General Literary and Analytical Terms
A narrative in which characters, events, and settings symbolize abstract ideas or moral concepts.
What is Allegory
How a text is organized, such as Dante’s use of terza rima.
What is Structure?
A rhyme scheme used by Dante, with interlocking triplets (ABA, BCB, CDC).
What is Terza Rima?
Symbolizes divine love and spiritual enlightenment, guiding Dante in later sections of The Divine Comedy.
Who is Beatrice?
Giving human qualities to non-human entities, as seen in Dante’s portrayal of the beasts.
What is Personification?
Descriptive language that appeals to the senses to create vivid mental pictures.
What is Imagery?
The group of readers or listeners a text is intended to reach.
What is Audience?
The concept of punishment fitting the sin, as seen in the various circles of Hell.
What is Contrapasso?
A transitional state of purification for souls not yet ready for Heaven.
What is Purgatory?
A figure of speech in which one thing is compared to another without using "like" or "as."
What is a Metaphor?
The use of symbols to represent larger ideas or concepts.
What is Symbolism?
The historical, cultural, or social circumstances in which a work is created.
What is Context?
Symbolizes sin, confusion, and moral disorientation.
What is Dark Wood?
Deliverance from sin and its consequences, central to Dante’s journey.
What is Salvation?
Hints or clues about what will happen later in the narrative.
What is Foreshadowing?
The writer's attitude toward the subject, conveyed through word choice and style.
What is Tone?
A reference to a person, place, event, or work of literature outside the text.
What is Allusion?
Allegorical representations of different sins (fraud, violence, and greed, respectively).
What is Leopard, Lion, She-Wolf?
The idea that God’s punishments are perfectly fair and just.
What is Divine Justice?
A message about right and wrong behavior conveyed through the narrative.
What is a Moral Lesson?
: The central message or moral of a literary work.
What is Theme?
A division or chapter in The Divine Comedy.
What is a Canto?
Represents reason and human intellect, guiding Dante through Hell.
Who is Virgil?
A Renaissance intellectual movement emphasizing human potential and reason, which influences Dante’s work.
What is Humanism?
The point of view or attitude of the narrator or characters in a story.
What is Perspective?