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Reporter: Ethyl T.

Emboc
Topic: Introduction to Italian History, Cultures,
Traditions, and Beliefs
Reference:
http://www.constitution.org/mac/prince03.htm
http://www.amazon.com/Divine-Comedy-Longfellows-TranslationComplete/dp/1407605984
:
Introduction to Italian HISTORY, CULTURES, TRADITIONS, AND BELIEFS
The word Italy is from the Latin word Italia. The name Italia originally pertained
to a part of what is now Southern Italy according to Antiochus of Syracuse, the
southern portion of the Bruttium peninsula which is now the modern Calabria. It
was not until the reign of Emperor Augustus that the term Italia would be used
to cover the entire peninsula until the Alps.
GOVERNMENT
-The country is officially called Italian Republic or the Republic of Italy.
-It became a republic after the referendum held on June 2,1946.
-This is also the first time that Italian woman were given the right to vote.
-The Republican constitution was approved on January 1, 1948.
-Italy is a unitary parliamentary republic, which is bicameral in structure:
Chamber of Deputies and the Senate.
-The Prime Minister is the head of the State.
GEOGRAPHY
-Italy is situated in south-central Europe.
-It consists of a peninsula shaped like a high-heeled boot and several islands.
-The most two important of the island are: Sicily in the South and Sardinia in
the northwest.
-Mediterranean Sea is to the south

-The Alps to the north


-A chain of mountains, the Apennines, juts down the center of the peninsula
The fertile Po valley is similarly situated in the north. It accounts for 21 percent of
the total area; 40 percent of Italys area, in contrast, is hilly and 39 percent is
mountainous.
-The climate is generally a Temperate Mediterranean one with the variations
caused by the mountainous and hilly areas.
-Countries that border Italy are:
France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia along the Alps in the north
Italian Peninsula, Sicily, and Sardinia in the south
-It has a land area of 301,338 square kilometers or approximately 116,347 sq.
mi.
-Mont Blanc is the peak in Italy and the entire European Union.
-Po River is Italys longest river.
-Mt. Vesuvius is the only active volcano in mainland Europe and its eruption in
the past put Pompeii and Hercalanum into ruin.
-In terms of population, Italy is the fifth most populous country in Europe
and 23rd most populous in the world .
-Total population of 60.6 million inhabitants

Brief History
-During the pre-Roman history of the country, Italy is inhabited by such groups of
people as Umbrians, Latins (the ascendants of the Romans) , Vlosci, Samnites,
Celts and Ligures in the North.They were of Indo-European stock.
-Non-Indo-European people in Italy include the Etruscans, Elymians, Sicani and
the Sardinians.
-History has it that the first real major power in the Italian Peninsula was the
Etruscans.
-It was politically united during the Roman Empire on 90 C.E. After the fall of the
Roman Empire, Germanic Tribe conquered Italy, but it was brought back to the
realm to fold through the efforts of the East Roman Emperor Justinian. Late in
the same century, the Lombard reign of Italy was absorbed into the Frankish
culture to Italy, and under the Franks, the church of Rome gained much political

influence. The popes were given a great deal of autonomy and were left with
control over the legal and administrative system of Rome, including defense.
-In 1348, majority of European nations were stricken by the Black Death
pandemic.It left its mark in Italy by killing one-third of the population. A period of
recovery ensued leading to the resurgence of cities and the flourishing of trade,
commerce and the arts.
-This period of fast-paced development triggered the onset of Humanism and
Renaissance---two cultural movements which took their first roots in Italy before
finally spreading out in Europe.
-It was during the 14th and 15th centuries that Italy was divided into a great
schism of warring city-states; the rest of the peninsula being occupied by Papal
states and Naples.
-Italian rivalries of status, class, family, and hometown prevented unity
throughout its history
-The period from the fifteenth through the mid-eighteenth centuries were marked
periods of divisiveness among warring clans and families.
-Nations grew and their ambitions, as well as those of the Italian city-states,
continued to cause undue pestilence to Italy. France and Spain interfered in
Italian affairs.
-Under the leadership of Victor Emmanuel, Count de Cavour, and Giuseppe
Garibaldi, the various city-states moved toward unit. The creation of the kingdom
of Italy is undeniably made possible through the efforts of Italian monarchist and
nationalists.
-Italy underwent a surge of political and economic events during the World War 1
and II. More than 650,000 Italian soldiers sacrificed their lives on the battlefield
during the World War I . Under the Peace Treaties entered into by the country,
Italy regained promised territories, including Fiume. Italy allied with Nazi
Germany and Japan with Mussolini as the military leader in World War II. It was
subdued by the allied forces in September 1943. Around 500,000 Italians died in
the war and the Italian economy collapsed.
-Italy became a Republic on June 2, 1946.
LANGUAGE
The official language is Italian which was adopted after Italy was unified in 1946.
-Several dialects are spoken all over the country, but Italian is used as the
medium of instruction in schools and as a medium of communication in the
government.

