Love became a major topic of secular and religious poetry as well as philosophy in twelfth century Europe. Of course love of one sort or another has always interested people, so for contrast you will also read a rather sour, but interesting little story of love and loss from China.
Love can also take a person to hell and back.
Through the intervention of a dead, now divine lady named Beatrice, Dante is led away from his futile wandering path into a purposive journey through hell, purgatory and finally to heaven, which teaches him God's just plan for the world. However, you will only read the Inferno, the definitive medieval vision of hell. For a contrast, you will read an excerpt from the Popul Vuh, a Mayan narrative, describing a very different sort of underworld, ruled by the Lords of Death. TASK 1 . Read the Courtly Love Study Guide , which will give you background information on Medieval ideas about love, courtly and otherwise.