Getting Started w. DANTE

This is the handout for my lecture “Getting Started with Dante,” prepared for Hutchmoot Homebound sponsored by The Rabbit Room. For more information on this event, click here: https://www.hutchmoothomebound.com/

GETTING STARTED WITH DANTE
Prepared for Hutchmoot Homebound
by Dr. Diana Glyer from Azusa Pacific University
October 2021

Why read Dante?

What they say: “Dante and Shakespeare divide the world between them.
There is no third.” T. S. Eliot

What I say: Many great works of literature appeal to our mind (intellect) or heart (emotions). Dante appeals to my will (“chooser”).

Which translation is best for beginners? John Ciardi (great poetry). Also: Mark Musa

Let’s begin:

Midway in our life’s journey, I went astray
from the straight road and woke to find myself
alone in a dark wood. How shall I say

what wood that was! I never saw so drear,
so rank, so arduous a wilderness!
Its very memory gives shape to fear.

Death could scarce be more bitter than that place!
But since it came to good, I will recount
all that I found revealed there by God’s grace.

What is the Rhetorical Situation?

What is it? A narrative poem
Who wrote it? Dante Alighieri
When did he write it? 1308-1320
Who is his audience? People who care about life’s great questions.
What is his purpose? To motivate us to live well and to show us what that looks like.

What is the structure?

111,000 words (BTW: it is the same word count as The Prisoner of Azkaban by JKR)
arranged in 14,233 lines
grouped into tercets (3-line stanzas)
and organized into 4 parts:
Intro: 1 Canto
Inferno: 33 Cantos
Purgatory: 33 Cantos
Paradise: 33 Cantos


What is the geography?

Let’s map it!

Let Virgil describe it (from Canto I: 106-124):

Therefore, for your own good, I think it well
you follow me and I will be your guide
and lead you forth through an eternal place.
There you shall see the ancient spirits tried
in endless pain, and hear their lamentation
as each bemoans the second death of souls.
Next you shall see upon a burning mountain
souls in fire and yet content in fire,
knowing that whensoever it may be
they yet will mount into the blessed choir.
To which, if it is still your wish to climb,
a worthier spirit shall be sent to guide you.
With her shall I leave you, for the King of Time,
who reigns on high, forbids me to come there
since, living, I rebelled against his law.
He rules the waters and the land and air
and there holds court, his city and his throne.
Oh blessed are they he chooses!” And I to him:
“Poet, by that God to you unknown,
lead me this way.”

Some general stuff to Keep in Mind:

1. This is fiction. It didn’t really happen. Dante didn’t believe that the afterlife actually looks like this.
2. There are 3 books, but only 2 gates and only 2 destinations.
3. Virgil represents both the wonders and the limits of human reason.

Some Observations about HELL

1. Hell will be confusing until you journey through Purgatory and Paradise.
2. Everyone in hell is a liar. (AND THEY ARE VERY GOOD AT IT. Dante the Pilgrim falls for it. Virgil falls for it. Don’t you fall for it.)

Some Observations about PURGATORY

1. It is essential to remember: Purgatory is a temporary place. Everyone there is just passing through, just preparing themselves to meet God face to face.
2. But if they are already saved, why do they need Purgatory?
3. By describing the restoration of these tattered souls, Dante is giving us a curriculum for spiritual formation: art, music, psalms, prayers, histories, heroes, and great stories.


Some Observations about PARADISE

1. Dante made this part of his poem really hard on purpose: we understand Hell so clearly, but we struggle to understand Paradise. That’s who we are.
2. The Cinnabon Principle: Not scolding or threating or commanding, but instead, awakening our appetite for the good, the true, and the beautiful.

Final Thoughts

1. The Divine Comedy is a poem that is music to our ears as well as goodness to our souls.
2. Don’t get bogged down in details: follow the thread of the story.


Recommended:

Jason Baxter. A Beginner’s Guide to Dante’s Divine Comedy. A great next step for those who want to read more about the backgrounds, themes, and context of the poem.

John Ciardi. The Divine Comedy Best translation for beginners.

The Teaching Company presents The Great Courses. Dante’s Divine Comedy by William Cook and Ronald Herzman. Absolutely terrific lectures! https://www.thegreatcourses.com/courses/dante-s-divine-comedy. Also available on Audible.

The Divine Comedy translated by Robert Hollander and Jean Hollander. Easily the best translation and notes for serious study of the poem.

Peter J Leithart Ascent to Love. So helpful for those seeking a deeper understanding of the poem.

100 days of Dante by the Baylor University Honors College. Join the world’s largest Dante reading group Started 8 September 2021. https://100daysofdante.com/




Thank you
Dr. Diana Glyer
dglyer@apu.edu