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- Title
Poetic Authority in Dante and Virgil.
- Authors
VERDICCHIO, MASSIMO
- Abstract
The traditional tendency to valorize the figure of Virgil as Dante's guide and symbol of reason is responsible for a lot of the misunderstandings and misinterpretations of Dante's Commedia. At a closer look, and by shedding the burden of tradition, the poem tells a different story. One way the story is told is in terms of the authority of Dante's poem. In this paper, I outline the ways in which Dante not only asserts his authority over Virgil but in so doing he alludes indirectly to Virgil's own struggle to establish his poetic authority, in this case, Orpheus, the accepted authority on poetry in the ancient world. Dante asserts his final authority over Virgil in Purgatory, when he leaves the poem and Orpheus enters as the real poetic or allegorical authority of the Commedia.
- Subjects
DANTE Alighieri, 1265-1321; VIRGIL, 70 B.C.-19 B.C.; POETICS; DIVINE Comedy, The (Poem : Dante); PURGATORY; ALLEGORY; ORPHEUS (Greek mythological character) in literature
- Publication
Italica, 2017, Vol 94, Issue 3, p413
- ISSN
0021-3020
- Publication type
Article