10.6092/issn.2532-8816/8630
This paper explores how metaphors in Dante’s Commedia can be identified, classified and organized in a database so as to provide thorough and solid data to aid their understanding. All metaphors in the poem are first identified through a linguistic procedure called MIP (i.e. Metaphor Identification Process), based on the comparison between the contextual and the basic meaning of each word-unit. The metaphors thus identified are later classified based on syntactic, semantic and rhetorical structure criteria, taking into account both medieval explanations of figurative language and the features of Dante’s metaphors that have always struck the readers of his poem. The findings from this combined linguistic and stylistic analysis provide evidence to support tenets put forward by some literary scholars (e.g. that metaphors increase in number and complexity throughout the poem) and show that metaphors converge in sections of political and religious invective, where one of the main purposes of the author is to elevate his style. The study suggests that a systematic multi-dimensional analysis of metaphor can shed light on its conceptual importance in a text and raise awareness of all its stylistic traits.
text/html
2532-8816
8630
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en
Gaia Tomazzoli
Umanistica Digitale
Italian Philology
«Totus poema eius ubique mirabiliter figuratus». Identifying, classifying and describing Dante’s metaphors
Text.Serial.Journal
https://umanisticadigitale.unibo.it/
Articles
2019-09-03
2018-10-15
2019-09-03
2020-05-19
Um. Dig.
Gaia Tomazzoli
2019/09/03
10.6092/issn.2532-8816/8630
Université Paris 3 - Sorbonne Nouvelle
2532-8816
6
Italian Philology
en
Venturi, Luigi. 1874. Le similitudini dantesche: ordinate, illustrate, e confrontate. Firenze: G.C. Sansoni.
«Totus poema eius ubique mirabiliter figuratus». Identifying, classifying and describing Dante’s metaphors
https://umanisticadigitale.unibo.it/article/view/8630/9415
     Umanistica Digitale - ISSN:2532-8816 - n.6, 2019
G. Tomazzoli - «Totus poema eius ubique mirabiliter figuratus»
DOI: http://doi.org/10.6092/issn.2532-8816/8630


      «Totus poema eius ubique mirabiliter figuratus»

                                             Gaia Tomazzoli

                                 Université Paris 3 – Sorbonne Nouvelle
                                     gaia.tomazzoli@unive.it




       Abstract. This paper explores how metaphors in Dante’s Commedia can be identified,
       classified and organized in a database so as to provide thorough and solid data to aid their
       understanding. All metaphors in the poem are first identified through a linguistic
       procedure called MIP (i.e. Metaphor Identification Process), based on the comparison
       between the contextual and the basic meaning of each word-unit. The metaphors thus
       identified are later classified based on syntactic, semantic and rhetorical structure criteria,
       taking into account both medieval explanations of figurative language and the features of
       Dante’s metaphors that have always struck the readers of his poem. The findings from
       this combined linguistic and stylistic analysis provide evidence to support tenets put
       forward by some literary scholars (e.g. that metaphors increase in number and complexity
       throughout the poem) and show that metaphors converge in sections of political and
       religious invective, where one of the main purposes of the author is to elevate his style.
       The study suggests that a systematic multi-dimensional analysis of metaphor can shed
       light on its conceptual importance in a text and raise awareness of all its stylistic traits.
       L'articolo presenta i risultati di un ampio studio sulle metafore della Commedia di Dante,
       che sono state identificate, classificate e organizzate in un database per sostanziare una
       comprensione complessiva e analitica del loro funzionamento. Le metafore del poema
       sono state inizialmente individuate tramite una procedura di analisi linguistica (MIP,
       Metaphor Identification Process) basata su un confronto tra il significato contestuale e il
       significato di base di ciascuna unità. Le metafore così identificate sono state poi
       classificate secondo parametri sintattici, semantici e di struttura retorica – scelti a partire
       dalla concezione medievale del linguaggio figurato e tenendo conto delle caratteristiche
       delle metafore dantesche ritenute più salienti dai lettori della Commedia. I risultati di
       questo intreccio tra analisi linguistica e analisi stilistica confermano solidamente alcune
       interpretazioni avanzate dagli studiosi (ad esempio riguardo il progressivo aumento delle
       metafore nel corso del poema e la loro crescente complessità), e dimostrano che le
       metafore convergono in sezioni di invettiva politica e religiosa, dove uno degli obiettivi
       principali del poeta è innalzare il suo stile. La ricerca suggerisce che un’analisi sistematica
       e multidimensionale della metafora può gettare luce sul suo apporto concettuale
       all’interno di un testo, oltre a rendere l’interprete più consapevole dei diversi aspetti
       stilistici dell’opera.




