Dantes Divine Comedy and Chaucers Canterbury Tales

Dantes Divine Comedy and Chaucers Canterbury Tales English literature is one of the most fascinating and interesting types of literature in the whole world. Lots of foreign masterpieces are translated into English in order to provide people with opportunities to enjoy these works in the international language. This is why world literature, including African, Asian, European, and American works, is usually presented in English. Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Dante’s Divine Comedy and Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Authors from different times and cultures add something new and unforgettable to the literature world and deserve to be analyzed during the literature classes. Dante Alighieri is considered to be one of the most famous Florentine poets. His Divine Comedy, created in 1308, impresses plenty of readers even now. Numerous writers used his style of writing after his death, and one of such followers was Geoffrey Chauce r, an English poet, famous by The Canterbury Tales. Dante’s Divine Comedy and Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales have lots in common: the authors preferred to write about their journeys and describe people they met there, liked to put themselves into their works as integral parts of the plot’s development, and chose one and the same vernacular writing style for most of their works. Dante Alighieri and Geoffrey Chaucer are probably the two most famous and greatest writers of the European Middle Ages. â€Å"Both Dante and Chaucer were active in affairs of their times.† (Hetherington 179) Because of their occupations and abilities to travel and meet new people, they had wonderful opportunities to use their life experiences in their works. For example, Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales tell about a group of people, which try to find something to do during their travelling. â€Å"I had so talked with each of that presently/ I was a member of their company/ And promi sed to rise early the next day/ To start, as I shall show, upon our way.† (Lawall 1702) Dante’s Divine Comedy is about another kind of travelling, the travel to Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven. The major idea of both these stories is that people may change their preferences and styles of life during their travelling. New people, new places, and new emotions – this is what so important for humans in order to change their lives. It does not matter whether these lives are improved or completely destroyed. Here, the major point is the factor of change, and this is the only thing that matters something. Someone may say that writing styles of Dante and Chaucer are quite different. Well, of course, every author presents his/her own vision of details. Advertising Looking for essay on comparative literature? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More However, no one will argue that vernacular style is the thing that is inherent to both of them. With the help of such language, Dante and Chaucer made their works more comprehensible to the public and reflected their ideas in everyday traditional speech. They both were connected to the economic sphere of life of their countries. This is why money and language may be considered as the major analogues in their works. â€Å"The crowds, the countless, different mutilations/ had stunned my eyes and left them so confused/ they wanted to keep looking and to weep.† (Dante and Musa 335) Another point in these both stories is authors’ involvement into the development of the events in the story. Dante did not afraid to present himself as one of the characters in The Divine Comedy. The character of Dante speaks to several characters, who present him their own stories. He analyzes, evaluates, and makes necessary conclusions. He is not stupid and has a lot in mind that will help to change this world. â€Å"I saw it, I’m sure, and I seem to s ee it still/ a body with no head that moved along/ moving no differently from all the rest.† (Dante and Musa 329) Chaucer, in his turn, is a kind of guide to the world of his stories. He introduces each character and describes him/her from his own perspective: â€Å"I told him his opinion made me glad/ Why should he study always and go mad/ mewed in his cell with only a book for neighbor?† (Chaucer and Morrison 58) However, the reader still feels the participation of the authors in both these stories. Such author’s involvement make an writer a bit closer to the reader, so that the reader can comprehend what actually Dante or Chaucer wanted to say. There are â€Å"no one doubts that Chaucer read Dante’s Commedia.† (Taylor 1) It does not mean that Chaucer had no ideas to create something his own. The major idea is his vision of the story, his desire to be a bit closer to his teacher, Dante. Not every writer is able to create something like The Divine Comedy, and Chaucer made a magnificent attempt and created a wonderful story, in Dante’s style with variety of personal ideas and standpoints. Writing about personal travels, using the vernacular writing style and personal participation in the events of the story – this is what unites Dante’s Divine Comedy and Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales and makes both of them really great masterpieces in the literature of the Middle Ages.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Dante’s Divine Comedy and Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Chaucer, Geoffrey and Morrison, Theodore. The Portable Chaucer: Revised Edition. New York: Penguin, 1977. Dante, Alighieri and Musa, Mark. The Divine Comedy: Inferno. New York: Penguin Classics, 2003. Hetherington, Norriss, S. Cosmology: Historical, Literary, Philosophical, Religious, and Scientific Perspectives. Taylor Francis, 1993. Law all, Sarah. The Norton Anthology of Western Literature. New York: Norton, 2006. Taylor, Karla. Chaucer Reads â€Å"The Divine Comedy.† Stanford University Press, 1989.