Monthly Archives: April 2019

Reflection Post – 2

So here goes nothing! we’re all getting close to the end of Dante’s journey. I will be honest, in the beginning of inferno i was completely confused with all the names and characters, the term of contrapasso and all the metaphors included with inferno. But after progressing to purgatorio, it all began to make sense as i began to understand why Dante chose specific people to be punished with the sins.

now when i read canto 32, i was shocked that Beatrice was sitting at the bottom of the tree waiting for Dante because she could’ve easily waited for him in heaven since he was eventually going to meet up with him there anyways. i really did laugh at the irony of how the chariot was attacked by an eagle, then the earth split thus releasing a Dragon from the split which also attacked the chariot. What kind of bad luck does Dante have, i mean seriously. now thats how i would personally interpret this but then i began to think about it from a literary standpoint. i asked myself what could all these symbols, creatures, and animals stand for, and why were these random people mentioned? as it turns out, the chariot is actually a representation of the Church. the eagle which i have yet to piece together, and the dragon which i think represents the islamic religion.

P.S. i was going to post on the 29th but i then saw that it says May 1st on the top.

Symbolic Canto 32

Giant, Harlot Chariot Engraving by Gustave Dore Black & White

http://www.worldofdante.org/pop_up_query.php?dbid=I323&show=more

Canto 32 is an episode that is utterly and heavily symbolic. After reading this canto for the first time it was very hard for me to understand and comprehend it. Because of that I turned to the comment of Teodolinda Barolini who organized and explained the events in detail. The title of her elaboration is “Apocalypse Now”

Dante follows the parade that begun in Canto 29 and Beatrice is now at the center of it, in the chariot. The procession arrives at the Tree of Knowledge, which has no leaves and is completely bare. As T. Barollini wrote: “This is the tree from which Adam and Eve ate. The sin of gluttony thus reaches its full metaphorical potential, given that the eating that is castigated here is not literal but supremely metaphorical: Adam and Eve ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” After the gryphon attaches the chariot the chariot to the tree it comes back to life.

Dante loses his consciousness and when he comes back to his senses he sees his beloved one sitting at the foot of the tree. She is guarding the chariot with the help of the seven virtues (the three theological and four cardinal virtues).

Beatrice addresses the pilgrim and tells him of his faith but also and his duty to describe what happens in front of his eyes. Right after that a swift sequence of images occurs for Dante to see, remember and describe. Namely, an eagle rips off the tree’s leaves and flowers and almost breaks the chariot, which symbolizes the persecution of the church (chariot) by the early emperors – Rome (eagle). A starving, female fox (heresy) jumps into the chariot and is driven away by Beatrice (the early heresies, overcome by the Church). The eagle that ripped off the tree comes back and hails the chariot with the feathers (the Church’s acquisition of temporal possessions through the Donation of Constantine – Barolini). Right after that the earth opens up and exposes to view a dragon (Islam that was believed to create a split between Christians), which in its power breaks the chariot and quickly crawls away. The chariot being covered with feathers “grows” seven heads with horns (personification of the capital sins, helped – “feathered” by the affluence and riches of Rome). Finally two new characters come into sight: a giant and a prostitute who represent the Avignon Papacy (the change of location of the papacy from Rome to Avignon in 1309).

The Human Perspective

Copia di Purgatorio, Canto 33,

 

As Dante meets with Beatrice in canto 30 of Purgatory, and especially as he starts his journey to Paradise, a great contrast is built. Not only in the contrast between heaven and hell which itself is heavily evident, but also in Dante’s perception of both. A concept I found interesting is how Dante’s comprehension of God’s Divine will in Cantos 32-33 of Purgatory is a struggle to say the least. The waters of the Lethe (Canto 33 Purg., 96) and their impact on Dante are just one example, and in Beatrice’s own words; “the school that you have followed and may see if what it taught can comprehend what I have said – and see that, as the earth is distant from the highest and the swiftest of the heavens, so distant is your way from the divine,” (Canto 33 Purg., 85-90) or in other words, Dante’s perception of the way things work is exclusive to the human experience, and because of this he struggles to comprehend the “highest and swiftest” of divine will. This idea is further illustrated in Canto 1 of Paradiso, in which Dante describes the incredible sights he sees as he enters heaven, so incredible that “our intellect sinks into an abyss so deep that memory fails to follow it,” and he is unable to remember the sights, and is only left with the knowledge that they were beyond the human eye.

