The history of the creation of Dante's poem The Divine Comedy. Encrypted biography: what can you learn about the poet by reading “Hell”? Genre and direction

The Divine Comedy is a play created by Dante Alighieri in the 14th century, which is a medieval encyclopedia of knowledge in science, politics, philosophy and theology. The work is considered a monument of Italian and world literature.

The main character of the work is Dante himself, the narrative is told in the first person. When the author was 35 years old, at night, he got lost in the forest and was very scared. In the distance he notices mountains, reaches them, trying to climb, but on his way he meets a wolf and a she-wolf, who do not allow him to move forward. The hero has no choice but to return to the forest. Here he met the spirit of the writer Virgil, who promised to show him the circles of hell and purgatory and lead him to heaven. Alighieri decides to travel.

Hell. Together with Virgil, they approach the enemies of hell. Moans are heard. It is the souls of those who have committed neither good nor evil who are tormented. Afterwards they see the river along which Charon transports the dead in a boat to the first circle of hell.

They see Limbo. Here the souls of poets and unbaptized children live in languor. Next to the next circle, Minos decides where to assign each of the sinners. The travelers noticed voluptuous souls being carried away by the wind. The soul of Cleopatra also flew here. At the entrance to the third circle of hell, the heroes were met by the dog Cerberus. Next to him, gluttons were lying in the mud in the pouring rain. Dante's friend Ciacco is also here. He asks Dante to remind his friends about him in the world. The fourth circle is reserved for the spendthrifts and the stingy. The fifth circle of hell awaits the lazy and those who do not know how to pacify their anger. They are pulled into a swamp from which they cannot escape. The wanderers reached an unknown tower surrounded by water. Through her, the demon Phlegias serves as a guide on the boat.

And so he prostrated himself before the heroes city of the dead. The spirits living here do not allow travelers to set foot in the city. But, out of nowhere, a messenger from heaven appears, who pacifies them and gives the travelers the opportunity to enter. In the city, travelers saw burning coffins, from which the groans of non-believers could be heard.

The seventh circle is much smaller than the others; it is located between the mountains. The entrance to it is guarded by the Minotaur. Here the travelers encountered a boiling river full of blood. Robbers and tyrants are cooked in it, and centaurs shoot at them with arrows. One of the shooters accompanies the travelers and helps them wade through.

There are bushes everywhere that prickle until they bleed. These are suicides who are endlessly pecked by Harpies. New sinners are coming to meet Dante. Among them, the poet recognized his own teacher as guilty of inclination towards same-sex love.

The eighth circle is made up of 10 ditches. In the first of them sit seducers of women, whom demons beat with a whip with all their might. In the next one, there are flatterers in the stinking mass of feces. From the subsequent ditch, only the legs of the confessors are visible, who bargained for their position. Their heads are not visible, they are under the stones. In the fifth, those who took bribes are thrown into boiling tar. Having passed through the rocks, travelers encounter thieves who are bitten by snakes, executed advisers, and creators of trouble.

On a huge palm, Antaeus delivers the heroes through the well to the center of the earth. In front of the heroes is a frozen lake in which the souls of people who betrayed their loved ones are stuck. The head of hell, Lucifer, lives in the very center of the lake. He has three faces: Cassius, Brutus and Judas. A narrow trench stretches from Lucifer, along which travelers with difficulty pass to the surface and see the sky.

Purgatory. Suddenly a boat sailed across the sea to take them to the shore. Having reached dry land, the travelers go to Mount Purgatory. Here they talk to sinners that they repented of sin and did not go to hell. Dante was tired and lay down to rest on the grass. He falls asleep and is transported to the gates of Purgatory. Here the angel drew seven letters “G” on his forehead. The symbols will disappear one by one as you move up.

Just seven laps. For example, envious people and gluttons live here. Each of them is purified according to their sin. So the envious people have their eyes gouged out, and the gluttons are starving.

Paradise. Having looked at all this, the travelers passed the fiery wall to enter paradise. Everything is blooming, there is an amazing aroma all around, old people in light clothes are walking nearby. And then Dante noticed his love - Beatrice. From excitement, the poet loses consciousness and comes to his senses in Lethe, the river of oblivion. Coming out of the water, the hero reaches a river, the waters of which make thoughts of the good he has done stronger. Now Dante is ready to rise higher. And he, together with Beatrice, ascends to heaven. They flew through four heavens and reached Mars and Jupiter, where just souls live.

