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 ...
More
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/9780198184980.003.0006
- 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/9780198184980.003.0003
- 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, ...
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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/9780198184980.003.0001
- 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Jon Stewart
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- February 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780198854357
- eISBN:
- 9780191888632
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198854357.003.0014
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Ancient Greek, Roman, and Early Christian Philosophy
Chapter 13 presents Dante and his Divine Comedy by giving the historical background for his life. Dante is understood as following in the epic tradition of Homer and Virgil, from whom he draws ...
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Chapter 13 presents Dante and his Divine Comedy by giving the historical background for his life. Dante is understood as following in the epic tradition of Homer and Virgil, from whom he draws extensively. Most importantly he uses Virgil as a kind of guide and mentor. A comparison is made between Dante’s account of hell and the different accounts of the Underworld in the pagan authors Homer and Dante. It is argued that Dante’s picture presents a more developed sense of subjectivity and individuality, which can be seen most readily in his elaborate system of punishments in the Inferno. This raises anew the question of divine justice which has been discussed in different contexts in the previous chapters. For Dante, the basic principle of divine punishment is referred to as “contrapasso,” which means something like “to suffer the opposite.” The idea implies that the punishment is conceived as the opposite or mirror image of the crime itself. It is thus intended as a natural inversion of the sin. Finally, an account is also given of the changed role of the hero Odysseus, who was hailed as great hero in the Homeric poems, but who here is reviled as a hardened sinner.Less
Chapter 13 presents Dante and his Divine Comedy by giving the historical background for his life. Dante is understood as following in the epic tradition of Homer and Virgil, from whom he draws extensively. Most importantly he uses Virgil as a kind of guide and mentor. A comparison is made between Dante’s account of hell and the different accounts of the Underworld in the pagan authors Homer and Dante. It is argued that Dante’s picture presents a more developed sense of subjectivity and individuality, which can be seen most readily in his elaborate system of punishments in the Inferno. This raises anew the question of divine justice which has been discussed in different contexts in the previous chapters. For Dante, the basic principle of divine punishment is referred to as “contrapasso,” which means something like “to suffer the opposite.” The idea implies that the punishment is conceived as the opposite or mirror image of the crime itself. It is thus intended as a natural inversion of the sin. Finally, an account is also given of the changed role of the hero Odysseus, who was hailed as great hero in the Homeric poems, but who here is reviled as a hardened sinner.
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.
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.
Nicholas Mee
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- September 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780198851950
- eISBN:
- 9780191886690
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198851950.003.0002
- Subject:
- Physics, History of Physics
Chapter 1 discusses labyrinths and mazes as motifs symbolizing the solar cycle from mythology to the Christian era. The labyrinth is engraved on neolithic monuments such as Newgrange in Ireland’s ...
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Chapter 1 discusses labyrinths and mazes as motifs symbolizing the solar cycle from mythology to the Christian era. The labyrinth is engraved on neolithic monuments such as Newgrange in Ireland’s Boyne Valley. The tale is told of Daedalus and the Cretan labyrinth and how Theseus overcame the Minotaur and escaped with the help of Ariadne’s thread. The meaning of the labyrinth in classical mythology is considered. The labyrinth remained an important symbol in the Middle Ages. It is found on the Mappa Mundi in Hereford Cathedral and in other medieval cathedrals such as Chartres. The chapter also discusses the relationship between the labyrinth and the cosmography of Dante’s Divine Comedy.Less
Chapter 1 discusses labyrinths and mazes as motifs symbolizing the solar cycle from mythology to the Christian era. The labyrinth is engraved on neolithic monuments such as Newgrange in Ireland’s Boyne Valley. The tale is told of Daedalus and the Cretan labyrinth and how Theseus overcame the Minotaur and escaped with the help of Ariadne’s thread. The meaning of the labyrinth in classical mythology is considered. The labyrinth remained an important symbol in the Middle Ages. It is found on the Mappa Mundi in Hereford Cathedral and in other medieval cathedrals such as Chartres. The chapter also discusses the relationship between the labyrinth and the cosmography of Dante’s Divine Comedy.
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.