-There are speakers of German, Slovene, French and other European


languages.
RELIGION
-Italy is the primary witness in the development of the Roman Catholic Church.
-The Italian Catholic Church is chiefly an active participant in the proliferation of
the Roman Catholic Church. Roman Catholicism is the largest religion and
denomination in Italy ,with around 87.8% .
-There are relevant minorities of Protestants, Waldensians , Eastern Orthodox,
Pentecostalism, Jehovah;s Witness, Mormonism, etc.
-Italy is home to the greatest number of Roman Catholic cardinals in the world
and of Roman Catholic per capita.
-Rome, or more specifically Vatican City, is the hub of the Roman Catholic
religion. Thus the Pope, Cardinals, bishops, monsignors,priests, members of
various orders are almost ubiquitously seen in the country.
-Other non-christiian religiomns include Judaism, Islam, Sikhism, Buddhism and
Hinduism.
INTERESTING PLACES AND PEOPLE
Italys contribution to worlds cultural and historical heritage of Europe and the
world cannot be ignored.
-According to UNESCO, Italy is the home to the worlds greatest number o
UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
-The nation has around 100,000 structures for museums, palaces,
statues,churches, art galleries, villas, fountains, historic houses and
archaeological remains.
-Italy has over 2000 years worth of holy places. Rome and Vatican City, two great
cities situated within Italy have thousands of shrines, relics and churches. There
are vestige of Saint Peter and other popes.
-Rome, the capital of Italy, is regarded as the political and religious center of
Western civilization as the capital of the Roman Empire and the site of the Holy
Roman Catholic Church.
-Italy is the fifth most visited country and the highest tourism earner in the world,
with 43.6 million of international tourist arrivals and the total receipts estimated at
38.8$ billion in 2010.

Colloseum, largest amphitheater of Ancient Rome where gladiators, criminals,


and lions alike fought for their lives

Pompeii, ancient Roman city whose incredibly well-preserved ruins now form a
popular UNESCO world Heritage site

The Palantine Hill, known as the birthplace of Rome

Leaning Tower of Pisa, an iconic bell Tower, renowned for its slanted stance

Basilica di Santa Croce in Florence, Italy, most famous for being the burial
place of many of the citys most iconic figures
-Italy has a cultural heritage that exerts great impact to Italian consciousness.
-The city of Rome itself a dynamic and living museum.
-The archaeological Museums in Naples are certainly among the world best.
The Italian Renaissance is well represented in a number of museums.
-The Uffizi Museum contains the obra maestro of Michelangelo, Leonado da
Vinci, Botticelli, Piero delle Francesca, Giovanni Bellini, and Titian.
-The Bargello has specialized in Florentine sculpture, with works by
Michelangelo, Benvenuto Cellini, Donatello, and the Della Robbia family.
-The Pitti Palace has a fine collection of paintings by Rafael, as well as about
five hundred important works of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, which
were collected by the Medici and Lorraine Families.

