Dante and Medieval Latin Traditions

Peter Dronke explores 'The Divine Comedy' by exploring the medieval Latin traditions of Dante's era.

Peter Dronke explores Dante's great poem 'The Divine Comedy', by explaining allegory, vision, image, metaphor, symbol and myth, which were prevalent in medieval Latin traditions. He focuses on certain moments in Inferno, Purgatorio and Paradiso then relates them into Dante's rich and varied Latin inheritance, which brings the poetry to life for the reader.In this book, Peter Dronke illustrates how medieval Latin traditions can help us to understand Dante's great poem 'The Divine Comedy'. He first discusses medieval conceptions of allegory and vision, image and metaphor, symbol and myth, as well as some of Dante's own insights into the nature of poetic meaning. Later chapters relate particular moments in the Comedy - the giants in Inferno, the apocalyptic showings in Purgatorio, and the solar heaven in Paradiso - to Dante's Latin inheritance. All quotations from Italian are accompanied by English translations.