Between Purification and Petrification: Dante’s Ovidian Allegories
Citation:
John Walsh, 'Between Purification and Petrification: Dante’s Ovidian Allegories', [Thesis], Trinity College Dublin. School of Histories & Humanities., 2021Download Item:
Abstract:
This dissertation is an exploration of Ovid’s influence on Italian poet Dante Alighieri. Particular focus is paid to the issue of allegory and how this evolves from the early, amatory work, Vita Nova, through the rime petrose and into the Commedia. Throughout the dissertation, special attention is paid to those Ovidian moments in Dante’s oeuvre where the influence of St. Paul, and his theology of language, also comes into play. By the end of the study, following John Freccero’s insights, a case is made for reading Ovid with St. Paul, as reading according to the spirit, in many ways, aligns with what Ovid’s metamorphic poetics comes to represent. Ovid and Paul are interwoven throughout the dissertation by a focus on the figure of Medusa, who introduces a key problem for the pilgrim of the Commedia: the depetrification of the mind.
Author: Walsh, John
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Trinity College Dublin. School of Histories & Humanities.Type of material:
ThesisCollections
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Medieval Studies, Ovid, Dante AlighieriMetadata
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