 神曲
quán shī gòng fēn sān bù， měi bù 33 piān， zuì qián miàn zēng jiā yī piān xù shī， yī gòng 100 piān。 shī jù shì sān xíng yī duàn， lián suǒ yā yùn（ aba,bcb,cdc, ……）， gè piān cháng duǎn dà zhì xiāng děng， měi bù yě jī běn xiāng děng。（ dì yù 4720 xíng； liàn yù 4755 xíng； tiān táng 4758 xíng）， měi bù dū yǐ “ qún xīng ”（ stelle） yī cí jié shù。
【 shèng jīng lùn xū jiǎ de yì xiàng】
《 qǐ shì lù》 22： 18 wǒ xiàng yī qiē tīng jiàn zhè shū shàng yù yán de zuò jiàn zhèng， ruò yòu rén zài zhè yù yán shàng jiā tiān shénme， shén bì jiāng zài zhè shū shàng de zāi huò jiā zài tā shēn shàng。
《 qǐ shì lù》 22： 19 zhè shū shàng de yù yán， ruò yòu rén shān qù shénme， shén bì cóng zhè shū shàng suǒ xiě de shēng mìng shù， hé shèng chéng， shān qù tā de fēn。
quán shī gěng gài
ā lì gài lì · dàn dīng yǐ dì yī rén chēng jì shù zì jǐ 35 suì shí（ rén shēng de zhōng tú） wù rù yī zuò hēi 'àn de sēn lín（ xiàng zhēng zuì 'è）， zài yī zuò xiǎo shān jiǎo xià， yòu sān zhǐ měng shòu lán zhù qù lù， yī zhǐ mǔ láng（ xiàng zhēng tān yù）， yī zhǐ shī zǐ（ xiàng zhēng yě xīn）， yī zhǐ bào（ xiàng zhēng yì lè）， yòu yī zhǒng shuō fǎ shì shuō tā men fēn bié xiàng zhēng jiào huáng、 fǎ guó guó wáng hé fó luó lún sà rén。 tā zài hū jiù shí chū xiàn liǎo gǔ luó mǎ shī rén wéi jí 'ěr de líng hún， duì tā shuō：“ nǐ bù néng zhàn shèng zhè sān zhǐ yě shòu， wǒ zhǐ shì nǐ lìng yī tiáo lù jìng”。 dài lǐng tā chuān guò dì yù、 liàn yù， rán hòu bǎ tā jiāo gěi dāng nián 'ā lì gài lì · dàn dīng dān xiāng sī 'àn liàn de qíng rén bèi yà dé de líng hún， dài tā yóu lì tiān táng， yī zhí dào jiàn dào shàng dì。
zài tā miáo shù de shì jiè， dì yù shì yī gè dà lòu dǒu， zhōng xīn zài yé lù sǎ lěng， cóng shàng dào xià zhú jiàn suō xiǎo， yuè xiàng xià suǒ kòng zhì de líng hún zuì 'è yuè shēn zhòng， zhí dào dì xīn， shì mó wáng sǎ dàn zhǎng wò lòu dǒu dǐng duān， tā men cóng mó wáng de wěi bā pá guò dì xīn， lìng yī miàn shì liàn yù。 liàn yù rú tóng yī zuò gāo shān， zài yé lù sǎ lěng xiāng duì de dì qiú lìng yī miàn hǎi zhōng， líng hún zài zhè lǐ chàn huǐ dí zuì， shān fēn qī céng xiàng zhēng zhe qī dà zuì， měi shàng shēng yī céng jiù huì xiāo chú yī zhǒng zuì guò， zhí dào shān dǐng jiù kě yǐ shēng rù tiān táng。 tiān táng fēn wéi jiǔ céng， yuè wǎng shàng de líng hún yuè gāo shàng， zhí dào yuè guò jiǔchóng tiān， cái shì zhēn zhèng de tiān táng， shèng mǔ hé suǒ yòu dé jiù de líng hún suǒ zài， jīng shèng mǔ yǔn xǔ， jiù néng yī kuī sān wèi yī tǐ de shàng dì。
zài jīng guò dì yù、 liàn yù、 tiān táng de yī lù shàng， ā lì gài lì · dàn dīng hé suǒ yù dào de yòu míng de líng hún jiāo tán， bāo kuò lì shǐ shàng hǎo de huài de xǔ duō zhù míng rén wù， tā jiāng zì jǐ qīn pèi hé yàn 'è de rén wù fēn bié nà rù gè gè bù wèi， jiāng jiào huáng shèn zhì tā tòng hèn de yī xiē fó luó lún sà rén quán dǎ rù dì yù。 yòu xiē xiáng xì qíng kuàng shèng jīng zhōng bìng méi yòu jìzǎi， shì tā zì jǐ fā míng de， dàn yě fú hé luó ji。 qí zhōng yě bāo kuò xǔ duō tā duì shén xué wèn tí de jiàn jiě， xì tǒng dì chǎn shù liǎo jī dū jiào duì shì jiè de kàn fǎ。 liàn yù
jīng guò cháng qī yùn niàng hé gòu sī， dàn dīng kāi shǐ chuàng zuò《 shénqǔ》。《 shénqǔ》 xiě zuò de zhǔn què nián yuè nán yǐ què dìng， gēn jù wén xué shǐ jiā men de kǎo zhèng， dà yuē shǐ yú 1307 nián qián hòu，《 dì yù》、《 liàn yù》 dà yuē wán chéng yú 1313 nián zuǒ yòu，《 tiān táng》 zài dàn dīng shì shì qián bù jiǔ tuō gǎo， lì shí 10 yú nián。
《 shénqǔ》 cǎi yòng zhōng shì jì wén xué tè yòu de huàn yóu xíng shì， dàn dīng yǐ zì jǐ wéi zhù rén gōng， jiǎ xiǎng tā zuò wéi yī míng huó rén duì míng fǔ héng héng sǐ rén de wáng guó jìn xíng liǎo yī cì yóu lì。 quán shī fēn《 dì yù》、《 liàn yù》、《 tiān táng》 sān bù。
shī zhōng xù shù dàn dīng zài“ rén shēng lǚ chéng de zhōng tú”， jí 1300 nián， 35 suì shí， mí shī yú yī gè hēi 'àn de sēn lín。 tā jié lì xún zhǎo zǒu chū mí jīn de dào lù， lí míng shí fēn lái dào yī zuò sǎ mǎn yáng guāng de xiǎo shān jiǎo xià。 zhè shì pǔ zhào lǚ tú de míng dēng。 tā zhèng yī bù bù cháo shān dǐng pān dēng， hū rán sān zhǐ měng shòu（ fēn bié xiàng zhēng yín yù、 qiáng bào、 tān lán de bào、 shī、 láng） yíng miàn pū lái。
dàn dīng gāo shēng hū jiù。 zhè shí， gǔ luó mǎ shī rén wéi jí 'ěr chū xiàn liǎo， tā shòu bèi yà tè lì sī de zhǔ tuō qián lái bāng zhù dàn dīng zǒu chū mí tú， bìng yǐn dǎo tā yóu lì dì yù hé liàn yù。
dì yù xíng sì yī gè shàng kuān xià zhǎi de lòu dǒu， gòng 9 céng。 dì yī céng shì hòu pàn suǒ， shēng yú jī dū zhī qián， wèi néng jiē shòu xǐ lǐ de gǔ dài yì jiào tú， zài zhè lǐ děng hòu shàng dì de shěn pàn。 zài qí yú 8 céng， zuì rén de líng hún 'àn shēng qián suǒ fàn de zuì niè（ tān sè、 tāo tiè、 tān lán、 fèn nù、 xìn fèng xié jiào、 qiáng bào、 qī zhà、 bèi pàn）， fēn bié jiē shòu bù tóng de yán kù xíng fá。
liàn yù（ yòu chēng jìng jiè） gòng 7 jí， jiā shàng jìng jiè shān hé dì shàng lè yuán， gòng 9 céng。 shēng qián fàn yòu zuì guò， dàn chéng dù jiào qīng， yǐ jīng huǐ wù de líng hún， àn rén lèi 7 dà zuì guò（ ào màn、 jì dù、 fèn nù、 dài duò、 tān cái、 tān shí、 tān sè）， fēn bié zài zhè lǐ xiū liàn xǐ guò， ér hòu yī céng céng shēng xiàng guāng míng hé tiān táng。 zài jìng jiè shān dǐng de dì shàng lè yuán， wéi jí 'ěr yǐn tuì， bèi yà tè lì sī chū xiàn。
bèi yà tè lì sī zé bèi dàn dīng mí wù zài zuì 'è de sēn lín， xī wàng tā chàn huǐ， bìng ràng tā guān kàn biǎo shì jiào táng zhǒng zhǒng fǔ bài de huàn jǐng， yǐn yòng wàng chuān shuǐ， yǐ yí wàng guò qù de guò shī， huò qǔ xīn shēng。 suí hòu， bèi yà tè lì sī yǐn dǎo dàn dīng yóu lì tiān táng jiǔchóng tiān。 zhè lǐ shì xìng fú de líng hún de guī sù； tā men shì xíng shàn zhě、 qián chéng de jiào shì、 lì gōng dé zhě、 zhé xué jiā hé shén xué jiā、 xùn jiào zhě、 zhèng zhí de jūn zhù、 xiū dào zhě、 jī dū hé zhòng tiān shǐ。 zài jiǔchóng tiān zhī shàng de tiān fǔ， dàn dīng dé jiàn shàng dì zhī miàn， dàn shàng dì de xíng xiàng rú diàn guāng zhī yī shǎn， xùn jí xiāo shī， yú shì huàn xiàng hé《 shénqǔ》 yě jiá rán 'ér zhǐ。
《 shénqǔ》 shì yī bù chōng mǎn yǐn yù xìng、 xiàng zhēng xìng， tóng shí yòu yáng yì zhe xiān míng de xiàn shí xìng、 qīng xiàng xìng de zuò pǐn。 dàn dīng jiè bèi yà tè lì sī duì tā de tán huà biǎo shì， tā xiě zuò《 shénqǔ》 de zhù zhǐ， shì“ wèile duì wàn 'è de shè huì yòu suǒ bì yì”， yě jiù shì shuō，《 shénqǔ》 suī rán cǎi yòng liǎo zhōng shì jì tè yòu de huàn yóu wén xué de xíng shì， qí yù yì hé xiàng zhēng zài jiě shì shàng cháng cháng yǐn fā pō duō zhēng yì， dàn tā de sī xiǎng nèi hán zé shì yì cháng míng què de， jí yìng zhào xiàn shí， qǐ dí rén xīn， ràng shì rén jīng lì kǎo yàn， bǎi tuō mí wù， zhēn yú shàn hé zhēn， shǐ yì dà lì zǒu chū kǔ nán， bō luàn fǎn zhèng， xún dé zhèng zhì shàng、 dào dé shàng fù xīng de dào lù。 dàn dīng shēng huó zài shè huì biàn gé de lì shǐ shí qī， zuò wéi yī wèi“ yòu qiáng liè qīng xiàng de shī rén”， tā yī xīn xiǎng gé xīn zhèng zhì， shí xiàn tā de lǐ xiǎng yǔ bào fù。 dàn tā tòng kǔ dì kàn dào， tā de gù xiāng fó luó lún sà chéng liǎo fēn liè yǔ nèi hòng de shòu hài zhě，“ huò qǐ xiāo qiáng， gē cāo tóng shì”， chéng shì xiàn yú dǎng pài de chóu hèn， xū ruò wú néng， rì yì duò luò： zài nǐ suǒ jì yì de nián yuè lǐ， nǐ gǎi biàn liǎo duō shǎo cì fǎ lǜ、 qián bì、 guān lì、 fēng sú， gēnghuàn guò duō shǎo cì shì zhèng fǔ de wěi yuán !