The light of the planets falls and merges into the figure of an eagle - a symbol of the power that has developed here. The bird talks to Dante, he is infinitely fair. Next, the heroes fly through the seventh and eighth heavens, where Dante talks with the righteous. In the ninth sky, Dante noticed a shiny point - a symbol of purity. Then Dante ascends to the empyrean - the highest heaven, where he met the elder Bernard, his mentor. Together they look at the light coming from the souls of babies. After a sign given by Bernard, Dante looks up and sees God in trinity.

The Divine Comedy, Dante's crowning work, began to be born when great poet had just survived his exile from Florence. "Hell" was conceived around 1307 and was created over the course of three years wanderings. This was followed by the composition “Purgatory,” in which Beatrice occupied a special place (the poet’s entire work is dedicated to her).

And in recent years life of the creator, when Dante lived in Verona and Ravenna, “Paradise” was written. Plot basis The vision poem became the afterlife journey - a favorite motif of medieval literature, which received its artistic transformation under the pen of Dante.

Once upon a time, the ancient Roman poet Virgil depicted the descent of the mythological 3ney into underground kingdom, and now Dante takes the author of the famous “Aeneid” as his guide through hell and purgatory. The poem is called a “comedy”, and unlike the tragedy, it begins anxiously and gloomily, but ends with a happy ending.

In one of the songs of “Paradise,” Dante called his creation a “sacred poem,” and after the death of its author, descendants gave it the name “Divine Comedy.”

In this article we will not outline the content of the poem, but will dwell on some of its features artistic originality and poetics.

It is written in terzas, that is, three-line stanzas in which the first verse rhymes with the third, and the second with the first and third lines of the next terza. The poet relies on Christian eschatology and the doctrine of hell and heaven, but with his creation he significantly enriches these ideas.

In collaboration with Virgil, Dante steps beyond the threshold of a deep abyss, above the gates of which he reads the ominous inscription: “Abandon hope, all who enter here.” But despite this grim warning, the satellites continue their march. They will soon be surrounded by crowds of shadows, which will be especially interesting for Dante, since they were once people. And for a creator born of a new time, man is the most fascinating object of knowledge.

Having crossed the hellish river Acheron in Heron's boat, the companions end up in Limbo, where the shadows of the great pagan poets count Dante among their circle, declaring him sixth after Homer, Virgil, Horace, Ovid and Lucan.

One of the remarkable signs of the poetics of a great creation is the rare recreation artistic space, and within its limits - the poetic landscape, that component that before Dante in European literature didn't exist. Under the pen of the creator of The Divine Comedy, the forest, the swampy steppe, the icy lake, and steep cliffs were recreated.

Dante's landscapes are characterized, firstly, by bright depiction, secondly, permeation with light, thirdly, their lyrical coloring, and fourthly, natural variability.

If we compare the description of the forest in “Hell” and “Purgatory”, we will see how the terrible, frightening picture of it in the first songs is replaced by a joyful, bright image, permeated with the green of the trees and the blue of the air. The landscape in the poem is extremely laconic: “The day was passing, And the dark air of the sky / The earthly creatures were led to sleep.” He reminds me a lot earthly pictures, which is facilitated by detailed comparisons:

Like a peasant, resting on a hill, -
When he hides his gaze for a while
The one by whom the earthly country is illuminated,

and mosquitoes, replacing flies, circle, -
Sees the valley full of fireflies
Where he reaps, where he cuts grapes.

This landscape is usually inhabited by people, shadows, animals or insects, as in this example.

Another significant component in Dante is the portrait. Thanks to the portrait, people or their shadows turn out to be alive, colorful, vividly conveyed, and full of drama. We see the faces and figures of giants sitting chained in stone wells, we peer into facial expressions, gestures and movements former people who came to the afterlife from ancient world; we contemplate and mythological characters, and Dante's contemporaries from his native Florence.

The portraits sketched by the poet are distinguished by their plasticity, which means they are tactile. Here is one of the memorable images:

He carried me to Minos, who, entwining me
The tail eight times around the mighty back,
Even biting him out of anger,
Said …

The spiritual movement reflected in the self-portrait of Dante himself is also distinguished by great expressiveness and vital truth:

So I rose up, with the courage of grief;
The fear in my heart was decisively crushed,
And I answered, boldly saying...

In appearance Virgil and Beatrice have less drama and dynamics, but the attitude of Dante himself towards them, who worships them and loves them passionately, is full of expression.

One of the features of the poetics of the “Divine Comedy” is the abundance and significance in it of numbers that have symbolic meaning. A symbol is a special kind of sign, which already in its external form contains the content of the representation it reveals. Like allegory and metaphor, a symbol forms a transference of meaning, but unlike these tropes, it is endowed with a huge variety of meanings.

