Dante's Inferno|The Divine Comedy Exam Questions with Verified Answers 2024

Dante's Inferno|The Divine Comedy Exam Questions with Verified Answers 2024 What is the Divine Comedy? - Correct Answer Widely considered the central epic poem of Italian literature, Dante's Divine Comedy is seen as one of the greatest works of world literature. What perspective is the poem written in? - Correct Answer First person What tale does the poem tell? - Correct Answer tells of Dante's journey through the three realms of the dead--Inferno, Purgatory, and Heaven--lasting during the Easter Triduum in the spring of 1300. The Roman poet Virgil guides him through Hell and Purgatory; Beatrice, Dante's ideal woman, guides him through Heaven. What does Canto mean? How many Cantos are there total? - Correct Answer Italian word for "song". The Divine Comedy is divided into 3 cantitas of 33 cantos each (plus one introductory canto = 100 total). What is Juxtaposition? - Correct Answer two things being seen or placed close together with contrasting effect. What is a Stanza? - Correct Answer a poetic "paragraph". The division of lines in poetry. Who is Virgil? - Correct Answer Roman poet - lived during Caesar's time - the father of drama. Virgil guides Dante through hell in the Inferno. Dante acknowledges that Virgil is his mentor, or hero. What is Tezra Rima? - Correct Answer 1. a rhyming poetic form that consists of an interlocking 3-line rhyme scheme: A-B-A, B-C-B, C-D-C, D-E-D. 2. Poems or sections of poems written in terza rima end with either a single line or couplet repeating the rhyme of the middle line of the final tercet (3-line stanza). The two possible endings for the rhyme scheme example above are D-E-D E or D-E-D EE. What is a Symbol? - Correct Answer a concrete object that represents an idea or emotion What is Allegory? - Correct Answer symbolic representation throughout an entire literary work (the whole thing is a symbol) - everything can be read on 2 levels - literal and figurative. What is Satire? - Correct Answer poking "fun" at society in a humorous or bitingly critical way in order to suggest or bring about change. What is "In Media Res"? - Correct Answer 1. Latin literary and artistic technique where the narrative starts in the middle of the story instead of from its beginning. 2. The characters, setting, and conflict are often introduced through a series of flashbacks or through characters relation past events to each other. 3. Probably originating from an oral tradition that technique is a convention of epic poetry. The Divine Comedy - Correct Answer 1. Greatest works of the literary world 2. The Divine Comedy is composed of over 14,000 lines. How do the circles of hell work? - Correct Answer There are 9 circles, and they progressively get worse as they go on. Canto One: Who is Dante? - Correct Answer A pilgrim on a journey Canto One: What has happened to Dante? - Correct Answer he has strayed from the "true ways" and he seeks a better understanding of good and evil, of Heaven and Hell Canto One: Where does Dante get lost? - Correct Answer He gets lost in the "The Dark Wood of Error" Canto One: Where is Dante going before he is stopped? - Correct Answer He is heading to a small hill known as the Mount of Joy. Canto One: What three beasts does he meet on his journey? - Correct Answer leopard, lion, and she-wolf that represent three types of sin (fraud, violence and ambition, lack of self-restraint) Canto One: Which beast drives Dante back into the Dark Wood of Error? - Correct Answer The She-Wolf, the beast of incontinence Canto One: Who is Virgil to Dante? - Correct Answer Virgil, the righteous pagan is his guide through hell. Canto One: What does Virgil tell Dante about escaping the beasts? - Correct Answer He said that there is no direct way around the beasts, and that Dante must descend through Hell and ascend from Purgatory in order to reach the pinnacle of joy and light of God. Canto One: Who is Celestine V - Correct Answer The Pope that Dante put in the Second Circle of Hell because he had so many lovers. Canto Three: What do Dante and Virgil first hear when entering Hell? - Correct Answer They hear the cries of anguish Canto Three: Dante and Virgil are in Limbo. Who are those being punished in Limbo and why? - Correct Answer They are the opportunists, people who are only for themselves. They picked no sides in the Rebellion of Angels, therefore they are given no place in hell and are forever chased and stung by wasps and hornets. Must run through "loathsome worms and maggots who coat the ground". Canto Five: What is Circle Two? What does the name mean? - Correct Answer The Carnal: means flesh The second ring after limbo, punishment to those who sinned by flesh. Being punished for being a slave to your body and desires. Canto Five: Who does Dante speak to in the Second Circle? What does he feel for them? - Correct Answer He speaks to the women Francesca, for her he feels pity and pain because love lead her to death. Canto Five: What does Dante do after he hears the story of Francesca and her love? - Correct Answer He fainted because he was swept by the swoon of death. Canto Five: Who suffer in the Second Circle? - Correct Answer People who let themselves be swept away by lust and passion. Canto Five: What is the punishment for those in the Second Circle? - Correct Answer Their punishment: Being blown back and forth, by a terrible wind storm, never being able to rest. This symbolizes the power of lust to blow one about needlessly and aimlessly. Canto Thirty-Four: There is interesting irony in 34, what is it? - Correct Answer The irony is that the center most ring of hell is encased in ice, despite the common thought of Hell being all fire. Canto Thirty-Four: What happens in Canto Thirty-Four? - Correct Answer Dante and Virgil face the last depth of Hell Canto Thirty-Four: In a grotesque parody of the Trinity, Satan has three faces: each a different color with a different face...the personification of all evil. Explain. - Correct Answer It is a parody of the Holy Trinity because in the Holy Trinity there is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. So there are three different faces to Satan to represent the "Evil trinity". Canto Thirty-Four: What must Dante and Virgil do to escape hell? - Correct Answer They must climb the body of Satan as a symbol of over coming evil and sin. As in saying in order to over come an obstacle you must face the obstacle. Canto Thirty-Four: What does Dante hope for? - Correct Answer He hopes to ascend the "shining world again" (34.138). Canto Thirty-Four: Who are the people in the seventh circle? What is their punishment? - Correct Answer They are the traitors to those who helped them. Their punishment is being encased in ice in painful positions. Canto Thirty-Four: What are Satan's wings like? - Correct Answer Since he used to be an Angel to God, Satan has wings. However they are not feathery like an angel's wings, they are more bat like. What is the system of classification of hell? - Correct Answer The worse your sins were, the worse your punishment is. And the deeper into hell you go, the worse the sins and punishments are. How long are you punished in Hell? - Correct Answer You never die, you are constantly being punished for eternity. What is Inferno to the Divine Comedy? - Correct Answer Inferno is the first three parts of the Divine Comedy What holiday does Dante's journey begin on? - Correct Answer Good Friday What holiday does Dante's journey end? - Correct Answer It ends on the vigil of Easter Sunday What do the various sinners with whom Dante meets symbolically mean? - Correct Answer They serve as warnings to Dante to change his life around for the better. What is Purgatory? - Correct Answer Purgatory is a place or state of suffering inhabited by the souls of sinners who are working to cleanse themselves of their sins before going to heaven. How did Dante break tradition by writing the Divine Comedy in a certain way? - Correct Answer Dante wrote the Divine Comedy in Italian vernacular instead of Latin making it available to many more people.