Review: Framing western Literature

existential

(adj.) - relating to existence

Aphorism

A brief, cleverly worded statement that makes a wise observation about life.

Allusion

A reference to another work of literature, person, or event

Tone

A writer's attitude toward his or her subject matter revealed through diction, figurative language, and organization on the sentence and global levels.

At the gate of Hell, Dante sees the inscription above that he calls "hard" to take. How does the use of anaphora affect the impact of the inscription? Your answer should be at least one hundred words.

Anaphora is the deliberate repetition of the first part of the sentence, in the case above the phrase "through me pass" is the use of anaphora. The use of anaphora here in the passage is that it effects and emphasizes that the only one reigns supreme over hell and everyone should pass through him before they can continue on further into their destined spot. He takes this in and calls it "hard" because he sees that he is actually going to enter the gates and the way the anaphora is being used it is intimidating in a way because hearing "through me pass into the painful city" is scary because you are pretty much stuck after you enter no turning back.

Social Structure of the Medieval Era

As the social roles in Italy and the rest of Europe shifted, so did people's attitudes toward these roles. To give voice to the multiple perspectives within his society, Boccaccio used a framed narrative. A framed narrative occurs when one story is used as an introduction or lead-in to another story or series of stories. In Boccaccio's The Decameron, this device is used to allow one character, Dioneo, to introduce the stories of a brigata, a group of seven young people who venture into the countryside to escape the plague. Boccaccio used a framed narrative for at least two reasons. First, it allowed for multiple voices to be heard so that the reader could get a balanced view of the different perspectives that existed in his time. Second, the order of the tales was suggestive of the social structure of the time period—the tales that come earliest are those told by the brigata members of the highest social standing. Thus, Boccaccio uses the order of the tales to tell us which characters are ranked highest within his society.

Medieval Period

As warring nations rose and fell between 500 AD-1000 AD (a specific time period known as the Dark Ages), there was a glimmer of hope upon the horizon. Some civilizations were now beginning to settle down and legitimately grow in population, and with it came growing needs and desires. Literature provided one avenue of entertainment as well as a way to obtain knowledge. Epic poems, such as Beowulf, portrayed heroic warriors oftentimes overcoming cataclysmic events with a bit of romance and gore.

Invoking a Muse

At the beginning of the second Canto, Dante calls on the Muses for help. As a poet, Dante knows that poets often call on the Muses—patron goddesses of the arts—for inspiration. This calling for help via divine intervention is known as an invocation. Before the actual invocation, the narrator sets the scene by describing what he sees and hears. In the formal invocation, Dante calls out to the Muses, asks for help, and explains what will happen if the Muses grant him his request.

Framing the foundations of the medieval world

At the height of the Roman Empire (around 117 AD), the Empire stretched from modern-day Turkey, south into Iraq and Syria, west through Egypt and the rest of North Africa, and north into modern-day Spain and Great Britain. To upkeep such a vast empire, the Romans built many roads; thus, the Romans spread their culture and ideas throughout Europe and Asia Minor. Between the 5th and 6th century, the Roman Empire was in constant turmoil and eventually fell. Warring over land had stunted civilized growth throughout the remnants of the old Empire. Many people looked to religious institutions for support and guidance. Christianity was gaining in numbers—Christian converts left behind their old Roman beliefs of multiple gods for monotheism, the belief in one God

Explain the factors that led to the shifts in the social structure of Boccaccio's Italy. Your answer should be at least 150 words.

Boccaccio lived in the beginning of the italian renaissance, which was a period of significant change in Italy, as well as in the rest of europe. Diseases and the changes in weather caused the populations location and the populations mass to alternate. New social classes emerged as the merchant class rose to power they began to highly increase as a social class due to everyone starting to trade and become more known due to this. Also, the economics of europe began changing from agriculture to trade. The rediscovery of classical literature and learning along with art led to the opening of new ideas and the growing of the urban schools and universities to open up. As a result to these occurrences, the 14th century Italy shifted from an agricultural community to an highly increased amount of urban and learning societies.

Ambiguity as innovation

Boccaccio's tales contain moral ambiguity. The term ambiguity refers to a literary device that allows for a single subject to be interpreted, or seen, from several different angles.