A symbol, according to A.F. Losev, has meaning not in itself, but as an arena for the meeting of known constructions of consciousness with one or another possible object of this consciousness. The above also applies to the symbolism of numbers with their frequent repetition and variation. Researchers of literature of the Middle Ages (S.S. Mokulsky, M.N. Golenishchev-Kutuzov, N.G. Elina, G.V. Stadnikov, O.I. Fetodov, etc.) noted the huge role of number as a measure of things in the “Divine Comedy” » Dante. This is especially true for the numbers 3 and 9 and their derivatives.

However, when talking about these numbers, researchers usually see their meaning only in the composition, the architectonics of the poem and its stanza (three edges, 33 songs in each part, 99 songs in total, three times repetition of the word stelle, the role of the xxx song of “Purgatory” as a story about the poet's meeting with Beatrice, three-line stanzas).

Meanwhile, the entire system of images of the poem, its narration and descriptions, the disclosure of plot details and detailing, style and language are subordinated to mystical symbolism, in particular the trinity.

The trinity is revealed in the episode of Dante’s ascent to the hill of salvation, where he is prevented by three animals (lynx - a symbol of voluptuousness; a lion - a symbol of power and pride; a she-wolf - the embodiment of greed and selfishness), while depicting the Limbo of Hell, where the creatures reside three kinds(the souls of the Old Testament righteous, the souls of infants who died without baptism, and the souls of all virtuous non-Christians).

Next we see three famous Trojans (Electra, Hector and Aeneas), a three-headed monster - Cerberus (having the features of a demon, a dog and a man). Lower Hell, consisting of three circles, is inhabited by three furies (Tisiphone, Megaera and Electo), three gorgon sisters. 3 Here three ledges are shown - steps representing three vices (malice, violence and deception). The seventh circle is divided into three concentric zones: they are notable for their reproduction three forms violence.

In the next song, we, together with Dante, notice how “three shadows suddenly separated”: these are three Florentine sinners who “all three ran in a ring” when they found themselves on fire. Next, the poets see three instigators of bloody strife, the three-body and three-headed Geryon and the three-peaked Lucifer, from whose mouth three traitors (Judas, Brutus and Cassius) stick out. Even individual objects in Dante's world contain the number 3.

So, in one of the three coats of arms there are three black goats, in the florins there are 3 carats of copper mixed in. The tripartite pattern is observed even in the syntax of the phrase (“Hecuba, in grief, in distress, in captivity”).

We see a similar trinity in “Purgatory”, where the angels have three lights (wings, clothes and faces). Three holy virtues are mentioned here (Faith, Hope, Love), three stars, three bas-reliefs, three artists (Franco, Cimabue and Giotto), three types of love, three eyes of Wisdom, which looks at the past, present and future with them.

A similar phenomenon is observed in “Paradise”, where three virgins (Mary, Rachel and Beatrice) sit in the amphitheater, forming geometric triangle. The second song tells of three blessed wives (including Lucia) and speaks of three eternal creatures
(heaven, earth and angels).

Three generals of Rome are mentioned here, the victory of Scipio Africanus over Hannibal at the age of 33, the battle of “three against three” (three Horatii against three Curiatii), the third (after Caesar) Caesar, three angelic ranks, three lilies in the coat of arms of the French dynasty.

The named number becomes one of the complex adjective definitions (“triple-shaped” fruit,” “triune God”) and is included in the structure of metaphors and comparisons.

What explains this trinity? Firstly, the teaching of the Catholic Church on existence of three forms of other existence (hell, purgatory and heaven). Secondly, the symbolization of the Trinity (with its three hypostases), the most important hour of Christian teaching. Thirdly, the impact of the Chapter of the Order of the Templars, where numerical symbolism was of paramount importance. Fourthly, as the philosopher and mathematician P.A. Florensky showed in his works “The Pillar and Statement of Truth” and “Imaginary in Geometry”, trinity is the most general characteristics being.

The number “three,” the thinker wrote. manifests itself everywhere as some basic category of life and thinking. These are, for example, the three main categories of time (past, present and future), the three-dimensionality of space, the presence three grammatical persons, minimum size complete family(father, mother and child), (thesis, antithesis and synthesis), three main coordinates of the human psyche (mind, will and feelings), the simplest expression of asymmetry in integers (3 = 2 + 1).

There are three phases of development in a person’s life (childhood, adolescence and adolescence or youth, maturity and old age). Let us also recall the aesthetic pattern that encourages creators to create a triptych, a trilogy, three portals in gothic cathedral(for example, Notre Dame in Paris), they built three tiers on the facade (ibid.), three parts of the arcade, dividing the walls of the naves into three parts, etc. Dante took all this into account when creating his model of the universe in the poem.

