines, this chapter examines the nature of Dante's practice, and particularly the degree of regularity that it displays. It also describes the accentual rhythm of the Divine Comedy and considers the basis on which syllable divisions are made. Defining Dante's practice in this respect means defining that practice as represented in Giorgio Petrocchi's edition of the Divine Comedy. This chapter also analyses exceptional sinalefe after polysyllables in the poem, along with vowels following dialefe and exceptional sinalefe.
David Robey
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198184980
- eISBN:
- 9780191674419
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198184980.003.0006
- Subject:
- Literature, European Literature
This chapter considers the ways in which sounds in Dante's Divine Comedy work. The purpose is to put into their theoretical and literary-critical context the key contributions to the debate of Gian ...
More
This chapter considers the ways in which sounds in Dante's Divine Comedy work. The purpose is to put into their theoretical and literary-critical context the key contributions to the debate of Gian Luigi Beccaria and others, by asking how a new view of the Divine Comedy emerged as a result of the impact of formalism, structuralism, and semiotics on the practice of literary criticism in Italy from the 1900s onwards. As theories concerned with the nature of literature and the literary, formalism, structuralism, and semiotics challenged the traditional treatment of Dante's poem, this held out the possibility of remedying its deficiencies through a more extensive consideration of its specifically literary properties. This chapter first considers the critical tradition dominant in Dante studies in Italy before the advent of these theories, then examines the distinctively Italian form of the theories.Less
This chapter considers the ways in which sounds in Dante's Divine Comedy work. The purpose is to put into their theoretical and literary-critical context the key contributions to the debate of Gian Luigi Beccaria and others, by asking how a new view of the Divine Comedy emerged as a result of the impact of formalism, structuralism, and semiotics on the practice of literary criticism in Italy from the 1900s onwards. As theories concerned with the nature of literature and the literary, formalism, structuralism, and semiotics challenged the traditional treatment of Dante's poem, this held out the possibility of remedying its deficiencies through a more extensive consideration of its specifically literary properties. This chapter first considers the critical tradition dominant in Dante studies in Italy before the advent of these theories, then examines the distinctively Italian form of the theories.
David Robey
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198184980
- eISBN:
- 9780191674419
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198184980.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, European Literature
The importance of sound in poetry is indisputable, yet it is not at all an easy subject to discuss, and is rarely treated systematically by literary scholars. This book uses a variety of ...
More
The importance of sound in poetry is indisputable, yet it is not at all an easy subject to discuss, and is rarely treated systematically by literary scholars. This book uses a variety of computer-based processes to construct a systematic analytical description of the sounds of Dante's Divine Comedy in the sense of their overall distribution within the text. The description is developed through a comparative treatment of the same features in a range of related texts, with a view to defining the distinctive characteristics of Dante's practice; and by a discussion of the function and effect of sounds in the work, with special attention to unusually high incidences of particular features. The book is thus both a contribution to the scholarly debate about Dante's poem, and an illustration and discussion of the ways in which new electronic technology can be used for this kind of purpose.Less
The importance of sound in poetry is indisputable, yet it is not at all an easy subject to discuss, and is rarely treated systematically by literary scholars. This book uses a variety of computer-based processes to construct a systematic analytical description of the sounds of Dante's Divine Comedy in the sense of their overall distribution within the text. The description is developed through a comparative treatment of the same features in a range of related texts, with a view to defining the distinctive characteristics of Dante's practice; and by a discussion of the function and effect of sounds in the work, with special attention to unusually high incidences of particular features. The book is thus both a contribution to the scholarly debate about Dante's poem, and an illustration and discussion of the ways in which new electronic technology can be used for this kind of purpose.
David Robey
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198184980
- eISBN:
- 9780191674419
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198184980.003.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, European Literature
The project that has led to this book uses computer analysis to construct a description of the sounds of Dante's Divine Comedy. While the importance of sound in poetry is indisputable, it is not at ...
