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Dante and the Ladder

Dante and the Ladder

Dante seems to climb the ladder of love literally, metaphorically, and contextually to achieve the supreme artistic expression.

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Dante the Pilgrim

Dante the Pilgrim

Dante’s journey begins in Hell where he hears the stories and witnesses the suffering of many sinners, some of which he empathizes with, and most of which he pities.

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Gawain and Beowulf

Gawain and Beowulf

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight represents a new conception of the heroic ideal, women, nature, and narrative technique. A comparison/contrast to Beowulf illustrates these changing ideals.

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Courtly Love Conventions

Courtly Love Conventions

Somewhere between the merry sensuality of Ovid and the ecstatic spirituality of Platonism is the tradition of Courtly Love. Courtly love resembles the Ovidian convention in that it is not supersensous: its aim is physical consummation, its object of love physical beauty. It differs from the Ovidian tradition in its interpretation of the nature of [...]

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But Seriously… Chaucer’s “Ernest Game” in <i>The Canterbury Tales</i>

But Seriously… Chaucer’s “Ernest Game” in The Canterbury Tales

We, as humans, decide that we will take the pilgrimage of life to its ultimate conclusion — we decide to play the game.

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