Q 01/05

Which Roman poet guides Dante through Hell and most of Purgatory?

A) Ovid

B) Virgil

C) Horace

D) Lucan

Answer · why

B) Virgil

He represents human reason, and his Aeneid is praised in the poem with language Dante otherwise reserves for Scripture.

Q 02/05

Who takes over from Beatrice as Dante's guide for the final cantos of Paradiso?

A) Bernard of Clairvaux

B) Bonaventure

C) Thomas Aquinas

D) Saint Peter

Answer · why

A) Bernard of Clairvaux

The Cistercian abbot stands for contemplative mysticism and devotion to Mary, and he leads Dante to the vision of God.

Q 03/05

Into how many cantos is the whole Divine Comedy divided?

A) 50

B) 33

C) 100

D) 66

Answer · why

C) 100

Each of the three parts has 33 cantos, and a single introductory canto brings the total to a round hundred.

Q 04/05

What is the interlocking three-line rhyme scheme of the Divine Comedy called?

A) Ottava rima

B) Rima baciata

C) Sestina

D) Terza rima

Answer · why

D) Terza rima

Its lines run ABA BCB CDC, in eleven-syllable lines, so each tercet holds 33 syllables, matching the canto count of each part.

Q 05/05

Who first attached the adjective 'Divine' to the poem Dante had simply called Comedy?

A) Petrarch

B) Boccaccio

C) Coluccio Salutati

D) Lodovico Dolce

Answer · why

B) Boccaccio

He used it in a treatise in praise of Dante written in the 1350s; the first edition to print Divina Comedia on its title page came only in 1555.