More
The project that has led to this book uses computer analysis to construct a description of the sounds of Dante's Divine Comedy. While the importance of sound in poetry is indisputable, it is not at all an easy subject to discuss. Theoretical proposals have been made at a high level of generality, and they are often very suggestive: for instance, Julia Kristeva's association of rhythm with what she terms the ‘semiotic’ rather than the ‘symbolic’ element in language. This book examines the sound features of the Divine Comedy in the sense of their overall distribution within the text. Computer analysis is carried out based on Italian orthography. To translate the written text of the Divine Comedyinto a representation of its sounds is to translate it into its constituent phonemes. This project involves using the regularity of Italian spelling to produce a phonological transcription of the poem without distinguishing between accented and unaccented syllables.Less
The project that has led to this book uses computer analysis to construct a description of the sounds of Dante's Divine Comedy. While the importance of sound in poetry is indisputable, it is not at all an easy subject to discuss. Theoretical proposals have been made at a high level of generality, and they are often very suggestive: for instance, Julia Kristeva's association of rhythm with what she terms the ‘semiotic’ rather than the ‘symbolic’ element in language. This book examines the sound features of the Divine Comedy in the sense of their overall distribution within the text. Computer analysis is carried out based on Italian orthography. To translate the written text of the Divine Comedyinto a representation of its sounds is to translate it into its constituent phonemes. This project involves using the regularity of Italian spelling to produce a phonological transcription of the poem without distinguishing between accented and unaccented syllables.
Alexander Murray
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198207313
- eISBN:
- 9780191677625
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198207313.003.0010
- Subject:
- History, European Medieval History, Social History
Theology is an exact science. Its methods and aims may differ from those of the empirical sciences. But it remains exact in the sense of calling for painstaking accuracy in the formation of its main ...
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Theology is an exact science. Its methods and aims may differ from those of the empirical sciences. But it remains exact in the sense of calling for painstaking accuracy in the formation of its main propositions. In defining ‘occasional’ theology, the answer lies in the nature of the present enterprise, which is not theological but historical, and history must take occasional liberties with terms. This chapter considers Dante's Inferno, particularly Canto 13, and examines the poet's thought about suicide and his moral system.Less
Theology is an exact science. Its methods and aims may differ from those of the empirical sciences. But it remains exact in the sense of calling for painstaking accuracy in the formation of its main propositions. In defining ‘occasional’ theology, the answer lies in the nature of the present enterprise, which is not theological but historical, and history must take occasional liberties with terms. This chapter considers Dante's Inferno, particularly Canto 13, and examines the poet's thought about suicide and his moral system.
Jeffrey Hart
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- October 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780300087048
- eISBN:
- 9780300130522
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300087048.003.0007
- Subject:
- Sociology, Education
This chapter takes a look at Dante and the Divine Comedy, a work that is regarded as one of the greatest poems of all time—right next to the works of Homer and Shakespeare. Looking at Dante's epic in ...
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This chapter takes a look at Dante and the Divine Comedy, a work that is regarded as one of the greatest poems of all time—right next to the works of Homer and Shakespeare. Looking at Dante's epic in its larger context, however, it is seen that his intellectual project was to bring together three powerful traditions. First, he renewed the synthesis of the Athens–Jerusalem tension on a vast scale—bringing together the likes of Virgil and Augustine, Cicero and Aquinas. At the same time he also added a third element: the so-called religion of Love, the religion of Amor which had become popular and widespread throughout eleventh-century Europe. The chapter thus examines and analyzes Dante's epic, his interiorizing of the heroic and his making it the ideal of inner perfection.Less
This chapter takes a look at Dante and the Divine Comedy, a work that is regarded as one of the greatest poems of all time—right next to the works of Homer and Shakespeare. Looking at Dante's epic in its larger context, however, it is seen that his intellectual project was to bring together three powerful traditions. First, he renewed the synthesis of the Athens–Jerusalem tension on a vast scale—bringing together the likes of Virgil and Augustine, Cicero and Aquinas. At the same time he also added a third element: the so-called religion of Love, the religion of Amor which had become popular and widespread throughout eleventh-century Europe. The chapter thus examines and analyzes Dante's epic, his interiorizing of the heroic and his making it the ideal of inner perfection.
Paul J. Contino
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199795307
- eISBN:
- 9780199932894
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199795307.003.0009
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
Narrative embodiments are required by a Catholic imagination rooted in the Incarnation, the story of God who became flesh and dwelt among us, who redeemed us within the contours of a particular time ...