I found this idea interesting, especially considering how the sins of those in Inferno are not hard to perceive by Dante. He even finds himself relating to many of them and reacting to them emotionally, despite the advice of Virgil that pity for the sins of others is in it of itself a sin. The only real struggle Dante describes in Inferno is accurately capturing the nature of punishment, a severe contrast to the latter cantos of Purgatorio and those of Paradiso. I found this poetic, because it argues that the sins of Inferno are well situated in human perception and experience, while the light of God and his true intentions are far beyond our gaze.

Dante’s perception of Heaven and Hell is a mechanism through which poet Dante expresses the relativity of the human mind. He presents sin and punishment as something human perception is accustomed to, an element in our nature. Whereas in Paradiso, he demonstrates that divine will and the ultimate nature of heaven are truly beyond our gaze grounded on earth. In a certain way, Dante’s own sin and affiliation with it because of human nature is exactly what holds him from the actuality of God’s divine will.

Sidenote: My final paper will be an analysis of Contrapasso throughout Inferno, and its representation in art. I plan to go into depth on four major artists and their interpretations of Contrapasso in Inferno in addition to Dante’s descriptions of Contrapasso during his journey and after the last judgement. Finally, I hope to tie all of this together with an additional theme in Inferno: the relation between Art from Nature, and Nature from God.

Reflection Post-2

Truthfully, these past few weeks has been informative. With the knowledge that I’ve learned, I feel as though my mind is ready to tackle these texts. There is so much to learn from the Divine Comedy. Sadly, the few weeks of classes were not enough to fully experience the whole journey with Dante. Now my time and energy is on focusing my final paper. I feel confident in translating my ideas and thoughts about the text into paper.

I’ve remembered all those past posts and those nights where I had no idea how to interpret or even understand the reading. Yet somehow, I managed. All these observations and theories from our class discussion has help me better understand Dante’s intention. My most memorable post was when we were assigned to analyze paintings and statues in the MET. What was most striking for me was the statue Ugolino and his sons. I know the symbolic meaning behind his sons grabbing his legs in concern for his well being, but Ugolino’s face is menacing and haunting. It feels like it is looming over you, judging you for actions you aren’t aware of. Anyways, I was spellbound by his enraged face. I look forward to find more art that incorporates fear and rage. Which is great, for this is the kind of theme i’m working on for my final paper.

Burden of a body

Illustrazioni sulla Divina commedia di Dante [in 4 portfolios] by Scaramuzza, Francesco

Makeup for blog post 3

This image depicts the second ring of the seventh circle in hell. This is where those who have committed violence against themselves reside. These souls are turned into trees and their bodies that have been discarded are hung from their branches. The picture captures the moment of the sinners dragging their bodies before they are transformed. The body motions in the picture really capture the feeling of dragging a limp body. Especially the woman whose body’s hair is tied around her neck, hanging from the neck the hair creates an image of a reverse noose giving a not so subtle hint to how she might have committed suicide. It gives an impression of how they were when they lived, struggling to move a body that just seems to have given up and refuses to cooperate, that must have been really taxing for their souls. This could have been one of the factors that have pushed them to suicide, to relieve them of their “dead” weight. For a human the body is an important piece that makes him whole and to just throw it away causes them to become less than human, and thus they are punished. Unable to re-enter their own bodies they must now accompany the sinners for eternity as truly dead weights.

Status Classifications Based On Light

In Canto 1 of Paradiso, Dante classifies light as a hierarchical attribute that administers order in the universe. Dante defines light as “The glory of Him who moves all things penetrates through the universe and shines forth in one place and less elsewhere.” (Canto 1, lines 1-3). Dante perceives light as a manifestation of God’s glory. Dante implies that the unequal distribution of light in the universe is responsible for the nature of Paradiso, Purgatorio, and Inferno. Dante deliberately used the world “penetrate” to point out the physical limitations that explain why some domains receive more sunlight than the other. For example, Paradiso is closest the heavens hence it “receives most of his light.” (Canto 1, line 4). Purgatorio is further away from heaven hence, it receives comparatively less sunlight. Since the inferno is at the core of the earth, light can’t penetrate the surface and hence the inferno receives no sunlight. The degree of light that each place receives classifies the domains based on how close the souls are to God physically and spiritually.