ér yì dà lì dòng luàn de xiàn shí， fēng jiàn zhù bào nüè wú néng shǐ shēng líng tú tàn de qíng jǐng， gèng lìng tā tòng xīn jí shǒu：
wū hū， nú lì de yì dà lì， tòng kǔ de wēn chuáng， nǐ shì bào fēng yǔ zhōng shī qù duǒ shǒu de gū zhōu， nǐ bù fù shì gè shěng de zhù fù， què chén lún wéi chāng jì !
yīn cǐ， dàn dīng bǐ rèn hé shí hòu dū gèng jiā pò qiē dì xī wàng jiàn lì zhōng yāng jí quán de jūn zhù zhèng tǐ， yǐ yuē shù hé jià yù hù xiāng dí duì de chéng bāng hé fēng jiàn zhū hóu， bǎo zhàng yì dà lì chéng wéi yī gè tǒng yī de、 fù qiáng de guó jiā，“ shǐ shì jì huò dé wěn gù de hé píng， shǐ yǎ nuò de miào mén guān bì”。
dāng shí， yì dà lì míng yì shàng lì shǔ shén shèng luó mǎ dì guó， dàn dì guó de huáng dì tōng cháng cóng dé yì zhì zhū hóu zhōng chǎn shēng， jǐn jǐn zài míng yì shàng xíng shǐ duì yì dà lì de tǒng zhì。 dàn dīng pēng jī huáng dì lǔ dào fū yī shì hé 'ā bó tè yī shì fù zǐ zhǐ rè zhōng yú zài dé guó kuò chōng shì lì， bù lái yì dà lì xíng shǐ quán lì， shǐ yì dà lì shí jì shàng xiàn yú zhèng zhì fēn liè zhuàng tài，“ dì guó de huā yuán huāng wú liǎo”。 dàn dīng zài shēn kè dì miáo huì liǎo dāng shí de zhèng zhì hé shè huì xiàn shí hòu， duì qǐ tú zhù zǎi jī dū jiào shì jiè de jiào huì， duì lǒng duàn zhōng shì jì quán bù wén huà de zōng jiào shén xué， jǐyǔ yì cháng yán lì de jiē lù hé pī pàn。 tā jìn yī bù fā huī zài《 dì zhì lùn》 zhōng chǎn shù de zhèng jiào fēn lí de yuán zé， bìng zhēn duì zhōng shì jì shén xué xuān yáng de“ rì yuè shuō”， zài《 shénqǔ》 lǐ bǎ zì jǐ de zhèng jiào píng děng de guān diǎn xíng xiàng dì gài kuò wéi“ liǎng gè tài yáng shuō”：
zào fú shì jiè de luó mǎ， xiàng lái yòu
liǎng gè tài yáng， fēn bié zhào míng liǎng tiáo lù jìng，
chén shì de lù jìng， hé shàng dì de lù jìng。
zhè gè bǐ yù shēng dòng dì shuō míng， zhèng quán hé jiào quán shì fēn bié zhào yào chén shì shēng huó hé jīng shén shì jiè de liǎng gè tài yáng， tā men zhī jiān yīngdāng shì dú lì píng děng、 fēn gōng hé zuò de guān xì， ér bù shì cóng shǔ、 zhēng dǒu de guān xì， gèng bù kě hé 'ér wéi yī。 ér rú jīn ní？
dàn dīng wú xiàn gǎn kǎi dì zhǐ chū：
yī gè tài yáng bǎ lìng yī gè xī miè，
bǎo jiàn hé shí zì jià dū ná zài yī gè rén de shǒu lǐ。
jiào quán rù qīn zhèng quán de jiēguǒ， shǐ liǎng zhě hù xiāng zhì yuē、 jiān dū de zhí néng sàng shī liǎo， shì jiè yóu cǐ“ zāo liǎo yāng”， lián jiào huì yě“ diē rù ní tán， diàn wū liǎo zì jǐ suǒ chéng dān de zé rèn”。
yīn cǐ， dàn dīng duì jiào huì sì wú jì dá dì gān shè yì dà lì nèi zhèng， pò huài guó jiā de hé píng yǔ tǒng yī de zuì 'è， duì jiào huì sēng lǚ diān dǎo shàn 'è， fàn zuì zào niè de zhǒng zhǒng bài xíng liè jì， biǎo shì liǎo yì cháng qiáng liè de zēng hèn。 tā tòng chì jiào huáng、 zhù jiào、 jiào shì“ rì yè zài nà lǐ yòng jī dū de míng yì zuò zhe mǎi mài”， gān zhe mǎi mài shèng zhí， qiāo zhà lè suǒ、 huāng yín wú dù、 pò hài jī dū tú děng chǒu 'è de xíng wéi，“ shǐ shì jiè xiàn rù bēi cǎn de jìng dì”； tā men chén miǎn yú jīn qián de yín huì wū chòu，“ dào chù duàn jué shàng dì cì
gěi rén mín de miàn bāo”， shù lì liǎo dǎo zhì rén mín“ zǒu shàng xié lù” de“ huài bǎng yàng”。 dàn dīng zhǐ chū， bèi qì《 shèng jīng》 jiào yì de sēng lǚ， bǎ shèng bǎo luó、 shèng bǐ dé pāo dào jiǔ xiāo yún wài， bǎ luó mǎ jiào tíng biàn wéi“ wū xuè de gōu， lā jī de duī”，“ shèng diàn biàn chéng liǎo shòu kū， fǎ yī yě biàn wéi zhuāng mǎn zuì 'è miàn fěn de má dài”。
nài rén xún wèi de shì， dàn dīng bǎ tān lán de jiào huáng、 zhù jiào、 jiào shì zhì yú dì 4 céng jiē shòu chéng fá， bìng bǎ dāng shí hái zài shì de zhèn yā fó luó lún sà gòng hé zhèng quán， zài yì dà lì zhì zào dòng luàn hé fēn liè， qǐ tú cuàn duó shì sú quán lì de jiào huáng péng ní fǎ sī bā shì yù gào dǎ rù dì yù dì 8 céng， tóu jiǎo dàozāi zài shēn xué lǐ， jiē shòu huǒ xíng。 dàn dīng jiè yòng zhōng shì jì chǔzhì zhèng zhì móu shā fàn de kù xíng， yán lì chéng fá péng ní fǎ sī bā shì， yù yán shì dì xuān gào liǎo zhèng yì bì jiāng zhàn shèng xié 'è， jiào huì gān shè shì sú de jú miàn bì jiāng jié shù de qián jǐng。 dàn dīng de zhè zhǒng yuàn wàng hé qíng gǎn， biǎo dá liǎo xīn xīng shì mín jiē jí bǎi tuō zhōng shì jì jiào huì shù fù hé zōng jiào shén xué zhì gù de yào qiú。
dàn dīng rè qíng dì gē sòng xiàn shì shēng huó de yì yì， rèn wéi xiàn shì shēng huó zì yòu běn shēn de jià zhí。 tā zài《 shénqǔ》 zhōng qiáng diào rén fù yòu“ zì yóu yì zhì”， zhè shì“ shàng dì zuì wěi dà de zhù zhāng”， shàng dì jǐyǔ rén lèi“ zuì wěi dà de zèng pǐn”。 tā gǔ lì shì rén zài xiàn shí shēng huó zhōng yīnggāi jiān dìng bù yí dì zūn xún lǐ xìng：
nǐ suí wǒ（ àn： zhǐ xiàng zhēng lǐ xìng de shī rén wéi jí 'ěr） lái，
ràng rén men qù yì lùn bā，
yào xiàng shù tǎ yī bān，
rèn píng kuáng fēng hū xiào，
tǎ dǐng dū yǒng yuǎn kuī rán bù dòng。
shī zhōng rè liè gē sòng lì shǐ shàng jù yòu wěi dà lǐ xiǎng hé jiān qiáng yì zhì de yīng xióng háo jié， xī wàng shì rén yǐ tā men wéi bǎng yàng， zhèn fèn jīng shén， bì kāi dài duò， zhàn shèng yī qiē jiān xiǎn， qù chuàng zào zì jǐ de mìng yùn。 zài dàn dīng kàn lái， zuò zài róng diàn shàng huò zhě shuì zài bèi zǐ lǐ， shì bù huì chéng míng de； zhǐ néng shì xū dù yī shēng。
zàn sòng lǐ xìng hé zì yóu yì zhì， zhào huàn duì xiàn shì hé dǒu zhēng de xīng qù， zhuī qiú róng yù de sī xiǎng， zhè shì dàn dīng zuò wéi xīn shí dài zuì chū yī wèi shī rén de tè zhēng zhī yī。 zhè zhǒng yǐ rén wéi běn， zhòng shì xiàn shí shēng huó jià zhí de guān niàn， tóng zhōng shì jì yī qiē guī yú shén de sī xiǎng， tóng zōng jiào shén xué xuān yáng de lái shì zhù yì， dōushì zhēn fēng xiāng duì de。
《 shénqǔ》 hái biǎo lù liǎo fǎn duì zhōng shì jì de méng mèi zhù yì， tí chàng wén huà， zūn zhòng zhī shí de xīn sī xiǎng。 dàn dīng chēng sòng rén de cái néng hé zhì huì， duì yú jiào huì pái chì hé fǒu dìng de gǔ diǎn wén huà， tā gèng shì tuī chóng bèi zhì。 tā zài shī zhōng fèng hé mǎ wéi“ shī rén zhī wáng”， yà lǐ sī duō dé shì“ zhé xué jiā de dà shī”， chēng wéi jí 'ěr shì“ zhì huì de hǎi yáng”。 tā rè qíng yáng yì dì 'ōu gē hé mǎ shǐ shī zhōng de yīng xióng 'ào dé xiū sī zài qiú zhī yù de tuī dòng xià， lí kāi jiā tíng， pāo qì gè rén xìng fú， lì jìn qiān nán wàn xiǎn， yáng fān yú tiān yá hǎi jiǎo qù tàn xiǎn de shì jì， bìng tōng guò 'ào dé xiū sī zhǐ chū：
nǐ men shēng lái bù shì wèile zǒu shòu yī yàng shēng huó，
ér shì wéi zhe zhuī qiú měi dé hé zhī shí。
yì dà lì cóng zhōng shì jì xiàng jìn dài shè huì guò dù de lì shǐ shí qī de shè huì zhèng zhì biàn huà hé jīng shén dào dé qíng zhuàng， zài《 shénqǔ》 zhōng yě huò dé liǎo zhēn qiē、 guǎng fàn de miáo huì。 nán néng kě guì de shì， dàn dīng duì xīn xīng shì mín jiē jí de tān tú sī lì， zhuī zhú jīn qián， gāo lì dài zhě de zhòng lì pán bō， duì zhèng zài xíng chéng zhōng de zī běn zhù yì guān xì de zuì 'è， yě yòu qīng xī 'ér shēn kè de rèn shí， bìng yú yǐ yán lì de qiǎn zé。 tā zhǐ chū， shì mín jiē jí bào fā hù chōng mǎn liǎo“ jiāo kuáng 'ào màn hé fàng dàng wú dù zhī fēng”， tián yuán shì de níng jìng shēng huó yǐ yī qù bù fù fǎn， yīn wéi jiāo 'ào、 jí dù hé tān lán shì sān kē xīng huǒ， shǐ rén xīn rán shāo qǐ lái。
dàn dīng shì xīn jiù jiāo tì shí qī de wěi dà shī rén。 jī dū jiào shén xué guān niàn， zhōng shì jì sī xiǎng de piān jiàn， shì jiè guān de zhǒng zhǒng máo dùn， yě zài《 shénqǔ》 zhōng dé dào biǎo xiàn。
《 shénqǔ》 zhōng chù chù yáng yì zhe duì xiàn shì shēng huó de rè chén gē sòng， dàn shì dàn dīng yòu bǎ xiàn shì shēng huó kàn zuò lái shì yǒng shēng de zhǔn bèi。 tā jiē fā jiào huì hé sēng lǚ de bài xíng liè jì， dàn yòu bù zhěng gè dì fǎn duì zōng jiào shén xué hé jiào huì， shèn zhì hái bǎ zōng jiào shén xué zhì yú zhé xué zhī shàng， bǎ xìn yǎng zhì yú lǐ xìng zhī shàng。 lì rú， tā bǎ wéi jí 'ěr xuǎn wéi tā huàn yóu dì yù hé liàn yù de xiàng dǎo， yǐn yù lǐ xìng hé zhé xué zhǐ yǐn rén lèi rèn shí xié 'è de tú jìng， ér bǎ bèi yà tè lì sī zuò wéi yóu lì tiān táng de xiàng dǎo， shuō míng shī rén réng rán jú xiàn yú xìn yǎng hé shén xué gāo jù lǐ xìng hé zhé xué zhī shàng， rén lèi zhǐ yòu yǐ kào xìn yǎng hé shén xué， cái néng dá dào zhì shàn zhī jìng de jīng yuàn zhé xué guān diǎn。
dàn dīng duì 'ào dé xiū sī yuǎn háng tàn xiǎn de yīng xióng yè jì de miáo huì， shì《 shénqǔ》 zhōng zuì guāng cǎi duó mùdì shī zhāng zhī yī， ào dé xiū sī zhào huàn shì rén zhuī qiú měi dé hé zhī shí de huà yǔ， yě yǐ chéng wéi zhì lǐ míng yán chuán liú xià lái。 ér lìng yī fāng miàn， dàn dīng yòu jiè wéi jí 'ěr zhī kǒu biǎo míng lǐ xìng de ruǎn ruò：“ shuí xī wàng yòng wǒ men wēi ruò de lǐ xìng shí pò wú qióng de xuán mèng， nà zhēn shì fēi yú jí kuáng。”《 shénqǔ》 zhōng shū xiě de bǎo luó hé fú lǎng qí sī kǎ zhè duì chī qíng liàn rén de bēi jù xìng zāo yù， qī chǔ dòng rén， dàn dīng yīn tīng dào tā men de kū sù 'ér jí dù tòng kǔ， yǐ zhì hūn jué。 hòu shì wú shù de huà jiā、 shī rén、 yīnyuè jiā yǐ zhè zé gù shì wéi sù cái， chuàng zuò chū xǔ duō yōu xiù de yì shù zuò pǐn。 dàn shì dàn dīng yòu gēn jù zhōng shì jì de dào dé biāo zhǔn， bǎ zhè duì qīng nián liàn rén zuò wéi tān sè de zuì rén， fàng rù dì yù jiē shòu chéng jiè。 tā hái bǎ kǔ xíng jìn yù pài shǐ zǔ shèng fāng jì gǔ zhì yú róng yào de tiān táng。 dàn dīng duì zhōng shì jì jìn yù zhù yì hé jiù lǐ jiào jì bìng chì yòu zài yī dìng chéng dù shàng rèn tóng de máo dùn zài zhè lǐ chōng fēn tǐ xiàn liǎo chū lái。