Dante

Dante Alighieri is a fascinating figure, shaped by the medieval world. While honoring the Latin poet Virgil, he also wrote in the vernacular rather than Latin, the typical language for literature of the time. A believer in the Christian order, he also felt free to determine what contemporary figures should be consigned to eternal damnation in Hell as well as who he deemed merited the eternal bliss of Heaven.

Describe, in your own words, the interaction between Dante and the lady who comes to visit him in Canto II. Who is this lady? Who has sent this lady? Your answer should be at least one hundred words.

Dante is standing at the mouth of hell with Virgil and he is feeling an outrageous amount of dread and hate towards himself to even continue on. Virgil tells him that a women told him to find Dante and be his guide in hell. The lady was Beatrice and she came down from Heaven to tell Virgil of Dante's story and ask him to help Dante. Beatrice was Dante's true love (in real life and in the story) who died and is now counted among the blessed in Heaven. She had learned of Dante's predicament from St. Lucia, also in Heaven, who in turn heard about the poor poet from the Virgin Mary. Beatrice is a symbol of Dante's divine love and is sent by Mary and Lucia to help Dante by enlisting Virgil's help. Beatrice also knows that Dante will listen to Virgil if he knows that she has intervened and still loves him and that he is being watched over.

The Darkened Forest

Dante's work is also full of allusions, or references to literature, contemporary issues, or historical events. Indeed, the very first line provides one- Halfway through the journey we are living (Inferno. I, 1) According to Psalm 90 of the Old Testament, "The days of our years are threescore years and ten." With this allusion, Dante thus places the poem in his thirty-fifth year, or the year 1300, which connects the poem to a Jubilee Year—a particularly holy year. By setting the poem in his past, he also gains the opportunity to predict the exile that was then in his future. In the rest of the first tercet, Dante introduces the symbol of the "darkened forest," a "wild . . . dense and rugged" (Inf. I, 5) place that symbolizes the confusion and loss of hope; this confusion and loss of hope are results of straying from "the straight path," or the path of goodness. The forest is a space of wild animals and danger; its darkness connects it to evil (God is associated with light) and erroneous thinking (light is associated with wisdom). Later in the canto, as the poem takes on political meaning, we may come to think that the forest refers to political disorder as well.

Diction and Syntax

Diction and syntax are extraordinarily useful tools in serving the purpose of the author. From a reader's perspective, these tools can also be useful in that they help us to get a sense of the author's tone, or attitude toward a particular subject in his writing. Examine lines 80-108 of Canto V. We will use these lines to more closely examine the author's attitude toward Francesca, a soul who is being punished for her adulterous relationship with her husband's brother, Paolo. It is important to note that a good number of the lines in this excerpt are Francesca's dialogue. From a reader's perspective, we need to keep in mind that the author is trying to draw a portrait of this character through what she says. At first, Francesca appears almost overly formal, addressing Dante the narrator as "gracious and tenderhearted." This use of diction sets the stage to reveal the author's attitude toward Francesca, but we have to read a bit further to get a sense of what that attitude actually is. Francesca agrees to speak to Dante "while the wind, as it is now, is silent." This indicates that Francesca does stand to profit, if only temporarily, by prolonging her conversation with Dante. The longer they speak, after all, the longer she can avoid the whirlwind of punishment that awaits her.

Mood

Feeling or atmosphere that a writer creates for the reader

Geoffrey Chaucer

Geoffrey Chaucer was born in England in the early 1340s. During his early adulthood, Chaucer survived the outbreak of the Bubonic Plague, as well as imprisonment in France during the Hundred Years War. After his release and returning home, Chaucer served King Edward III. Chaucer translated foreign works for the English government. Sent on numerous diplomatic missions to France, Genoa, and Florence, Chaucer was exposed to the works of Dante, Boccaccio, and Petrarch. These writers would have a tremendous influence on his later works.

Narrators in Framed Narratives

Have you ever heard the expression, "Don't believe everything that you see?" When people use this statement, they are encouraging you to look more closely at something in order to understand its true nature. When it comes to close narrators, we can apply similar logic—"don't believe everything that you read." Close narrators are like magicians—they try to get their readers to adopt their perspectives on issues, events and other characters in the story. Sometimes, these perspectives are trustworthy and valid; sometimes they are not.

