Divine Comedy

A canto is a major division in a long poem.

Probably one of the most famous examples out there is Dante's Divine Comedy, where each section is a canto that is an extended verse.

By referring to his chapters as cantos, Lafferty may be suggesting that we are looking at short poems within a larger epic work.

Yep.

The contemplative life is looked upon throughout rather from the point of view of philosophy than of revelation.

It is therefore impossible not to feel that the Demonarchia represents a more developed scheme and one far more closely connected with that of the Commedia than we find in the Convivio.

After making all allowances for the differences of treatment natural in a popular and in a scholarly work, we have still to admit that if the Convivio were later than the De Monarchia, it would constitute a bewildering parenthesis between this latter and the Commedia, and would indicate a marked relapse from maturity into comparative crudity.

To this general argument we may add a specific one of great weight.

In the fourth treatise of the Convivio, Dante criticizes at great length and with unsparing severity that portion of the Emperor Frederick's definition of nobility which makes ancient wealth one of its essential factors.

The Convivio by Dante Alighieri, translated by Philip H. Wicksteed.

Appendix 2.

On Dante's second love and the relation of the Convivio to the Vita Nuova and the Commedia.

The contemplative life is looked upon throughout rather from the point of view of philosophy than of revelation.

It is therefore impossible not to feel that the Demonarchia represents a more developed scheme and one far more closely connected with that of the Commedia than we find in the Convivio.

After making all allowances for the differences of treatment natural in a popular and in a scholarly work, we have still to admit that if the Convivio were later than the Demonarchia, it would constitute a bewildering parenthesis between this latter and the Commedia and would indicate a marked relapse from maturity into comparative crudity.

To this general argument we may add a specific one of great weight.

In the fourth treatise of the Convivio, Dante criticizes at great length and with unsparing severity that portion of the Emperor Frederick's definition of nobility which makes ancient wealth one of its essential factors.

End of Section 33 Section 34 of the Convivio This is a LibriVox recording.

All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.

For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org The Convivio by Dante Alighieri Translated by Philip H. Wicksteed Appendix 2 On Dante's Second Love and the Relation of the Convivio to the Vita Nuova and the Commedia The Convivio is the monument of Dante's second love, and we can have no difficulty in forming a clear conception of its object.

A canto is a major division in a long poem.

Probably one of the most famous examples out there is Dante's Divine Comedy, where each section is a canto that is an extended verse.

By referring to his chapters as cantos, Lafferty may be suggesting that we are looking at short poems within a larger epic work.

Yep.

Other people call it the Love Trilogy.

But as you noted earlier, it has a striking resemblance to Dante's Divine Comedy.

And so maybe, I want to get to that quote from which you took your title, The Furrows, but maybe we should just go through a bit that trilogy, which seems the centerpiece of her oeuvre.

Yes.

But even Dante suggests the point at which Italian poetry must be held to have always fallen short in the ideal imitation of a great human action in epic or drama.

The Divine Comedy has no plot.

Dante himself passes on through scenes of ever-varying circumstance and complexion, rich in incidental drama and pathos, but their succession is determined by no human will or passion, by no indignant Achilles, by no vengeful Satan, but by the rigid and inflexible order of the universe through which he makes his way.

The dynamics of his poem are derived not from humanity but from dogma.

The contemplative life is looked upon throughout rather from the point of view of philosophy than of revelation.

It is therefore impossible not to feel that the De Monarchia represents a more developed scheme and one far more closely connected with that of the Commedia than we find in the Convivio.

After making all allowances for the differences of treatment natural in a popular and in a scholarly work, we have still to admit that if the Convivio were later than the De Monarchia, it would constitute a bewildering parenthesis between this latter and the Commedia and would indicate a marked relapse from maturity into comparative crudity.

To this general argument we may add a specific one of great weight.

In the fourth treatise of the Convivio, Dante criticizes at great length and with unsparing severity that portion of the Emperor Frederick's definition of nobility which makes ancient wealth one of its essential factors.

End of Section 33 Section 34 of the Convivio This is a LibriVox recording.

All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.

For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org The Convivio by Dante Alighieri Translated by Philip H. Wicksteed Appendix 2 On Dante's Second Love and the Relation of the Convivio to the Vita Nuova and the Commedia The Convivio is the monument of Dante's second love, and we can have no difficulty in forming a clear conception of its object.