How The Divine Comedy drew on Psalms
A documented line of influence: Dante Alighieri demonstrably engaged David’s work. The commentary below is Gröblé’s, verbatim from each work’s page.
The source
Psalms
David · c. 500 BCE
BibleThe influenced
The Divine Comedy
Dante Alighieri · 1320
MedievalRelevance
7/10
On The Divine Comedy’s page
- The Psalms aren't background in the Comedy — they're sung aloud as Dante climbs, the Miserere and the Asperges me the literal voice of penitence in Purgatorio
- Dante singled out one above all: in his Letter to Cangrande he names Psalm 114, "In exitu Israel," as the template for how his whole poem means on four levels at once
- Know the Vulgate Psalms and Purgatory stops being silent — you hear what the souls are chanting and why Dante built his method on it
On Psalms’s page
- Dante turns the Psalms into the soundtrack of Purgatory — penitent souls climb the mountain singing them, from the Miserere of Psalm 51 to the Asperges me and Labia mea Domine
- Psalm 114, "In exitu Israel de Aegypto," mattered most: in his Letter to Cangrande Dante names it as the very model of his fourfold allegory
- The Comedy isn't quoting scripture so much as living inside its liturgy