Claire's Literature Corner

  Dante Alighieri’s poem The Divine Comedy  , since its appearance between 1304 and 1321, has been an enormous success.This happened both in Italy, where it contributed to establish the Tuscan dialect, in which it is written, as the standard Italian language, and abroad, where it influenced the works of famous poets and artists, such as Geoffrey Chaucer, John Milton and William Blake. In England, the work knew a great success in the years immediately following its publication, but proper and complete translations of the poem did not appear until the 18 th  century. Many writers, though, inserted quotations of Dante’s poem into their own poetic production, as well as in essays, as an example of high poetry. In doing so, they often provided translations of the passages they needed: as a result, earliest attempts of translation of the Divine Comedy  are in the form of small fragments. What follows is a brief history of the most famous and important authors who, in a way...

  It is not so easy to explain the tragedy Othello by William Shakespeare. Perhaps, if I would ask you what Othello is about, you would probably answer quite easily that it is a play about jealousy. This is absolutely correct, but if we read the play carefully, we become aware of the fact that there are more issues to it, and many questions that come to our minds. First of all, where does this jealousy come from? Why does Othello so suddenly change his mind about his beloved wife? Why does Iago act like he does? Who is Iago, in the first place?  If the play is only about jealousy, why choosing a black character? All these questions can be expressed by one single question that includes them all: what is Othello REALLY about? 1. The plot of the play I think that we should begin from the easiest thing, that is the origin of the play. Othello was probably written around 1602: we know for sure that it was performed by the King’s Men in 1604. Shakespeare took his inspiration from a ...