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        State of the art and goals

Dante’s Commedia has always been considered an intensely figurative piece of poetry:
Benvenuto da Imola, one of the most careful readers of the Commedia in the 14th century,
maintains that Dante made a perfect and appropriate use of poetic representation. His poem,
according to Benvenuto, is «ubique mirabiliter figuratus», that is to say marvellously replete
with figurative expressions [4]. Since Benvenuto, Dante has often been defined a “poeta
metaforicissimo”, to put it in Borghini’s words ([6], 53), but very few works, amid the endless
list of contributions devoted to Dante, have dealt with the subject of his metaphor use. 1 In
addition, in most of these inquiries, metaphors have been investigated in a limited and
impressionistic fashion: scholars have proven to be more interested in the theoretical
background than in the concrete realization of figurative language. Therefore, it is hoped that
this article may make a contribution towards filling such a gap in the field of Dante studies.
The goal of the article is to show how a thorough catalogue of all metaphors in Dante’s
Commedia can provide solid data for a detailed and systematic account of metaphor. The aim is
to demonstrate that a quantitative approach can be useful in describing some qualitative aspects
of poetry which are sometimes considered essentially esthetical, and thus impossible to reduce
to analytical data. At the same time, this research presents a concrete literary case study for an
approach originally developed within the field of cognitive linguistics. The main hypothesis is
that even poetic metaphors can be analytically described by means of a linguistic metaphor
identification process combined with a stylistic classification. Since the text analysed is
chronologically, linguistically and aesthetically removed from us, present-day readers, this
enquiry aims at intertwining medieval and contemporary understanding of the same issue,
while also attempting to verify a critical reading through a systematic analysis of data.
The first part of the article introduces both medieval and contemporary categories according to
which metaphors were and are classified. The second presents the procedure employed for
identifying metaphors in Dante’s Commedia, and the main tools upon which we can rely in
applying this linguistic identification method. The third section explains how metaphors can be
classified by using several categories; by means of example, it also shows some major trends in
Dante’s poem and speculates on their meaning. The final section sets forth some of the main
results of this quantitative analysis, pertaining respectively to metaphors’ increased use in the
course of the poem, to their position within the verse and to their distribution in the
Purgatorio.


        Between medieval and contemporary categories

A linguistic evaluation of meaning is necessary to assess if an utterance is meant to be
“improper”, that is to say, unproperly applied, or non-literal. This is because, whether it is
deliberate or not, a metaphor is an utterance that can be perceived as straying from a linguistic
standard or norm. Every rhetorical or stylistic discussion is a further development moving

1   [13]; [2]; [15]. I provided a complete and critical state of the art on the topic in [31].


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beyond the normative and binary appreciation of metaphoricity; it can call into question the
interaction between metaphors and their literal context, their effects on the reader, or the
discursive strategy within which they are created. From a theoretical point of view, the
subsequent phases of our investigation will parallel the progressive instruction in medieval
grammar and rhetoric.
In the Middle Ages, grammarians saw tropes as a fault, a deviation from correct and standard
linguistic use. According to the widespread definition provided by Isidore of Seville,
«metaphora est verbi alicuius usurpata translatio», ‘a metaphor is an expropriated transferral of
a given word’ (Etymologiae, 1, 37, 2-4). Those who were learning to read and write in Latin
were thus warned to stick within the boundaries of proper language, and to only indulge in
tropes when they could prevent their meaning from going astray. The mandatory quality of a
text, for grammarians, was latinitas or perspicuitas: it had to be comprehensible, close to
common usage, respectful of what was perceived as a natural link between words and their
referents.
It was only in a more sophisticated phase of their career that medieval students were instructed
on how to build an elegant and effective discourse. Masters of Rhetoric considered figurative
language an instrument to embellish a text beyond the standard language use. The main
purposes of rhetorical ornamentation were to make a discourse more persuasive and to ennoble
its form, and consequently its significance. It was deemed fundamental especially in those
speeches that aimed at either praise or vituperation.
In short, Grammar taught how to «recte loqui», ‘speak correctly’, while Rhetoric taught how to
«ornate loqui», ‘speak elegantly’ [10]. Late medieval Rhetoric was chiefly applied to letter
writing; the hegemonic discipline of ars dictaminis found its cornerstone in the concept of
transumptio, which was both a theory and a practice of ostensibly metaphoric language [18].
Through the latter, dictatores, the practitioners of ars dictaminis, presented themselves as skilful
men of wisdom who could master the intricacies of symbols’ production and reception.
Even though we have abandoned a purely prescriptive view, 2 contemporary categories
somewhat reproduce similar interests and perspectives. Linguists concentrate on how
metaphors constitute a deviation from a more basic, standard meaning in a given context, while
stylistic analysis is meant to better characterize these deviations, so as to understand their
functions and impact on the addressee. A thriving debate is growing around the concept of
metaphor deliberateness.3 According to such theoretical model, «when metaphor is used
deliberately, it also turns into a stylistic device, while all other, non-deliberate metaphor, is
simply part of a more general style of language, thought and communication» ([28], 318).
It is fair to say that no metaphor is more deliberate than poetic metaphor. Nonetheless, a
stylistic analysis that is not rooted in metaphor’s linguistic form would fail to show how
figurative language is crafted to convey a certain meaning and effect. 4 On the other hand, an

