... based on his sins. As Dante travels with Virgil through each circle of Hell, he gets to experience each sinner's punishment for the types of sin in that circle. Perhaps to most recognizable aspect of Aeneid that influenced my reading of Inferno was the connection that was made concerning the theme of spirits as a motivational force. In the poem Aendid, this spirit refers to Aeneas' wife ... your beloved Creusa." Similar to that from Aendid, the theme mentioned above also occurs in Inferno. In the poem Inferno, the spirit refers to Dante's departed wife, Beatrice whom is in heaven. Becau...

• Word Count: 781
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

...  and Paradiso. It is an allegory telling of the journey of Dante through Hell, guided by the Roman poet Virgil. In the poem, Hell is depicted as nine circles of suffering located within the Earth. Allegorically, "Divine Comedy"  represents the journey of the soul towards God, with the Inferno describing the recognition and rejection of sin. The poem starts on Maundy Thursday in the year 1300. The narrator, Dante himself, is thirty-five years ... old, and thus "halfway along our life's path" (Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita) - half of the ... ...

• Word Count: 817
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... violence, portrayed like no other. With the abandonment of hope at the gates of hell, the scenes in the epic are able to be described so gruesomely and paint a vivid picture of what the nine circles of hell are like. The majority of the imagery used in the poem is meant to scare the readers and send chilling thoughts into their minds. The epic was the first one of its kind because ... acts of torture that take place for their own sake. Dante is accompanied by the famous poet Virgil on his journey through the underworld to heaven. One of the first experiences of violence that they come a...

• Word Count: 786
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... of numbers illustrates Dante's deep Christian faith. Each number represents some form of Christian symbol. Two symbolizes the duality of nature, the difference between Church and State, the Old and New Testament, corporal and spritual. The number three plays an especially important role throughout the poem. One poem divided into three canticles represents three persons in one God (1300 Evaluations, 549). There are nine circles or terraces ... using this type of symbolism Dante illustrates his Christian beliefs. In the beginning of the poem Dante is found walking through the forest the d...

• Word Count: 1843
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: High School

... for them by travelling though the nine levels of hell. Dante the Author constructs several perspectives in the poem starting here. The light and dark imagery that will become repetitive and more abundant in later cantos. The light represents reason, truth, righteousness, and goodness. The main points in canto two lie in the fact that Dante introduces the character of Beatrice. Dante held ... her in high regard and thus immortalized her in his literature. In Canto III Dante and Virgil ... enter the ... ...

• Word Count: 881
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... sections, named the Inferno (Hell), the Purgatorio (Purgatory), and the Paradiso (Paradise). In each of these three realms, the poet meets different people. Each character is symbolic of a particular fault or virtue. Dante is guided through hell and purgatory by Virgil, who is, the symbol of reason. The woman Dante loved, Beatrice, is his guide through paradise. She is the symbol of divine will. Dante wrote the poem for his ... colleagues and therefore wrote it in vernacular which was Italian. He named the poem La commedia (The Comedy) because it ends happily, in heaven. His journey's c...

• Word Count: 1592
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School