Topic: As an epic journey to Hell and back, The Inferno clearly traces its ancestry, in part, to The Aeneid. As an “autobiographical” record of a spiritual struggle, it also has equally obvious roots in Augustine’s Confessions. We come to this book, then, uniquely well-versed in its literary antecedents. Where do you see the influence of The Aeneid in Dante’s poem? Of Confessions?
Work cite:
The Making of the West
Chapter 10: Commercial Quickening and Religious Reform 1050–1150
Read about the rise of a currency-based economy, a boom in agricultural production, and growth in trade and expansion of cities and how these changes resulted in the Crusades and the revival of monarchies
Chapter 11: The Flowering of the Middle Ages 1150–1215
In the second half of the twelfth century, Christianity expanded throughout Europe and, after the sack of Constantinople, the Islamic world rose to prominence
The Norton Anthology of Western Literature, Vol. 1
Dante Alighieri, The Inferno
Read along with Dante on his journey through Hell as he depicts the nine circles of sin and suffering deep within the bowels of the Earth