Leonardo da Vinci,
one of the greatest artist of all time

Michelangelo, Italian sculptor, painter,


architect, poet, and engineer

If you want to see the best the and the finest of Western architecture, Italy is the
greatest place to be, as evidence by such architectural wonders as the
Colosseum, Milan Cathedral, Florence Cathedral, The leaning Tower of Pisa and
building designs in Venice.
______________________-PICTURES
grape vines and fastest booming wine industry, creative and high-end
automobile, industrial, Italy is visited not only because of its rich ancient cultural
heritage, but also of its vast fields of appliance, fashion design.
-It is regarded as the worlds largest wine producer.
-Modern high fashion clothing finds its birth in Italy.
-Magnificient fashion houses such as Fendi, Gucci, Armani and Versace, to name
a few, undeniably are household brands. Milan is regar
Lamborghini, Maserati, and Ferrari and other brands of luxury cars.
ded as the center of fashion in the world.
-Italy is also the center of the worlds most elite vehicles
-Italin have high literacy rate. It is home to among the largest universities in the
world. La Sapienza University in Rome is mecca for international students as it
is Europes Largest with 140,000 students. The world oldest college in the
Western world is the University of Bologna which is located in Italy.
-Arts and Literature flourished during the height of Humanism and Renaissance
in Italy.
-Notable artist in Italy include Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Donatello, Fra
Angelico, Tintoretto, Caravaggio, Bernini, Titian and Rafael.
-Rome is home to scientific greeks in the past.
-Leonardo da Vinci- apart from being consummate artist is also an advanced
scientific thinker. He already a daring speculations on anatomy, meteorology,
geology and hydrology.

-Advances in physics and astronomy were pioneered by Galileo Galilei,


Guglielmo Marconi and Alessandro Volta.

----------------Galileo Galilei, Italian physicist, mathematician ,astronomer and


philosopher
Culture and Tradition
-In the past, women are relegated to home chores.In Italian culture, men were
given privileged position and treatment.
-Women were assigned the position of the soul of the family, while men are the
head. Men were to support and defend the family while women raised the
children and kept themselves chaste so as not to disgrace the family.
-After the world war II , there was a marked changed in their status.
Today, women take part in every aspect of political, economic, and social life.
Women are equal under tha law and attend universities and work in the labor
force. Italian women, accordingly, are often considered the most liberated in
Europe.
-In the past, Marriage were arranged and women brought dowry to the marriage.
But today marriage is a free endeavor except of the members of the clergy.
-But there is a custom in many families for a child to remain unmarried to care for
aged parents.
-Italians ae often tied to one another by relationships on both sides of the family.
Close family ties is therefore observed by some.
-Appearances matter in Italy. The manner of dressing can indicate your social
status, family background, and education level.
-The term bella figura or good image is important to Italians.
-They unconsciously evaluate another persons age and social standing in the
the first few seconds of meeting them, often before conversation starts.

-Bella figura is more than dressing well. It extends to the aura you manifest tooconfidence, mode, character, etc.

Literature
Italian literature has wide-ranging, rich, and varied origin and development. It
began after the foundinh of Rome in 753 BC. The early writings of the Italians are
essentially based on the early works of Roman writers who left indelible marks in
Italian literature such as Pliny the Elder, Virgil, Horace, Ovid, Livy and propertius.
Italian literature has a close affinity with the Roman and Greek literature. Until
about the thirteenth century Italian literature was written in Latin. There were
various poems, legends, saints lives, chronicles and similar literature. French
and Provencal were also used in writings. Accordingly, there were even some
poets before Dante. Worthy to cite are Guittone dArrezo and Guido Guinizelli,
the founder of the dolce stil nuovo-sweet new style.
The modern Italian Literature in the Italian language was molded and fashioned
into classical works through the efforts of the great triumvirate in Dante Alighieri,
Giovanni Boccaccio and Petrarch. Their works has been the models and basis of
the later Italian writings for the next hundreds of years after them. Divine comedy
of Dante is unquestionably a magnum opus in the world of poetry. Boccaccios
Decameron set the trend in the great collections of stories ever written . The love
Poetry of Petrarch has inspired writers in the next hundred years such as
Shakespeare and Byron.
Next to Dante in terms of literary greatness in Italy is Petrarch. He is being cited
as responsible in restoring classical Latin as the language of scholarship and
literature. Petrarch perceived that Italy was a successor of Rome, and he worked
to advance Italian nationalisms and unity. His work in Italian is Petrarchs greatest
contribution to literature. His famous sonnets to Laura gave Italian literature a
unique flavor and brought to it a fiery passion.
Boccaccios Decameron (1353) drew on both Dante and Petrarch influences and
in turn influenced numerous writers. It not only uses the vernacular but also uses
true-to-life stories.