zài duì dài fēng jiàn jūn zhù de tài dù shàng， dàn dīng yě cháng cháng shì máo dùn de。 tā céng yì fèn tián yīng dì qiǎn zé， shuō yì dà lì méi yòu yī kuài gān jìng de tǔ dì，“ yì dà lì suǒ yòu de chéng shì， dào chù chōng chì zhe bào jūn”。 zài《 shénqǔ》 zhōng， tā duì nà bù lè sī hé xī xī lǐ wáng guó de guó wáng chá lǐ yī shì yǐ jí fǎ guó guó wáng féi lì pǔ sì shì de zuì xíng shì tòng jiā biān tà de。 dàn zài dàn dīng de zhèng zhì lǐ xiǎng zhōng， huáng dì yòu bèi shì wéi zhěng jiù xiàn yú wēinàn zhōng de yì dà lì de jiù xīng。 tā zài《 shénqǔ》 zhōng shí cháng tí dào hēng lì qī shì， rèn wéi zhǐ yòu zhè wèi huáng dì cái shì néng gòu shǐ yì dà lì zhè sōu zài bào fēng yǔ zhōng piào dàng de“ gū zhōu” bō zhèng háng xiàng， shùn liú 'ér jìn de“ duǒ shǒu”， bìng zài《 shénqǔ · tiān táng》 lǐ gěi tā yù gào bǎo liú liǎo yī gè guāng róng de wèi zhì。 zhè zhèng shì zài tè dìng de lì shǐ tiáo jiàn xià。 ruò xiǎo de shì mín jiē jí de ruǎn ruò xìng、 tuǒ xié xìng de fǎn yìng。 wèile duì kàng zhuān héng zì sì de jiào huì， zuì chū de rén wén zhù yì zhě bù dé bù móu qiú wáng quán de zhī chí hé bǎo hù。
《 shénqǔ》 shì yī bù dá dào hěn gāo de yì shù jìng jiè de zuò pǐn。 dàn dīng miáo xiě de dì yù、 liàn yù hé tiān táng， shòu dào gǔ diǎn wén xué yóu qí shì zhōng shì jì mèng huàn wén xué de qǐ shì hé yǐng xiǎng， rú wéi jí 'ěr zài《 āi niè 'ā sī jì》 zhōng guān yú zhù rén gōng yóu shén wū yǐn dǎo yóu lì yīn jiān de miáo xiě， zhōng shì jì zuò jiā dá · wéi lóng nà de《 yé lù sǎ lěng tiān guó sòng》、《 bā bǐ lún dì yù shī》 hé dé lā · lì wǎ de《 sān juàn shū》 duì zuì niè de líng hún zài dì yù jiē shòu chéng jiè， tiān táng guāng míng、 xìng fú de xù shù， dū gěi dàn dīng tí gōng liǎo jiè jiàn。 dàn《 shénqǔ》 bù xiàng zhōng shì jì wén xué zuò pǐn nà yàng cū cāo yōng sú、 xū wú piāomiǎo， shī rén yǐ fēng fù de xiǎng xiàng lì、 jīng shēn de shén xué、 zhé xué xiū yǎng hé xīn yíng de gòu sī， wéi sān gè jìng jiè shè jì liǎo yán mì de jié gòu、 qīng xī de céng cì。 tā bǎ dì yù、 liàn yù、 tiān táng gè fēn wéi 9 céng， yùn hán zhe shēn suì de dào dé hán yì。 zài miáo huì bù tóng jìng jiè shí， tā cǎi yòng bù tóng de sè cǎi。 dì yù shì chéng jiè zuì niè de jìng jiè， sè diào qī yōu、 yīn sēn； liàn yù shì huǐ guò hé xī wàng de jìng jiè， sè cǎi zhuǎn wéi tián dàn、 níng jìng； tiān táng shì zhì shàn zhì měi de jìng jiè， lǒngzhào zài yī piàn càn làn、 huī huáng zhī zhōng。 duō céng cì、 duō sè diào de xíng xiàng miáo huì， biǎo dá liǎo shī rén jīng bì 'ér yòu chōu xiàng de zhé xué、 shén xué guān diǎn， yòu fù yú zhè xiē jìng jiè yǐ jù dà de zhēn shí xìng， qí 'ér bù guǐ， jīng wēi zhì shēn， shǐ rén rú shēn lín qí jìng。
《 shénqǔ》 kān chēng yī zuò duō zī duō cǎi、 xíng xiàng xiān huó de rén wù huà láng。 zuò wéi zhè bù shǐ shī de zhù rén wēng， dàn dīng běn rén kǔ kǔ qiú suǒ de pǐn gé hé fēng fù fù zá de jīng shén shì jiè， kè huà dé zuì wéi xì wēi、 bǎo mǎn。 wéi jí 'ěr hé bèi yà tè lì sī zhè liǎng wèi xiàng dǎo， suī rán jù yòu xiàng zhēng xìng hé yù yì xìng， dàn réng rán gè jù xiān míng de gè xìng。 wéi jí 'ěr shì dǎo shī， zài duì dàn dīng de guān huái hé jiào huì zhōng， xiǎn shì chū fù qīn bān hé 'ǎi、 cí xiáng de xìng gé。 bèi yà tè lì sī shì liàn rén， zài duì shī rén de jiù zhù hé gǔ lì zhōng， xiǎn shì chū mǔ qīn bān wēn róu、 zhuāng zhòng de xìng gé。 dàn dīng shàn cháng zài xì jù xìng de chǎng miàn hé xíng dòng zhōng， yǐ jí qí zhǔn què、 jiǎn jié de yǔ yán， gòu lè chū rén wù wài xíng hé xìng gé de tè zhēng。 zài 'āi yuàn yù jué de bēi jù xìng fēn wéi zhōng， shī rén miáo xiě bǎo luó yǔ fú lǎng qí sī kǎ zhè duì liàn rén duì 'ài qíng zhōng zhēn bù yú de pǐn gé， zài yīn 'àn、 fèn mèn de qíng jìng zhōng， shī rén gòu huà jiào huáng péng ní fǎ sī bā shì tān lán、 qī zhà de xìng gé， wú bù rù mù sān fēn。《 shénqǔ》 zhōng zhǒng zhǒng jīng xīn dòng bó hé shén qí de jǐng xiàng， dì yù xíng xíng sè sè de yāo mó guǐ guài， rú tūn shì yōu líng de sān gè tóu de 'è quǎn shē bài luó， fēi xiáng yú zì shā zhě shù lín zhī shàng de rén miàn yāo niǎo， cháng zhe sān fù bù tóng yán sè de miàn kǒng、 sān duì páng dà wú bǐ de chì bǎng de dì yù wáng， mǎn shēn wū xuè、 tóu shàng pán zhe qīng shé de fù chóu nǚ shén， zài dàn dīng de bǐ xià， liáo liáo shù bǐ， biàn xíng xiàng bī zhēn、 xǔ xǔ rú shēng dì gòu huà liǎo chū lái。 tā men bù zhǐ shì gāo dù xiě shí de yì shù xíng xiàng， ér qiě chū sè dì hōng tuō liǎo dì yù gè gè tè dìng huán jìng de fēn wéi。
dàn dīng zài xiě rén huì jǐng shí， cháng cháng xǐ huān cǎi yòng lái yuán yú rì cháng shēng huó hé zì rán jiè de jí qí tōng sú de bǐ yù， chǎn shēng jí bù xún cháng de yì shù xiào guǒ。 lì rú， dì yù lǐ de yōu líng yù jiàn mò shēng lái kè wéi jí 'ěr hé dàn dīng， jīng qí dì dīng shì zhe tā men， hǎo xiàng lǎo yǎn hūn huā de cái féng níng shì zhēn yǎn yī yàng。 xíng róng kū shòu de yōu líng liǎng yǎn shēn xiàn wú shén， hǎo xiàng yī duì bǎo shí tuō luò de jiè zhǐ。 zài mó guǐ kǎ lóng de biān dǎ xià， yōu líng cóng 'àn biān tiào jìn dì yù jiè hé de xiǎo chuán， hǎo xiàng qiū tiān de shù yè yī piàn yī piàn làxià。
《 shénqǔ》 de《 dì yù》、《 liàn yù》、《 tiān táng》 gè yòu 33 gē， jiā shàng cháng shī de xù qū， gòng 100 gē， jì 14233 xíng。 zhè sān gè jìng jiè de jié gòu yě yì cháng yúnchèn、 yán jǐn， gòng yòu 9 céng。 měi bù qū de zuì hòu yīháng dū yǐ“ qún xīng” yī cí zuò yùn jiǎo， bǐ cǐ hū yìng。 zhè zhǒng jīng què de jié gòu hé duìchèn de bù jú， shì jiàn lì yú shù zì 3 hé 10 duì zhōng shì jì wén huà suǒ jù
yòu de shén mì de、 xiàng zhēng de yì yì shàng de。
《 shénqǔ》 de yùn lǜ xíng shì shì mín jiān shī gē zhōng liú xíng de yī zhǒng gé lǜ sān yùn jù， jí dì sān xíng wéi yī yīn jié， gé xíng yā yùn， lián suǒ xún huán， guàn chuān quán shī shǐ zhōng。 zhè yě xiǎn shì liǎo shī rén shēn hòu de yǔ yán gōng lì， shǐ yòng yùn lǜ de jì qiǎo hěn chéng shú。 dàn dīng bìng qì zhōng shì jì wén xué zuò pǐn xí guàn yùn yòng de lā dīng yǔ， cǎi yòng sú yǔ xiě zuò《 shénqǔ》， zhè duì cù jìn yì dà lì mín zú yǔ yán de tǒng yī， duì fēng fù yì dà lì wén xué yǔ yán qǐ liǎo zhòng yào de zuò pǐn。
fán cǐ zhǒng zhǒng dū biǎo míng dàn dīng bǎi tuō liǎo zhōng shì jì wén xué chuán tǒng de jī bàn， lì tú yòng xīn de yì shù xíng shì biǎo xiàn xīn shí dài de sī xiǎng nèi róng， zhè shǐ dàn dīng chéng wéi yì dà lì dì yī gè mín zú shī rén。
《 shénqǔ》 de wěi dà lì shǐ jià zhí zài yú， tā yǐ jí qí guǎng kuò de huà miàn， tōng guò duì shī rén huàn yóu guò chéng zhōng yù dào de shàng bǎi gè gè zhǒng lèi xíng de rén wù de miáo xiě， fǎn yìng chū yì dà lì cóng zhōng shì jì xiàng jìn dài guò dù de zhuǎn zhé shí qī de xiàn shí shēng huó hé gè gè lǐng yù fā shēng de shè huì、 zhèng zhì biàn gé， tòu lù liǎo xīn shí dài de xīn sī xiǎng héng héng rén wén zhù yì de shǔ guāng。《 shénqǔ》 duì zhōng shì jì zhèng zhì、 zhé xué、 kē xué、 shén xué、 shī gē、 huì huà、 wén huà， zuò liǎo yì shù xìng de chǎn shù hé zǒng jié。 yīn cǐ， tā bù jǐn zài sī xiǎng xìng、 yì shù xìng shàng dá dào liǎo shí dài de xiān jìn shuǐ píng， shì yī zuò huàshídài de lǐ chéng bēi， ér qiě shì yī bù fǎn yìng shè huì shēng huó zhuàng kuàng、 chuán shòu zhī shí de bǎi kē quán shū shì de hóng piān jù zhì。
《 shénqǔ》 yuán míng《 xǐ jù》， bó gā qiū zài《 dàn dīng chuán》 zhōng wèile biǎo shì duì shī rén de chóng jìng， gěi zhè bù zuò pǐn guànyǐ“ shén shèng de” chēng wèi。 hòu lái de bǎn běn biàn yǐ《 shén shèng de xǐ jù》 zuò shū míng。 zhōng yì běn tōng chēng《 shénqǔ》。
“ shénqǔ” shì hàn dài míng yī liú yì yán zhì chū de yī zhǒng yī zhì xiāo huà bù liáng de míng yào。 rán 'ér， shén qū de wèn shì zhī chū， què shì shòu dào liǎo yě shēng dòng wù zì liáo xíng wéi de qǐ shì。 yī duàn shí jiān， liú yì fā xiàn zì jiā jī wō lǐ de jī dàn jīng cháng diū shī， biàn liú xīn guān chá， fā xiàn shì yī tiáo huǒ liàn shé suǒ wéi。 yú shì， tā jué dìng chéng fá yī xià zhè tiáo shé。 tā yòng shí huī guǒ zhe shí zǐ zuò liǎo jǐ méi jiǎ dàn， yòu zài jiǎ dàn wài miàn tú shàng yī céng jī dàn qīng， fàng zài jī wō lǐ miàn， rán hòu biàn shǒu hòu zài yī bàng。 bù jiǔ， tā kàn dào nà tiáo shé pá jìn jī wō lǐ， jiāng nà jǐ méi jiǎ dàn tūn xià liǎo。 bù duō yī huì 'ér， nà shé zài dì shàng tòng kǔ zhēngzhá qǐ lái， rán hòu tā rěn zhe tòng kǔ pá jìn cǎo cóng lǐ， pīn mìng dì tūn shí yī zhǒng máo róng róng de xiǎo cǎo。 bù duō shí， shé pái chū liǎo yī duī lèi biàn， rán hòu wú shì dì pá zǒu liǎo。 liú yì xiǎng， zhè zhǒng cǎo yī dìng néng zhì xiāo huà bù liáng。 yú shì， tā yǐ zhè zhǒng cǎo wéi zhù yào， yán zhì chū zhì liáo xiāo huà bù liáng de míng yào shénqǔ。