God and the Existence of Time

Having fallen to temptation early in his life, Augustine of Hippo became a Christian. Augustine, later canonized a saint, wrote thirteen individual books for Confessions. The first ten books of Confessions focus on Augustine's conversion to Christianity; he also explores the concept of memory and time. In his last three books, Augustine examines the Creation as described by the book of Genesis in the Bible. In Confessions Book XI, Augustine investigates two basic themes: the concept of time in reference to the Creation and the eternal God. By analyzing God's divine laws and man's physical laws, he came to a rational understanding of time and was able to defend God.

Imagery

Imagery results when writers use descriptive language to appeal to their reader's senses. To locate an image in a passage of text, you will want to scan through and ask yourself: what language in this passage appeals to my senses? What can I see, taste, touch, smell and hear in this passage? Images are important tools in getting at the theme of a passage. When writers use imagery effectively, it helps to establish the mood of a story. Once you know that a particular passage has a particular mood, you can begin to think about how this connects to theme. Analyzing imagery and the moods it creates allows you to make inferences, or conclusions, about the author's positions on important themes.

Explain how the structure of The Divine Comedy and the poetic form that Dante uses both reinforce his spiritual themes. Can you identify a pattern? Your answer should be at least one hundred words.

In the "Divine Comedy" Dante wrote it to mirror a classic epic poem, but with christian views. This means that he had to change just about everything that had to do with being mythological. He had some way to replace the muses with something else, he ends up calling the muses and says what will happen if they actually do help. He uses Virgil in his story because Virgil is like his mentor to get him to heaven, he was sent to Dante by his first love Beatrice. Throughout the whole story pretty much Dante is being guided by Virgil or other people sent by Beatrice to aid Dante.

The three estates

In the medieval period, English society was divided into three general categories, known as estates (a term which is derived from the Latin word status). These three estates consisted of the clergy (officials in the Christian Church), the nobility (those holding honorary titles, including members of the military), and the peasantry (or laborers who belonged neither to the clergy or nobility). Together, these three estates were meant to ensure that all members of the population could expect material sustenance, physical protection, and spiritual salvation. We find representatives of all three estates in the General Prologue. Indeed, The Canterbury Tales is often considered an estate satire, a common form of the period in which authors criticized one or more of these main social classes. However, some scholars argue that the poem does not fit neatly in the genre, as Chaucer offers more complex and ambiguous characters than one might expect in a pure satire. Furthermore, although many of the character portraits in the General Prologue are satirical, Chaucer also ensured that sympathetic, virtuous characters were included for all three estates.

The framed narrative

In the medieval period, many authors utilized the framed narrative technique; Geoffrey Chaucer used it in The Canterbury Tales, Giovanni Boccaccio employed it in his Decameron, and Dante Alighieri utilized it in his The Divine Comedy.

Justice Meted

In this first incident inside the Gates of Hell, Dante introduces a key concept of his The Divine Comedy, contrapasso. Contrapasso means that the punishment suits the crime, either in it being similar to the sin committed or the mirror image of that sin. By understanding the nature of the punishment, we can better understand Dante's view of the nature of a sin. Inferno is Dante's interpretation of the degree of severity of sins. He explains his "ranking" of sins by his description of each category of sinner's proximity to the innermost realm of Hell. In Dante's Inferno, the lesser degree of sinners is in the outermost realm of Hell and the worst sinners are in the innermost realm of Hell.

Continued

Like the nobility, Chaucer includes multiple representatives of the clergy. While many of the clergy members are depicted as greedy and selfish, Chaucer does not condemn the estate uniformly, as the sinful or indulgent behavior of the friar, monk, and others is contrasted with the piety and devotion shown by the parson. Chaucer does not merely satirize members of the clergy and nobility, but also shows the ways that people outside of these privileged classes are capable of dishonorable and sinful behavior. Yet the character with perhaps the lowest social standing of any, the ploughman, is one of the most sympathetic characters in the General Prologue.

