vocabulary 1

Question 1

allegory

Answer 1

a correspondence between an image and an idea. there is the allegory of poets and the allegory of theologians.

Question 2

anaphora

Answer 2

repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive verses or tercets.

Question 3

canticle

Answer 3

one of the three sections of the comedy, corresponding to one of the realms of the afterlife (inferno, purgatorio, paradiso)

Question 4

canto

Answer 4

one section of one canticle. cantos vary in length from 115-160 lines. each canticle has 33 cantos (+1 introductory canto in the inferno)

Question 5

contrapasso

Answer 5

literally “counter-suffering.” the name used to describe the system of justice in the inferno.

Question 6

guelphs and ghibellines

Answer 6

the names for the two political factions in Florence in the 13th-14th century.

Question 7

ghibellines

Answer 7

favored imperial rule and aligned themselves with the Holy Roman Emperor against the papacy.

Question 8

guelphs

Answer 8

advocated for self-rule and aligned themselves with the Pope, whom they believed would represent their interests. eventually split into two parties, the black and white guelphs (to which dante belonged).

Question 9

the poet

Answer 9

name for the character of the author in the comedy

Question 10

the pilgrim

Answer 10

name for the character that undergoes the journey in the comedy

Question 11

similie

Answer 11

a comparison beginning with “like,” “as,” or, “so.”

Question 12

terza rima

Answer 12

the interlocking, forward-moving rhyme scheme of the poem. it is noted as ABA, BCB, CDC, DED…

Question 13

tercet

Answer 13

one three-line stanza of the poem

Question 14

the eternal whirlwind

Answer 14

found in the second circle, lust, in which the sinners are thrown around forever in strong winds

Question 15

the harrowing of hell

Answer 15

the time when jesus descended into hell after the crucifixion and saved those who weren’t damned to bring them to heaven. pre-resurrection.

Question 16

gates of Dis

Answer 16

the gates to the sixth circle of hell that appear to look like mosques

Question 17

allegory of poets

Answer 17

literal sense as fiction, ie Orpheus’ “power of language moved stones” we can take to mean a wise man moves the unlearned man via power of his voice

Question 18

allegory of theologians

Answer 18

literal sense is historical truth in four senses: literal, allegorical (history prefigures modern events), moral (ethical truth or doctrine), and analogical (contemporary life prefigures what will be in the next life)