2   At least since Richards, who clarified that such a thing as a proper meaning does not exist, and that
    we can only consider «the constancy of contexts that give a word its meaning» ([25], 11).
3   On this concept, see Steen [29].
4   A pioneering study in the linguistic form of metaphors is Brooke-Rose [9].


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exclusively linguistic approach would be too limited in characterising the poet’s choice for
figurative expressions. In other words, it is only through measuring the degree of meaning
variation of each word that we can gain insights into the deliberate use of metaphors and grasp
the poet’s strategy.


       Identification

Therefore, the first step of any research into Dante’s metaphors consists in identifying said
metaphors. In order to execute this phase in a systematic way, we can turn to a precise linguistic
procedure called MIP, Metaphor Identification Process. The procedure allows the researcher to
find metaphor-related words by examining a text on a word-by-word basis.
In its original development, the procedure was established to analyse everyday texts and
speeches in contemporary English.5 Since its field of application is mainly corpus linguistic
analysis, it is intended to provide a highly reliable method that can be put into practice by
every researcher with the same expected results. 6 In order to both reduce the role of individual
evaluation and to guarantee coherence, it is recommended that analysts root all of their
decisions in the same dictionary of language use.
In applying MIP to a very different purpose and case study, such as an inquiry into Dante’s
metaphors, some adaptations are required. First of all, the goal is not statistical reliability per se,
but rather a more informal quantitative survey that can be exploited for qualitative analysis.
This means that the application of MIP to the text of Dante’s Commedia is more useful as a set
of guidelines than as a strictly observed procedure. Moreover, the object of analysis is of a very
different nature. Since the Commedia is an extremely complex 14 th century poem, the analyst
will look at different features than those occurring in a vast linguistic corpus of contemporary,
everyday English texts. Finally, it is impossible to rely on a learner’s dictionary, as the poem is
written in an artistic variety of medieval Italian. Nevertheless, a few other highly helpful tools
are available, as will be discussed presently.


       Applying MIP to Dante’s Commedia
MIP works as follows. For each lexical unit in the text, it is necessary to establish contextual
meaning, that is, «how it applies to an entity, relation, or attribute in the situation evoked by
the text». Then we have to determine if the lexical unit has a more basic contemporary meaning
in other contexts. Basic meanings tend to be more concrete, related to bodily action, more
precise and historically older. If the contextual meaning is significantly different from the basic
meaning, and if the relationship between the two meanings can be related to analogy, the
lexical unit is to be considered metaphorical ([27], 5-6).

5   Text analyzed through MIP include, for example, news texts, everyday conversation, fiction and
    academic discourse; see Steen [27].
6   MIP has been tested, for example, on the VU Amsterdam Metaphor Corpus, a metaphor database
    that can be consulted at http://www.vismet.org/metcor/search/showPage.php?page=start.


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As we have seen, MIP recommends relying on dictionaries as much as possible in establishing
both the contextual and the basic meaning of a word/expression. Unfortunately, when it comes
to identifying metaphors in an older literary text, no such instrument is available. However,
other tools can support our understanding of what each word meant, and what was the more
likely basic meaning for Dante and his contemporaries. The most useful resource is the TLIO
(Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini),7 a historical dictionary of medieval Italian that
provides clear definitions of each word according to medieval occurrences. Since TLIO is still
in the making, it is often necessary to interrogate the corpus itself on which TLIO is based, that
is to say the OVI (Opera Vocabolario Italiana) corpus,8 which includes more than two thousand
literary and non-literary texts from the 13th and 14th centuries.9 In addition, it is always useful
to refer to the Grande Dizionario della Lingua Italiana, a comprehensive historical dictionary of
the Italian language.10
To give an example, let us inspect the renowned first verse of the Commedia:
        Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita …
        (Inferno 1, 1)
        When I had journeyed half of our life's way …11


Leaving aside the very common use of the noun “mezzo”, we shall consider the word
“cammino”. The TLIO provides the following definitions:
        1 L’atto di spostarsi da un punto all’altro dello spazio; spostamento, viaggio;
        pellegrinaggio, fuga. […] 2 L’insieme dei luoghi attraversati (o da attraversare) da un
        soggetto che si muove da un punto all’altro dello spazio; [in partic.:] il percorso lineare
        compiuto (o da compiere) nello spazio dallo stesso soggetto. […] 2.5 Fig. Insieme di
        azioni successive (che tendono tutte verso un determinato fine); il tempo in cui tale
        insieme di azioni viene svolto; processo. 2.6 Fig. Insieme determinato di azioni/situazioni
        successive, compiute/attraversate dalla stessa persona; il tempo in cui tale insieme di
        azioni/situazioni ha luogo; il corso degli eventi, della vita.