But in the “Divine Comedy” we find subordination not only to the number 3, but also to the number 7, another magical symbol in Christianity. Let us remember that the duration of Dante’s unusual journey is 7 days, they begin on the 7th and end on April 14 (14 = 7+7). Canto IV remembers Jacob serving Laban for 7 years and then another 7 years.

In the thirteenth song of “Hell,” Minos sends the soul to the “seventh abyss.” Song XIV mentions 7 kings who besieged Thebes, and song XX mentions Tiriseus, who experienced the transformation into a woman and then, after 7 years, the reverse metamorphosis from woman to man.

The week is most thoroughly reproduced in “Purgatory,” where 7 circles (“seven kingdoms”) and seven stripes are shown; here it talks about seven deadly sins (seven “R” on the forehead of the hero of the poem), seven choirs, seven sons and seven daughters of Niobe; a mystical procession with seven lamps is reproduced, 7 virtues are characterized.

And in “Paradise” the seventh radiance of the planet Saturn, the seven star of the Big Dipper, is conveyed; speaks of the seven heavens of the planets (Moon, Mercury, Venus, Sun, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn) in accordance with the cosmogonic concepts of the era.

This preference for the week is explained by the prevailing ideas in Dante’s time about the presence of seven deadly sins (pride, envy, anger, despondency, avarice, gluttony and voluptuousness), about the desire for seven virtues, which are acquired through purification in the corresponding part of the afterlife.

Life observations of the seven colors of the rainbow and the seven stars of Ursa Major and Ursa Minor, the seven days of the week, etc. also had an impact.

An important role was played by biblical stories related to the seven days of the creation of the world, Christian legends, for example, about the seven sleeping youths, ancient stories about the seven wonders of the world, the seven wise men, the seven cities arguing for the honor of being the birthplace of Homer, and the seven fighting against Thebes. Images had an impact on consciousness and thinking
ancient folklore, numerous tales about seven heroes, proverbs such as “seven troubles - one answer”, “there is room for seven, but cramped space for two”, sayings like “seven spans in the forehead”, “sipping jelly seven miles away”, “a book with seven seals” ", "seven sweats came off."

All this is reflected in literary works. For comparison, let’s take later examples: playing with the number “seven”. In “The Legend of Ulenspiege” by S. de Coster and especially in Nekrasov’s poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” (with its seven wanderers,
seven eagle owls, seven large trees, etc.). We find a similar effect in the presentation of the magic and symbolism of the number 7 in the Divine Comedy.

The number 9 also acquires a symbolic meaning in the poem. After all, this is the number of the celestial spheres. In addition, at the turn of the 13th and 14th centuries, there was a cult of nine fearless ones: Hector, Caesar, Alexander, Joshua, David, Judah Maccabee, Arthur, Charlemagne and Godfrey of Bouillon.

It is no coincidence that there are 99 songs in the poem, before the pinnacle xxx song “Purgatory” there are 63 songs (6+3=9), and after it there are 36 songs (3+6=9). It is curious that the name Beatrice is mentioned 63 times in the poem. The addition of these two numbers (6+3) also forms 9. And this special name - Beatrice - rhymes 9 times. It is noteworthy that V. Favorsky, when creating a portrait of Dante, placed a huge number 9 above his manuscript, thereby emphasizing its symbolic and magical role in the “New Life” and “The Divine Comedy”.

As a result, numerical symbolism helps to consolidate the framework of the “Divine Comedy” with its multi-layered and multi-populated nature.

It contributes to the birth of poetic “discipline” and harmony, forms a rigid “mathematical structure”, saturated with the brightest imagery, ethical richness and deep philosophical meaning.

Dante's immortal creation amazes with its very frequently encountered metaphors. Their abundance is closely related to the characteristics of the worldview and artistic thinking poet.

Starting from the concept of the Universe, which was based on the Ptolemaic system, from Christian eschatology and ideas about hell, purgatory and paradise, pushing the tragic darkness and bright light afterlife kingdoms, Dante had to broadly and at the same time succinctly recreate worlds full of acute contradictions, contrasts and antinomies, containing a grandiose encyclopedic knowledge, their comparisons, connections and their synthesis. Therefore, movements, transfers and rapprochements of compared objects and phenomena became natural and logical in the poetics of “comedy”.

To solve the given problems, a metaphor was best suited, connecting the concreteness of reality and the poetic imagination of man, bringing together the phenomena of the cosmic world, nature, objective world and the spiritual life of a person according to similarity and relatedness to each other. This is why the language of the poem is so powerfully based on metaphorization, which contributes to the knowledge of life.

