The epic of the fall of man; a comparative study of Caedmon, Dante and Milton . r easier the communica-tion between Earth and Hell. Here, on the con-trary the poet depicts a mountain of Light, thesides of which are terraced to facilitate communica-tion between Earth and Heaven. In the construction of the Paradiso,—the climaxof the Allegory,—the brilliant imagination of thepoet reaches its grandest flight of phantasy. Theprosaic system of the Alphonsine Spheres becomes,under the enchanting touch of the Italian, a seriesof Heavens, leading up. Sphere by Sphere, to theEmpyrean—the Heaven of Heave
The epic of the fall of man; a comparative study of Caedmon, Dante and Milton . r easier the communica-tion between Earth and Hell. Here, on the con-trary the poet depicts a mountain of Light, thesides of which are terraced to facilitate communica-tion between Earth and Heaven. In the construction of the Paradiso,—the climaxof the Allegory,—the brilliant imagination of thepoet reaches its grandest flight of phantasy. Theprosaic system of the Alphonsine Spheres becomes,under the enchanting touch of the Italian, a seriesof Heavens, leading up. Sphere by Sphere, to theEmpyrean—the Heaven of Heavens. The pathway through the Starry Spheres, bywhich the ruined Archangel was hurled from theEmpyrean to Hell, becomes, in Dante, the goldenstairway of C^edmon, connecting the just with thethrone of the Eternal, and making possible, onceagain, the realisation of the Beatific Vision. At the 3i8 Epic of the Fall very pinnacle of Paradiso is the Deity, clothed inLight and Majesty ineffable ; shrouded, yet visible ;the symbol of perfection, absolute, infinite; the ^^ symbol of the Highest Good. Beneath, in the low-est depths of Inferno, separated from the Deity bythe whole diameter of moral and spiritual being, isSatan, colossal and monstrous in form, imbedded ineternal ice, the symbol of treason, of death, and ofevery kind of moral and spiritual depravity. Three Poetic Hells 319 Such is a brief outline of the construction of theDivina Covimcdia. Witli the Piirgatorio and Paradiso we have noconcern in the present study, but the Inferno isespecially interesting, inasmuch as it offers manymarked contrasts both to the torture-house of Caed-mon and to the Hell of Milton. In the simple narrative of the Anglo-Saxon poet,Hell is the legendary place of punishment afterdeath for those who, like the rebel angels, are trai-tors to their God ; traitors to themselves ; and traitorsto Society at large. This idea of punishment here-after, pervades every national literature in some
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade18, booksubjectdantealighieri12651321
