Dante and Medieval Latin Traditions

Peter Dronke is one of the most eminent scholars of medieval literature, and in this new book he illustrates a number of ways in which medieval Latin traditions can help us to understand Dante's great poem, The Divine Comedy. The first chapter of the book includes both an account of those medieval conceptions of allegory and vision, image and metaphor, symbol and myth that are most relevant to Dante's poetry, and a discussion of some of Dante's own insights into the nature of poetic meaning. Later chapters focus on particular moments in the Comedy - the giants in Inferno, the apocalyptic showings in Purgatorio, and the solar heaven in Paradiso - relating these moments to Dante's rich and varied Latin inheritance, and suggesting how this approach can bring the poetry to life for modern readers. All quotations from Italian are accompanied by English translations.