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Narrative embodiments are required by a Catholic imagination rooted in the Incarnation, the story of God who became flesh and dwelt among us, who redeemed us within the contours of a particular time and place, and who remains in relationship with us. For those hoping to hand down the Catholic intellectual tradition in narrative two great works are indispensable: Dante's Divine Comedy (1321) and Dostoevsky's Brothers Karamazov (1881). They have an encompassing vision embraced by Catholics, and they stand with an abundance of Catholic fiction, including works by Greene, Bernanos, Undset, Waugh, Flannery O’Connor, and Endo, all revealing and shaping a Catholic vision of abiding grace. In classic Catholic fiction the emphasis is on the portrayal of characters oriented toward sanctity. These characters reflect the variety of possible forms that “the good life” of holiness can take. Characters in Catholic fiction glimpse the promise of eternity within the contours of their limited lives. Persistently the Catholic narrative imagination suggests the presence of grace in the passage through limitation, including the limits of our human sinfulness. Also Catholic fiction frequently represents the power of the sacraments, especially the Eucharist.Less
Narrative embodiments are required by a Catholic imagination rooted in the Incarnation, the story of God who became flesh and dwelt among us, who redeemed us within the contours of a particular time and place, and who remains in relationship with us. For those hoping to hand down the Catholic intellectual tradition in narrative two great works are indispensable: Dante's Divine Comedy (1321) and Dostoevsky's Brothers Karamazov (1881). They have an encompassing vision embraced by Catholics, and they stand with an abundance of Catholic fiction, including works by Greene, Bernanos, Undset, Waugh, Flannery O’Connor, and Endo, all revealing and shaping a Catholic vision of abiding grace. In classic Catholic fiction the emphasis is on the portrayal of characters oriented toward sanctity. These characters reflect the variety of possible forms that “the good life” of holiness can take. Characters in Catholic fiction glimpse the promise of eternity within the contours of their limited lives. Persistently the Catholic narrative imagination suggests the presence of grace in the passage through limitation, including the limits of our human sinfulness. Also Catholic fiction frequently represents the power of the sacraments, especially the Eucharist.
Michael Caesar and Nick Havely
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199584628
- eISBN:
- 9780191739095
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199584628.003.0007
- Subject:
- Literature, 19th-century and Victorian Literature, Poetry
This chapter attempts to reconstruct, as far as possible, the dantate performed in London and in Italy by the celebrated actor and patriot, Gustavo Modena. These were a distinctive form of ...
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This chapter attempts to reconstruct, as far as possible, the dantate performed in London and in Italy by the celebrated actor and patriot, Gustavo Modena. These were a distinctive form of declamation of passages from the Divine Comedy which met with considerable acclaim between the 1830s and the 1850s, and enjoyed a long afterlife in the memory of witnesses and fellow professionals for at least half a century after Modena's death in 1861. The chapter contributes to the study of Dante in the nineteenth century by exploring the possibilities and limitations of oral performance of the text at a time when Dante was rapidly filling the role of national poet amidst the heightened political tensions of the Risorgimento. The concluding sections place Modena's further reflections on and performance of Dante in the context of his growing disillusionment with the likely and actual outcomes of the struggle for nationhood.Less
This chapter attempts to reconstruct, as far as possible, the dantate performed in London and in Italy by the celebrated actor and patriot, Gustavo Modena. These were a distinctive form of declamation of passages from the Divine Comedy which met with considerable acclaim between the 1830s and the 1850s, and enjoyed a long afterlife in the memory of witnesses and fellow professionals for at least half a century after Modena's death in 1861. The chapter contributes to the study of Dante in the nineteenth century by exploring the possibilities and limitations of oral performance of the text at a time when Dante was rapidly filling the role of national poet amidst the heightened political tensions of the Risorgimento. The concluding sections place Modena's further reflections on and performance of Dante in the context of his growing disillusionment with the likely and actual outcomes of the struggle for nationhood.
Ralph Pite
- Published in print:
- 1994
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198112945
- eISBN:
- 9780191670886
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198112945.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, 19th-century Literature and Romanticism, Poetry
The sudden and spectacular growth in Dante's popularity in England at the end of the 18th century was immensely influential for English writers of the period. But the impact of Dante on English ...