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dì yù piān
dì yī shǒu sēn lín － yáng guāng zhào yào xià de shān qiū－ sān tóu měng shòu－ wéi jí 'ěr－ liè quǎn－ míng jiè zhī xíng
dì èr shǒu dàn dīng de kùn huò yǔ kǒng jù－ wéi jí 'ěr de wèi jí yǔ bèi 'ā tè lì qiē de jiù yuán－ dàn dīng huī fù tǎn rán de xīn qíng
dì sān shǒu dì yù zhī mén－ wú suǒ zuò wéi zhě－ ā kǎi lóng tè hé yǔ kǎ lóng－ dì zhèn yǔ dàn dīng de hūn jué
dì sì shǒu lín bó－ gǔ dài míng shī rén－ wěi dà líng hún de chéng bǎo
dì wǔ shǒu dì 'èr huán， mǐ nuò sī－ yín yù zhě－ fó lán qiē sī kǎ ? dá ? lǐ mǐ ní
dì liù shǒu tān shí zhě yǔ kè 'ěr bó lù sī－ qià kē jí qí yù yán－ zuì hòu shěn pàn hòu de shòu kǔ wáng hún
dì qī shǒu pǔ lǔ tuō－ tān cái zhě yǔ huī huò zhě－ xìng yùn nǚ shén－ sī tí kè sī zhǎo zé： yì nù zhě
dì bā shǒu dù sī tí kè sī zhǎo zé： fú liè jū 'ā sī－ féi lì pǔ ? ā 'ěr zhān dì－ dí sī chéng－ mó guǐ de kàng jù yǔ wéi jí 'ěr de shī yì
dì jiǔ shǒu dàn dīng de kǒng jù yǔ wéi jí 'ěr de 'ān wèi－ fù chóu nǚ shén－ tiān guó shǐ zhě－ dàn dīng hé wéi jí 'ěr jìn rù dì liù huán
dì shí shǒu yī bì jiū lǔ pài xìn tú de fén mù－ fǎ lǐ nà tǎ ? dé lì ? wū bèi 'ěr dì－ kǎ wǎ 'ěr kǎn tài－ fǎ lǐ nà tǎ de yù yán－ wáng hún yù bǔ de jú xiàn xìng－ dàn dīng de huáng huò
dì shí yī shǒu jiào huáng 'ā nà sī tǎ xiū sī mù qián－ dì yù zhōng guǐ hún de fēn bù－ gāo lì dài zhě de xià chǎng
dì shí 'èr shǒu tā fāng yǔ mǐ nuò tuó－ fú liè gé tōng hé yǔ kěn táo 'ěr－ qí lóng－ niè suǒ sī
dì shí sān shǒu zì shā zhě de cóng lín－ pí 'āi 'ěr ? dé lā ? wéi niè yà－ qīng jiā dàng chǎn zhě－ zì xún duǎn jiàn de fó luó lún sà rén
dì shí sì shǒu huǒ yǔ fēn fēi de shā dì－ kǎ pà niǔ sī－ xuè xī－ kè lǐ tè dǎo de lǎo rén hé dì fǔ de hé liú
dì shí wǔ shǒu jī jiān zhě－ bù lǔ nèi tuō ? lā dì ní－ fàn jī jiān zuì de shén zhí rén yuán hé wén rén xué shì
dì shí liù shǒu sān gè fó luó lún sà rén－ fó luó lún sà de fǔ bài－ dàn dīng de shéng zǐ－ gé lǚ wēng de chū xiàn
dì shí qī shǒu gé lǚ wēng－ gāo lì dài zhě－ xià jiàng dào dì bā huán
dì shí bā shǒu è náng－ yín méi zhě hé yòu jiān zhě－ wéi nèi dí kē ? kǎ qià nèi mǐ kē－ yī 'ā sòng－ ēyú zhě
dì shí jiǔ shǒu mǎi mài shèng zhí zhě－ jiào huáng ní kě luò sān shì－ duì suǒ yòu mǎi mài shèng zhí de jiào huáng de qiǎn zé
dì 'èr shí shǒu zhàn bǔ zhě－ ān fěi 'ā lā 'é sī、 tài léi xī 'ā sī、 ā lún sī－ màn tú hé màn tú yà－ qí tā zhàn bǔ zhě
dì 'èr shí yī shǒu tān guān wū lì de 'è náng－ mǎ lā bù lán kǎ men－ wéi jí 'ěr yǔ mǎ lā kē dá de tán huà－ mó guǐ xún luó duì
dì 'èr shí 'èr shǒu mó guǐ yǔ tān guān wū lì－ qià mǔ bō luó ? dí ? nà wǎ lā－ qià mǔ bō luó de guǐ jì yǔ mó guǐ de zhēng dǒu
dì 'èr shí sān shǒu dàn dīng yǔ wéi jí 'ěr de táo lí－ wěi shàn zhě de 'è náng－ liǎng gè xiǎng lè xiū shì－ gāi yǐ fǎ－ lí kāi dì liù gè 'è náng
dì 'èr shí sì shǒu dēng shàng dì qī gè 'è náng de dī 'àn－ dào zéi de 'è náng－ biàn xíng－ wǎ ní ? fú qí jí qí yù yán
dì 'èr shí wǔ shǒu wǎ ní ? fú qí de wǔ rǔ xíng wéi hé dàn dīng duì pí sī tuō yà de zǔ zhòu－ kěn táo 'ěr kǎ kù sī－ wǔ gè fó luó lún sà dào zéi： dì 'èr zhǒng biàn xíng－ dì sān zhǒng biàn xíng dì 'èr shí liù shǒu duì fó luó lún sà de zǔ zhòu－ yīn móu xiàn jì zhě de 'è náng－ yóu lì xī sī yǔ dí 'ào mò dé sī－ yóu lì xī sī de zuì hòu yī cì háng xíng
dì 'èr shí qī shǒu guī duō ? dá ? méng tài fěi 'ěr tè luó－ luó mǎ niè de xiàn zhuàng－ guī duō de zuì niè yǔ shòu chéng
dì 'èr shí bā shǒu tiǎo bō líjiàn zhě－ mù hǎn mò dé yǔ 'ā lǐ－ pí 'āi 'ěr ? dá ? méi dí qí nà－ kù lì 'ào－ mò sī kǎ ? dé yī ? lán bèi 'ěr dì－ bèi 'ěr tè lǎng ? dé ? bào 'ēn
dì 'èr shí jiǔ shǒu jié lǐ ? dé 'ěr ? bèi luò－ jīn shǔ wěi zào zhě： gé lǐ fú lì nuò ? dé ? ā léi zuǒ yǔ kǎ bō jī 'ào ? dá ? xī yé nà－ xī yé nà rén de xū róng xīn
dì sān shí shǒu jiǎ bàn tā rén zhě： jiǎ ní ? sī jí jī、 mǐ 'ěr lā－ wěi zào huò bì zhě： yà dāng shī fù－ shuō jiǎ huà zhě： xī nóng－ yà dāng shī fù yǔ xī nóng de zhēng chǎo
dì sān shí yī shǒu jù rén－ níng lù－ è fěi 'ā 'ěr tè sī yǔ bù lǐ 'ā liú sī－ ān tài 'é sī
dì sān shí 'èr shǒu kē qí shì sī hú－ gāi yǐn huán－ ān tè nuò 'ěr huán－ bó kǎ ? dé lì ? ā bā dì－ wū gē lì nuò bó jué yǔ lǔ jí 'āi lǐ dà zhù jiào
dì sān shí sān shǒu wū gē lì nuò bó jué－ duì bǐ sà de qiǎn zé－ tuō lè mì huán－ ā 'ěr bèi lǐ gē xiū shì yǔ bù lán kǎ ? duō lǐ yà－ duì rè yà yà de qiǎn zé
dì sān shí sì shǒu yóu dà huán－ lú qí fěi luó－ yóu dà、 bù lǔ dū yǔ kǎ xiū sī－ tuō lí lú qí fěi luó de shēn tǐ－ wéi jí 'ěr duì yǔ zhòu de jiě shì－ zhòng dēng dì miàn
liàn yù piān
dì yī shǒu xù shī－ nán bàn qiú de tiān kōng－ kǎ tuō－ qiān bēi de dēng xīn cǎo
dì èr shǒu jià zhōu de tiān shǐ－ shú zuì de hún líng－ kǎ sài lā－ kǎ tuō de xùn chì
dì sān shǒu zhòng dēng lǚ chéng－ wáng rén de piāomiǎo shēn qū－ bèi gé chú jiào mén zhě－ màn fú léi dí
dì sì shǒu liàn yù wài jiè－ nán bàn qiú tài yáng de yùn xíng－ liàn yù shān de tè zhēng－ bèi lā kuā
dì wǔ shǒu wéi jí 'ěr de zé bèi－ bào sǐ zhě－ yǎ kē bō ? dé 'ěr ? kǎ sài luó－ péng kǒng tè ? dá ? méng tài fěi 'ěr tè luó－ pí yà
dì liù shǒu bào sǐ zhě de hún líng－ qí dǎo de xiào yòng－ suǒ 'ěr dài luò－ duì yì dà lì hé fó luó lún sà de 'āi tàn
dì qī shǒu wéi jí 'ěr hé suǒ 'ěr dài luò de tán huà－ jūn zhù zhī gǔ－ duì jūn zhù de xún lǐ
dì bā shǒu huáng hūn de qí dǎo－ shǒu hù tiān shǐ－ ní nuò ? wéi sī gòng dì－ sān kē xīng chén－ tiān shǐ qū shé－ kē lā duō ? mǎ lā sī pí nà
dì jiǔ shǒu dàn dīng de mèng－ chóngxīn shàng lù－ liàn yù de shǒu mén rén－ liàn yù de dà mén
dì shí shǒu liàn yù dì yī céng－ qiān bēi de fàn lì－ fàn jiāo 'ào zuì zhě
dì shí yī shǒu fàn jiāo 'ào zuì zhě gē sòng tiān fù－ wēng bèi 'ěr tuō ? ā 'ěr duō bù lán dé sī kē－ ào dé lǐ xī ? dá ? gǔ bǐ 'ào pǔ luó wén zhā nuò ? sà 'ěr wǎ ní
dì shí 'èr shǒu shòu chéng de fàn jiāo 'ào zuì zhě de qí tā fàn lì－ qiān bēi de tiān shǐ－ dēng shàng liàn yù dì 'èr céng
dì shí sān shǒu fàn jí dù zuì zhě－ rén cí de fàn lì－ fàn jí dù zhě de xíng fá－ sà pí yà
dì shí sì shǒu guī duō ? dé 'ěr ? dù kǎ yǔ lǐ ní yé lǐ ? dá ? kǎ 'ěr bó lì－ ā 'ěr nuò hé gǔ－ fú 'ěr qí yé lǐ ? dá ? kǎ 'ěr bó lì－ luó mǎ niè de duò luò－ bèi chéng fá de jí dù zuì
dì shí wǔ shǒu cí bēi tiān shǐ－ jí dù yǔ rén 'ài－ hūn mí de huàn jué－ dàn dīng de sū xǐng
dì shí liù shǒu yì nù zhě huán－ mǎ kě ? lún bā dé－ dào dé yǔ zhèng zhì bài huài de yuán yīn
dì shí qī shǒu shòu chéng de fèn nù zuì－ hé píng tiān shǐ－ ài de lǐ lùn hé liàn yù de cì xù 'ān pái
dì shí bā shǒu ài de lǐ lùn（ xù）－ ài yǔ zì yóu yì zhì－ dài qíng zhě－ dàn dīng de kùn shuì
dì shí jiǔ shǒu dàn dīng de mèng－ rè xīn de tiān shǐ－ shì mèng－ tān lán zhě－ ā dé lǐ yà nuò wǔ shì
dì 'èr shí shǒu duì tān lán de qiǎn zé－ pín qióng yǔ kāng kǎi de fàn lì－ wū gē ? kǎ pèi tuō－ dì zhèn yǔ róng yào sòng gē
dì 'èr shí yī shǒu yī gè guǐ hún de tū rán chū xiàn－ dì zhèn yǔ sòng gē de qǐ yīn－ sī tǎ tí wū sī de lì shǐ－ sī tǎ tí wū sī yǔ wéi jí 'ěr
dì 'èr shí 'èr shǒu sī tǎ tí wū sī de zuì guò－ sī tǎ tí wū sī guī yǐ jī dū jiào－ lín bó de yī xiē yōu hún－ dēng shàng dì liù huán
dì 'èr shí sān shǒu tān shí zhě－ dàn dīng yǔ fó léi sài ? duō nà dì de xiāng yù
dì 'èr shí sì shǒu dàn dīng yǔ fó léi sài de tán huà（ xù）－ bó nà zhōng tǎ yǔ wēn róu xīn tǐ shī－ kē 'ěr suǒ ? duō nà dì－ dì 'èr kē guǒ shù－ chéng fá tān shí zuì de fàn lì－ jié zhì tiān shǐ
dì 'èr shí wǔ shǒu dàn dīng de yí wèn－ sī tǎ tí wū sī de xùn jiào－ piāomiǎo de qū tǐ－ tān sè zhě huán
dì 'èr shí liù shǒu tān sè zhě－ guī duō ? guī ní cǎi lì－ ā nà 'ěr duō ? dān ní 'āi luò
dì 'èr shí qī shǒu zhēn jié tiān shǐ－ huǒ qiáng－ dàn dīng de dì sān mèng－ dēng shàng yī diàn yuán
dì 'èr shí bā shǒu yī diàn yuán de sēn lín－ mǎ tài 'ěr dá－ yī diàn yuán de fēng yǔ shuǐ－ yī diàn yuán yǔ huáng jīn shí dài
dì 'èr shí jiǔ shǒu shén shèng de duì wǔ－ qī zuò zhú tái－ èr shí sì wèi zhǎnglǎo－ kǎi xuán chē yǔ shī yīng shòu－ qī wèi guì fù yǔ qī wèi lǎo zhě
dì sān shí shǒu bèi 'ā tè lì qiē de chū xiàn－ wéi jí 'ěr de xiāo shì－ bèi 'ā tè lì qiē duì dàn dīng de zé bèi
dì sān shí yī shǒu bèi 'ā tè lì qiē de zhǐ zé yǔ dàn dīng de chàn huǐ－ huǐ zuì yǔ hūn jué－ jìn rù lè tè hé－ bēi hē tè lì qiē xiǎn lù zhēn róng
dì sān shí 'èr shǒu yà dāng de shù－ dàn dīng de kùn shuì－ dàn dīng de shǐ mìng－ dà chē de yǎn biàn－ chāng jì yǔ jù rén
dì sān shí sān shǒu nǚ shén de kū qì－ bèi 'ā tè lì qiē de yù yán hé xùn jiào－ dàn dīng dào 'ōu nuò 'āi hé－ dàn dīng dí qīng zuì guò
tiān táng piān
dì yī shǒu xù shī－ dēng tiān－ dàn dīng de yí wèn－ yǔ zhòu de zhì xù
dì èr shǒu duì dú zhě de gào jiè－ dǐ dá yuè qiú tiān－ yuè qiú de bān diǎn
dì sān shǒu yuè qiú tiān－ pí kǎ 'ěr dá ? duō nà dì－ xiǎng shòu tiān fú de bù tóng chéng dù－ kē sī tǎn zhā huáng hòu
dì sì shǒu dàn dīng de yí wèn－ xiǎng tiān fú zhě de suǒ zài dì héng héng tiān guó－ shì yuàn wèi cháng－ dàn dīng de xīn yí wèn
dì wǔ shǒu guān yú shì yuàn de lǐ lùn－ duì jī dū jiào tú de gào jiè－ shēng rù shuǐ xīng tiān