Final Wrap up

Much had happened since the fall of the Roman Empire. The Church had risen to be an authoritative force in the medieval era and early philosophers like Augustine and Thomas Aquinas ushered in new ways of thinking. They connected Church teachings with rational and logical philosophical thinking. Authors were beginning to appeal to the masses by using vernacular in their stories (instead of writing in Latin). Dante, Boccaccio, and Chaucer used allegories and morality tales in order to comment on and criticize social norms of their day. They also developed and incorporated unreliable narrators into their texts in order to delivery the commentary and criticisms. Although many questions were left unanswered pertaining to how God plays a role in the lives of humans and why such atrocious things happen to people, medieval thinkers and scholars addressed or resolved many more questions during this time period. People could become better not only by looking inward, but also by looking to Providence.

The use of Satire

Much of the General Prologue of The Canterbury Tales functions as a form of satire, in which Chaucer ridicules the hypocrisy, selfishness, and other shortcomings found among characters from all walks of life. Although Chaucer emphasizes the deviousness and sinfulness found among powerful church officials, he also demonstrates the way people from less powerful levels of society can also act selfishly and unethically.

Reliable vs. Unreliable Narrators

Narrators who are intentionally unreliable ... -desire to deceive -are often motivated by strong emotion or personal interests Narrators who are unintentionally unreliable ... -may possess handicaps (mental or physical) that prevent them from accurately observing or reporting events -may be naïve or excessively gullible -may be biased toward a particular group or idea -may possess a strong desire to belong to a group or please others

Neoplatonism

Neoplatonism is the belief that humans can overcome the imperfect material world to obtain knowledge and acceptance of the One by being virtuous and by contemplating. Augustine's idea of Supreme Good and Supreme Beauty is connected to the Neoplatonic idea that there is one perfect source of Goodness from which all other things come down from in the universe-the One, or God. In addition, Augustine shows that compared to God's knowledge, human knowledge "is ignorance." Augustine tells readers that his life is just a distraction and that they need to focus on the prize of God's heavenly calling. Wanting to overcome the material world, Augustine contemplated on how to draw closer to God. He presented such Neoplatonic ideas in his own way and rationalized the existence of God.

Continued of the card before.

One issue that Augustine addresses with the book of Genesis is the time prior to the Creation. What was God doing during this time? Although Augustine poses this question, he knows not of what God was doing. However, Augustine acknowledges that there are, in fact, certain mysteries that will remain unknown to humans. In the bigger picture, does God exist in time? Did He exist in the past? Does He exist in the present? Will He exist in the future? Augustine rationalizes that God is eternal, that He has no such limits as time because His years have no end.

emotional realism in early renaissance art and literature

One of the best ways to better understand the significance of a piece of art—be it literary or visual—is to talk about it. In discussion, we can discover new ways of approaching a subject, and new strategies for unraveling the meaning of a work. But, in order to profit from this opportunity, we must be open to alternative perspectives.

Discuss Chaucer's use of satire. In your response, cite specific text-based evidence. Your answer should be at least 150 words.

Satire is the use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people's stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues. Chaucer uses this when he introduces and describes the pilgrims the way he sees them and interprets them. He uses irony when describing the knight because he follows the code of the knights, he is full of honor, truth, generousness and courtesy. He fought mortal battles, and its ironic because for us to think he is a wrecking ball on the battlefield, but in person he is modest. He uses irony when describing the squire son of the knight, who fights for the ladies and is 20 years old, he dances and writes poems. Chaucer uses irony to describe Merchant and we would think that he would be somewhat well off because he is an expert in bargaining but he is really in debt

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Some people embarked on these pilgrimages as a form of tourism, taking advantage of being away from their homes and jobs. For people living in England, the pilgrimage to Canterbury was relatively easy, and the journey offered many opportunities for pleasure and comfort. Indeed, by the time Chaucer wrote The Canterbury Tales, many religious leaders were skeptical of a pilgrimage's value; Chaucer's pilgrims exhibit a range of motivations, from those showing genuine piety to those with less noble pursuits. The entire framing device of the poem, in which the narrator relays the tales told by different pilgrims, is based upon the social nature of the pilgrimage.