Dante Alighierei,Italian poet, prose writer, literary theorist, moral philosopher, and
political thinker
The Renaissance in Italy brought to the country noble ideas and great literary
insights. The period of the High Renaissance produced men of Highly
exceptional and talents and genius. They include Michelangelo, Leon Battista
Alberti, and Leonardo da Vinci, among others. These men were supported by
patrons of the arts such as Lorenzo de Medici and the Popes, such as Alexander
VI.
According to literary scholarship, the first major Italian drama was Orfeo written
by Angelo Poliziano in 1480. There were still woks done in the medieval geste
style, which were based on the medieval romances.
The works of Pietro Bembo , Niccoli Machiavelli , and Ariosto in the sixteenth
century brought Italian literature to another dimension and to great heights.
Machiavelli is best known for the prince (1640), the first practical work of political
science and a call for Italian unity. The political essays in Niccoli Machiavellis
The Prince in 1513 is without a doubt a unique woks of its own. It is comparable
to the chinese work The art of war.
Aristos poem, Orlando Furioso (1516) is an epic dealing with Charlemagne, an
old theme but with a new sophistication. Orlando Furioso presents an old picture
with twists and turns. Italian literature finds new interests , life and warmth.
After world war II Italian literature took flight to attain excellence and
magnificience. Modern Italian literature experienced a great awakening which led
to the creations of high qualityliterary outputs. In poetry, there are Giuseppe,
Ungaretti, Eugenio Montale, and Salvatore Quasimodo. In fiction there are carlo
Levi, Elio Vittorini, Vasco Pratolini, Mario Doldati, Cesare Pavese, Vitaliano
Brancati, Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, Alberto Moravia, Giorgia Bassani,
Dino Buzzati, Elsa Morante, Natalia Levi Ginzburg, Primo Levi , and Umberto
Ecco.

Reporter: Charlyn B. Arano


Topic: Introduction to Italian History, Cultures,
Traditions, and Beliefs
Reference:
Title: The Prince
Author: Niccolo Machiavelli
Literary type and Form: Short Story
Literary Approach: Historical Criticism

The Prince Summary


The prince begins with an address to Lorenzo de Medici, in
which Machiavelli explains that he is seeking favor with the prince
by offering him some of his knowledge. He then proceeds to
classify

the

various

kinds

of

states:

republics,

hereditary

princedoms, brand-new princedoms, and mixed principalities. New


states are his primary focus, for those who are the hardest to deal
with. A conquered state whose original prince was its sole ruler is
difficult to conquer, but easy to maintain; a conquered state in
which the prince shared power with the barons is easy to conquer,
but difficult to maintain.
When possible a prince should strive to rise to power on his
own merits and with his own arms. Relying on friends, good luck, or
other peoples arms may make the rise easier, but holding onto his

newfound power will prove a difficult task. Machiavelli devotes


almost an entire chapter to Cesare Borgia, who rose to prominence
largely through connections and his fathers help, but was crafty
enough to carve out his own niche-though he wound up failing in
the end. Princes who rise to the throne through crime are another
matter altogether: Machiavelli condemns them as wicked and yet
his words betray his admiration for their cleverness. Cruelty, when
well-used, can be justified.
According to Machiavelli, reliance on mercenaries and
auxiliaries for troops is a grave mistake. A prince must lay strong
foundations good laws and good arms and if the latter is
lacking, the former is rendered irrelevant. A state needs both to
survive. Mercenaries are disloyal and divided; foreign auxiliaries
come already united another master, and so are in a way even
more dangerous. The prince himself should be a student of war and
an avid reader of military history.
Reputation is another important element to consider. The
front princes put on to appeal to the populace is often lie, as
Machiavelli notes; the better the liar, the better the prince. That
said, giving out the money when it is fiscally irresponsible, just to
appear generous, is a mistake; displaying excessive mercy in order
to garner affection can prove fatal. Better safe than sorry; better to
be feared then to loved.
Machiavelli closes The Prince with a meditation on luck and
its role in human affairs, and a call to unite Italy. He addresses
much of this last argument to Lorenzo de Medici, thereby imposing
some semblance of symmetry on his books structure and honing
his theoretical musings into a direct exhortation.