        1. The act of moving from one point to another in space; motion, journey; pilgrimage,
        escape. […] 2. The places one has gone (or has to go) when moving from one location to
        another; [partic.:] the linear path followed (or to be followed) by a subject moving in
        space. […] 2.5 Fig. Set of successive actions (all leaning towards the same goal); the
        timeframe in which this set of actions is accomplished; process. 2.6. Fig. A specific series
        of successive actions/situations, accomplished/experienced by the same person; the time
        in which this series of actions/situations takes place; the course of events, of life.



7  http://tlio.ovi.cnr.it/TLIO/.
8  http://gattoweb.ovi.cnr.it/.
9  The lemmatized OVI corpus includes, as of today (May 15th, 2019), 2.268 texts, for 22.590.236 total
   occurrences, but it is constantly updated.
10 While it was not available online at the time this research was carried out, a prototype of the GDLI is
   now searchable at http://www.gdli.it/.
11 The English translation quoted here and elsewhere is Alighieri and Mandelbaum [1].


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Of all of the above definitions, the one giving the most likely contextual meaning is the last
one, ‘successive actions or situations accomplished or experienced by the same person, or the
timeframe in which these actions take place, i.e. course of events, life’. On the other hand, the
basic meaning of “cammino” seems to be the first one, ‘the act of moving from one point to
another in space’: it is more concrete, more physical and more precise. The two meanings are
fairly different: to walk os not the same as to live; but there seems to be a clear analogy between
them, for both walking and living in some way imply a directional process. We can therefore
mark the word “cammino” as metaphorical. With respect to the so-called CMT (Conceptual
Metaphor Theory),12 the very first metaphor of the poem can be regarded as an exemplary
instance of the widespread conceptual metaphor LIFE IS A JOURNEY.13
It should be evident that the process of identifying metaphors in such an elaborate way is by no
means effortless, especially when it comes to a 14,000-line poem. However, even though
figurative language should be considered a spectrum rather than a binary opposition, it is useful
to pause and take stock of every single word; by doing so, we avoid getting caught in automatic
readings and are able to make as coherent and rational choices as possible. In this case study,
there are certainly several instances where researchers would not agree on the metaphoricity of a
word-unit. Therefore, this quantitative approach is intended to show trends that can contribute
to a qualitative appreciation of Dante’s metaphors, rather than to provide clear-cut, self-
contained statistics.


        Classification

The almost 3,000 metaphors thus identified were then organized in a relational database,
comprising two connected tables.14 In the first table, named “places”, we have Dante’s text units
– that is to say the tercet or tercets within which metaphors were identified – and their relevant
coordinates (cantica, canto, and lines); metaphorical words are highlighted. In the second table,
named “metaphors”, we have a record for each metaphor. Each record is connected to the
corresponding locus in the other table, and is further characterized through several fields
pertaining to syntax, rhetorical structure and semantics.
The choice of these categories hinges on both medieval explanations of figurative language and
the features of Dante’s metaphors that have always struck the readers of his poem. Besides their
position in the verse (incipit, centre, rhyme), metaphors were tagged according to their class
(implicit, explicit, personification), 15 grammatical categories (nouns, adjectives, verbs),

12 Conceptual Metaphor Theory is one of the prominent models for metaphor explanation. It was first
   established by Lakoff and Johnson in the 1980s [21]. For a critical review of its further developments,
   see Eubanks [12]; Gibbs [16]; Sullivan [30].
13 A discussion of this conceptual metaphor, which also takes into account the Commedia’s first verse,
   can be found in Katz and Taylor [20].
14 The database – a very simple one – was created with Filemaker. An online searchable version of it is in
   the making.
15 In implicit metaphors the tenor is simply substituted by the vehicle, while explicit metaphors are
   those where both the vehicle and the tenor are present. «The metaphor itself may take the verbal form


