The Afterlife In Dante S The Divine Comedy

In inferno dante discusses the christian concept of hell the place where those who committed sins and crimes suffer for the rest of eternity under the vicious thumb of satan.
The afterlife in dante s the divine comedy. Hell purgatory and heaven. Dante alighieri s poem the divine comedy is arguably the most comprehensive and vivid imagining of a christian afterlife committed to paper since the bible. It helped establish the tuscan language in which it is written as the standard. 1308 and completed in 1320 a year before his death in 1321.
While purgatory is a strong tradition in roman catholic teachings it is not found in the bible. Distraction and the afterlife in dante s divine comedy anonymous blessed are those in whom grace shines so copiously that love of food does not arouse excessive appetite but lets them hunger after righteousness 2 23 150 154. Most is dante s inferno also known as the divine comedy. The divine comedy is considered by most scholars as an allegory of the different states of afterlife for a soul upon death.
The divine comedy is a long italian narrative poem by dante alighieri begun c. Dante and beatrice remain a symbol of unrequited love. The divine comedy places the afterlife in the physical universe as medieval astronomers and scientists knew it. Dante s inferno was a comedy that began in 1308 and ended in1320 written by dantes alighieri.
Several particular views presented in dante s work however have influenced western thinking about the afterlife. Dante s vision of the afterlife in the divine comedy influenced the renaissance the reformation and helped give us the modern world writes christian blauvelt. For example as dante enters the first sphere of heaven with the beatified soul of his deceased lover dante realizes the sphere is on the moon and he theorizes why the moon has black spots that we now know to be craters on it. It is the divine comedy that has made dante famous.
First the divine comedy offers three destinations in the afterlife heaven hell and purgatory. It is a long epic poem broken into three separate sections. Divided in to three parts the inferno the purgatorio and the paradisio it is a. The poem s imaginative vision of the afterlife is representative of the medieval world view as it had developed in the western church by the 14th century.
Dante s verses written at the center of the christian world in 14th century italy have remained etched in our cultural memory for 700 years.