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The sudden and spectacular growth in Dante's popularity in England at the end of the 18th century was immensely influential for English writers of the period. But the impact of Dante on English writers has rarely been analysed and its history has been little understood. Byron, Shelley, Keats, Coleridge, Blake, and Wordsworth all wrote and painted while Dante's work — its style, project, and achievement — commanded their attention and provoked their disagreement. This book discusses each of these writers in detail, assessing the nature of their engagement with the Divine Comedy and the consequences for their own writing. It explores how these Romantic poets understood Dante, what they valued in his poetry and why, setting them in the context of contemporary commentators, translators, and illustrators, (including Fuseli, Flaxman, and Reynolds) both in England and Europe. Romantic readings of the Divine Comedy are shown to disturb our own ideas about Dante, which are based on Victorian and Modernist assumptions. The book also presents a reconsideration of the concept of ‘influence’ in general, using the example of Dante's presence in Romantic poetry to challenge Harold Bloom's belief that the relations between poets are invariably a fight to the death.Less
The sudden and spectacular growth in Dante's popularity in England at the end of the 18th century was immensely influential for English writers of the period. But the impact of Dante on English writers has rarely been analysed and its history has been little understood. Byron, Shelley, Keats, Coleridge, Blake, and Wordsworth all wrote and painted while Dante's work — its style, project, and achievement — commanded their attention and provoked their disagreement. This book discusses each of these writers in detail, assessing the nature of their engagement with the Divine Comedy and the consequences for their own writing. It explores how these Romantic poets understood Dante, what they valued in his poetry and why, setting them in the context of contemporary commentators, translators, and illustrators, (including Fuseli, Flaxman, and Reynolds) both in England and Europe. Romantic readings of the Divine Comedy are shown to disturb our own ideas about Dante, which are based on Victorian and Modernist assumptions. The book also presents a reconsideration of the concept of ‘influence’ in general, using the example of Dante's presence in Romantic poetry to challenge Harold Bloom's belief that the relations between poets are invariably a fight to the death.
Anna Katharina Schaffner
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- January 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780231172301
- eISBN:
- 9780231538855
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Columbia University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7312/columbia/9780231172301.003.0003
- Subject:
- Psychology, Social Psychology
Symptoms of exhaustion theorized in the context of acedia and sloth, ranging from late antiquity to the Middle Ages. Theologians of that period, such as Thomas Aquinas, believed that the symptoms of ...
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Symptoms of exhaustion theorized in the context of acedia and sloth, ranging from late antiquity to the Middle Ages. Theologians of that period, such as Thomas Aquinas, believed that the symptoms of exhaustion were caused by moral and spiritual failings. Exhaustion was represented as a disease of the will and the spirit, not of the body. Literary example includes Dante's 'The Divine Comedy'.Less
Symptoms of exhaustion theorized in the context of acedia and sloth, ranging from late antiquity to the Middle Ages. Theologians of that period, such as Thomas Aquinas, believed that the symptoms of exhaustion were caused by moral and spiritual failings. Exhaustion was represented as a disease of the will and the spirit, not of the body. Literary example includes Dante's 'The Divine Comedy'.
John Woodhouse (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 1997
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198159117
- eISBN:
- 9780191673498
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198159117.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Early and Medieval Literature, European Literature
This book brings to the most grandiose of Dante's messages in the Divine Comedy critical viewpoints whose originality would, at any time, constitute an important addition to Dante scholarship. ...
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This book brings to the most grandiose of Dante's messages in the Divine Comedy critical viewpoints whose originality would, at any time, constitute an important addition to Dante scholarship. However, this book is also notable for an approach which during the course of its composition spontaneously evolved as pragmatic and historical, particularly when seen against much contemporary Dante criticism. It explores Dante's breathtaking ambition to convince Europe's rulers and their subjects to create and embrace a universal peace, guaranteed by the Pope and Holy Roman Emperor, which might afford serenity for mankind fully to develop its wonderful potentialities. In that context, a group of scholars, internationally known for their expertise not only in Dante studies but also in medieval literature and history, was invited to Oxford to discuss the poet's objectives. Each chose to argue a case from a close reading of Dante's own texts, using clear and jargon-free language. Those deliberations created a well-focused and coherent group of chapters on a variety of subjects, ranging from an aesthetic appreciation of Dante's depiction of free-will and moral responsibility, to a feminist perception of his attitude to the role of women in 14th-century Florentine public life.Less
This book brings to the most grandiose of Dante's messages in the Divine Comedy critical viewpoints whose originality would, at any time, constitute an important addition to Dante scholarship. However, this book is also notable for an approach which during the course of its composition spontaneously evolved as pragmatic and historical, particularly when seen against much contemporary Dante criticism. It explores Dante's breathtaking ambition to convince Europe's rulers and their subjects to create and embrace a universal peace, guaranteed by the Pope and Holy Roman Emperor, which might afford serenity for mankind fully to develop its wonderful potentialities. In that context, a group of scholars, internationally known for their expertise not only in Dante studies but also in medieval literature and history, was invited to Oxford to discuss the poet's objectives. Each chose to argue a case from a close reading of Dante's own texts, using clear and jargon-free language. Those deliberations created a well-focused and coherent group of chapters on a variety of subjects, ranging from an aesthetic appreciation of Dante's depiction of free-will and moral responsibility, to a feminist perception of his attitude to the role of women in 14th-century Florentine public life.