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semantics. This latter classification includes 10 semantic macro-categories – such as animal,
plant, bodily perception – more detailed micro-categories – such as journey, heat, bird – and
lemmata. They were identified so as to cover the full range of metaphor vehicles put forward by
Dante in the Commedia.16
Most of these categories were already defined in medieval grammar and rhetoric. A very
detailed rhetorical treatise, the early 13th century Candelabrum written by Master Bene from
Florence, specifies that metaphors could be expressed using either nouns, adjectives or verbs.
Bene states that «habuimus quod verbum et adiectivum et substantivum transsumuntur sed
quodlibet multis modis» ([3], 7, 25, 2) – ‘we find that verbs, adjectives and nouns can be
metaphorically transferred in many ways’.
One of Bene’s main sources, the renowned Poetria nova (1200 ca.) composed by Geoffrey of
Vinsauf, had already begun to distinguish between the so-called collatio aperta and collatio
occulta – two terms that point respectively to explicit and hidden, elliptic comparisons (i.e.
metaphors) ([14], 247-255). Furthermore, personification is consistently distinct from
metaphor in medieval grammar and rhetoric, where it is named “prosopopoeia”: it implies the
attribution of human features and/or actions to a non-human subject [5]. Finally, it was
common praxis to distinguish between animal and non-animal tropes, 17 or between animate
and inanimate tropes.18


        Rhetorical structure
In addition to these categories, it proved useful to introduce a contemporary classification
pertaining to rhetorical structure. I adopted a fourfold taxonomy developed in an article
authored by Crisp, Heywood and Steen [11] which is in turn based on Mann and Thompson’s
propositional structure [22]. This classification is rooted in text units, that is to say semi-
independent clauses that form semantic wholes presenting a state of affairs as relatively
integrated and separated; this category includes main clauses, embedded clauses, non-restrictive
relative clauses, adverbial clauses and appositions.
Once the text is divided into T-units, each of these can be described thanks to four binary
opposites. These four couples have been established so as to describe recurring patterns in
metaphorical expression. Their development takes into account the surface linguistic
expression, the context of the whole proposition, and the conceptual mapping implied in each
metaphorical utterance. The analysis of each metaphor’s rhetorical structure paves the way to
our understanding of how the same conceptual mapping can take different linguistic and
stylistic forms.
The four binary opposites are the following: restricted vs extended, singular vs multiple, simple
   of an identity statement (X is Y) [...]; a predication or membership statement (X is a G) [...]; or a
   statement of inclusion (Fs are Gs)» ([19], 2).
16 A similar semantic categorization was proposed in a 19th century study on Dante’s similes: see Venturi
   [32].
17 Isidore of Seville, Etym. 1, 37, 2-4.
18 Quintilianus, Institutio Oratoria 8, 6, 9-12.


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vs complex, pure vs mixed. See the diagram provided in the aforementioned article (Figure 1):




            Figure 1: Taxonomy of metaphorical structure (Crisp, Heywood, and Steen
            2002, 64).



       Restricted vs extended metaphors
We speak of an extended, as opposed to restricted, metaphorical unit when the metaphorical
mapping is continued in the next unit. Scholars long maintained that one of the most
distinctive aspects of Dante’s use of metaphors was the frequency of extended metaphors,
sometimes known, a bit misleadingly, as “transumptiones”. In fact, we can now state that these
metaphors are only one of three types, and that the majority of metaphorical words is, on the
contrary, fairly isolated in a literal context, and is generally expressed by a verb. 19 Verbal,
restricted metaphors tend to confer a greater dynamicity to the text: unlike noun metaphors,
where something is replaced, verbal metaphors enrich the characterization of an action,
superimposing a new semantic field onto it.
Here we consider a very brief example:
       «non vi si pensa quanto sangue costa
       seminarla nel mondo»

19 The prominence of verb metaphors was already put forward in Robey [26].


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       (Paradiso 29, 91-2)
       «There, they devote no thought to how much blood it costs to sow it in the world».


In these two verses Beatrice is deploring people who do not realize how much blood was shed
in spreading the Scriptures. She uses the verb “seminare”, ‘to sow’. The simple action of
preaching the Bible is instantly coloured through this restricted, verbal metaphor pertaining to
the agricultural semantic field. The metaphor invites readers to go beyond the simple referential
meaning and to picture in their mind the Apostles sowing a field for faith to blossom and grow.
The same metaphor can be found in a more extended instance a few cantos earlier:
       «Ché tu intrasti povero e digiuno
       in campo, a seminar la buona pianta
        che fu già vite e ora è fatta pruno»
       (Par. 24, 109-111)
        «For you were poor and hungry when you found the field and sowed the good plant –
       once a vine and now a thorn».


This account of Saint Peter’s preaching involves several attributes that are aligned with the
agricultural metaphor, thus painting a broader fresco with a compelling spiritual meaning. In
other words, by extending the very same metaphor, Dante provides a different effect: if the first
metaphor adds a delicate nuance by conveying a merely episodic transfer, the second instance
enlarges the picture enough to let it resonate with a biblical parable, such as that of the
vineyard.