Metaphors in text of three edging are unusually diverse. Being poetic tropes, they often carry a significant philosophical meaning, such as “a hemisphere of darkness” and “enmity rages” (in “Hell”), “pleasure rings”, “souls rise” (in “Purgatory”) or “the morning is on fire " and "the song rang" (in "Paradise"). These metaphors combine different semantic plans, but at the same time each of them creates a single indissoluble image.

Showing the afterlife journey as often encountered in medieval literature plot, using theological dogma and conversational style as necessary, Dante sometimes introduces commonly used linguistic metaphors into his text
(“the heart is warmed”, “his eyes are fixed”, “Mars is burning”, “the thirst to speak”, “the waves are beating”, “a golden ray”, “the day has passed”, etc.).

But much more often the author uses poetic metaphors, characterized by novelty and great expression, so essential in the poem. They reflect the variety of fresh impressions of the “first poet of the New Age” and are designed to awaken the re-creator and creative imagination readers.

These are the phrases “the depth howls”, “crying hit me”, “a roar broke in” (in “Hell”), “the firmament rejoices”, “the smile of the rays” (in “Purgatory”), “I want to ask for light”, “the labor of nature "(in "Paradise").

True, sometimes we encounter an amazing combination of old ideas and new views. In the juxtaposition of two judgments (“art... God’s grandson” and “art... follows nature”) we are faced with a paradoxical combination of traditional reference to the Divine principle and the interweaving of truths, previously learned and newly discovered, characteristic of “comedy”.

But it is important to emphasize that the above metaphors are distinguished by their ability to enrich concepts, enliven the text, compare similar phenomena, transfer names by analogy, confront direct and figurative meaning the same word (“crying”, “smile”, “art”), to identify the main, constant feature of the characterized object.

In Dante’s metaphor, as in comparison, features (“overle” and “picks”) are compared or contrasted, but comparative connectives (conjunctions “as,” “as if,” “as if”) are absent in it. Instead of a two-term comparison, a single, tightly fused image appears (“the light is silent,” “screams fly up,” “the prayer of the eyes,” “the sea beats,” “enter my chest,” “running in four circles”).

The metaphors found in the “Divine Comedy” can be divided into three main groups depending on the nature of the relationship between cosmic and natural objects and living beings. The first group includes personifying metaphors, in which cosmic and natural phenomena, objects and abstract concepts are likened to the properties of animate beings.

These are Dante’s “a friendly spring ran,” “earthly flesh called,” “the sun will show,” “vanity will turn away,” “the sun lights up.” etc. The second group should include metaphors (for the author of the “comedy” these are “splashing hands”, “formation of towers”, “mountain shoulders”, “Virgil is a bottomless spring”, “beacon of love”, “sign of embarrassment”, “fetters”) evil").

In these cases, the properties of living beings are likened natural phenomena or objects. The third group consists of metaphors that unite multidirectional comparisons (“the face of truth”, “words bring help”, “the light shone through”, “a wave of hair”, “the thought will disappear”, “the evening has fallen”, “the distances are on fire”, etc.).

It is important for the reader to see that in the phrases of all groups there is often author's assessment, allowing you to see Dante’s attitude to the phenomena he captured. Everything that has to do with truth, freedom, honor, light, he certainly welcomes and approves (“taste honor”, “the shine has grown wonderfully”, “the light of truth”).

The metaphors of the author of the “Divine Comedy” convey various properties of the captured objects and phenomena: their shape (“the circle lies at the top”), color (“accumulated color,” “black air torments”), sounds (“a roar burst in,” “the chant will rise,” “the rays are silent”) the location of parts (“into the depths of my slumber”, “the heel of the cliff”) lighting (“the dawn has overcome”, “the gaze of the luminaries”, “the light calms the firmament”), the action of an object or phenomena (“the lamp rises”, “ the mind soars", "the story flows").

Dante uses metaphors of different designs and composition: simple, consisting of one word (“petrified”); forming phrases (the one who moves the universe, “a flame that fell from the clouds”): expanded (metaphor of the forest in the first song of “Hell”).

The plot of the work revolves around the main character Dante, who at the age of 35, by the will of fate, found himself in a terrible forest in 1300. There he meets the spirit of a popular poet Ancient Rome Virgil, who gives the hero his word to lead him to Paradise through the gates of Hell and Purgatory. Dante trusts his companion and therefore agrees to travel to another world.

The journey begins from the gates of Hell. Dante sees the souls of pitiful people in front of the gates who have done neither good nor bad deeds. Next, the circles of hell appear in front of the heroes. There are only nine of them.

