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Article: An underworld classic; The vitality of Dante.(Books and Arts)(Dante is more than a revered but bygone giant. There has never been so much evidence of his continuing vitality)(Review)
- Article from:
- The Economist (US)
- Article date:
- February 17, 2001
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2001 Economist Newspaper Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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DANTE: A PENGUIN LIFE.
THE POETS' DANTE.
THE INFERNO.
THE journey to the underworld is one of the oldest motifs in literature. It plays a pivotal role in the Babylonian epic of Gilgamesh, in Homer's "Odyssey" and in Virgil's "Aeneid". In all these poems, the hero goes down among the dead in order to discover his destiny-and perhaps also the destiny of his race.
When the Florentine exile Dante Alighieri embarked on his version of the journey around 1300, he brought his great predecessor into the poem. It was as if Virgil, being his master, could show Dante the way: both the way through Hell and the way to write about it. Moreover, for ...
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Article: Canto V. (excerpt from Dante's 'Inferno') (poem)
The American Poetry Review;
January 1, 1993 ;
700+ words
...So I descended from first to second circle-- Which girdles a smaller space and greater pain, Which spurs more lamentation. Minos the dreadful Snarls at the gate. He examines each one's sin, Judging and disposing as he curls his tail: That is, when an ill-begotten soul comes down, It comes before
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