       Singular vs multiple metaphors
Let us return to our fourfold taxonomy. We have a multiple, as opposed to singular,
metaphorical unit when the metaphorical proposition contains more than one metaphorical
semantic item, such as an adjective completing a noun. David Gibbons, in his monograph on
Dante’s metaphors, observed that a widespread technique in Dante’s oeuvre «involves the
careful deployment of adjectives, demonstrative pronouns and relative clauses in order to
qualify individual metaphorical words» ([15], 81). In fact, multiple metaphors are almost as
many as singular metaphors, but the first structure is far more common than the other two:
multiple metaphors composed of a noun+adjective phrase are very frequent, while the structure
involving a relative clause – which is called complex metaphor in our classification, as we will
observe later – is fairly uncommon.
The reason why these metaphors are so frequent is that by adding an adjective, the metaphor is
better integrated into the literal text, while it is also made more comprehensible. In these verses,
for example, contemplative souls are pinpointed in this way:
       «Questi altri fuochi tutti contemplanti
       uomini fuoro, accesi di quel caldo
       che fa nascere i fiori e ’ frutti santi»
       (Par. 22, 46-8)


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       «These other flames were all contemplatives, men who were kindled by the heat that
       brings to birth the holy flowers, the holy fruits».


We would not entirely understand what is signified by the metaphor of the fruits and flowers
were it not for the adjective “santo”, ‘holy’, which clarifies that zealous spirits produce holy
works and deeds.
By means of adding an adjective, Dante can produce metaphors that convey diametrically
opposed meanings. This is the case for certain bird metaphors. In the Inferno «malvagio
uccello» (‘filthy bird’, Inf. 22, 96) designates one of Malebolge’s devils, while a few cantos later
«tanto uccello» (‘so vast a bird’, Inf. 34, 47) alludes to Lucifer himself – as does the proverbial
expression «ma tale uccel nel becchetto s’annida» (‘but such a bird nests in that cowl’, Par. 29,
117). Conversely, the very same metaphor is attributed to the angel of Purgatorio 2, referred to
as «uccel divino» (‘bird divine’, Purg. 2, 38). These metaphors rest on a very common and
simple analogy, according to which both angels and demons, being able to fly, can be related to
birds; by clarifying whether such a bird is filthy or divine, Dante adds more context for his
readers to interpret these metaphors in the correct way.


       Simple vs complex metaphors
Thirdly, we have a complex, as opposed to simple, metaphorical unit when there is a
downgraded proposition, itself containing a metaphorical item, which is dependent on the
main metaphorical unit. These, as we have already noted, are fairly rare: only one in ten
metaphors in Dante’s Commedia displays such an elaborate structure. In these verses, for
example, Dante praises Virgil while questioning him about his identity:
       «Or se’ tu quel Virgilio e quella fonte
        che spandi di parlar sì largo fiume?»
       (Inf. 1, 79-80)
       «And are you then that Virgil, you the fountain that freely pours so rich a stream of
       speech?».


From the metaphor of the fountain derives the dependent – and extended – image of the
stream of speech. The effect, as can be easily seen, is generally very lofty.
There is a fundamental difference between complex and multiple metaphor: while the latter
«extends the realization of a metaphor across a main proposition, complex metaphor extends it
within a proposition that is itself dependent on a metaphorical semantic item within that main
proposition» ([11], 62.). Consequently, multiple metaphors are perceived as a single entity,
even though the metaphorical word is enriched by further connotations that apply beyond the
single word-unit. On the other hand, in complex metaphors the dependence of the subordinate
clause relies on the semantic proximity guaranteed by the metaphorical transfer, which thus
becomes fundamental for the existence of the subordinate clause itself.




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       Pure vs mixed metaphors
Lastly, a mixed as opposed to pure metaphorical proposition contains metaphorical items
deriving from two different source domains. 20 In another passage, Dante also names his guide
in these terms:
       «Sole che sani ogni vista turbata»
       (Inf. 11, 91)
       «O sun that heals all sight that is perplexed».


To begin with, we have the metaphor of Virgil as a sun, and, immediately after that, the
medical metaphor of the wisdom that heals all sight – with sight being another metaphor for
knowledge. While the meaning of this designation is comprehensible, a careful reading of its
components reveals the great semantic entanglement expressed in just a single verse.
Another significant mixed metaphor can be found at the very beginning of the poem, where
Dante evokes the difficulty of describing as harsh an experience as the dark forest:
       Ahi quanto a dir qual era è cosa dura
       esta selva selvaggia e aspra e forte
       che nel pensier rinova la paura!
       (Inf. 1, 4-6)
       Ah, how hard it is to tell the nature of that wood, savage, sour and harsh – the very
       thought of it renews my fear!


