Dante’s Divine Comedy

Overview

Course No. 287
Join two distinguished professors in exploring one of literature’s greatest masterpieces. This 24-lecture journey through Dante’s epic poem examines:

• The three realms of the Christian afterlife: Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso
• Dante’s innovative terza rima verse form and literary influences
• Medieval perspectives on morality, virtue, and spiritual transformation
• The poem’s profound questions about human existence

Professors Cook and Herzman provide essential historical context while illuminating why this 14th-century work remains timeless.

Video Lessons

Introduction to Dante’s World

1. Reading the Poem (32 min)
   Course introduction, translation recommendations, and Dante’s biography
2. Dante’s Florence (30 min)
   Political context of 14th-century Italy that shaped the Commedia

3-4. Literary Antecedents (60 min total)
Dante’s influences: Bible, Virgil’s Aeneid, Augustine’s Confessions

Inferno (Hell)

5. “Abandon Every Hope” (30 min)
   Crossing into Hell’s gates and its moral geography
6. The Never-Ending Storm (31 min)
   Sins of incontinence and Francesca da Rimini
7. Heretics (31 min)
   Wrong belief punished in Canto 10
8. The Violent (31 min)
   Seventh circle punishments for violence
9. Simony (31 min)
   Corruption of sacred offices
10. False Counselors (30 min)
    Intellectual fraud featuring Ulysses
11. Ultimate Evil (31 min)
    Betrayal in the ninth circle

Purgatorio (Purgatory)

12. Seven-Story Mountain (30 min)
    Structure of spiritual purification
13. Purgatory’s Waiting Room (30 min)
    Antepurgatory and delayed repentance
14. Sin of Pride (31 min)
    First terrace’s lessons on humility
15. Vision to Freedom (30 min)
    Central cantos on free will
16. Homage to Virgil (30 min)
    Meeting Statius and poetic legacy
17. Dante’s New Guide (31 min)
    Transition to Beatrice’s guidance

Paradiso (Paradise)

18. Ascending the Spheres (30 min)
    Heavenly encounters and light imagery
19. An Emperor Speaks (31 min)
    Justinian on law and governance
20. Circle of the Sun (30 min)
    Wisdom through saints and scholars
21. Mission Revealed (30 min)
    Meeting ancestor Cacciaguida
22. Can Pagans Be Saved? (30 min)
    Justice and salvation questions
23. Mystic Empyrean (31 min)
    Final teachings before the vision
24. “In My End Is My Beginning” (31 min)
    Culminating vision and return to earth