Obraz zerkala v Božestvennoj Komedii: staryj ključ k novomu pročteniju dantovskogo tvorčestva [L’immagine dello specchio nella Divina Commedia: una vecchia chiave per una nuova lettura dell’opera dantesca]

The purpose of this article is to study the imagery and the theme of the mirror in Dante’s Divine Comedy, and to explore the role of the mirror topos in the system of the poem as well as in the author’s worldview. We start our research with one of the central canticas, Cantica XV of the Purgatory, which is in a certain way «intermediary» and does not often become an object of scholars’ interest. We examine then how the mirror image is used in describing the impression made by the angel on the Dante character, and find out possible reasons why mirror metaphors are used in this episode. The focus of the research then shifts to the description of the Universe through the processes of light reflection which in Dante’s poetic system symbolize the Intellection of God and the Love. This lexical and semantic analysis shows how Dante uses the mirror imagery as the main way of describing interaction both between creatures and their Creator and between the poet and his readers.