The 1st circle is called limbo, the souls of unbaptized babies and those who have not committed bad deeds live here. The sages belong to this group of people: Socrates, Virgil.

The 2nd circle is reserved for libertines, and it is under the protection of Minos. Here lies the soul of Cleopatra and Francesca.

Circle 3 is for gluttons and overeating. The entrance is guarded scary dog Cerberus, who has three heads instead of one. In this place it almost always rains heavily, and souls constantly take mud baths. Here Dante met his friend Chacko, who took the poet’s word that he would remember him on earth.

The 4th circle is intended for the greedy, petty and embezzlers, many of them in past life were clergy. There is a circle around the security guard of Plutos.

The 5th circle is reserved for envious people and those who feel angry.

The 6th circle is for heretics. It is located near the hellish city of Dita, around which there was a reservoir.

The 7th circle is reserved for suicides, pawnbrokers, blasphemers, and criminals. When Dante accidentally touched a branch of a plant, groans were heard from that side. The fact is that these are the souls of suicides that torment the Harpies, while causing them intolerable pain. This circle is guarded by the Minotaur. Centaurs shot arrows at sinners. New sinners were brought to the circle. Among them was the teacher of the poet Brunetto Latini, who was accused of same-sex sexual relations. He asked Dante to save him famous work"Treasure". Brunetto predicted great glory for his student. Not far from him there were 3 more sinners who were accused for the same reason. In a past life they were respected Florentines. The unknown beast Geryon helped us descend into the eighth circle. The heroes smoothly flew down.

8th circle – for two-faced people, seducers, scammers, pimps, sectarians. It includes 10 ditches called Zlopazukhi.

In the first sinus, the libertines of the fair sex are tested, and in the second - the sycophants who sit in the stinking mass - metabolic products. But the libertines are tormented by evil demons.

In the third sinus stick out the lower limbs of the clergy who sold church positions. The head and the rest of the body are compressed by hard blocks. They will be completely immersed in stones after their successors fall into this ditch.

In the fourth ditch the execution of witches and fortune tellers takes place. Their necks are twisted. It's a pitiful sight. Even Dante began to feel sorry for these people.

The fifth ditch is completely covered in burning tar. Bribe takers suffer here. They are thrown one by one into the boiling mixture by the Grudgegrabber devils. Dante and Virgil had to continue with these devils. They behaved obscenely. The boss actually did something like that, and the travelers were simply shocked by his behavior. A terribly loud sound was heard from his anus, which frightened the poet and Virgil. One sinner floated out of the resin; they wanted to grab him with hooks, but first they were allowed to talk with the heroes. He cheated and quickly dived back. The two devils started fighting over this. Dante and his friend barely had time to “make their legs” into the next hole.

In the seventh bosom, thieves are punished, who are stung by their poisonous snakes.

And in the eighth bosom there are tricky advisers.

In the ninth are the leaders of uprisings and riots. The devil crushes their skulls into small pieces.

The 9th circle is for the souls of traitors. In this circle there is an icy lake, where those who previously betrayed their closest people are completely immersed with their whole bodies. At the head of all circles, in the very center, stands the leader other world Lucifer.

After a long journey through all the circles of hell, the heroes saw the stars.

Purgatory

Dante and his companion approached purgatory. Here they were met not very warmly by the old guard Cato, who sent the guests to the sea to wash themselves. The travelers make their way to the water, where Virgil washes his friend’s face from the dirt of the other world. At this moment, a boat driven by an angel floats up to the companions. The angel wrote 7 letters “G” on the frontal part of the poet’s head, which meant “sin”. By climbing Mount Purgatory, every sin will be erased. The boat contained the souls of the dead who were lucky and did not end up in hell. Dante recognized one soul; it was his friend Cosella, who, at the request of the hero, sang a beautiful song about love. The pleasant atmosphere was disrupted by the angry Cato, who appeared and scolded everyone.

The companions headed towards Mount Purgatory. On the way to the mountain, Dante met another friend of the poet Sordello. He agreed to lead the travelers to Purgatory.

In the 1st circle, arrogant people and bosses are cleansed of their sins. They support huge concrete blocks.

In the 2nd circle, envious souls atone for their sins. They have no vision, they are deprived of this sensory sense.

In the 3rd circle - souls gripped by anger. There was darkness all around here, which subdued their anger.

In the 4th circle there are lazy people who must run very fast.

In the 5th circle, greedy and wasteful souls are purified.

In the 6th circle, gluttons and overeaters who are subjected to hunger pangs atone for their sin.

Here remains the final circle and one letter on the travelers’ foreheads.

In the 7th circle, debauchees who praise abstinence and chastity are purified.

