The Modern Scholar: Dante and His Divine Comedy

Kenyon College professor Dr. Timothy B. Shutt examines Dante's greatest work, The Divine Comedy, both in terms of its autobiographical elements and its allegorical meaning for the human race.

By near universal agreement, Dante’s Divine Comedy stands very high among the greatest literary works ever written. The Commedia is about the afterlife, not just Hell, but Purgatory, and Heaven too. Dante’s genius is the genius of the allegorical method. In talking about his journey through Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven, Dante is talking about the whole course of human life. The Commedia is an account of Dante’s own salvation. He had lost his way and he may have lost his faith. The Commedia chronicles how he got out. He is talking not just about himself, but about everybody, about all Christian history, and about non-Christian history as well. In talking about his salvation, he is talking about the salvation of his readers too.

All things considered, Dante is, by the most skeptical judgment, one of the greatest poets who has ever lived. And this is a revealing study of his greatest work.

Course Syllabus

Lecture 1 Dante: His Life and Times

Lecture 2 The Structure of the Commedia

Lecture 3 The Dark Wood

Lecture 4 The Gates of Hell

Lecture 5 The City of Dis

Lecture 6 Malebolge

Lecture 7 Cocytus and Satan

Lecture 8 The Shore of Purgatory

Lecture 9 The Seven Terraces

Lecture 10 The Earthly Paradise

Lecture 11 The Lower Heavens

Lecture 12 To the Sun and Beyond

Lecture 13 The Eagle of Justice

Lecture 14 To the Heaven of Pure Light