dì liù shǒu zhū sī dì ní yà nuò－ dì guó de lì shǐ hé zuò yòng－ luó mǐ 'ōu ? dí ? wéi lā nuò wǎ
dì qī shǒu dàn dīng de yí wèn－ huà wéi ròu shēn de jī dū shòu nán－ jié lùn
dì bā shǒu jīn xīng tiān－ chá lǐ ? mǎ 'ěr tài luò－ rén zhī tiān xìng
dì jiǔ shǒu chá lǐ ? mǎ 'ěr tài luò de yù yán－ kù nī zhā ? dá ? luó mǎ nuò－ kù nī zhā de
yù yán－ mǎ sài de fó 'ěr kǎi tuō－ lá hé－ duì tān lán sēng lǚ de qiǎn zé
dì shí shǒu shì jiè de zhì xù－ rì qiú tiān－ xué shí yuān bó de jīng líng－ tuō mǎ suǒ ? dé ? ā kuí nuò yǔ dì yī huā huán zhōng de xué zhě
dì shí yī shǒu chén shì shì wù de xū wàng yǔ tiān guó de róng guāng－ dàn dīng de yí wèn－ duì shèng fāng jì de sòng yáng－ duō míng wǒ huì de duò luò
dì shí 'èr shǒu dì 'èr gè huā huán yǔ shèng bó nà wén tú lā－ duì shèng duō míng wǒ de zàn sòng－ fāng jì huì de duò luò－ dì 'èr gè huā huán zhōng de jīng líng
dì shí sān shǒu xiǎng tiān fú zhě de gē wǔ－ shèng tuō mǎ suǒ tán yà dāng yǔ yé sū de zhì huì－ suǒ luó mén de zhèng zhì zhì huì－ shì rén de pàn duàn
dì shí sì shǒu jīng líng men de huān qìng－ suǒ luó mén tán xiǎng tiān fú zhě de guāng máng－ jīng líng men de yòu yī cì huān qìng－ huǒ xīng tiān yǔ shí zì jià
dì shí wǔ shǒu xiǎng tiān fú zhě de chén mò－ kǎ qià guī dá－ dàn dīng de gǎn xiè yǔ qǐng qiú－ duì jiù fó luó lún sà de lǐ zàn
dì shí liù shǒu dàn dīng xiàng kǎ qià guī dá tí wèn－ kǎ qià guī dá de huí dá－ fó luó lún sà gǔ lǎo jiā zú de mòluò yǔ shuāi wáng
dì shí qī shǒu dàn dīng de kùn huò－ kǎ qià guī dá de yù yán－ shī rén de shǐ mìng
dì shí bā shǒu bèi 'ā tè lì qiē duì dàn dīng de 'ān wèi－ wéi xìn yǎng 'ér zhàn dǒu de hún líng－ mù xīng tiān－ yīng－ qí dǎo yǔ qiǎn zé
dì shí jiǔ shǒu yīng－ dàn dīng de yí wèn－ shàng dì de zhèng yì－ dé jiù zhī shuō－ è liè de jī dū jiào jūn zhù zhě
dì 'èr shí shǒu zhèng yì de jīng líng－ yīng zhī yǎn－ lǐ fěi 'é sī yǔ tè lā yà nuò－ tiān mìng
dì 'èr shí yī shǒu tǔ xīng tiān－ jīn tī－ shèng bǐ tè luó ? dá mǐ yà ní－ duì gāo jí jiào shì de qiǎn zé
dì 'èr shí 'èr shǒu xiǎng tiān fú zhě de hū hǎn－ shèng běn dǔ－ shēng rù héng xīng tiān－ shuāng zǐ xīng zuò
dì 'èr shí sān shǒu bèi 'ā tè lì qiē de qī dài－ jī dū de shèng lì－ shèng mǔ de shèng lì
dì 'èr shí sì shǒu shèng bǐ dé de huí dá－ dàn dīng de xìn yǎng－ shèng bǐ dé de zàn xǔ
dì 'èr shí wǔ shǒu dàn dīng de xī wàng－ shèng yǎ gè－ guān yú xī wàng wèn tí de kǎo shì－ shèng yuē hàn－ lìng dàn dīng mù huàn de guāng huī
dì 'èr shí liù shǒu guān yú rén 'ài wèn tí de kǎo shì－ shì lì de huī fù－ yà dāng
dì 'èr shí qī shǒu duì shàng dì de gē sòng－ shèng bǐ dé duì fǔ bài jiào huáng de qiǎn zé－ dàn dīng dēng shàng yuán dòng tiān－ bèi 'ā tè lì qiē de yù yán
dì 'èr shí bā shǒu yī gè guāng diǎn hé jiǔ gè huǒ juàn－ bèi 'ā tè lì qiē de jiě shì－ tiān shǐ de děng jí
dì 'èr shí jiǔ shǒu tiān shǐ de chuàng zào－ tiān shǐ de zhí néng－ tiān shǐ de shù mù－ shàng dì yǔ tiān shǐ
dì sān shí shǒu bèi 'ā tè lì qiē de měi lì－ jìng huǒ tiān－ guāng zhī hé－ tiān guó de méi guī－ hēng lì qī shì de xí wèi
dì sān shí yī shǒu jié bái de méi guī－ dàn dīng de jīng 'ě－ shèng bèi nà 'ěr duō－ duì bèi 'ā tè lì qiē de gǎn xiè－ shèng mǔ de shèng lì
dì sān shí 'èr shǒu xiǎng tiān fú zhě zài tiān guó méi guī zhōng de zhì xù 'ān pái－ tiān zhēn wú xié 'ér tóng de mìng yùn－ tiān shǐ yǔ shèng zhě duì shèng mǔ de gē sòng－ zuì dà de shèng zhě
dì sān shí sān shǒu shèng bèi nà 'ěr duō de dǎo gào－ jìn jiàn shàng dì－ sān wèi yī tǐ yǔ huà wéi ròu shēn－ jié jú
Divine Comedy
The Divine Comedy (Italian: Commedia, later christened "Divina" by Giovanni Boccaccio), written by Dante Alighieri between 1308 and his death in 1321, is widely considered the central epic poem of Italian literature, and is seen as one of the greatest works of world literature.[1] The poem's imaginative and allegorical vision of the Christian afterlife is a culmination of the medieval world-view as it had developed in the Western Church. It helped establish the Tuscan dialect in which it is written as the Italian standard.[2]
More than 14,000 lines long, the Divine Comedy is composed of three canticas (Ital. pl. cantiche) — Inferno (Hell), Purgatorio (Purgatory), and Paradiso (Paradise) — each consisting of 33 cantos (Ital. pl. canti). An initial canto serves as an introduction to the poem and is generally not considered to be part of the first cantica, bringing the total number of cantos to 100. The number 3 is prominent in the work, represented here by the length of each cantica. The verse scheme used, terza rima, is hendecasyllabic (lines of eleven syllables), with the lines composing tercets according to the rhyme scheme aba, bcb, cdc, ded, ....
Albert Ritter sketched the Comedy's geography from Dante's Cantos: Hell's entrance is near Florence with the circles descending to Earth's centre; sketch 5 reflects Canto 34's inversion as Dante passes down, and thereby up to Mount Purgatory's shores in the southern hemisphere, where he passes to the first sphere of Heaven at the top.The poem is written in the first person, and tells of Dante's journey through the three realms of the dead, 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. Beatrice was a Florentine woman whom he had met in childhood and admired from afar in the mode of the then-fashionable courtly love tradition which is highlighted in Dante's earlier work La Vita Nuova.
In Northern Italy's political struggle between Guelphs and Ghibellines, Dante was part of the Guelphs, who in general favored the Papacy over the Holy Roman Emperor. Florence's Guelphs split into factions around 1300: the White Guelphs, who opposed secular rule by Pope Boniface VIII and who wished to preserve Florence's independence, and the Black Guelphs, who favored the Pope's control of Florence. Dante was among the White Guelphs who were exiled in 1302 by the Lord-Mayor Cante de' Gabrielli di Gubbio, after troops under Charles of Valois entered the city, at the request of Boniface and in alliance with the Blacks. The Pope said if he had returned he would be burned at the stake. This exile, which lasted the rest of Dante's life, shows its influence in many parts of the Comedy, from prophecies of Dante's exile to Dante's views of politics to the eternal damnation of some of his opponents.
In Hell and Purgatory, Dante shares in the sin and the penitence respectively. The last word in each of the three parts of the Divine Comedy is "stars".
Inferno
The poem begins on the night before Good Friday in the year 1300, "midway in the journey of our life" (Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita), and so opens in medias res. Dante is thirty-five years old, half of the biblically allotted age of 70 (Psalm 90:10), lost in a dark wood (perhaps, allegorically, contemplating suicide—as "wood" is figured in Canto XIII, and also the mention of suicide is made in Canto I of Purgatorio with "This man has not yet seen his last evening; But, through his madness, was so close to it, That there was hardly time to turn about" implying that when Virgil came to him he was on the verge of suicide or morally passing the point of no return), assailed by beasts (a lion, a leopard, and a she-wolf; allegorical depictions of temptations towards sin) he cannot evade, and unable to find the "straight way" (diritta via) to salvation (symbolized by the sun behind the mountain). Conscious that he is ruining himself, that he is falling into a "deep place" (basso loco) where the sun is silent ('l sol tace), Dante is at last rescued by Virgil, and the two of them begin their journey to the underworld. Each sin's punishment in Inferno is a symbolic instance of poetic justice; for example, the fortune-tellers have to walk forwards with their heads on backwards, unable to see what is ahead, because they tried to do so in life. Allegorically, the Inferno represents the Christian soul seeing sin for what it really is.
The Barque of Dante by Eugène Delacroix.Dante passes through the gate of hell, on which is inscribed the famous phrase "Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch'intrate", or "Abandon all hope, ye who enter here"[3] Before entering Hell completely, Dante and his guide see the Opportunists, souls of people who in life did nothing, neither for good nor evil (among these Dante recognizes either Pope Celestine V, or Pontius Pilate; the text is ambiguous). Mixed with them are the outcasts, who took no side in the Rebellion of Angels. These souls are neither in Hell nor out of it, but reside on the shores of the Acheron, their punishment to eternally pursue a banner, and be pursued by wasps and hornets that continually sting them while maggots and other such insects drink their blood and tears. This symbolizes the sting of their conscience and the repugnance of sin.