To convey the overwhelming sensory and spiritual experience of the allegorical dark wood,
Dante lays out three metaphors pertaining to the same tenor – the wood itself and the poetic
enterprise of putting it into words – but appealing to both touch and taste. The effect is
spectacularly various and almost alienating.
Mixed metaphors are therefore particularly interesting, for they create a very intense semantic
overlap; they are even rarer than complex metaphors. This means that in most cases Dante’s
figurative language relies on rhapsodic tropes or, conversely, on metaphors coherently and
harmoniously extended beyond the single word.


       Findings

Thanks to this database, the almost 3,000 metaphors in Dante’s Commedia could be described
within a systematic frame and according to a great variety of criteria. Among the main
outcomes, it is now possible to confirm a general impression put forward by Dante scholars:
metaphors tend to become more frequent and more extended throughout the poem. 21


20 Some scholars have questioned the very existence of mixed metaphors in the framework of CMT. See
   a recent volume devoted to these metaphors: [17].
21 See for instance [23], 206-207.


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Figure 2: Distribution of restricted and extended metaphors in Dante’s Commedia


Figure 2 shows the distribution of metaphors in the three cantiche. It proves that extended
metaphors increase not only in absolute, but also in relative terms. Hence, we can observe a
significant development in the complexity of figurative language. This can both explain and be
explained by the broader picture of the style peculiar to each cantica.
To put it briefly, the Inferno contains a more realistic narrative, where metaphors are an
episodic tool for sudden comical parenthesis involving a broad range of terrestrial vehicles. The
Purgatorio, with its liturgical atmosphere, develops a series of more repetitive figurative clusters
whose aim is to outline the progressive ascent towards the Heavens. And lastly, the third cantica
paints very broad figurative frescoes, where human history is embraced from a celestial
perspective. These passages are frequently associated with animal and vegetal metaphors, in an
extraordinary appropriation of biblical forms that marks the distance between the corrupted
present and the natural world; such metaphors are more often than not extremely extended and
sustained.
These stylistic traits can be related to a fundamental aspect of the Commedia. The whole poem
portrays a path ascending from a contingent and individual dimension towards an eternal,
divine perspective. It is a cognitive path, as well as a spiritual one, and this provides a powerful
connection between what the pilgrim sees in his extramundane experience on the one hand,
and what the poet recounts on the other hand. Irma Brandeis first suggested that the
development of metaphors and similes can be associated with to the protagonist’s evolving
perceptions:
       in other words, the imagery of metaphor and analogy reflects the growth of the pilgrim’s
       understanding in his progress from the dark wood of spiritual blindness, through gradual
       acquisitions of insight into universal order, to the point where he can not only “read” all
       the scattered pages of the “book” of the universe, but can see in a single glance the whole


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       restored.22


This is the reason why the poem’s style evolves as sketched, and this is the reason why
metaphors evolve from scattered and disparate analogies into a progressively more extended,
complex and intertwined rhetorical framework.
Additionally, it can be shown that approximatively 65% of metaphorical words are rhyme-
words (see Figure 3).
This remarkable trend can be explained through several concurrent factors. Firstly metrical
constraints impose the signifier over the signified, and metaphors extend the range of possible
semantic equivalents, thus aiding the author in finding a fitting rhyme-word. But rhyme-words
also stand out of the text for their pre-eminent and memorable position: placing a metaphor at
the end of the verse increases its impact. Hence, in rhyme-words Dante insists on strong
semantic turnings and creates powerful tension by choosing rare words or creating unexpected
images.23




Figure 3: Position of metaphors in Dante’s Commedia


Thirdly, the interconnected structure of the tercet confers a certain verticality on rhyme-words
that corroborates and is corroborated by the vertiginous semantic and cognitive effect derived
from metaphorical substitution. Rhyme-words can sometimes constitute a proper vertical code,
where each blank space at the end of the verse signals how the reader should extend the
meaning by acknowledging and exploring the metaphorical transfer. This is all the more

22 [7], 558. See also [8].
23 On rhyme-words in the Commedia, see Punzi [24].


