Dante's Inferno Vocab

symbolic retribution

a punishment that is equivalent with the crime that was committed

satire

use of humor or exaggeration to mock or criticize someone or something

allegory

a story, poem, or picture that can be interpreted to mean something deeper than what it seems; hidden meaning usually moral or political

canto

one of the sections into which certain long poems are divided (like a chapter)

ecclesiastic

a priest or member of the clergy; a priest

limbo

people who died before Christ’s coming; unbaptized infants; level of hell for the unbaptized

pander

gratify or indulge

font

a receptacle in church for the water used in baptism

carnal

relating to physical needs and activities

heretic

a person believing or practicing in religious heresy; speaks out against the church

usury

the illegal action or practice of lending money at unreasonably high rates of interest

friar

a member of any certain religious sources of men

malice

the intention or desire to do evil

glutton

an excessively greedy eater

hypocrisy

claiming to have moral standards and beliefs when one’s action does not represent those beliefs

vestibule

a passage between the outer door and the interior of the building

juxtaposition

the fact of two things being seen or placed close together with contrasting effect.

simony

the buying or selling of ecclesiastical privileges, for example pardons or benefices

incontinence

lack of self-restraint

inferno

a large fire that is dangerously out of control.

stanza

a group of lines forming the basic recurring metrical unit in a poem; a verse

terza rima

an arrangement of triplets (how the inferno is written)

couplet

a verse from composed of two lines per stanza

tercet

a set or group of three lines of verse rhyming with each other 

offal

the entrails and internal organs of an animal used as food.

Virgil

one of Rome’s greatest poets; guide for Dante; Dante’s protector

Dante

protagonist and writer of the Inferno; political activist (outspoken about things that were going on in Italy)