Then Dante and Virgil reach the ferry that will take them across the river Acheron and to Hell proper. The ferry is piloted by Charon, who does not want to let Dante enter, for he is a living being. Virgil forces Charon to take them, but their passage across is undescribed since Dante faints and does not awake until he is on the other side.
The Circles of Hell
Virgil guides Dante through the nine circles of Hell. The circles are concentric, representing a gradual increase in wickedness, and culminating at the center of the earth, where Satan is held in bondage. Each circle's sinners are punished in a fashion fitting their crimes: each sinner is afflicted for all of eternity by the chief sin he committed. People who sinned but prayed for forgiveness before their deaths are found in Purgatory -- where they labor to be free of their sins -- not in Hell. Those in Hell are people who tried to justify their sins and are unrepentant. Furthermore, those in hell have knowledge of the past and future, but not of the present. This is a joke on them in Dante's mind because after the Final Judgment, time ends; those in Hell would then know nothing. The nine circles are:
First Circle (Limbo)
Here reside the unbaptized and the virtuous pagans, who, though not sinful, did not accept Christ. Here also reside those who, if they lived before the coming of Christ, did not pay fitting homage to their respective deity. They are not punished in an active sense, but rather grieve only their separation from God, without hope of reconciliation. The chief irony in this circle is that Limbo shares many characteristics with Elysian Fields; thus the guiltless damned are punished by living in a deficient form of Heaven. Without baptism ("the portal of faith," Canto IV, l.36) they lacked the hope for something greater than rational minds can conceive. Limbo includes green fields and a castle, the dwelling place of the wisest men of antiquity, including Virgil himself, as well as the Islamic philosophers Averroes and Avicenna. In the castle Dante meets the poets Homer, Horace, Ovid, and Lucan and the philosophers Socrates and Plato. Interestingly, he also sees Saladin in Limbo. (Canto IV) Dante implies that all virtuous pagans find themselves here, although he later encounters two in heaven and one (Cato of Utica) in Purgatory.
Beyond the first circle, all of those condemned for active, deliberately willed sin are judged by Minos, who sentences each soul to one of the lower eight circles by wrapping his tail around himself a corresponding number of times. The lower circles are structured according to the classical (Aristotelian) conception of virtue and vice, so that they are grouped into the sins of incontinence, violence, and fraud (which for many commentators are represented by the leopard, lion, and she-wolf[4]). The sins of incontinence — weakness in controlling one's desires and natural urges — are the mildest among them, and, correspondingly, appear first:
"Gianciotto Discovers Paolo and Francesca" by Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres.
Second Circle
Those overcome by lust are punished in this circle. They are the first ones to be truly punished in Hell. These souls are blown about to and fro by a violent storm, without hope of rest. This symbolizes the power of lust to blow one about needlessly and aimlessly. Francesca da Rimini informs Dante of how she and her husband's brother Paolo committed adultery and died a violent death at the hands of her husband. (Canto V)
Third Circle
Cerberus guards the gluttons, forced to lie in a vile slush made by freezing rain, black snow, and hail. This symbolizes the garbage that the gluttons made of their lives on earth, slavering over food. Dante converses with a Florentine contemporary identified as Ciacco ("Hog" — probably a nickname) regarding strife in Florence and the fate of prominent Florentines. (Canto VI)
Fourth Circle
Those whose concern for material goods deviated from the desired mean are punished in this circle. They include the avaricious or miserly, who hoarded possessions, and the prodigal, who squandered them. Guarded by Plutus (whom Dante almost certainly conflated with Pluto), each group pushes a great weight against the heavy weight of the other group. After the weights crash together the process starts over again. (In Gustave Doré's illustrations for this scene, the damned push huge money bags.) (Canto VII)
Fifth Circle
In the swamp-like water of the river Styx, the wrathful fight each other on the surface, and the sullen or slothful lie gurgling beneath the water. Phlegyas reluctantly transports Dante and Virgil across the Styx in his skiff. On the way they are accosted by Filippo Argenti, a Black Guelph from a prominent family. (Cantos VII and VIII)
Lower Hell, inside the walls of Dis, in an illustration by Stradanus. There is a drop from the sixth circle to the three rings of the seventh circle, then again to the ten rings of the eighth circle, and, at the bottom, to the icy ninth circle.The lower parts of hell are contained within the walls of the city of Dis, which is itself surrounded by the Stygian marsh. Punished within Dis are active (rather than passive) sins. The walls of Dis are guarded by fallen angels. Virgil is unable to convince them to let Dante and him enter, and the Furies and Medusa threaten Dante. An angel sent from Heaven secures entry for the poets. (Cantos VIII and IX)
Sixth Circle
Heretics are trapped in flaming tombs. Dante holds discourse with a pair of Florentines in one of the tombs: Farinata degli Uberti, a Ghibelline; and Cavalcante de' Cavalcanti, a Guelph who was the father of Dante's friend and fellow poet Guido Cavalcanti (Cantos X and XI). The followers of Epicurus are also located here (Canto X).
Seventh Circle
This circle houses the violent. Its entry is guarded by the Minotaur, and it is divided into three rings:
Outer ring, housing the violent against people and property, who are immersed in Phlegethon, a river of boiling blood, to a level commensurate with their sins. The Centaurs, commanded by Chiron, patrol the ring, firing arrows into those trying to escape. The centaur Nessus guides the poets along Phlegethon and across a ford in the river. (Canto XII)
Middle ring: In this ring are the suicides, who are transformed into gnarled thorny bushes and trees. They are torn at by the Harpies. Unique among the dead, the suicides will not be bodily resurrected after the final judgment, having given their bodies away through suicide. Instead they will maintain their bushy form, with their own corpses hanging from the limbs. Dante breaks a twig off one of the bushes and hears the tale of Pier delle Vigne, who committed suicide after falling out of favor with Emperor Frederick II. The other residents of this ring are the profligates, who destroyed their lives by destroying the means by which life is sustained (i.e. money and property). They are perpetually chased by ferocious dogs through the thorny undergrowth. (Canto XIII) The trees are a metaphor; in life the only way of the relief of suffering was through pain (i.e. suicide) and in Hell, the only form of relief of the suffering is through pain (breaking of the limbs to bleed).
Inner ring: The violent against God (blasphemers), the violent against nature (sodomites), and the violent against art (usurers), all reside in a desert of flaming sand with fiery flakes raining from the sky. The blasphemers lie on the sand, the usurers sit, and the sodomites wander about in groups. Dante converses with two Florentine sodomites from different groups. One of them is Dante's mentor, Brunetto Latini. Dante is very surprised and touched by this encounter and shows Brunetto great respect for what he has taught him. The other is Iacopo Rusticucci, a politician. (Cantos XIV through XVI) Those punished here for usury include Florentines Catello di Rosso Gianfigliazzi, Ciappo Ubriachi, and Giovanni di Buiamonte, and Paduans Reginaldo degli Scrovegni and Vitaliano di Iacopo Vitaliani.
Eighth Circle
Dante's guide rebuffs Malacoda and his fiends between bolgia five and six in the Eighth Circle of Hell, Inferno, Canto 21.
Dante climbs the flinty steps in bolgia seven in the Eighth Circle of Hell, Inferno, Canto 26.
The falsifiers, who thrive in a diseased society, are now themselves diseased, Inferno, Canto 30.The last two circles of Hell punish sins that involve conscious fraud or treachery. The circles can be reached only by descending a vast cliff, which Dante and Virgil do on the back of Geryon, a winged monster represented by Dante as having the face of an honest man and a body that ends in a scorpion-like stinger. (Canto XVII)
The fraudulent—those guilty of deliberate, knowing evil—are located in a circle named Malebolge ("Evil Pockets"), divided into ten bolgie, or ditches of stone, with bridges spanning the ditches:
Bolgia 1: Panderers (pimps) and seducers march in separate lines in opposite directions, whipped by demons. Just as they misled others in life, they are driven to march by demons for all eternity. In the group of panderers the poets notice Venedico Caccianemico, who sold his own sister to the Marchese d'Este, and in the group of seducers Virgil points out Jason. (Canto XVIII)
Bolgia 2: Flatterers are steeped in human excrement. This is because their flatteries on earth were nothing but "a load of crap". (Canto XVIII)
Bolgia 3: Those who committed simony are placed head-first in holes in the rock, with flames burning on the soles of their feet (resembling an inverted baptism). One of them, Pope Nicholas III, denounces as simonists two of his successors, Pope Boniface VIII and Pope Clement V. (Canto XIX)
Bolgia 4: Sorcerers and false prophets have their heads twisted around on their bodies backward. In addition, they cry so many tears that they cannot see. This is symbollic because these people tried to see into the future by forbidden means; thus in Hell they can only see what is behind them and cannot see forward. (Canto XX)
Bolgia 5: Corrupt politicians (barrators) are immersed in a lake of boiling pitch, which represents the sticky fingers and dark secrets of their corrupt deals. They are guarded by devils called the Malebranche ("Evil Claws"). Their leader, Malacoda ("Evil Tail"), assigns a troop to escort Virgil and Dante to the next bridge. The troop hook and torment one of the sinners (identified by early commentators as Ciampolo), who names some Italian grafters and then tricks the Malebranche in order to escape back into the pitch. (Cantos XXI through XXIII)
Bolgia 6: The bridge over this bolgia is broken: the poets climb down into it and find the Hypocrites listlessly walking along wearing gold-gilded lead cloaks. Dante speaks with Catalano and Loderingo, members of the Jovial Friars. It is also ironic in this canto that whilst in the company of hypocrites, the poets also discover that the guardians of the fraudulent (the malebranche) are hypocrites themselves, as they find that they have lied to them, giving false directions, when at the same time they are punishing liars for similar sins. (Canto XXIII)
Bolgia 7: Thieves, guarded by the centaur (as Dante describes him) Cacus, are pursued and bitten by snakes. The snake bites make them undergo various transformations, with some resurrected after being turned to ashes, some mutating into new creatures, and still others exchanging natures with the snakes, becoming snakes themselves that chase the other thieves in turn. Just as the thieves stole other people's substance in life, and because thievery is reptillian in its secrecy, the thieves' substance is eaten away by snakes and their bodies are constantly stolen by other thieves. (Cantos XXIV and XXV)
Bolgia 8: Fraudulent advisors are encased in individual flames. Dante includes Ulysses and Diomedes together here for their role in the Trojan War. Ulysses tells the tale of his fatal final voyage (an invention of Dante's), where he left his home and family to sail to the end of the Earth. He equated life as a pursuit of knowledge that humanity can attain through effort, and in his search God sank his ship outside of Mount Purgatory. This symbolizes the inability of the individual to carve out one's own salvation. Instead, one must be totally subservient to the will of God and realize the inability of one to be a God unto oneself. Guido da Montefeltro recounts how his advice to Pope Boniface VIII resulted in his damnation, despite Boniface's promise of absolution. (Cantos XXVI and XXVII)
Bolgia 9: A sword-wielding demon hacks at the sowers of discord. As they make their rounds the wounds heal, only to have the demon tear apart their bodies again. "How mutilated, see, is Mahomet; In front of me doth Ali weeping go, Cleft in the face from forelock unto chin; And all the others whom thou here beholdest, Disseminators of scandal and of schism. While living were, and therefore are cleft thus." Muhammad tells Dante to warn the schismatic and heretic Fra Dolcino (Cantos XXVIII and XXIX). Interestingly enough, Dante views both Muhammad and Ali as schismatic Christians, blaming the former for conflict between Christian and Muslim, and the second for conflict between Sunni and Shiite.
Bolgia 10: Here various sorts of falsifiers (alchemists, counterfeiters, perjurers, and impersonators), who are a disease on society, are themselves afflicted with different types of diseases (Cantos XXIX and XXX). Potiphar's wife is briefly mentioned here for her false accusation of Joseph. In the notes on her translation, Dorothy L. Sayers remarks that Malebolge "began with the sale of the sexual relationship, and went on to the sale of Church and State; now, the very money is itself corrupted, every affirmation has become perjury, and every identity a lie; no medium of exchange remains."[5]
Ninth Circle
See also: Ugolino and Dante
Dante speaks to the traitors in the ice, Inferno, Canto 32.The Ninth Circle is ringed by classical and Biblical giants. The giants are standing either on, or on a ledge above, the ninth circle of Hell, and are visible from the waist up at the ninth circle of the Malebolge. The giant Antaeus lowers Dante and Virgil into the pit that forms the ninth circle of Hell. (Canto XXXI) Traitors, distinguished from the "merely" fraudulent in that their acts involve betraying one in a special relationship to the betrayer, are frozen in a lake of ice known as Cocytus. Each group of traitors is encased in ice to a different depth, ranging from only the waist down to complete immersion. The circle is divided into four concentric zones:
Zone 1: Caïna, named for Cain, is home to traitors to their kindred. The souls here are immersed in the ice up to their necks. (Canto XXXII)
Zone 2: Antenora is named for Antenor of Troy, who according to medieval tradition betrayed his city to the Greeks. Traitors to political entities, such as party, city, or country, are located here. Count Ugolino pauses from gnawing on the head of his rival Archbishop Ruggieri to describe how Ruggieri imprisoned and starved him and his children. The souls here are immersed at almost the same level as those in Caïna, except they are unable to bend their necks. (Cantos XXXII and XXXIII)
Zone 3: Ptolomæa is probably named for Ptolemy, the captain of Jericho, who invited Simon Maccabaeus and his sons to a banquet and then killed them. Traitors to their guests are punished here. Fra Alberigo explains that sometimes a soul falls here before the time that Atropos (the Fate who cuts the thread of life) should send it. Their bodies on Earth are immediately possessed by a fiend. The souls here are immersed so much that only half of their faces are visible. As they cry, their tears freeze and seal their eyes shut- they are denied even the comfort of tears. (Canto XXXIII)
Zone 4: Judecca, named for Judas the Iscariot, Biblical betrayer of Christ, is for traitors to their lords and benefactors. All of the sinners punished within are completely encapsulated in ice, distorted to all conceivable positions.