John Freccero
Danielle Callegari and Melissa Swain (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- January 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780823264278
- eISBN:
- 9780823266760
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fordham/9780823264278.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Early and Medieval Literature
Waking to find himself shipwrecked on an strange shore before a dark wood, the pilgrim of the Divine Comedy realizes he must set his sights higher and guide his ship to a radically different port. ...
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Waking to find himself shipwrecked on an strange shore before a dark wood, the pilgrim of the Divine Comedy realizes he must set his sights higher and guide his ship to a radically different port. Starting on the sand of that very shore with Dante, this book begins retracing the famous voyage recounted by the poet nearly seven hundred years ago. The text follows pilgrim and poet through the Comedy and then beyond, inviting readers both uninitiated and accomplished to join in navigating this complex medieval masterpiece and its influence on later literature. Perfectly impenetrable in its poetry and unabashedly ambitious in its content, the Divine Comedy is the cosmos collapsed on itself, heavy with dense matter and impossible to expand. Yet Dante's great triumph is seen in the tiny, subtle fragments that make up the seamless whole, pieces that the poet painstakingly sewed together to form a work that insinuates itself into the reader and inspires the work of the next author. The book magnifies the most infinitesimal elements of that intricate construction to identify self-similar parts, revealing the full breadth of the great poem. Using this same technique, the book then turns to later giants of literature, Petrarch, Machiavelli, Donne, Joyce, and Svevo, demonstrating how these authors absorbed these smallest parts and reproduced Dante in their own work. In the process, it confronts questions of faith, friendship, gender, politics, poetry, and sexuality.Less
Waking to find himself shipwrecked on an strange shore before a dark wood, the pilgrim of the Divine Comedy realizes he must set his sights higher and guide his ship to a radically different port. Starting on the sand of that very shore with Dante, this book begins retracing the famous voyage recounted by the poet nearly seven hundred years ago. The text follows pilgrim and poet through the Comedy and then beyond, inviting readers both uninitiated and accomplished to join in navigating this complex medieval masterpiece and its influence on later literature. Perfectly impenetrable in its poetry and unabashedly ambitious in its content, the Divine Comedy is the cosmos collapsed on itself, heavy with dense matter and impossible to expand. Yet Dante's great triumph is seen in the tiny, subtle fragments that make up the seamless whole, pieces that the poet painstakingly sewed together to form a work that insinuates itself into the reader and inspires the work of the next author. The book magnifies the most infinitesimal elements of that intricate construction to identify self-similar parts, revealing the full breadth of the great poem. Using this same technique, the book then turns to later giants of literature, Petrarch, Machiavelli, Donne, Joyce, and Svevo, demonstrating how these authors absorbed these smallest parts and reproduced Dante in their own work. In the process, it confronts questions of faith, friendship, gender, politics, poetry, and sexuality.
Teodolinda Barolini
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780823227037
- eISBN:
- 9780823241019
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fordham/9780823227037.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Poetry
This book explores the sources of Italian literary culture in the figures of its lyric poets and its three crowns: Dante, Petrarch, and Boccaccio. The author views the origins of Italian literary ...
