Tuesday Afternoons: Dante's "Divine Comedy" in Los Alamitos on Aug 21, 2012 12:30 PM

Dante's Divine Comedy is arguably the greatest epic poem ever written.  Dante begins his poem:  "Midway in my life I found myself lost in a dark wood."  Dante begins his journey on Good Friday, 1300, and he travels through the afterlife.  With the Latin poet Virgil as his guide, Dante descends into Hell; climbs the mountain of Purgatory; and ascends through the spheres into Paradise, where he views the very face of God.This is a poem of dazzling brilliance.  Each book (Inferno, Purgatorio and Paridiso) consists of 33 cantos (with an additional introductory canto in the Inferno), totaling 100 cantos in all.  Each canto consists of 3-line "tercets," with each tercet linked to the others by an interlocking rhyme scheme.  Overall the Divine Comedy consists of roughly 14,000 lines, a magnificent work, with the intricacy of a fine Swiss watch!The Divine Comedy plumbs the depths of what it means to be authentically human, and it explores the individual's relationship to family, the body politic, the church and untimately, to God.This is a work that everyone has heard of, but hardly anyone has read, except perhaps, for a few selections from the Inferno.  But as one wag said, "To say you know the Divine Comedy having only explored portions of the Inferno is like saying you know Paris having only explored portions of its sewage system!"Join Dr. Creasy in this outstanding opportunity to read and study one of the world's greatest literary masterpieces.