The types of Principalities:

Hereditary principalities

Mixed principalities

New principalities

Ecclesiastical principalities
The types of army:

Mercenaries and hired soldiers

Auxiliaries

Native Troops

Mixed Troops
The character and behavior of the prince:

It is better to be stingy than generous

It is better to be cruel than merciful

It is better to break promises if keeping them would be against


ones interest

Princes must avoid making themselves hated and despised; the


goodwill of the people is a better defense than any fortress

Princes should undertake great projects to enhance their reputation

Princes should choose wise advisors and avoid flatterers

a. Character

Niccolo Machiavelli serves as both the narrator and a protagonist


of The Prince. When released from prison in 1513, Machiavelli
retreated to private life and wrote The Prince in an effort to gain the
favor of the ruling Medici family, which had accused Machiavelli of
conspiracy and to help enable Lorenzo de Medici to unify Italy.

Lorenzo de Medici the ruler of Florence 1514 to 1519, he was


part of the influential Medici family and dedicatee of The Prince.

Cesare Borgia the son of Alexander VI, he rose to power quickly


and shrewdly, only to lose his winnings through a stroke of bad
luck.

Alexander VI was a skilled politician and leader who considerably


expanded the territorial power of the Catholic Church through
diplomacy and warfare.

Julius II he successfully curbed the influence of the Roman


barons and waged war against domestic and foreign foes on the
Italian peninsula

Leo X was a patron of the Italian Renaissance and used his clout
to appoint relatives, such as Lorenzo de Medici, to positions of
power.

Louis XII he continued the Italian campaigns pursue by his


predecessor, conquering Milan in 1500 and Naples in 1501.

Francesco Sforza he used his military prowess and his marriage


to seize the control of the state, installing himself as Duke of Milan.

Alexander the Great became King of Macedonia in 336 B.C.

Julius Caesar a successful Roman military leader, he became


dictator of Rome and was assassinated by political rivals in 44 B.C.

b. Setting
-

The story happened in Italy

c. Plot
Initial incident
-

Machiavelli meditates on what exactly makes such a


conquest successful, using two examples: The Roman
Empire which succeeded, and King Louis of France, who
failed. According to Machiavelli the Romans sent out
colonies, a far better strategy than the use of standing
armies.

Rising
-

Louis entered Italy through the ambition of the Venetians,


who wanted to gain control of half of Lombardy. He put
down the weaker powers, increased the strength of a
major power , introduced a powerful foreigner into the
fray, never took up residence in Italy, never set up
colonies, and deprived the Venetians of their power.

Climax
-

When the Roman Empire began to fade and the Pope


start to gain power. Italy split into several states, which
soon saw a flurry of up risings. As a result, Italy is in a
state of slavery and contempt.

Falling
-

Machiavelli sublimates the individualistic treatment of the


princes as solitary agent into a larger view of society as
contingent on long-term planning and sacrifice.

Solution
-

Machiavelli laments the decline of the Italian city-states


and attributes it to the use of mercenary and auxiliary
armies instead of native forces.

d. Conflict
-

There is a curious dialect between the abstract land


Machiavelli seems to invoke when he writes of princes
and princedoms as if they were variables in a
mathematical equation, and the precision with which he
fleshes out Italian history as well as the current events of
his land.

e. Point of view
-

The Prince which is wrote by Niccolo Machiavelli is an


extended analysis of how to acquire and maintain
political power.

f. Theme

Free will

Cruelty

Arms

History

Generosity

The church

The unification of Italy

g. Interpretation
-

This literary piece talks about how to manage a certain


government. It also tells how to be a Prince that uses
tactics to protect their country.