Satan is trapped in the frozen central zone in the Ninth Circle of Hell, Inferno, Canto 34.
Dante and Virgil, with no one to talk to, quickly move on to the center of hell. Condemned to the very center of hell for committing the ultimate sin (treachery against God) is Satan, who has three faces, one red, one black, and one a pale yellow, each having a mouth that chews on a prominent traitor. Satan himself is represented as a giant, terrifying beast, weeping tears from his six eyes, which mix with the traitors' blood sickeningly. He is waist deep in ice, and beats his six wings as if trying to escape, but the icy wind that emanates only further ensures his imprisonment (as well as that of the others in the ring). The sinners in the mouths of Satan are Brutus and Cassius in the left and right mouths, respectively, who were involved in the assassination of Julius Caesar (an act which, to Dante, represented the destruction of a unified Italy), and Judas Iscariot (the namesake of this zone) in the central, most vicious mouth, who betrayed Jesus. Judas is being administered the most horrifying torture of the three traitors, his head in the mouth of Lucifer, and his back being forever skinned by the claws of Lucifer. (Canto XXXIV) What is seen here is a perverted trinity. Satan is impotent, ignorant, and evil while God can be attributed as the opposite: all powerful, all knowing, and good. The two poets escape by climbing down the ragged fur of Lucifer, passing through the center of the earth, emerging in the other hemisphere just before dawn on Easter Sunday beneath a sky studded with stars.
Purgatorio
Dante gazes at Mount Purgatory in an allegorical portrait by Agnolo Bronzino, painted circa 1530.
Plan of Mount Purgatory. As with Paradise, the structure is of the form 2+7+1=9+1=10, with one of the ten regions different in nature from the other nine.Having survived the depths of Hell, Dante and Virgil ascend out of the undergloom, to the Mountain of Purgatory on the far side of the world (in Dante's time, it was believed that Hell existed underneath Jerusalem). The Mountain is on an island, the only land in the Southern Hemisphere, created with earth taken from the excavation of hell. At the shores of Purgatory, Dante and Virgil are attracted by a musical performance by Casella, but are reprimanded by Cato, a pagan who has been placed by God as the general guardian of the approach to the mountain. The text gives no indication whether or not Cato's soul is destined for heaven: his symbolic significance has been much debated. (Cantos I and II).
Allegorically, the Purgatorio represents the Christian life. Christian souls arrive escorted by an angel, singing in exitu Israel de Aegypto. In his Letter to Cangrande, Dante explains that this reference to Israel leaving Egypt refers both to the redemption of Christ and to "the conversion of the soul from the sorrow and misery of sin to the state of grace."[6] Appropriately, therefore, it is Easter Sunday when Dante and Virgil arrive.
The Purgatorio is notable for demonstrating the medieval knowledge of a spherical Earth. During the poem, Dante discusses the different stars visible in the southern hemisphere, the altered position of the sun, and the various timezones of the Earth. At this stage it is, Dante says, sunset at Jerusalem, midnight on the River Ganges, and sunrise in Purgatory.
Dante starts the ascent of Mount Purgatory at sunrise. On the lower slopes (designated as "ante-Purgatory" by commentators) Dante meets first a group of excommunicates, detained for a period thirty times as long as their period of contumacy. Ascending higher, he encounters those too lazy to repent until shortly before death, and those who suffered violent deaths (often due to leading extremely sinful lives). These souls will be admitted to Purgatory thanks to their genuine repentance, but must wait outside for an amount of time equal to their lives on earth (Cantos III through VI). Finally, Dante is shown a beautiful valley where he sees the lately-deceased monarchs of the great nations of Europe, and a number of other persons whose devotion to public and private duties hampered their faith (Cantos VII and VIII). Dante's beautiful description of evening in this valley (Canto VIII) was the inspiration for a similar passage in Byron's Don Juan.[7] From this valley Dante is carried (while asleep) up to the gates of Purgatory proper (Canto IX).
The gate of Purgatory is guarded by an angel who uses the point of his sword to draw the letter "P" (signifying peccatum, sin) seven times on Dante's forehead, abjuring him to "wash you those wounds within." The angel uses two keys, silver (remorse) and gold (reconciliation) to open the gate – both are necessary.[8] The angel at the gate then warns Dante not to look back, lest he should find himself outside the gate again, symbolizing Dante having to overcome and rise above the hell that he has just left and thusly leaving his sinning ways behind him.
From there, Virgil guides the pilgrim Dante through the seven terraces of Purgatory. These correspond to the seven deadly sins, each terrace purging a particular sin in an appropriate manner. Those in purgatory can leave their circle whenever they like, but essentially there is an honor system where no one leaves until they have corrected the nature within themselves that caused them to commit that sin. Souls can only move upwards and never backwards, since the intent of Purgatory is for souls to ascend towards God in Heaven, and can ascend only during daylight hours, since the light of God is the only true guidance.
Associated with each terrace are historical and mythological examples of the relevant deadly sin and of its opposite virtue, together with an appropriate prayer and beatitude.
The Terraces of Purgatory
In an example of humility, the Emperor Trajan stops to render justice to a poor widow, Purgatorio, Canto 10
Dante's meeting with Matelda, lithograph by Cairoli (1889)On the first three terraces of Purgatory are purified those whose sins were caused by perverted love directed towards actual harm of others.
First Terrace. The proud are purged by carrying giant stones on their backs, unable to stand up straight (Cantos X through XII). This teaches the sinner that pride puts weight on the soul and it is better to throw it off. Furthermore, there are carvings of historical and mythological examples of pride and humility to learn from. With the weight on one's back, one cannot help but see this carved pavement and learn from it. The prayer for this terrace is the Lord's Prayer, and the beatitude is blessed are the poor in spirit. At the ascent to the next terrace, an angel clears a letter P from Dante's head. This process is repeated on each terrace. Each time a P is removed, Dante's body feels lighter, because he becomes less and less weighed down by sin.
Second Terrace. The envious are purged by having their eyes sewn shut and wearing clothing that makes the soul indistinguishable from the ground (Cantos XIII through XV). This is akin to a falconer's sewing the eyes of a falcon shut in order to train it. God is the falconer and is training the souls not to envy others and to direct their love towards Him. Two examples of envy (Cain who was jealous of his brother, and Aglauros who was jealous of her sister) are contrasted with three of generosity. Because the souls here cannot see, the examples are voices on the air, including Jesus' words "love your enemies." As he is leaving the terrace, the dazzling light of the angel causes Dante to observe that the angle of incidence is equal to the angle of reflection "as theory and experiment will show."[9]
Third Terrace. The wrathful are purged by walking around in acrid smoke (Cantos XV through XVII). Souls correct themselves by learning how wrath has blinded their vision, impeding their judgment (the sin of wrath represents a perversion of the natural love of justice). The prayer for this terrace is the Agnus Dei, and the beatitude is blessed are the peacemakers.
On the fourth terrace we find sinners whose sin was that of deficient love—that is, sloth or acedia.
Fourth Terrace. The slothful are purged by continually running (Cantos XVIII and XIX). Those who were slothful in life can only purge this sin by being zealous in their desire for penance. Allegorically, spiritual laziness and lack of caring lead to sadness, and so the beatitude for this terrace is blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted.[10]
On the fifth through seventh terraces are those who sinned by loving good things, but loving them in a disordered way.
Fifth Terrace. The avaricious and prodigal are purged by lying face-down on the ground, unable to move (Cantos XIX through XXI). Excessive concern for earthly goods—whether in the form of greed or extravagance—is punished and purified. The sinner learns to turn his desire from possessions, power or position to God. It is here that the poets meet the soul of Statius, who has completed his purgation and joins them on their ascent to paradise.
Sixth Terrace. The gluttonous are purged by abstaining from any food or drink (Cantos XXII through XXIV). Here, the soul's desire to eat a forbidden fruit causes its shade to starve. To sharpen the pains of hunger, the former gluttons on this terrace are forced to pass by cascades of cool water without stopping to drink. (Considering Dante's use of Greek myth, this may be inspired by Tantalus.)
Seventh Terrace. The lustful are purged by burning in an immense wall of flames (Cantos XXV through XXVII). All of those who committed sexual sins, both heterosexual and homosexual, are purified by the fire. Excessive sexual desire misdirects one's love from God and this terrace is meant to correct that. In addition, perhaps because all sin has its roots in misguided love, every soul who has completed his penance on the lower six cornices must pass through the wall of flame before ascending to the Earthly Paradise. Here Dante, too, must share the penance of the redeemed as the last "P" is removed from his forehead.
Dante's meeting with Beatrice, by John William WaterhouseThe ascent of the mountain culminates at the summit, which is in fact the Garden of Eden (Cantos XXVIII through XXXIII). This place is meant to return one to a state of innocence that existed before the sin of Adam and Eve caused the fall from grace. Here Dante meets Matelda, a woman of grace and beauty who prepares souls for their ascent to heaven. With her Dante witnesses a highly symbolic procession that may be read as an allegorical masque of the Church and the Sacrament. The procession forms an allegory within the allegory, a little like Shakespeare's play within a play. One participant in the procession is Beatrice, whom Dante loved in childhood, and at whose request Virgil was commissioned to bring Dante on his journey.
Virgil, as a pagan, is a permanent denizen of Limbo, the first circle of Hell, and may not enter Paradise; he vanishes. Beatrice then becomes the second guide, and will accompany Dante in his vision of Heaven.
Dante drinks from the River Lethe, which causes the soul to forget past sins, and then from the River Eunoë, which effects the renewal of memories of good deeds. Thus purified, souls can direct their love fully towards God to the best of their inherent capability to do so. They are then ready to leave Mount Purgatory for Paradise. Being totally purged of sin, Purgatorio ends with Dante's vision aimed at the stars, anticipating his ascent to heaven.
Paradiso
Dante and Beatrice speak to Piccarda and Constance of Sicily, in a fresco by Philipp Veit, Paradiso, Canto 3After an initial ascension (Canto I), Beatrice guides Dante through the nine celestial spheres of Heaven. These are concentric and spherical, similar to Aristotelian and Ptolemaic cosmology. Dante admits that the vision of heaven he receives is the one that his human eyes permit him to see. Thus, the vision of heaven found in the Cantos is Dante's own personal vision, ambiguous in its true construction. The addition of a moral dimension means that a soul that has reached Paradise stops at the level applicable to it. Souls are allotted to the point of heaven that fits with their human ability to love God. Thus, there is a heavenly hierarchy. All parts of heaven are accessible to the heavenly soul. That is to say all experience God but there is a hierarchy in the sense that some souls are more spiritually developed than others. This is not determined by time or learning as such but by their proximity to God (how much they allow themselves to experience Him above other things). It must be remembered in Dante's schema that all souls in Heaven are on some level always in contact with God.
While the structures of the Inferno and Purgatorio were based around different classifications of sin, the structure of the Paradiso is based on the four cardinal virtues and the three theological virtues.
The Spheres of Heaven
The nine spheres are:
First Sphere. The sphere of the Moon is that of souls who abandoned their vows, and so were deficient in the virtue of fortitude (Cantos II through V). Dante meets Piccarda, sister of Dante's friend Forese Donati, who died shortly after being forcibly removed from her convent. Beatrice discourses on the freedom of the will, and the inviolability of sacred vows.
Second Sphere. The sphere of Mercury is that of souls who did good out of a desire for fame, but who, being ambitious, were deficient in the virtue of justice (Cantos V through VII). Justinian recounts the history of the Roman Empire. Beatrice explains to Dante the atonement of Christ for the sins of humanity.
Third Sphere. The sphere of Venus is that of souls who did good out of love, but were deficient in the virtue of temperance (Cantos VIII and IX). Dante meets Charles Martel of Anjou, who decries those who adopt inappropriate vocations, and Cunizza da Romano. Folquet de Marseilles points out Rahab, the brightest soul among those of this sphere, and condemns the city of Florence for producing that "cursed flower" (the florin) which is responsible for the corruption of the Church.