Explain some of the various medieval literary forms. What were the differences between the literary forms? Your answer should be at least one hundred words.

Some various medieval literary forms are Allegory, Aphorism, axiom and commentary keep in mind these are some not all. An Allegory is a literary device that is similar to a metaphor in which character, place or event is used to deliver a broader message. You have two parts to an allegory which is one the surface of the story which is about the characters and plot but the second part to an allegory is the deeper meaning what all the stuff on the surface of the story actually means. An aphorism is an observation that contains a general truth, an example of this is "if it ain't broke don't fix it" An axiom is a statement or proposition that is regarded as being built or established. The difference in the three is an allegory is somthing that delivers an actually life lesson, a aphorism is a observation and a axiom is a propostition.

Form and Structure of the Canterbury Tales

The Canterbury Tales was written in the form of an epic poem, one of the most common forms among writers of secular texts in the medieval period. The epic poem was characterized not merely by its length, but also by its numerous characters, use of dialogue, and its narrative structure. In the case of The Canterbury Tales, the contest described by the narrator in the General Prologue provides a framing device for the series of narratives that follow. Chaucer is then able to explore characters from a number of different backgrounds and social positions, and is able to employ a variety of tones and even explore a number of different genres within a single work.

The role of the narrator

The General Prologue is written from the first-person point of view, as Chaucer's narrator assumes the role of one of the thirty pilgrims. The narrator tells of how he met the twenty-nine other pilgrims that he describes throughout the prologue. The narrator bases his descriptions of the pilgrims on his interactions with them at the tavern; yet, the narrator repeatedly includes information that each of the pilgrims would not have provided and that the narrator would have had no way of knowing. Chaucer switches from an objective, omniscient perspective to a narrator who is an active participant in the story he tells around line 20. The narrator does not just observe the other pilgrims; he reveals his identity as a pilgrim himself. By lines 29-32, the narrator has joined the group of twenty-nine other pilgrims on their way to Canterbury. As one of this group, the narrator can provide a sense of immediacy and authenticity; we understand that much of the information he relays about the pilgrims is based on the close connection he has developed with them. However, Chaucer often reverts back to an omniscient perspective, providing information that his pilgrim narrator character could not know. This helps Chaucer convey facts and ideas about certain characters that his good-natured, charitable narrator might not express, even if he were aware of these unsavory details.

Giovanni Boccaccio

The Italian writer Giovanni Boccaccio was what we would call a great literary innovator. Born in Italy in 1313, Boccaccio lived during a time of great social upheaval. Much of this upheaval was caused by the Bubonic Plague (often referred to as the Black Death), which swept through Europe in waves, beginning in the late 14th century. At this time, Italy was a nation strongly rooted in the Catholic religion. To help spread the messages of Catholicism, much of the literature produced took the form of morality tales. Morality tales were designed to educate the audience on issues of right and wrong, one of the major themes of the era. A literary device that was often used to do this was allegory, a technique where the characters are meant to represent concepts and ideas

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The dialogue in lines 100-108 amplifies this more conniving portrait of Francesca. The syntax of all three of these stanzas is similar beginning with a concept "Love" as a personified sentence subject. Here, Love is not a feeling or an emotion, but an almost superhuman force that "pardons no one"; "takes quick hold"; and "leads" people. By shifting the blame onto the force of Love, the character attempts to deny her own responsibility in her sinful behavior, a trend that continues into lines 115-142, as she claims that she and Paolo were "alone and innocent of suspicion" and were, in effect, deceived into sin by the power of the written word. By literally putting the words in the character's mouth, Dante establishes a conniving, wheedling tone in the character of Francesca. This tone unites her with the other residents of the second ring of Hell—mythological figures who pursued passion over reason in life.

