12-05-2017, 12:05 AM
I think the hardest thing about interpreting Dante is he's definitely talking about Heaven and Hell, Angels and Demons, but he was not exactly just a water carrier for the Holy Roman Church, either. Which parts are orthodox and approved theology and which parts are maybe wildly heretical but Dante saw them in visions or just made them up (and they went viral before the Church could stop it) just isn't all that clear.
One thing more or less for sure though is he wanted ordinary people to read it, not just scholars and professional theologians -- those people would have probably preferred Latin.
It's not really all that usual that a PAGAN POET was his mentor and guide through the Inferno and Purgatory and a WOMAN was his guide through Paradise.
One thing more or less for sure though is he wanted ordinary people to read it, not just scholars and professional theologians -- those people would have probably preferred Latin.
It's not really all that usual that a PAGAN POET was his mentor and guide through the Inferno and Purgatory and a WOMAN was his guide through Paradise.