Dante passed through the fiery wall and ended up in Heaven-Earth.

Paradise

Paradise was among flowering plants. It was very beautiful there. Peace and quiet reigned. Elders and young people walked around in white robes, with wreaths on their heads of beautiful flowers. Here Dante met his beloved, who washed him in a magical river. The poet immediately felt a surge of strength and remembered all his good deeds. Dante was cleansed of his sins and was ready to fly with his beloved to Heavenly Paradise.

The first heaven of Paradise is on the Moon. There were the souls of nuns who were married not of their own free will.

The 2nd heaven is located near Mercury. The souls of holy people shine here.

3rd heaven – on Venus the souls of friendly people enjoy themselves.

4th sky – Sun. Here are the souls of the sages. Next are Mars and Jupiter, where the souls of just people live. Their souls unite and create the image of an eagle, which symbolizes justice.

The eagle began to talk with the poet. The bird has remarkable vision; its eye is replaced by the most reliable lights.

The 7th heaven is on Saturn. This is the habitat of observers. Dante looked down and saw a tiny ball - planet Earth.

The 8th heaven is illuminated by the souls of the holiest people. Dante talked with the Apostle Peter and John. Their conversation was about faith, about great feelings.

The very last, the supreme ninth heaven.

The first thing the poet noticed was the brightest point, which symbolizes the deity. Rings rotate around this point. Angels and archangels are close to the deity.

Then they ascended to the Empyrean - the highest region of the Galaxy. Here he saw Bernard, his mentor, who pointed upward. Dante, together with his mentor, began to admire the beautiful rose of the Empyrean, where the souls of innocent babies shone. Looking up, the poet saw the highest deity.

Picture or drawing of Dante - The Divine Comedy

The history of the poem

Analysis of the composition of “The Divine Comedy”

The poem consists of three parts called cantics. Each cantik contains thirty-three songs. One more song was added to the first part; it is a prologue. Thus, there are 100 songs in the poem. Poetic size- terzin.

Main character works - Dante himself. But, when reading the poem, it becomes clear that the image of the hero and real personality- not the same person. Dante's hero resembles a contemplator who only observes what is happening. He is different in character: hot-tempered and pitiful, angry and helpless. The author uses this technique to show the full range of emotions of a living person.

Beatrice is the highest wisdom, a symbol of goodness. She became his guide to different areas, showing love in all forms. And Dante, being captivated by the forces of love, obediently follows her, wanting to achieve heavenly wisdom.

In the prologue we see Dante at the age of 35, who stands at a crossroads in his life. An associative series is created: the season is Spring, he met Beatrice also in the spring, and God’s world was created in the spring. The animals he meets on his way are symbolic of human vices. For example, lynx - voluptuousness.

Dante shows through his hero both his own tragedy and the global one. Reading the poem, we see how the hero loses heart, resurrects and seeks consolation.

He also encounters sleepy crowds. These people did neither good nor bad deeds. They look lost between two worlds.

Description of the Circles of Hell by Dante

Analyzing the poem “The Divine Comedy”, one can see that Dante’s innovation occurs already when he passes through the first circle of Hell. Together old people and babies languish there the best poets. Such as: Verligius, Homer, Horace, Ovid and Dante himself.

The second circle of Hell is opened by a half-dragon. How many times will he wrap his tail around a person and he will end up in that circle of Hell.

The third circle of Hell is spiritual torment, which is more terrible than earthly.

In the fourth circle are the Jews and spendthrifts, whom the author has endowed with the epithet “vile.”

The fifth circle contains angry people for whom no one feels pity. Afterwards the path to the city of devils opens.

Passing through the cemetery, the path to the sixth circle of Hell opens. It is home to all the political haters, among them there are people who are burning alive.

The most terrible circle of Hell is the seventh. There are several stages in it. Murderers, rapists and suicides suffer there.

The eighth circle is deceivers and the ninth is traitors.

With each lap, Dante opens up and becomes more realistic, rough and reasonable.

We see a significant difference in the depiction of Paradise. It is fragrant, the music of the spheres sounds in it.

Summing up the analysis of Dante’s “Divine Comedy,” it is worth noting that the poem is filled with allegories that allow us to call the work symbolic, biographical, and philosophical.

The Mystery of Time: When Dante's Famous Journey Began

Dante timed his journey to the afterlife to coincide with 1300. This is evidenced by several clues left by the poet in the text. Let's start with the obvious: the first line of the Divine Comedy is “Overstepping the border.” mature years..." - means that the author is over 35 years old.

