Divine Comedy

The Divine Comedy (Italian: Divina Commedia [diˈviːna komˈmɛːdja]) is an epic poem by Dante Alighieri, begun c. 1308 and completed 1320, a year before his death in 1321. It is widely considered the preeminent work of Italian literature and is seen as one of the greatest works of world literature. The poem's imaginative vision of the afterlife is representative of the medieval world-view as it had developed in the Western Church by the 14th century. It helped establish the Tuscan language, in which it is written, as the standardized Italian language. It is divided into three parts: Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso.

On the surface, the poem describes Dante's travels through Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise or Heaven; but at a deeper level, it represents, allegorically, the soul's journey towards God. At this deeper level, Dante draws on medieval Christian theology and philosophy, especially Thomistic philosophy and the Summa Theologica of Thomas Aquinas. Consequently, the Divine Comedy has been called "the Summa in verse".

Divine Comedy (BYU)

Divine Comedy is BYU's scripted comedy troupe which performs skits that poke fun at Mormon culture, BYU cliches, and popular movies and TV shows.

History

The group began in 1994 but it was difficult at first to drag an audience into the shows. Now, however, the group performs regularly during the school year and are tragically funny. As cast members graduate, auditions are held and the students replaced. In 2010, Divine Comedy released a music video spoof, Provo Utah Girls (a spoof off of Katy Perry's California Gurls), which caught over 1,000,000 YouTube views, completely topping the normal 14,000 views each sketch generally received. Following that, Firebolt (another Katy Perry song, Firework spoof ) received several positive comments from people of non-LDS backgrounds who appreciated the clean, fun, and witty humor presented by the BYU students.

In 2012, several members of the group moved to BYUtv to form the new comedy show, Studio C. Under the direction of Theatre and Media Arts professor George Nelson, the group brings smiles and laughs to everyone who watches them. In 2012, Steven Rosenfield, director of the American Comedy Institute in New York, visited BYU and presented workshops about the comedy business. He spoke about the challenge to write and present clean humor. He said of DC members, "They are fantastic ambassadors for Brigham Young University."

The Divine Comedy (band)

The Divine Comedy are a chamber pop band from Northern Ireland formed in 1989 and fronted by Neil Hannon. Hannon has been the only constant member of the group, playing, in some instances, all of the non-orchestral instrumentation besides drums. To date, ten studio albums have been released under the Divine Comedy name. The group achieved their greatest commercial success in the years 1996–99, during which they had nine singles that made the UK Top 40, including the top ten hit "National Express". The tenth Divine Comedy album, Bang Goes the Knighthood, was released on 31 May 2010.

History

The beginning and early success (Fanfare to Promenade)

Neil Hannon has been the only ever-present member of the band, being its founder in 1989 when he was joined by John McCullagh and Kevin Traynor. Their first album, the heavily R.E.M.-influenced and now-deleted Fanfare for the Comic Muse, enjoyed little success. A couple of equally unsuccessful EPs – Timewatch (1991); Europop (1992) – were to follow, with newly recruited member John Allen handling lead vocals on some tracks. After the commercial failure of the Europop EP, this line-up soon fell apart.