Existential Motifs in Medieval Poetry: Insights on Therapeutic Practice from Dante's Divine Comedy

Abstract

In this paper, I review the four existential realities of isolation, meaninglessness, death and freedom and explore how these ultimate concerns of existence were conceptualized by the medieval poet, Dante Alighieri, in his acclaimed trilogy, The Divine Comedy. My central thesis is that through studying the array of metaphors embedded within the text, we can achieve an enriched understanding of the dilemmas of human existence which enables us to refine our understanding of therapeutic practice generally and the therapeutic relationship in particular. I will then offer some ideas as to how Dante's framework could assist an exploration of specific areas of therapist-client interaction and represent a heuristic structure for guiding choice of intervention at different stages in the therapeutic process.