Dante's Divine Comedy

by Harold Bloom (Editor)

-- Presents the most important 20th-century criticism on major works from The Odyssey through modern literature
-- The critical essays reflect a variety of schools of criticism
-- Contains critical biographies, notes on the contributing critics, a chronology of the author's life, and an index

Genres: Literary Criticism, Poetry

175 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 1987

About the author

Harold Bloom was an American literary critic and the Sterling Professor of Humanities at Yale University. In 2017, Bloom was called "probably the most famous literary critic in the English-speaking world." After publishing his first book in 1959, Bloom wrote more than 50 books, including over 40 books of literary criticism, several books discussing religion, and one novel. He edited hundreds of anthologies concerning numerous literary and philosophical figures for the Chelsea House publishing firm. Bloom's books have been translated into more than 40 languages. He was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 1995.
Bloom was a defender of the traditional Western canon at a time when literature departments were focusing on what he derided as the "school of resentment" (multiculturalists, feminists, Marxists, and others). He was educated at Yale University, the University of Cambridge, and Cornell University.

Reviews

[Gijs Limonard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Architecture has been described as 'frozen music'. Dante's music has an architecture all its own:

The poem is divided into three canticles of thirty-three cantos each, plus one extra in the first, the Inferno, making a total of one hundred cantos. Each canto is composed of three-line tercets, the first and third lines rhyme, the second line rhymes with the beginning of the next tercet, establishing a kind of overlap, reflected in the overlapping motif of the Danteum design. Dante's realms are further subdivided: the Inferno is composed of nine levels, the vestibule makes a tenth. Purgatory has seven terraces, plus two ledges in an ante-purgatory; adding these to the Earthly Paradise yields ten zones. Paradise is composed of nine heavens; Empyrean makes the tenth. In the Inferno, sinners are organized by three vices--Incontinence, Violence, and Fraud--and further subdivided by the seven deadly sins. In Purgatory, penance is ordered on the basis of three types of natural love. Paradise is organized on the basis of three types of Divine Love, and further subdivided according to the three theological and four cardinal virtues.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri is a three-part poem about a soul’s journey through the afterlife according to Christianity in the 1300’s. The first part “Inferno” being hell, “Purgatorio” being purgatory, and “Paradiso” being heaven. I thought that these poems were very interesting, and I also do believe that they are very exaggerated pieces of literature. I believe that Dante wrote The Divine Comedy because it was meant to emphasize the fear of eternal damnation to those that didn’t take Christianity as seriously as they should’ve. I thought that it was cool that Dante’s Inferno wasn’t solely just a burning hellscape as he included certain layers of hell to be quite cold. Pandemonium was also an interesting concept of a city. I feel like having a capital in a place like Hell is weird to think about. Purgatory being a mountain consisting of seven layers and each layer representing one of the Seven Deadly Sins was also pretty cool. There were a lot of weird descriptions in these poems like how in Paradiso there was a bird that was made of the faces of previous kings that lived their lives righteously.

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

While this took me forever to read and comprehend, it is a truly astonishing work (from the 1300s!). It was on my 'to be read before I die' list and the fact I finished it on Easter is not lost on me.

[Richard Paulson · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is monumental rubbish. There is nothing good in it. It is blasphemous against the Bible. Dante does not know Biblical truths. This is a work of vanity.

[George C · Rating 4 out of 5]

The divine comedy is written by Dante Alighieri and it is about Dante Alighieri going through the 3 levels of afterlife, Paradiso, Purgatorio, and Inferno.
Inferno is where all the bad people went and it had levels that you went to dependung on how bad you were in your mortal life.
Purgatorio is still kind of a hell but not as a bad one its for people who had the sins like moral issues or corruption.
The last one is Paradiso wich is paradise that is where all the good people go and it too had levels and the book is based off of the heliocific theory where the heavens are the other plantets and theyre surrounded by spheres.
While he was writing this book he was a enemy of evreybody because he wrote who will be in hell or heave this included saing that the pope and different politicians were in hell.

[Rob · Rating 3 out of 5]

a guided trip through hell, amazing but a bit long winded have to be ready to take it in but overall it makes you think.

[Karl · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was OK.

[James West · Rating 1 out of 5]

Oh I hated it!! I like poetry but this is what English teachers use to torture their pupils!