The following is the related information of Divine Comedy:
Divine Comedy is the representative work of Italian writer Dante. It is a special epic because it describes the poet's own imaginary experience. The whole poem is divided into three parts: hell, purgatory and heaven. Each part consists of thirty-three songs. Together with the overture of the book, there are more than 100 songs, totaling more than 14000 lines.
This long poem, in the form of fantasy literature peculiar to the Middle Ages, describes Dante getting lost in a dark forest in the early morning of Friday before Easter in 1300. At dawn, he came to the foot of a sunny mountain. He was about to climb the mountain, but he was stopped by three wild animals (leopard, lion and wolf, symbolizing lust, rape and greed). The situation is very critical. At this time, Virgil, the great poet of ancient Rome, appeared. He was entrusted by Bedric, the lover of Dante's youth, to rescue Dante and then take him to hell and purgatory as his guide.
Hell is divided into three parts: the first part is in Edith City, which is divided into five floors. There are some pagan souls, lecherous people, gluttons, greedy spenders and angry souls before death. These people have suffered all kinds of hardships here. The second part, in Diez, is also divided into three layers, which are full of evil souls. The third part is a huge deep well, divided into four layers, with an ice lake at the bottom, where all souls who have killed relatives or committed various betrayal crimes are frozen.
Those who can enter purgatory are souls whose sins can be punished and forgiven. The punishment here is not as cruel as in hell, and it has the nature of atonement, so the soul is more willing to accept it. The purgatory mountain is divided into seven layers, which washes away the seven evils of human beings: arrogance, jealousy, anger, neglect, greed, gluttony and lust. When the soul washes away a sin, it rises to a higher level, so that it can gradually rise to the top of the mountain. The top of the mountain is a paradise on earth. Virgil brought Dante here and left, and then Dante was taken away by Bedric. After experiencing the ninth heaven, they finally came to God. At this time, Dante realized that his thoughts were consistent with those of God. The whole epic came to an abrupt end.
Dante's work, like other works in the Middle Ages, is full of implications between the lines. The theme of the whole work is still relatively clear, that is, people have experienced confusion and suffering and reached the realm of truth and perfection. Through his own narration or dialogue with ghosts, Dante reflected various achievements in the cultural field in the Middle Ages, expressed his views and comments on various things, and for the first time in history expressed new ideas and new world views with the characteristics of the new era. Dante revealed the political and social reality at that time extensively and profoundly in the Divine Comedy. While criticizing feudalism, he launched a fierce attack on the spiritual pillar of the feudal system in western Europe and the church that monopolized all the culture at that time. He severely criticized the shameless and cruel oppression of the people by the ruling class; He denied theocracy and the supremacy of the church, and resolutely opposed the Pope's mastery of secular power. He exposed the sins of the church and condemned the shameless behavior of monks. Not only that, he also criticized the selfishness of the emerging civil class and the disadvantages of the emerging capitalist relationship.
Although the Divine Comedy is written about the afterlife, it reflects earthly things and fully shows Dante's interest and concern for earthly life. He believes that people should overcome inertia and pursue honor; We should follow the example of heroes in history, learn from their great thoughts and strong will, and take control of our own destiny. Dante also opposed obscurantism in the Middle Ages, and advocated the development of culture, the pursuit of knowledge and the pursuit of truth in the Divine Comedy. He also praised classical culture, regarded Virgil as the embodiment of reason and philosophy, and guided him to hell and purgatory.
However, after all, Dante still lives in an era of alternation between the old and the new, and his thoughts inevitably bear some traces of the old times. All kinds of contradictions in theological views, medieval morality and even world outlook are exposed in his works. Dante exposed the corruption and depravity of the church in his book, but he did not fundamentally oppose the church and religion, and put faith and theology above reason and philosophy. He believes that reason and philosophy can help people identify the path of evil, and to achieve perfection must rely on faith and theology. In addition, his attitude towards the characters in his poems is often contradictory.
The Divine Comedy not only wrote the dark reality of the world, but also wrote a beautiful vision for the future. This writing style, which is neither pure realism nor pure romanticism, is a major feature of this work. Dante is meticulous in observation, imaginative, accurate in description and vivid in metaphor. Therefore, although the Divine Comedy has many characters and ever-changing scenes, poets often use only a few strokes to portray the characters vividly, explain the scenes clearly, and describe the afterlife scenes that are quite realistic to read. Dante organized his patriotic enthusiasm, religious feelings and inner experience into a harmonious whole with many vivid details.
The Divine Comedy was not written in Latin, French or Provence commonly used by Italian writers at that time, but in Italian proverbs commonly used by Italian writers, which played an important role in the formation and development of Italian literary language and national language, making Dante surpass all Italian writers before him and become the first Italian poet.