Dante believed that human life lasts only 70 years, as it is written in the 89th Psalm (“The days of our years are seventy years, and with a great strength - eighty years”), and it was important for the poet to indicate that half of his life path he passed. And since he was born in 1265, the year of his journey to Hell can easily be calculated.

The exact month of this campaign is suggested to researchers by astronomical data scattered throughout the poem. So, already in the first song we learn about “constellations with uneven, gentle light.” This is the constellation "Aries", in which the sun is located in the spring. Further clarifications give every reason to assert that in the “dark forest” lyrical hero falls into the night with Holy Thursday on Friday (from 7 to 8 April) 1300. In the evening Good Friday he descends to Hell.

The mystery of the fallen: pagan gods, heroes and monsters in Christian Hell

In the underworld, Dante often meets mythological creatures: in Limbo, the mediator and carrier is Charon, the guard of the second circle is the legendary King Minos, the gluttons in the third circle are guarded by Cerberus, the stingy are guarded by Plutos, and the angry and despondent are Phlegias, the son of Ares. On different circles In Dante's Hell, Electra, Hector and Aeneas, Helen the Beautiful, Achilles and Paris are tormented. Among the pimps and seducers, Dante sees Jason, and among the ranks of crafty advisers - Ulysses.

Why does the poet need all of them? The simplest explanation is that in Christian culture former gods turned into demons, which means their place is in Hell. The tradition of associating paganism with evil spirits has taken hold not only in Italy. Catholic Church it was necessary to convince the people of the insolvency of the previous religion, and preachers from all countries actively convinced people that all ancient gods and heroes were adherents of Lucifer.

However, there is also a more complex implication. In the seventh circle of Hell, where rapists suffer torment, Dante meets the Minotaur, harpies and centaurs. The dual nature of these creatures is an allegory of sin, for which the inhabitants of the seventh circle suffer, the bestial nature in their character. Associations with animals in The Divine Comedy very rarely have a positive connotation.

Encrypted biography: what can you learn about the poet by reading “Hell”?

Quite a lot, actually. Despite all the monumentality of the work, on the pages of which famous historical figures, Christian saints and legendary heroes, Dante did not forget about himself. For starters, he fulfilled the promise he made in his first book, " New life“, where he promised to say about Beatrice “something that has never been said about anyone else.” By creating The Divine Comedy, he truly made his beloved a symbol of love and light.

The presence in the text of Saint Lucia, the patroness of people suffering from eye disease, says something about the poet. Having experienced vision problems early on, Dante prayed to Lucia, which explains the appearance of the saint along with the Virgin Mary and Beatrice. By the way, note that Mary's name is not mentioned in "Hell", it appears only in "Purgatory".

The poem also contains references to individual episodes from the life of its author. In the fifth song, the lyrical hero meets a certain Chacko, a glutton who is in a stinking swamp. The poet sympathizes with the unfortunate man, for which he reveals the future to him and talks about his exile. Dante began working on The Divine Comedy in 1307, after the “Black Guelphs” came to power and were expelled from their native Florence. In fairness, we note that Chacko talks not only about the misfortunes awaiting him personally, but also about the entire political fate of the city-republic.

A very little-known episode is mentioned in the nineteenth song, when the author talks about a broken jug:

Everywhere, along the riverbed and along the slopes,
I saw an innumerable series
Round holes in grayish stone.
<...>
I, saving a boy from suffering,
Recently, one of them was broken...

Perhaps with this digression Dante wanted to explain his actions, which may have led to a scandal, because the vessel he broke was filled with holy water!

TO biographical facts It can also be attributed to the fact that Dante placed his personal enemies in “Hell”, even though some of them were still alive in 1300. Thus, among the sinners was Venedico dei Caccianemichi, a famous politician and leader of the Bolognese Guelphs. Dante neglected chronology only in order to take revenge on his enemy, at least in a poem.

Among the sinners clinging to Phlegius' boat is Filippo Argenti, a wealthy Florentine who also belongs to the family of the "Black Guelphs" party, an arrogant and wasteful man. In addition to the Divine Comedy, Argenti is also mentioned in Giovanni Boccaccio’s Decameron.

The poet did not spare his father best friend Guido - Cavalcante dei Cavalcanti, Epicurean and Atheist. For his convictions, he was sent to the sixth circle.

The riddle of numbers: the structure of the poem as a reflection of the medieval worldview

If we ignore the text and look at the structure of the entire “Divine Comedy”, we will see that much in its structure is connected with the number “three”: three chapters - “cantics”, thirty-three songs in each of them (added to “Hell” another prologue), the entire poem is written in three-line stanzas - terzas. Such a strict composition is due to the doctrine of the Holy Trinity and the special meaning of this number in Christian culture.