The Gate of Hell

The first tercet introduces the ideas of both suffering and eternity. It also moves from the impersonal "Painful City," to the more personal "Eternal Grief," to the human, the "Lost People." The movement produces feelings of pity. But just as one is feeling sympathy for the sufferers, the next line suppresses it, for "Justice" is the purpose of these gates, and that justice is determined by the "Master-Builder" who shaped the gates with "Highest Wisdom" and "Primal Love." These three aspects of God refer to the Trinity—God the Father is the "Master-Builder"; Jesus is "Highest Wisdom"; the Holy Spirit is "Primal Love." Dante's message is important: God, not Satan, made the Gates of Hell. God, not Satan, judges those who enter it, in conjunction with Highest Wisdom and Primal Love. The sign ends with perhaps the most famous line from the The Divine Comedy- "All Hope Abandon, You Who Enter Here.

The Holy Pilgrimage

The pilgrimage, or journey to a distant sacred site, is common to many of the world's major religions. Pilgrims would often embark on these journeys to atone for sins or transgressions, or to seek a miracle. In Chaucer's time, a pilgrimage was also a metaphor for life; the pilgrimage was considered to be one's life and the distant sacred site was considered to be one's afterlife. People who believed this metaphor focused on the destination rather than the troubles to get there. In essence, the actual journey (life) to obtaining redemption was less important than the arrival of internal transformation and salvation (afterlife). People who viewed the pilgrimage as a metaphor focused on internal transformation rather than on the external world.

What was the role of religion and philosophy in medieval thought? What were early philosophers questioning and thinking about? How did early Church leaders affect philosophical ideas? Your answer should be at least one hundred words.

The role philosophy in medieval thoughts is to multiply religious doctrines specifically Christian doctrine. It also is a means to address or solve theological problems and learnings. Early philosophers consider in the field of religion and theology. Also, it is times of rediscovery of ancient philosophies that was at one time lost after the falling of the western roman empire which its chaos and destruction ravage due to the barbarian invasions. The early church leaders affect the philosophical ideas of this day and age due to the fact that in this are most of the educated were in fact the church. They throw out or do not communicate to the people the views they oppose. Also, most philosophy in this day and age is religious oriented and people seek refuge in God for hope and salvation in chaotic times.

Soul Searching

The searching of one's soul for answers became a focal point of many philosophers of this time. Among other existential questions, philosophers investigated the fundamentals of Christianity. Augustine of Hippo, an early Church leader who believed in the tenets of Christianity, looked for philosophical logic in the natural world to answer the questions that faith could not. Medieval philosophy included theology as well as mathematics and natural science, which are considered separate today. Medieval philosophical texts came in a variety of literary forms: allegories, aphorisms, axioms, commentaries, and dialogues. Another form was the soliloquy, where a character talks to himself or herself.

Chaucer's narrator describes characters from all walks of life and a range of social positions. Does the narrator appear to hold more favorable views of people from one class or background over another? Use at least three of the characters from the General Prologue in your response. Your answer should be at least 150 words.

When the narrator begins the story he starts off the tale by describing the social class rank of each pilgrim and their circumstances. He starts by describing the highest status individuals. Chaucer describes the three more favorable characters in many different ways. He likes the Knight because the knights character represents all a knight is suppose to represent truth, honor,generousness, and courtesy. The Oxford Cleric is another character of Chaucer's favorites. The Cleric is liked becuase he is what a student should be. Cleric is serious about his studies, he is not worldly or nonreligious, he did not babble needlessly. He was thin, and moral and he loved to learn and teach. The third person that the narrator really liked was the Parson. The Parson is one of the very few clergy members that chaucer actually liked. He liked Parson because most clergy members are sarcastic but the parson he is honest and dedicated and spiritual. The Parson preaches the gospel and shuns worldly possessions giving what he has to the poor and unfortunate.

Explicit and Implicit meaning

When we analyze literature, we use two types of meaning to get at the big idea of a story. These are the explicit and implicit meanings. An explicit meaning is what appears on the surface level represented by the literal, or straightforward information that the text communicates to us. An implicit meaning, on the other hand, refers to information that is implied, or hinted at, but not stated outright. To get at the implicit meaning of a text, we must read between the lines.

How did Neoplatonism influence St. Augustine? Which Neoplatonic ideas did he borrow and express in Book XI of Confessions? Your answer should be at least one hundred words.

