The Feudal System

The Inferno
Gustave Doré
The Middle Ages????
500-1500
THE TWIN PILLAR TOUR
The Church
The Feudal System
•Chants, cathedrals,
stained glass
•Code of chivalry
•Unity: language and
education
•History chronicler
•God in everyday life –
pervasive
•Cathedral (shape of
cross)
•Courtly love
•Castles
Unicorn Tapestries
Connect the two pillars
Chartres
Stained glass window detail depicts story...
Motifs in Medieval Literature
 Hunt for the unicorn
 Search for holy grail
 Journey through the inferno
Dante (1265-1321)
 Knew personal tragedy
 Orphaned during adolescence
 Encounters with Beatrice – ages 9, 18, 25
 Beatrice dies at age of 26
 She was his first and greatest love
 Writes La Vita Nuova in her honor – the story of his
love for her
Dante, the exile
 He knew power; he knew exile
 Civil strife : Guelphs, Black and White
 Dante sides with the Whites – those favoring a weaker
papacy
 Dante given death sentence when he traveled from
Florence
 Lived his life in exile from 1302
The Divine Comedy
Inferno – Power of Father
Cantos 2-33: Recognition of sin
Purgatorio – Redemption of Son
Cantos 34-66: Renunciation of Sin
Paradiso – Love of Spirit
Cantos 67-100: Light of God
The Divine Comedy
A MATTER OF ALLEGORY
and
A MATTER OF THREES
Significance of numerology in the culture:
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Three – Trinity
3 sets of 33 cantos: Inferno, Purgatorio, Paradiso
3 days for the journey – Good Friday through Easter
3 women – Virgin Mary, St. Lucia, Beatrice
9 levels of hell – 3 squared
3 beasts – she-wolf (incontinence); lion (violence); leopard
(malice)
100 cantos total - 100 being perfection
Tercets and terza rima
Tercets and Terza Rima
a
b
a
b
c
b
c
d
c
N.B. Italian is “rhyme rich”; English is “rhyme poor”
...in the Italian...
Ruppemi l’alto sonno ne la testa
un greve truono, sì ch’io mi ricossi
come persona ch’è per forza desta;
E l’occhio riposato intorno mossi,
dritto levato, e fiso riguardai
per conoscer lo loco dov’ io fossi.
Vero è che ´n su la proda mi trovai
de la valle d’abisso dolorosa
Che ´ntrono accoglie d’infiniti guai.
a
b
a
b
c
b
c
d
c
The Divine Comedy
Comedy?
EUCATASTROPHE*
* The U-shaped tale of descent and then ascent
...and...
 Written in the vernacular
 Use of history and roots
 Virgil as guide
Purposes...
 Retributive justice – REVENGE
--punishment to fit the crime
 Church teachings
–
Dante’s characteristics
1.
Imagery
 Sensory appeals
 Alliteration
 Onomatopoeia
2. Figurative language
 Metaphor
 Simile
Dante’s characteristics
3.
Stanza form
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
4.
Tercet
Last stanza couplet
Rhyme scheme
Terza rima
5.
Allusions
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Classical history/mythology
Biblical
Contemporaries
Dante’s characteristics
6. Purposes
 Teach church doctrine – allegory
 Retributive justice -Avenge enemies
7. Use of number three
Trinity