Dante & The Medieval View of Nature

Nature first appears in the Inferno in terms of the dark and dismal wood through which the poet is traveling, and here nature is equated with the course of life. This is so because the wood reflects the state of this man's life at this particular time. A leafy, green, and growing wood would be the sort of natural setting in which he might find himself when he was young and filled with hope. Now, he is older and losing some of his faith, and thus the wood is as dark and dismal as his own inner mood. It is in this wood that Dante meets Virgil, and Virgil serves several purposes in Dante's Divine Comedy. He acts as guide to Dante on his trip through the Inferno. He is a poetic touchstone, an idol to Dante, and his poetry serves as an inspiration for Dante's own work. In the developing relationship between these two figures as they pass through t

. . .
key moment Virgil takes his hand and guides him through, telling Dante of his need for courage. Virgil's guidance is important, for Dante might indeed turn and flee from the terrible darkness and the noise into which they walk. Dante here encounters for the first time the way hell is structured, with the different locations for souls of different degrees of guilt, and the levels are carved out of rock and have a stronger relationship to nature than does the urban world form which Dante and most of the sufferers have come. The first group of souls passed consists of those uncommitted souls whom neither heaven nor hell will have, and their lamentations at being abandoned on this side of the river is the source of all the noise through which the travelers pass. The fear felt by Dante is strong at this point, and this contrasts sharply with his behavior later as he gains in courage until he can face Satan himself with relative equanimity. He gains courage as he follows Virgil, and he gains it from Virgil and from the latter's example as the two make this journey. His spiritual journey is itself a reflection of nature and of the need to look through the trappings of civilization to the reality of the human soul. The real distin
. . .

Some common words found in the essay are:
Abelard Heloise, Canto III, Dante Dante, Heloise Abelard, Inferno Dante, Abelard Dante, Divine Comedy, God's Nature, God Abelard, abelard heloise, , letters abelard heloise, letters abelard, world spirit, world world, world nature, heloise abelard, human interaction, world human, dark wood, world human interaction, god found, world nature world, world world spirit, god found nature,
Approximate Word count = 1661
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page)

More Essays on Dante & The Medieval View of Nature