While Augustine finished his book of Confessions he had read some of Plotinus stories and became rather influenced by the style and arguments in which Plotinus had wrote about. This is obvious because in the book Confessions you can see both persistent series of questions with which Augustine pursues a difficult problem and in occasional flashes of advice. Neoplatonism influenced in Augustine his entire concept of God and of creation. In Neoplatonism views all things this is including the soul as well, such as having an infinite, timeless, and unchangeable God as the cause of their existence. Neoplatonism held that everything existed only to the extent that participated with God.

Pilgrimage

a journey taken by a follower of a religion to a shrine or sacred location, often for the purpose of atoning or seeking penance

Allegory

a literary device in which characters represent concepts, such as love, patience, or deceit

Ambiguity

a literary device that allows for a single subject to be interpreted from several different angles

word choice

a literary device that describes how the words a writer chooses help to create meaning and tone

Epic

a long narrative poem divided into multiple sections that usually relates the story of a heroic figure

Epic poem

a long, narrative poem about an important event that usually features a hero

Blasphemer

a person who blatantly speaks out against God or demonstrates a complete lack of respect for God

Heretic

a person who holds and practices beliefs that oppose Christianity (in Dante's time, "Christianity" would solely refer to the Catholic Church)

glutton

a person who overindulges in something; typically, this term applies to overindulgence in food or drink, but generally speaking can be applied toward an overindulgence in anything

hypocrite

a person who says one thing and does the opposite of what s/he says should be done

Aristotelianism

a school of thinking that relies on scientific or pragmatic experiences; followers believe humans perceive reality through physical objects and experiences with those objects

Estate

a social or political class or category of people

framed narrative

a technique in which one story introduces another story or series of stories

Close narrator

a term used to describe a narrator who participates in the plot of the story he or she narrates

Distant narrator

a term used to describe a narrator who remains outside of the events of a story

Emotional Realism

a term used to describe the work of artists and writers who attempt to depict human emotion in a truthful, or realistic, manner

morality tale

a type of story from the medieval era that educated audiences about Christian virtues

explicit

a word used to describe information that is communicated in a straightforward way; the literal meaning

implicit

a word used to describe information that is suggested but not stated outright

Symbol

an image or figure in a literary work that stands for or symbolizes something else, such as a quality, a principle, a person, or an institution

Connotation

describes the emotional weight carried by a word; not the literal meaning, but a "shade" of meaning

Inference

ideas that are reached through interpreting the implicit meanings of a text

Comedy

in classical literary terms, a work that ends happily, as opposed to a tragedy

axiom

is an accepted principle or rule

Irony

literary device in which the intended meaning differs from the literal definition

Satire

literary form or technique in which humor or irony is used to criticize people's stupidity or other shortcomings

framing device

literary method through which multiple narratives are related within a unifying story

unreliable narrator

narrator in a literary work whose credibility is questionable or whose perceptions of the story's plot or characters are skewed or biased

Scholasticism

philosophical teachings based on Aristotle and the Church fathers, such as Thomas Aquinas; followers believe humans should use reasoning and inference to analyze reality

sensory language

poetic language that appeals to one of the senses

Contrapasso

principle of The Divine Comedy in which the punishment suits the crime, either in it being similar to the sin committed or the mirror image of that sin

Anaphora

repetition of the same word or phrase at the beginning of several sentences or clauses

Diction

the author's specific choice of words

monotheism

the belief that there is only one God (as opposed to believing in multiple gods)

nobility

the class of people holding hereditary or honorary titles who constitute the aristocracy in a country

terza rima

the form of the Divine Comedy, which uses three-line stanzas that follow the pattern aba, bcb, cdc, and so on

Clergy

the group ordained to perform religious duties, especially in the Christian church

canto

the major division of an epic poem, a term coined by Dante

narrative mode

the methods used to tell a story to the reader

Sarcasm

the often harsh use of irony to express scorn or contempt, usually expressed through the tone of one's voice

Syntax

the organization of words to form sentences and paragraphs

Theme

the overarching idea of a literary work

Narrator

the person who tells the story

Anthropology

the study of human development of humans, including Christian theology on humans in contrast with God

Imagery

the use of descriptive language that appeals to the reader's senses

Tercet

three line stanza

credibility

used to measure how trustworthy something or someone is