Showing posts with label Dante. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dante. Show all posts

Thursday, May 31, 2007

Remembering Dante in a Moment's Respite. . .

I just couldn't resist this quiz that I found in a spare moment on Anastasia's blog after editing the course web page (I really was doing something productive!)

The Dante's Inferno Test has sent you to Purgatory!
Here is how you matched up against all the levels:
LevelScore
Purgatory (Repenting Believers)Very High
Level 1 - Limbo (Virtuous Non-Believers)Moderate
Level 2 (Lustful)High
Level 3 (Gluttonous)Moderate
Level 4 (Prodigal and Avaricious)Very Low
Level 5 (Wrathful and Gloomy)Low
Level 6 - The City of Dis (Heretics)Very Low
Level 7 (Violent)Low
Level 8- the Malebolge (Fraudulent, Malicious, Panderers)Low
Level 9 - Cocytus (Treacherous)Low

Take the Dante's Inferno Test

I really think they should have included heaven, for those who are lucky enough to fit right in, since otherwise most of us are going to fit into Purgatory, I wager. . . but I guess the danger is that it might have inspired Pride. . . and then the creator of the test would have been leading others astray. . . It's a vicious cycle! And actually, it would be nice if the quiz would have indicated where in Purgatory one would be--or would spend the longest. I wouldn't have been in heaven, and I probably would have been somewhere in the Pride circle, unless I was stuck with the Slothful. . . but clearly I'm gonna spend some time being burned, once I'm lucky enough to reach that last level of Purgatory!

I needed this little break!

Wednesday, February 21, 2007

An Inspired Idea

Courtesy, once again, of Darwin Catholic: Lenten Mediations on the Divine Comedy. The idea is to rediscover the spiritual purpose of Dante's work. As I wrote in the comment section of this blog, the Commedia is one of two creative works that I credit with my own conversion--the other being Lord of the Rings. The Commedia is, at its root, an intensely, even tangibly spiritual work. It is also one of the first works that got me to think in a serious way about reading--in this case, misreading. The Commedia is as much a work about the Christian way of reading, which leads one closer to God rather than providing distractions--as opposed to the pagan way of reading represented by Virgil (though he is an enlightened, proto-Christian pagan poet)--as it is about spiritual salvation. As a poet, the joining of the two was essential to Dante (a man who knew his vocation!). I will be looking forward to this blog, as it is sure to be insightful!