Dante's Inferno: Examining the Tertiary Epic Structure

This literature review examines Dante's Inferno as a tertiary epic, focusing on its structure, themes, and the hero's journey. It highlights the poem's imitation of primary and secondary epic elements, particularly the monomyth pattern, which is reflected in the various stages of the hero's journey, including the call to adventure, tests, and final battle. The review references key works such as Forgacs, Nowell-Smith & Boelhower (2012) and Terry (2014) to support its analysis of the epic's characteristics and significance. The study emphasizes how Dante's Inferno incorporates these elements to create a compelling narrative centered around the hero's quest for salvation. The review concludes that Dante's Inferno effectively employs these elements, making it a successful tertiary epic.

Running head: LITERATURE REVIEW
Literature Review
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1LITERATURE REVIEW
Dante’s Inferno as a tertiary epic
The Divine Comedy by Dante is considered to be one of the best poems in the world
literature and it is an epic poem as well. Moreover, this poem can be considered as a tertiary epic
since it is an epic poem that attempts to make an imitation of the themes of the primary and
secondary epic poems (Terry, 2014). Dante himself can be presented as the hero of the poem and
he is on his way to find the salvation. In this juncture, he is told that the only way to salvation is
the way through hell itself. The beginning of the poem is in the year on the Holy day of Good
Friday. Some of the other tertiary epics are the Aeneid by Virgil, Paradise Lost by Milton and
others. The hero here in this epic wants to salvage his vices. On his road to salvation, the hell is
waiting for him (Terry, 2014).
The monomyth pattern has been followed in this epic and this can be considered as an
elemental concept for which this can be considered as a successful tertiary epic (Forgacs,
Nowell-Smith & Boelhower, 2012). The aspect of monomyth is captured in the various ways
through the ten parts of the poem. Thus the various elements of the primary and secondary epics
are imitated through the various sections like the birth, call to the adventure, amulet, crossing of
the threshold, tests, helpers, final battle, flight, return and the elixir. These parts have been
reflected in the several cantos of the epic. Thus it also depicts the journey of the hero. So it can
really be considered as a tertiary epic.

2LITERATURE REVIEW
References
Forgacs, D., Nowell-Smith, G., & Boelhower, W. (2012). Antonio Gramsci: Selections from
cultural writings. Lawrence & Wishart.
Terry, P. (2014). Dante's Inferno. Carcanet.