In his u22Letter to Can Grande,u22 Dante attributes the concept of polysemy, which means u22many levels,u22 to his poem. l In the letter, Dante states: u22For the clarification of what I am going to say, then, it should be understood that there is not just a single sense in this work: it might rather be called polysemous, that is having several sensesu22 (u22Letteru22 99). This concept not only applies to the mUlti-layered construction of the Divine Comedy but also to its interpretation. Although most critics rely upon the u22Letter,u22 I find his defense of hierarchical interpretation in the u22Four Levels of Interpretationu22 more useful. The combination of polysemy and hierarchical interpretation is key to this study of the poem.
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