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evident in some extraordinary cases, where rich or equivocal rhymes link metaphors that are
already connected from a semantic point of view. See this tercet, for example:
        «Sanguinoso esce de la triste selva;
        lasciala tal, che di qui a mille anni
        ne lo stato primaio non si rinselva»
        (Purg. 14, 64-6)
        «Bloody, he comes out from the wood he's plundered, leaving it such that in a thousand
        years it will not be the forest that it was».
The translation does not do justice to the sophisticated wordplay between the noun “selva”
(‘wood’) and the verb “rinselva” (‘to grow back into a wood’). In addition, the semantic
continuity between the two vegetal metaphors is further reinforced through the rich rhyme.
Finally, a close reading of how metaphors’ frequency and typology are organized in relation to
specific episodes demonstrates that the weight of metaphors is linked to the oscillation between
styles, and that specific content and styles correspond to specific semantic fields and structures.
While Dante’s readers have always held that metaphors in the Commedia are mostly employed
to express the ineffable, our data show that they instead converge and intensify in sections of
political and religious invective, where the main purpose of the author is to raise his style as to
confer gravity on such compelling issues. This is another reason for the increasing frequency
and complexity of metaphors throughout the whole poem, as these passages are far more
frequent and more developed in the Paradiso. Such connection is particularly evident when we
look at the Purgatorio (see Figure 4).




Figure 4: Metaphorical occurrences in the Purgatorio


We can observe an extraordinarily thick figurative fabric in the sixth canto, where Dante
suddenly bursts into a biting reproach about the current condition of Italy. With 44 metaphors,


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including a number of complex, mixed and extended metaphors, this canto rises considerably
above the average 29 metaphors per canto we witness in the rest of the cantica. The other highly
metaphorical canto, as is shown in the chart, is the thirtieth, where Dante is fiercely reproached
by Beatrice for his sins.
On both occasions, Dante aims to confer a prominent poetic dignity to his discourse. This
dignity is not necessarily synonymous with high style: many of these metaphors are, on the
contrary, fairly violent, sometimes even trivial. They seem to be developed for the sake of
fuelling the readers’ feelings with powerful and evocative images.
The first outburst of Dante’s invective in canto 6 is exemplary in this respect:
       Ahi serva Italia, di dolore ostello,
       nave sanza nocchiere in gran tempesta,
       non donna di province, ma bordello!
       (Purg. 6, 76-78)
       Ah, abject Italy, you inn of sorrows, you ship without a helmsman in harsh seas, no queen
       of provinces but of bordellos!


Italy is first personified and depicted as a servant, then objectified and represented through the
two images of the inn of sorrows and the ship adrift in harsh seas, and finally further degraded
with the most shameful metaphor of the queen transformed into a whore. In this tercet,
metaphors climax from sore to vibrant and, finally, vexed, in a frantic stockpiling of images that
is meant to express all the poet’s distress.
At the same time, metaphoric invectives also sublimate human contingent situations towards a
more universal, natural dimension, where the eternal fight between good and evil is at stake.
We can consider, for example, a proverb flavored tercet in Beatrice’s rebuke:
       «Ma tanto più maligno e più silvestro
       si fa ’l terren col mal seme e non cólto,
       quant’elli ha più di buon vigor terrestro»
       (Purg. 30, 118-120)
       «But where the soil has finer vigor, there precisely – when untilled or badly seeded – will
       that terrain grow wilder and more noxious».


The very specific human history that links Dante to his beloved Beatrice is here transformed
into natural law, once again resonant with biblical echoes. It is not only Dante’s obstinacy in his
errors that Beatrice is pinpointing, but the very nature of obstinacy itself. In this way, the
protagonist’s individual path assumes a more universal meaning, one that readers can fruitfully
take as a wide-ranging warning.


       Conclusions

In conclusion, metaphors follow a great variety of uses and functions, and a quantitative


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approach has proven to be crucial in conferring substance to a more complex and systematic
critical evaluation of how, where and why metaphors are used in Dante’s Commedia. It is only
thanks to an accurate identification and classification, and to a searchable digital tool, that we
can organize and dissect such extensive material. By grounding a qualitative description in
quantitative analysis, it is possible to not only lend weight to otherwise intuitive critical
readings, but also to discover patterns that have been largely ignored.
At the same time, the intertwining of linguistic and stylistic analysis has prompted a constant
reflection on how metaphors connect signifier and signified, that is to say how they concretely
work in conveying a richer meaning. This includes not only an extended semantic reference,
but also a specific pragmatic function within a given context. As we have just seen, a qualitative
and quantitative account of poetic metaphors makes it possible to understand trends in a wider
framework, going beyond the description of a single metaphorical utterance and considering
the poem as a whole, with its peculiar features, scope and rhetorical strategies.
The appreciation of particular shifts such as those we have described makes it possible to
speculate on their cause. This is how we can connect the linguistic surface of a text with its
style, structure and conceptual import. When it comes to metaphor, it is all the more
fascinating to become aware of how formal aspects often depend on and/or elicit cognitive
unfolding. Dante’s Commedia is exemplary in its developing of an incredibly coherent
figurative frame.


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