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This book explores the sources of Italian literary culture in the figures of its lyric poets and its three crowns: Dante, Petrarch, and Boccaccio. The author views the origins of Italian literary culture through four prisms: the ideological/philosophical, the intertextual/multicultural, the structural/formal, and the social. The essays in the first section treat the ideology of love and desire from the early lyric tradition to the Inferno and its antecedents in philosophy and theology. The second section focuses on Dante as heir to both the Christian visionary and the classical pagan traditions (with emphasis on Vergil and Ovid). The essays in the third part analyze the narrative character of Dante's Vita nuova, Petrarch's lyric sequence, and Boccaccio's The Decameron. The author also looks at the cultural implications of the editorial history of Dante's Rime and at what sparso versus organico spells in the Italian imaginary. In the section on gender, she argues that the didactic texts intended for women's use and instruction, as explored by Guittone, Dante, and Boccaccio—but not by Petrarch—were more progressive than the courtly style for which the Italian tradition is celebrated. Moving from the lyric origins of the Divine Comedy in “Dante and the Lyric Past” to Petrarch's regressive stance on gender in “Notes toward a Gendered History of Italian Literature”—and encompassing, among others, Giacomo da Lentini, Guido Cavalcanti, and Guittone d'Arezzo—these sixteen essays frame the literary culture of thirteenth- and fourteenth-century Italy in fresh, illuminating ways.Less
This book explores the sources of Italian literary culture in the figures of its lyric poets and its three crowns: Dante, Petrarch, and Boccaccio. The author views the origins of Italian literary culture through four prisms: the ideological/philosophical, the intertextual/multicultural, the structural/formal, and the social. The essays in the first section treat the ideology of love and desire from the early lyric tradition to the Inferno and its antecedents in philosophy and theology. The second section focuses on Dante as heir to both the Christian visionary and the classical pagan traditions (with emphasis on Vergil and Ovid). The essays in the third part analyze the narrative character of Dante's Vita nuova, Petrarch's lyric sequence, and Boccaccio's The Decameron. The author also looks at the cultural implications of the editorial history of Dante's Rime and at what sparso versus organico spells in the Italian imaginary. In the section on gender, she argues that the didactic texts intended for women's use and instruction, as explored by Guittone, Dante, and Boccaccio—but not by Petrarch—were more progressive than the courtly style for which the Italian tradition is celebrated. Moving from the lyric origins of the Divine Comedy in “Dante and the Lyric Past” to Petrarch's regressive stance on gender in “Notes toward a Gendered History of Italian Literature”—and encompassing, among others, Giacomo da Lentini, Guido Cavalcanti, and Guittone d'Arezzo—these sixteen essays frame the literary culture of thirteenth- and fourteenth-century Italy in fresh, illuminating ways.
Guy P. Raffa
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- February 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780226702674
- eISBN:
- 9780226702780
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226702780.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, European Literature
One of the greatest works of world literature, Dante Alighieri's The Divine Comedy has, despite its enormous popularity and importance, often stymied readers with its multitudinous characters, ...
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One of the greatest works of world literature, Dante Alighieri's The Divine Comedy has, despite its enormous popularity and importance, often stymied readers with its multitudinous characters, references, and themes. But until now, students of the Inferno have lacked a suitable resource to guide their reading. This book takes readers on a geographic journey through Dante's underworld circle by circle—from the Dark Wood down to the ninth circle of Hell—in much the same way Dante and Virgil proceed in their infernal descent. Each chapter—or “region”—of the book begins with a summary of the action, followed by detailed chapters, significant verses, and useful study questions. The chapters, based on a close examination of the poet's biblical, classical, and medieval sources, help locate the characters and creatures Dante encounters and assist in decoding the poem's vast array of references to religion, philosophy, history, politics, and other works of literature.Less
One of the greatest works of world literature, Dante Alighieri's The Divine Comedy has, despite its enormous popularity and importance, often stymied readers with its multitudinous characters, references, and themes. But until now, students of the Inferno have lacked a suitable resource to guide their reading. This book takes readers on a geographic journey through Dante's underworld circle by circle—from the Dark Wood down to the ninth circle of Hell—in much the same way Dante and Virgil proceed in their infernal descent. Each chapter—or “region”—of the book begins with a summary of the action, followed by detailed chapters, significant verses, and useful study questions. The chapters, based on a close examination of the poet's biblical, classical, and medieval sources, help locate the characters and creatures Dante encounters and assist in decoding the poem's vast array of references to religion, philosophy, history, politics, and other works of literature.
Rebecca Gordon Stewart
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- August 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780816683611
- eISBN:
- 9781452949291
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Minnesota Press
- DOI:
- 10.5749/minnesota/9780816683611.003.0010
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
This chapter examines how Christopher Isherwood manipulates his creation of a “mythology of self” in the 1962 novel Down There on a Visit. In the 1950s, as Isherwood continued to struggle with ...