h. Gained insight
-

This story discusses in plain language the conduct of


great men and the principles of princely government

Title: The Devine Comedy


Author: Dante Alighieri
Literary type and Form: Poem
Literary Approach:
INFERNO
Midway in our lifes journey, I went astray
from the straight road and woke to find myself
alone in a dark wood. How shall I say
what wood that was! I never saw so dear,
so rank, so arduous a wilderness!
Its vey memory gives a shape to fear.
Death could scare be more bitter than that place!
but since it came to good, I will recount
all that I found revealed there by Gods grace.
PURGATORIO
We are souls who died violence,
all sinners to our final hour, an which
the lamp of Heaven shed its radiance

Into our hearts. Thus from the brink of death,


repenting all our sins, forgiving those
who sinned against us, with our final breath
We offered up our souls at peace with Him
who saddens us with longing to behold
His glory on the throne of Seraphim
PARADISO
O virgin mother, daughter of thy Son,
humble beyond all creatures and more exalted;
predestined turning point of Gods intention;
Thy merit so ennobled human nature
that its divine Creator did not scorn
to make Himself the creature of His creature.

The love that was rekindled in Thy womb


sends for the warmth of the eternal peace
within whose ray this flower has come to bloom.
Here to us, thou art the noon and scope
of Love revealed; and among mortal men,
the living fountain of eternal hope.
Lady, thou art so near to Gods reckonings
that who seeks grace and does not first seek thee
would have his wish fly upward without wings.

Not only does thy sweet benignity


flow out to all who beg, but oftentimes
thy charity arrives before the plea.
In thee is pity, in thee munificence,
in thee the tenderest heart, in thee unites
all that creation knows of excellence!
Now comes this man who from the final pit
of the universe up to this height has seen,
one by one, the three lives of the spirit.
He prays to thee in fervent supplication
for grace and strength, that he may raise his eyes
to the all-healing final revelation.
And I, who never more desired to see
the vision myself that I do that he may see it,
add my own prayer, and pray that it may be
enough to move you to dispel the trace
of every mortal shadow by the prayers
and let him see revealed the Sun of Grace.
I pray the further, all persuading Queen,
keep whole the natural bent of his affections
and of his powers after his eyes have seen.
Protect him from the stirrings of mans clay;
see how Beatrice and the blessed host

clasp reverent hands to join me as I pray.


The eyes that God reverse and loves the best
glowed on the speaker, making clear the joy
with which true prayer is heard by the most blest.
Those eyes turned then to the Eternal Ray,
through which, we must indeed believe, the eyes
of others do not find such ready way.
And I , who neared the goal of all my nature,
felt my soul, at the climax of its yearning,
suddenly, as it ought, grow calm with rapture.
Bernard then, smiling sweetly, gestured to me
to look up, but I had already become
within myself all he would have me be.
Little by little as my vision grew
it penetrated faintly though the aura
of the high lamp which in itself is true.
What then I saw is more than tongue can say.
Our human speech is dark before the vision.
The ravished memory swoons and falls away.
As one who sees in dreams and awakes to find
the emotional impression of his vision
still powerful while its parts fade from his mindjust such am I, having lost nearly all

the vision itself, while in my heart I feel


the sweetness of it yet distill and fall.
So, in the sun, the footprints fade from snow.
On the wild wind that bore the tumbling leaves
the Sybils oracles were scattered so.
O Light Supreme who doth Thyself withdraw
so far above mans mortal understanding,
lend me again some glimpse of what I saw;
make Thou my tongue so eloquent it may
of all Thy glory speak a single clue
to those who follow me in the worlds day;
for by returning to my memory
somewhat, and somewhat sounding in these verses,
Thou shalt show man more of Thy victory.
So dazzling was the splendor to that Ray,
that I must certainly have lost my senses
had I, but for an instant, turned away.
And so it was, as I recall, I could,
the better bear to look, until at last,
my Vision made one with the Eternal Good.
Oh grace abounding that ad made me fit
to fix, my eyes on the eternal light until my vision consumed in it!
I saw within its depth how it conceives

