Dante's Use of Symbol and Allegory

Introduction

Dante's portrayal of Hell in the Inferno is an undisputed masterpiece of visual and allegorical imagery, enriched not only by extensive use of figurative language, but by concrete physical descriptions as well. Perhaps the most interesting display of Dante's skill in combining these sensory and metaphorical elements occurs in Canto XIV. As the two figures cross over a river encased in stone, Virgil recounts to the Pilgrim, in stunning detail, the story of the statue, buried in Mount Ida on the island of Crete, whose falling tears form the waters for the three rivers of the Underworld. In the course of the guide's narration, the reader, who is first confronted and captivated by powerful geographical images, gradually becomes aware of the underlying allegorical interpretation, and realizes that the scenes portrayed here tell the story of the Fall of Man and his subsequent misery on earth.

The Divine Comedy is the greatest poem of Italian literature, was probably composed between 1307 and 1320 (or at least since 1307). The poem consists of 14,233 eleven-syllable verses and is divided into three parts (Inferno, Purgatory and Paradise), each of which is subdivided into 33 songs; in particular the Inferno has a song of introduction, for a total of 34 songs. The comedy tells the afterlife journey of the Supreme Poet accomplished through the three worlds, after which Dante will be able to enjoy a moment of beatific vision of God in his journey is accompanied by the poet Virgil (who according to scholars is the symbol of reason human) to reach near Eden (the Garden of Eden), where the figure of Virgil disappears to make room for Beatrice, the young woman loved by Dante (who died in his youth), which will guide him to the gates of Paradise. In a letter written to Can Grande Della Scala (scholars disagree on whether it is actually attributable to Dante Alighieri), the poet says that the purpose of comedy is to “remove invents in life of misery and status to Perduca stratum Felicitates remove those who live in this world state of misery and lead them to a state of happiness.” The researchers then identified the ultimate meaning of the Commedia.

The Inferno by Dante is imagined as a huge chasm in the form of an inverted cone, whose apex is at the center of the Earth. Its structure was formed at the beginning of time due to the fall of Satan who was cast down from heaven, so they remain stuck in the middle of the Earth, the infernal chasm opens beneath Jerusalem (the vertical axis has to Zion) and the entry of the dark forest is about 1700 miles from the holy city (about 3000 km). According to the architect and mathematician Manetti (1423-1497), the base of the cone hell has a diameter of 3250 miles, equal to the Earth's radius. Descending into the hellish abyss meet the vestibule, the river Acheron, and then, nine circles of which the first five are "high Inferno" and the other ...