| This study begins by examining, in broad terms, the pivotal role of the image in science, poetry and in the theory of knowledge. It then seeks to determine the degree to which Dante dedicates valuable poetic space in his Commedia to the workings of the imaginative faculty and to the force of its product, the image. The analysis ultimately centers around a particular set of geometric images that I hold to be of the greatest significance since the physical and intellectual movement of the pilgrim may be shown to proceed on figuratively parallel "geometric" tracks. I probe Dante's use of geometric symbolism where it is clear that the divinization of the human, the act of "trasumanar," is achieved when linear/angular reality representing the earthly is transformed into a curved/circular reality representing the divine. In conclusion, I reinforce my claim that "the geometric" in Dante's poem constitutes a unique species of imagery, a sort of umbrella metaphor whose mathematical, universal nature allows it to envelop physical, astronomical, biblical, mythical images, and even abstract concepts under its cover. The study is descriptive in that it explores and illustrates the poetic space inhabited by the pilgrim; but it is mainly interpretive in its treatment of the relationship between form and content and in its attachment of a teleological value to the selection, order and shape of basic geometric metaphors in the poem. |