Dante uses light imagery to display his new status among the ranks of souls. Dante claims that in heaven “our intellect goes so deep, that the memory cannot follow it.” (Canto 1, line 7-8). Light provides individuals with clarity which enhances their intellect. Dante claims that “The lantern of the world rises to mortals to divers outlets,” (Canto 1, lines 37-38). Even though the “lantern” is a metaphor for the sun,  the light in a “lantern” is small and eventually extinguishes. Dante implies that mortals can only comprehend  a fraction of God’s grandeur and his inner-workings of the world before they die. Dante deliberately uses the word “divers outlets” to further reiterate that the condemned human civilization  can only experience God’s presence through small outlets. Comparatively, Dante narrates that “I fixed my eyes on the sun beyond our wont.” (Canto 1, line 54). Unlike the other mortals who have to avert their gaze when they look at the sun from a far distance, Dante directly looks at the sun up-close in heaven with Beatrice. Dante subtly distinguishes his status from the rest of the mortals because he can see the full sun hence, he knows more about God’s inner-workings than the rest of the universe. It also implies that he’s closer to God than the rest of the mortals. Moreover, by watching the sun with Beatrice, he puts himself on the same level as her. Though, Dante attempts to humble his character by claiming that “I did not endure it long, yet not so little that I did not see it emitting sparks all around,” (Canto 1, lines 58-59). The phrase is an oxymoron because while he admits to his mortality in comparison to Beatrice who continues to look on, he also claims that he saw it long enough to comprehend its nature that’s unknown to most mortals. Hence, he says that he is a mortal however, he claims to know more than the average mortals, revealing his inner desire to transcend his own mortality.

Dante wants to become a part of the light because he wants to be a savior for the world. Dante appeals to Apollo to make him “a vessel of your [his] power.” (Canto 1, line 14). Apollo is the Greek God of sun and light. He rides the chariot across the sky to make day. Dante wants to be a vessel for God’s light and this reflects his desire to be a savior for this world. He believes that humans have strayed from God’s path, hence, he communicates his journey in the epic to metaphorically bring God’s light back into people’s lives. He also states that “O divine power, if you lend so much of yourself to me that I make manifest the shadow of the blessed kingdom that is stamped within my head” (Canto 1, lines 22-24). He deliberately uses the word “shadow” because only light can create shadows. He wants God to bestow him with enough knowledge about Paradiso that he can communicate that information with the world, hence be a “shadow” of the heavenly kingdom. When he sees the sun, he also claims that “And as a second ray will spring forth from a first, mounting upward like a pilgrim that wishes to return home.” (Canto 1, 49-51). Dante uses a simile to compare the light to a “pilgrim” however, Dante is the pilgrim on this journey, hence he’s comparing himself to the light. While the word “home” is ambiguous, it can have 2 meanings. The ray is “mounting upward” and since heaven is both upward and the origin of the rays, it can mean that the rays want to return to heaven. This can reflect Dante’s desire to be a part of heaven and God’s glory. However, it can also mean that Dante wants to return to Earth as a ray of God’s light. In this sense, his desire to be Apollo’s “vessel”, the “shadow” of heaven’s Kingdom, and the  “second ray,” show that he wants to return to Earth with information about the divine world that he can communicate with his people so that they can mend their ways while they still have time.

 

Second Reflection Post

Since my first reflection post, I have only written two blog posts (along with detailed comments that I wrote instead of blog post 7). Regardless, reading over those two posts and thinking about my personal engagement with the text I have a few observations.

My first observation, which I could have included in the first reflection post, is that  I am very reluctant to write about works of art. I am much more comfortable analyzing literature since I have experience doing so. I struggle to analyze art, even in comparison to literature, since I don’t even know the correct vocabulary to do so. I seem to have made the unconscious decision to focus mostly on what Dante writes and then supplement it with a painting rather than focus on the painting alongside the poetry. While I am always an advocate of pushing oneself to try something more difficult, I also kept finding myself spending too much time trying to discover the meaning of the painting over the meaning of the text.

I did find the guided questions we had to answer about art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art to be very challenging and instructional. Having guided questions to focus on helped me, although I still felt very lost at some points trying to answer them. I ended up writing over a thousand words and still did not feel satisfied I had answered all of the questions in their entirety when I submitted the post. The post actually would have been a lot longer but I edited out any observations I made that did not directly relate to the questions being asked. After reading other peoples posts about their Met visits I am not sure if I made the right choice in doing so but it is the choice I made all the same.

My other major reflection isn’t so much related to the blog posts as it is related to how I am engaging with the text. I personally have been struggling to find the same deep interest I had with Inferno while reading the later two canticles. I am somewhat of a completionist, meaning I have a hard time skipping around and not studying things in their complete original order. My mom loves to poke fun at me for it. I have to read book series in order starting from the beginning even if there is no connecting plot between the books. I mention all of this seemingly unimportant information because I am still trying to discover why I am struggling so much to engage with the text and find ways to do so. In a perfect world, I would just read the parts we aren’t assigned but doing so initially left me with even more confusion. If anyone else has had this problem and has any suggestions I would love to try any ideas out.