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This chapter examines how Christopher Isherwood manipulates his creation of a “mythology of self” in the 1962 novel Down There on a Visit. In the 1950s, as Isherwood continued to struggle with elements of The World in the Evening, he notes in his “Writing Notebook” that he has a new idea for a story, one that would turn out to be Down There on a Visit. An analysis of Isherwood’s unpublished notes alongside the final novel reveals that many of the themes that formed his original plan of rewriting Dante’s journey through Hell and Purgatory as narrated in The Divine Comedy in fact have remained at the forefront of Down There on a Visit. This chapter considers Down There on a Visit’s connection to both The Divine Comedy and Joris-Karl Huysmans’s novel Là-bas in terms of style and themes.Less
This chapter examines how Christopher Isherwood manipulates his creation of a “mythology of self” in the 1962 novel Down There on a Visit. In the 1950s, as Isherwood continued to struggle with elements of The World in the Evening, he notes in his “Writing Notebook” that he has a new idea for a story, one that would turn out to be Down There on a Visit. An analysis of Isherwood’s unpublished notes alongside the final novel reveals that many of the themes that formed his original plan of rewriting Dante’s journey through Hell and Purgatory as narrated in The Divine Comedy in fact have remained at the forefront of Down There on a Visit. This chapter considers Down There on a Visit’s connection to both The Divine Comedy and Joris-Karl Huysmans’s novel Là-bas in terms of style and themes.
Eleonore Stump
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- May 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780199915453
- eISBN:
- 9780190248383
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780199915453.003.0013
- Subject:
- Philosophy, History of Philosophy, Moral Philosophy
Dante is a superb Thomist; and, in his Divine Comedy, he puts flesh on Aquinas’s sophisticated philosophical and theological views by means of an allegory with novelistic elements. In the Inferno, ...
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Dante is a superb Thomist; and, in his Divine Comedy, he puts flesh on Aquinas’s sophisticated philosophical and theological views by means of an allegory with novelistic elements. In the Inferno, Dante the traveler exemplifies the way in which to do well what the sinner in hell did horribly. The punishment of the sinner shows the ugliness of a particular evil, and the actions of Dante the traveler show something powerfully good that is the alternative, the near neighbor, of the evil. By this twinned means, the nature of the seven deadly sins is vividly exposed, and true goodness and love, opposed to all the seven deadly sins, is illuminated and poignantly depicted. Furthermore, Dante is not only a superb Thomist and an insightful philosopher in his own right, but he incarnates the philosophy in narrative; and that makes all the difference in the world to his ability to give us insight into evil.Less
Dante is a superb Thomist; and, in his Divine Comedy, he puts flesh on Aquinas’s sophisticated philosophical and theological views by means of an allegory with novelistic elements. In the Inferno, Dante the traveler exemplifies the way in which to do well what the sinner in hell did horribly. The punishment of the sinner shows the ugliness of a particular evil, and the actions of Dante the traveler show something powerfully good that is the alternative, the near neighbor, of the evil. By this twinned means, the nature of the seven deadly sins is vividly exposed, and true goodness and love, opposed to all the seven deadly sins, is illuminated and poignantly depicted. Furthermore, Dante is not only a superb Thomist and an insightful philosopher in his own right, but he incarnates the philosophy in narrative; and that makes all the difference in the world to his ability to give us insight into evil.
Peter Elbow
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- March 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780199782505
- eISBN:
- 9780190252861
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:osobl/9780199782505.003.0022
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
This section examines how a local spoken language that was derided for writing—the “vulgar” vernacular employed by Dante in The Divine Comedy—could be used for writing of the highest seriousness and ...
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This section examines how a local spoken language that was derided for writing—the “vulgar” vernacular employed by Dante in The Divine Comedy—could be used for writing of the highest seriousness and quality. It also considers how such a language could eventually become accceptable for writing. It includes two chapters that explore some of the problems with the existing culture of proper literacy and its hostility to speech, as well as the expected emergence of a new culture of vernacular literacy that will welcome speech—and multiple spoken languages—for writing.Less
This section examines how a local spoken language that was derided for writing—the “vulgar” vernacular employed by Dante in The Divine Comedy—could be used for writing of the highest seriousness and quality. It also considers how such a language could eventually become accceptable for writing. It includes two chapters that explore some of the problems with the existing culture of proper literacy and its hostility to speech, as well as the expected emergence of a new culture of vernacular literacy that will welcome speech—and multiple spoken languages—for writing.
