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“The Planet that Leads Men Straight on Every Road:” The Sun, Salvation, and Spiritual Allegory in Dante’s Commedia

Pyle, Jesse Colton
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ouhonors1307630062

Abstract Details

2011, Bachelor of Arts (BA), Ohio University, English.
The role played by the sun in Dante’s Commedia is an intriguing one. The Poet associates the planet (the sun was considered a planet in Dante’s time) with notions of salvation, intellect, and divinity, and yet a deep examination of Dante’s allegorical scheme reveals that the sun also serves a deeper purpose in helping readers understand the Poem’s overall allegorical and linguistic structure. The sun begins in the first two sections of the poem as a signifier, but is superseded as a symbol for divinity by divinity itself in the final canticle of Paradiso. As a work of spiritual allegory, the Commedia strives toward revelation of spiritual truths through parable and fictional narrative; as a symbol for God, the sun illuminates the world with intellect and hope. Yet when Dante-pilgrim passes into the world of the divine, God assumes the same role filled by the sun in the previous canticles; he fills the entire cosmos with intellect and hope. Through careful consideration of how the allegorical significance of the sun changes, this thesis reveals the ways in which the Poet points readers toward the spiritual truths underlying his allegorical constructions, ultimately declaring that spiritual instruction reaches fullest fruition in salvation and realization of Paradise.
Marsha Dutton, PhD. (Advisor)
Jeremy Webster, PhD (Other)
Carey Snyder, PhD (Other)
94 p.
Literature
Dante; Divine Comedy; Allegory; Theoptics; Italian; Medieval Literature

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Pyle, J. C. (2011). “The Planet that Leads Men Straight on Every Road:” The Sun, Salvation, and Spiritual Allegory in Dante’s Commedia [Undergraduate thesis, Ohio University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ouhonors1307630062

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Pyle, Jesse. “The Planet that Leads Men Straight on Every Road:” The Sun, Salvation, and Spiritual Allegory in Dante’s Commedia. 2011. Ohio University, Undergraduate thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ouhonors1307630062.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Pyle, Jesse. "“The Planet that Leads Men Straight on Every Road:” The Sun, Salvation, and Spiritual Allegory in Dante’s Commedia." Undergraduate thesis, Ohio University, 2011. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ouhonors1307630062

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

ouhonors1307630062
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© 2011, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by Ohio University Honors Tutorial College and OhioLINK.