Reflective Post 2

As I look back on my blog posts, I learned that I would summarize and analyze too much where I would repeat myself. However, I feel with each post I was able to successfully navigate through the canticles and make connections between various cantos. For example in blog post six I am able to discuss the different emotions between Dante and Virgil and identity the theme of Canto 24.  For my final paper, I hope to use all the skills I learned with blogging, which include being short and to the point, strong analysis, incorporating quotes when needed from The Divine Comedy as well as a thoroughly explained thesis. One blog post I feel proud of is the most recent: blog post 8 when I talked about the Garden of Eden, rather than spending hours on details I wrote the most important facts from that canto and a short analysis. I was also able to relate blog post 8 to the MET museum and a work of art which I feel is an important skill to have as a writer; being able to connect ideas even though they are different which is also part of the final paper.  Although it still has been difficult for me, I’ve been trying to stick to one topic rather than several because condensing my writing to one single idea is much better than several scattered ones. I’ve noticed that I write too many ideas not only for this class but for other writing intensive classes as well. I feel my strong point is that I am able to explain ideas thoroughly so someone else reading my work isn’t confused but I overelaborate to a certain point. My favorite blog post was the blog post from the MET, it was interesting to see different types of works of art face-to-face rather than on the computer and being able to relate them to Dante and the text was a fun interactive way of combining various works to get one main idea.

 

The Ascension of Dante and Beatrice

“Dante and Beatrice Ascending”, Giovanni di Paolo, 1444-50, Parchment/Body Color  

 

In this illustration, depicting Paradiso, Dante and Beatrice have just left Earth from the top of the mountain of Purgatory. They and are flying towards heaven together. While they ascend, Beatrice’s eyes are “fixed on the eternal wheels” (1.64). Through bright and serene colors Giovanni di Paolo illuminates the ascension into the fiery light described in Canto 1 of Paradiso.

Beatrice, Dante’s spiritual guide, must explain the situation to an awestruck and perplexed Dante. She tells the pilgrim that the universe is a hierarchy of being and Heaven awaits them. This portrayal of the physical structure of the universe expresses the balance of theology and science during the Middle Ages. Beatrice describes to Dante his departure from Earth saying, “It would be a marvel in you if, free from impediment, you had remained below” (1.139-140). In other words, Beatrice tells Dante that because he has fully completed his purification process in Purgatory the only natural next step is the ascent to God.

Canto 1 sets the tone for the themes Dante the poet will convey throughout Paradiso. The Canto begins with “The glory of Him who moves all things penetrates through the universe and shines forth”, meaning God’s light is everywhere in his universe. The entire focus of Paradiso concentrates on God. God is the main subject from the start of the Canto, not Dante the pilgrim. Continuing, Dante describes the difficulty of conveying all that he sees on his way to Paradise. Dante states, “I have seen things that one who comes down from there cannot remember and cannot utter” (1.5-7). It is compelling to note the distinction in Dante the poet’s use of language in Paradiso versus in Inferno and Purgatory. We see already in the first canto of Paradiso Dante has trouble putting into words what he sees. Dante calls upon Apollo, the god of poetry, to help him explain what he sees in Paradise.

reflective post 2

In my first reflective post I set a goal for myself to try using more outside sources.  Before that post, I had only used an outside source once.  In my last three posts since then I have used at least one outside source.  I am happy with the quality of these posts over my previous posts and I am glad I chose this goal.

My first post after I set this goal was comparing the Inferno and the movie As Above So Below, which I knew had made various references to the Inferno, but I did not fully understand some of them until after we had finished reading it.  For this post, I first looked for images and other resources through our class site but nothing seemed to strike me as something I could write a lot about.  I had never written about artwork and literature before, but I had written about film and literature which is where I got the idea to connect these two works.  I really enjoyed writing about the movie and its connections to Dante’s poetry.  There were so many references to the Inferno that I only touched on a few in my post, which is why I am excited to write my final paper on the same topic so that I can include more of these connections and adaptations.

I had to write about artwork in connection to Dante’s poetry for the Met post.  I enjoyed going to the Met and seeing these pieces in relation to Dante.  My problem with writing on artwork in previous posts was that art based on the Inferno seemed to be so extensive and it was somewhat overwhelming while at the same time I was unsure of where to begin writing about it.  The questions we were given for this post and the fact that we had specific works of art to see and write about made it easier for me to understand how to write about art and its connection to literature.  Because I enjoyed this post and finally understood writing about art, I chose to write my last post on a piece of art.