... his masterwork, the Aeneid, the story of the founding of Rome. The Aeneid took eleven years to complete, and even then Virgil did not consider the epic fit for publication. At his death, he ordered the destruction of the Aeneid. However, Emperor Augustus intervened and, to the great benefit of Western culture, had the poem published. Politically speaking, Virgil lived at the height of the first age of the Roman Empire-- during the reign of Augustus ... . Luckily enough, he gained the favor of Augustus therefore the Aeneid serves to legitimize the reign of this benefactor. In establishing...

• Word Count: 1098
• Approx Pages: 4
• 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