Dante Alighieri - II Convivio - Letter to Can Grande

Summary and outline of Dante Alighieri Il Convivio

Dante Alighieri

1.     Il Convivio – Book Two – Chapter 1

a.     Interpretations of writings can be understood primarily through four senses.

                                                i.     Literal: That which doesn’t go beyond the surface of the letter.

                                               ii.     Allegorical:  When meaning is hidden beneath the letters and the truth is hidden in a beautiful fiction.

                                             iii.     Moral:  What we ought to do and what teachers should intently seek to discover.

                                             iv.     Anagogical:  Meaning beyond the senses.  It occurs when meaning is explained in a spiritual sense.

b.     The literal should always be interpreted first as it is the foundation for the other senses.

                                                i.     One must understand the literal to understand deeper levels of meaning.

                                               ii.     We learn from what we don’t know from things we know better.

2.     Letter to Can Grande

a.     There are six questions that should be asked at the beginning of any written work.

                                                i.     What is its subject?

                                               ii.     What is its form?

                                             iii.     What is its agent?

                                             iv.     What is its end?

                                               v.     What is the title of the book?

                                             vi.     What is its branch of philosophy?

b.     The first three should be specifically asked in a discussion of the whole work.

c.     Description of the work:

                                                i.     It contains several senses.

1.     The first sense is that which is contained in the letter.  This is called the literal.

2.     Another sense is contained by what is signified by the letter. This is called allegorical, moral, or anagogical sense.

3.     Not every symbol is required to contain all of the senses.

d.     The work as a whole is subject to literal and allegorical sense.

                                                i.     The literal is the work according to the letter.

                                               ii.     The second is the allegorical that refers to man and exercise of his free will.