all things in a single volume bound by Love,


of which the universe is the scattered leaves;
substance, accident, and their relation
so fused that all I say could do no more
than yield a glimpse of that bright revelation.
I think I saw the universal form
that binds these things, for as I speak these words
I feel my joy swell and my spirits warm.
Twenty-five centuries since Neptune saw
the Argos keel have not moved all mankind,
recalling that adventure, to such awe
as I felt in an instant. My tranced being
stared fixed and motionless upon that vision,
even more fervent to see in the act of seeing.
Experiencing that Radiance, the spirit
is so indrawn it is impossible
even to think of ever turning from It.
For the good which is the wills ultimate object
is all subsumed in It; an, being removed,
all is defective which in It is perfect.
Now in my recollection of the rest
I have less power to speak than any infant
wetting its tongue yet at its mothers breast;

and not because that Living Radiance bore


more than one semblance, for it is unchanging
and is forever as it was before;
rather, as I grew worthier to see,
the more I looked, the more unchanging semblance
appeared to change with every change in me.
Within the depthless deep and clear existence
of that abyss of light tree circles shown three in color, one in circumference;
the second from the first, rainbow from rainbow;
the third, an exhalation of pure fire
equally breathed forth by the other two.
But oh how much my words miss my conception,
which is itself so far from what I saw
than to call it feeble would be rank deception!
O Light Eternal fixed in itself alone,
by Itself alone understood, which from Itself
loves and glows, self-knowing and self-known;
that second aureole which shone forth in Thee,
conceived as a reflection of the first
or which appeared so to my scrutiny seemed in itself of its own coloration
to be painted with mans image. I fixed my eyes
on that alone in rapturous contemplation.
Like a geometer wholly dedicated

to squaring the circle, but who cannot find,


think as he may, the principle indicated
so did I study the supernal face.
I yearned to know just how our image merges
into that circle, and how it there finds place;
but mine were not the wings for such a flight.
Yet, as I wished, the truth I wished for came
cleaving my mind in a great flash of light.
Here my powers rest from their high fantasy,
already I could feel my being turned
instinct and intellect balanced equally
as in a wheel whose motion nothing jars
by the Love that moves the sun and other stars.
Inferno
-

Dante realizes he has wandered from the True Way in


midlife, and finds himself in the Valley of Evil. He is
rescued by the spirit of Virgil, who tells him he has been
sent to guide him out of hell because of prayers of
Beatrice, the woman whom Dante admired all his life. To
leave hell, they must go through all nine circles of Hell,
the deeper circle, the more grave the sin and its
appropriate punishment. Dante learns those in Hell
choose to go there by their unrepentance.

Purgatorio
-

Dante and Virgil emerge from hell just before the dawn of
Easter Sunday, and in Purgatorio Dante begins the

difficult climb up Mount Purgatory. Souls that are


repentant of their sins against God and man go to
Purgatory and become free of temptation, and know that
they will eventually be with God. The renunciation of sin
occurs in Purgatory, as one begins his ascent to purity.
Purgatory is a mountain with seven ledges or cornices,
one for each of the seven deadly sins (pride, envy, anger,
sloth, greed, gluttony, and lust).
Paradiso
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Paradiso is Dantes imaginative conception of heaven.


The more one loves on earth, the closer in Heaven one is
to God, who is all all-love. Beatrice takes Dante through
the 9 Spheres of Heaven.

a. Person/Voice
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The author

b. Theme
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A journey of an individual soul towards God

c. Meter and Line


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The work is arranged in 100 cantos in 3 parts, 34 for the


Inferno, 33 each for Purgatorio and Paradiso. The work is
written in 3 groups of lines,

d. Diction
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The choice of words in this poem are those smooth and


soft words and it is good to be heard

e. Tone and Mood


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Tone I think he feels amazement of what he wrote

Mood After reading this poem I feel happy because


were so lucky that though we have wrong doings in this
world, God still embrace us his undying love and grace

f. Symbols
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White rose for chastity

Red rose for love

g. Sound Devices
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Rhyme

h. Figurative language
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Imagery

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