Folquet de Marseilles bemoans the corruption of the Church, in a miniature by Giovanni di Paolo, Paradiso, Canto 9
Illustration of Dante's Paradiso, showing Thomas Aquinas and 11 other teachers of wisdom in the sphere of the Sun, by Giovanni di Paolo (between 1442 and c.1450)
Dante and Beatrice see God as a point of light surrounded by angels; from Gustave Doré's illustrations for the Divine Comedy, Paradiso, Canto 28Fourth Sphere. The sphere of the Sun is that of souls of the wise, who embody prudence (Cantos X through XIV). Dante is addressed by St. Thomas Aquinas, who recounts the life of St. Francis of Assisi and laments the corruption of his own Dominican Order. Dante is then met by St. Bonaventure, a Franciscan, who recounts the life of St. Dominic, and laments the corruption of the Franciscan Order. The two orders were not always friendly on earth, and having members of one order praising the founder of the other shows the love present in Heaven. Dante arranges the wise into two rings of twelve; his choices of who to include give his assessment of the significant philosophers of medieval times. Finally, Aquinas introduces King Solomon, who answers Dante's question about the doctrine of the resurrection of the body.
Fifth Sphere. The sphere of Mars is that of souls who fought for Christianity, and who embody fortitude (Cantos XIV through XVIII). The souls in this sphere form an enormous cross. Dante speaks with the soul of his ancestor Cacciaguida, who praises the former virtues of the residents of Florence, recounts the rise and fall of Florentine families and foretells Dante's exile from Florence, before finally introducing some notable warrior souls (among them Joshua, Roland, Charlemagne, and Godfrey of Bouillon).
Sixth Sphere. The sphere of Jupiter is that of souls who personified justice, something of great concern to Dante (Cantos XVIII through XX). The souls here spell out the Latin for "Love justice, ye that judge the earth," and then arrange themselves into the shape of an imperial eagle. Present here are David, Hezekiah, Trajan (converted to Christianity according to a medieval legend), Constantine, William II of Sicily, and (Dante is amazed at this) Rhipeus the Trojan, saved by the mercy of God.
Seventh Sphere. The sphere of Saturn is that of the contemplatives, who embody temperance (Cantos XXI and XXII). Dante here meets Peter Damian, and discusses with him monasticism, the doctrine of predestination, and the sad state of the Church. Beatrice, who represents theology, becomes increasingly lovely here, indicating the contemplative's closer insight into the truth of God.
Eighth Sphere. The sphere of fixed stars is the sphere of the Church Triumphant (Cantos XXII through XXVII). Here, Dante sees visions of Christ and of the Virgin Mary. He is tested on faith by Saint Peter, hope by Saint James, and love by Saint John the Evangelist. Dante justifies his medieval belief in astrology, that the power of the constellations is drawn from God.
Ninth Sphere. The Primum Mobile ("first moved" sphere) is the abode of angels (Cantos XXVII through XXIX). Dante sees God as a point of light surrounded by nine rings of angels, and is told about the creation of the universe.
From the Primum Mobile, Dante ascends to a region beyond physical existence, called the Empyrean (Cantos XXX through XXXIII). Here the souls of all the believers form the petals of an enormous rose. Beatrice leaves Dante with Saint Bernard, because theology has here reached its limits. Saint Bernard prays to Mary on behalf of Dante. Finally, Dante comes face-to-face with God Himself, and is granted understanding of the Divine and of human nature. His vision is improved beyond that of human comprehension. God appears as three equally large circles within each other representing the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit with the essence of each part of God, separate yet one. The book ends with Dante trying to understand how the circles fit together, how the Son is separate yet one with the Father but as Dante put it "that was not a flight for my wings" and the vision of God becomes equally inimitable and inexplicable that no word or intellectual exercise can come close to explaining what he saw. Dante's soul, through God's absolute love, experiences a unification with itself and all things "but already my desire and my will were being turned like a wheel, all at one speed by the Love that turns the sun and all the other stars".
Earliest manuscripts
Detail of a manuscript in Milan's Biblioteca Trivulziana (MS 1080), written in 1337 by Francesco di ser Nardo da Barberino, showing the beginning of Dante's Comedy.According to the Società Dantesca Italiana, no original manuscript written by Dante has survived, though there are many manuscript copies from the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries (more than 825 are listed on their site [2]). The oldest belongs to the 1330s, almost a decade after Dante's death. The most precious ones are the three full copies made by Giovanni Boccaccio (1360s), who himself did not have the original manuscript as a source.
The first printed edition was published in Foligno, Italy, by Johann Numeister and Evangelista Angelini on 11 April 1472. Of the 300 copies printed, fourteen still survive. The original printing press is on display in the Oratorio della Nunziatella in Foligno.
Printing press of the first printed edition
Thematic concerns
The Divine Comedy can be described simply as an allegory: Each canto, and the episodes therein, can contain many alternate meanings. Dante's allegory, however, is more complex, and, in explaining how to read the poem (see the "Letter to Cangrande I della Scala"), he outlines other levels of meaning besides the allegory (the historical, the moral, the literal, and the anagogical).
The structure of the poem, likewise, is quite complex, with mathematical and numerological patterns arching throughout the work, particularly threes and nines. The poem is often lauded for its particularly human qualities: Dante's skillful delineation of the characters he encounters in Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise; his bitter denunciations of Florentine and Italian politics; and his powerful poetic imagination. Dante's use of real characters, according to Dorothy Sayers in her introduction to her translation of "L'Inferno", allows Dante the freedom of not having to involve the reader in description, and allows him to "[make] room in his poem for the discussion of a great many subjects of the utmost importance, thus widening its range and increasing its variety."
Dante called the poem "Comedy" (the adjective "Divine" added later in the 14th century) because poems in the ancient world were classified as High ("Tragedy") or Low ("Comedy"). Low poems had happy endings and were of everyday or vulgar subjects, while High poems were for more serious matters. Dante was one of the first in the Middle Ages to write of a serious subject, the Redemption of man, in the low and vulgar Italian language and not the Latin language as one might expect for such a serious topic. Boccaccio's account that an early version of the poem was begun by Dante in Latin is still controversial[11][12].
The Divine Comedy and Islamic philosophy
In 1919 Professor Miguel Asín Palacios, a Spanish scholar and a Catholic priest, published La Escatología musulmana en la Divina Comedia ("Islamic Eschatology in the Divine Comedy"), an account of parallels between early Islamic philosophy and the Divine Comedy. Palacios argued that Dante derived many features of and episodes about the hereafter directly or indirectly from the spiritual writings of Ibn Arabi and from the Isra and Mi'raj or night journey of Muhammad to heaven. The latter is described in the Hadith and the Kitab al Miraj (translated into Latin in 1264 or shortly before[13] as Liber Scale Machometi, "The Book of Muhammad's Ladder"), and has some slight similarities to the Paradiso, such as a seven-fold division of Paradise.[14]
Dante lived in a Europe of substantial literary and philosophical contact with the Muslim world, encouraged by such factors as Averroism and the patronage of Alfonso X of Castile. Of the twelve wise men Dante meets in Canto X of the Paradiso, Thomas Aquinas and, even more so, Sigier of Brabant were strongly influenced by Arabic commentators on Aristotle.[15] Medieval Christian mysticism also shared the Neoplatonic influence of Sufis such as Ibn Arabi. Philosopher Frederick Copleston argued in 1950 that Dante's respectful treatment of Averroes, Avicenna, and Sigier of Brabant indicates his acknowledgement of a "considerable debt" to Islamic philosophy.[16]
Although this philosophical influence is generally acknowledged, many scholars have not been satisfied that Dante was influenced by the Kitab al Miraj. The twentieth century Orientalist Francesco Gabrieli expressed skepticism regarding the claimed similarities, and the lack of evidence of a vehicle through which it could have been transmitted to Dante. Even so, while dismissing the probability of some influences posited in Palacios' work, Gabrieli recognized that it was "at least possible, if not probable, that Dante may have known the Liber scalae and have taken from it certain images and concepts of Muslim eschatology".[citation needed] Shortly before her death the Italian philologist Maria Corti pointed out that, during his stay at the court of Alfonso X, Dante's mentor Brunetto Latini met Bonaventura de Siena, a Tuscan who had translated the Liber scalae from Arabic into Latin. According to Corti,[17] Brunetto may have provided a copy of that work to Dante, though there is no evidence that this occurred.
Literary influence in the English-speaking world and beyond
The work was not always so well regarded. After being recognized as a masterpiece in the first centuries following its publication,[18] the work was largely ignored during the Enlightenment, only to be "rediscovered" by William Blake - who illustrated several passages of the epic - and the romantic writers of the 19th century. Later authors such as T. S. Eliot, Ezra Pound, Samuel Beckett, and James Joyce have drawn on it for inspiration. The poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was its first American translator, and modern poets, including Seamus Heaney,[19] Robert Pinsky, John Ciardi, and William Merwin, have also given translations of all or parts of the book. In Russia, beyond Pushkin's memorable translation of a few triplets, Osip Mandelstam's late poetry has been said to bear of the mark of a "tormented meditation" on the Comedy.[20] In 1934 Mandelstam gave a disturbingly modern reading of the poem in his labyrinthine "Conversation on Dante"[21] .
The Divine Comedy in the arts
Main article: Dante and his Divine Comedy in popular culture
The Divine Comedy has been a source of inspiration for countless artists for almost seven centuries — as one of the most well known and greatest artistic works in the Western tradition, its influence on culture cannot be overstated.
See also
Wikimedia Commons has media related to:
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The Divine ComedyBangsian fantasy
List of cultural references in The Divine Comedy
Footnotes
^ Bloom, Harold (1994). The Western Canon. See also Western canon for other "canons" that include the Divine Comedy.
^ See Lepschy, Laura; Lepschy, Giulio (1977). The Italian Language Today. or any other history of Italian language.
^ There are many English translations of this famous line. Some examples include
All hope abandon, ye who enter here - Henry Francis Cary (1805–1844)
All hope abandon, ye who enter in! - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1882)
Leave every hope, ye who enter! - Charles Eliot Norton (1891)
Leave all hope, ye that enter - Carlyle-Wicksteed (1932)
Lay down all hope, you that go in by me. - Dorothy L. Sayers (1949)
Abandon every hope, you who enter. - Charles S. Singleton (1970)
Abandon all hope, ye who enter here - John Ciardi (1977)
No room for hope, when you enter this place - C. H. Sisson (1980)
Abandon every hope, who enter here. - Allen Mandelbaum (1982)
Abandon all hope, you who enter here - Robert Pinsky (1993)
Abandon every hope, all you who enter - Mark Musa (1995)
Abandon every hope, you who enter. - Robert M. Durling (1996)
All hope abandon, you who enter here. - James Finn Cotter (2000) [1]
Abandon all hope upon entering here! - Marcus Saunders (2004)
Verbatim, the line translates as "Leave (lasciate) every (ogne) hope (speranza), ye (voi) that (ch') enter (intrate)."
^ There is no general agreement on which animals represent the sins incontinence, violence, and fraud. Some see it as the she-wolf, lion, and leopard respectively, while others see it as the leopard, lion, and she-wolf respectively.
^ Dorothy L. Sayers, Inferno, notes on Canto XXIX.
^ "The Letter to Can Grande," in Literary Criticism of Dante Alighieri, translated and edited by Robert S. Haller (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1973), 99
^ Byron, Don Juan, Canto 3, CVIII.
^ Dorothy L. Sayers, Purgatory, notes on page 140.
^ Purgatorio, XV, line 21, tr. Dorothy L. Sayers, 1955.
^ Dorothy L. Sayers, Purgatory, notes on pages 209 and 222.
^ Boccaccio also quotes the initial triplet:"Ultima regna canam fluido contermina mundo, / spiritibus quae lata patent, quae premia solvunt /pro meritis cuicumque suis". For translation and more, see Guyda Armstrong, , Review of Giovanni Boccaccio. Life of Dante. J. G. Nichols, trans. London: Hesperus Press, 2002.
^ Hiram Peri, The Original Plan of the Divine Comedy, Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, Vol. 18, No. 3/4 (1955), pp. 189-210.
^ I. Heullant-Donat and M.-A. Polo de Beaulieu, "Histoire d'une traduction," in Le Livre de l'échelle de Mahomet, Latin edition and French translation by Gisèle Besson and Michèle Brossard-Dandré, Collection Lettres Gothiques, Le Livre de Poche, 1991, p. 22 with note 37.
^ See the English translation of the Kitab al Miraj.
^ Frederick Copleston (1950). A History of Philosophy, Volume 2. London: Continuum, 200.
^ Frederick Copleston, op. cit.
^ Maria Corti: Dante e l'Islam (interview)
^ as Chaucer wrote in the Monk's Tale, "Redeth the grete poete of Ytaille / That highte Dant, for he kan al devyse / Fro point to point; nat o word wol he faille".
^ see: Seamus Heaney, “Envies and Identifications: Dante and the Modern Poet.” The Poet’s Dante: Twentieth-Century Responses. Ed. Peter S. Hawkins and Rachel Jacoff. New York: Farrar, 2001. 239-258.
^ Marina Glazova, Mandelstam and Dante: The Divine Comedy in Mandelstam's poetry of the 1930s Studies in East European Thought, Volume 28, Number 4, November, 1984.
^ James Fenton, Hell set to music, The Guardian, July 16, 2005.
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