多數中世紀靈視敘事具有經驗性靈視的特質，根據聖奧古斯丁有關靈視的三重結構所安排的配置，一種面對神聖，靈視者個人的自我抹除，以及進入一個兼主動/被動的動態過程（面對靈視時的被動，創作事件本身的權威性敘述時的主動）。但丁巨製《神曲》即是遵循上述（前兩個）特徵，但是一旦牽涉後兩個特徵時，就進入前人未至的領域。當但丁漸行離開世界而漸漸趨進神聖時，他展現對於其本身心靈與其情緒/認知反應，越發強烈的感受。而他對這些反應的書寫成為觸媒，在讀者身上，產生類似反應。他不願將其詮釋超出其寓言敘述的表面層次理解，強迫讀者，在他們跟隨著但丁的發展過程中，顯露其本身的詮釋傾向。藉由此法，但丁的《神曲》預示較晚，新教徒式靈視（文學與歷史）敘事的運作模式。

Most medieval visionary accounts share the characteristics of an empiric visionscape, an ordering of dispensation along the lines of Augustine’s three-fold hierarchy for visions, a tendency toward the visionary’s ultimate self-effacement in the presence of the divine, and an engagement in an passive/active dynamic (passive in receiving the vision, active in styling an authoritative account of the event). Dante’s massive Commedia follows some of these characteristics (the first two) but pulls away into uncharted terrain concerning the last two characteristics. For as Dante moves away from the mundial and progressively enters the presence of the divine, he reveals an intensifying awareness of his psyche and its emotional / cognitive responses, and his scripting of these responses acts as a catalyst to engender similar responses in the reader. Also, he hesitates to interpret his allegorical account past the literal layer, forcing the readers to reveal their own hermeneutical dispositions as they follow his progress. In these ways his Commedia pre-figures the modus operandi of the later, Protestant-styled vision accounts （both literary and historical）.