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At a time where the notion of culture and of European culture in particular, is somewhat in doubt, Dante is the sovereign underwriter. His are the solutions beyond logic” (Twito 5). On June 5, 1265 Dante was born Durante Alighieri, Dante was a nickname, in Florence, Italy. His family was of decayed nobility with some pretensions to power (Giles 1). He was taught the classics and scholastic Christian literature, and wrote much poetry when he was young, consisting mainly of love lyrics in the style of Guido Guinizelli and Guido Cavalcanti. This style that used poetical art not only to speak about love, but to celebrate it, he called Stilnovo which means “new style” (Giles 2). He fell in love with a woman named Beatrice, who was also called Bice di Folco Portinarti by some, whom he met only twice in 1274 and 1283 at the age of nine and eighteen respectively. His love was a transformation of courtly love popularized by the Provencal literature of minstrels, troubadours, and the such. To Dante, Beatrice symbolized divine grace and supreme beauty. He wrote La Vita Nuova about her, and she was his guide through Purgatory in La Divina Commedia (Auerbach 1). Because Beatrice died in 1290, Dante married Gemma di Manetto Donati even though he didn’t completely love her. They had between three and seven children together (Giles 1). 2 Dante, who was in the Guelph party, was deeply involved in the issues and events of his day, which reflected in his writing. He was a member of the Florentine cavalry that routed the Ghibellines at Campaldio in 1289. In 1300 he became one of the six priors, or governors, of Florence (Mojana 56). At the beginning of the thirteenth century, political life was factionalized into the Ghibellines, who represented the old imperial aristocracy, and the Guelphs, a party that was originally bourgeois and looked to the pope as a political power rather than a spiritual leader. At the beginning of the 14th century, the Guelphs held most councils in Italy. The Guelfi split into two groups, the bianchi or white and the neri or black. Dante was a part of the whites who supported the Emperor, but hated the Ghibellini too much to join them (Lansing 135). In an election, Carlo di Valois won against the whites. Dante was falsely accused of unlawful acts, even of fraud, and sentenced to a two-year exile and a fine which he did not pay. He was exiled and sentenced to death by burning if he ever returned to Florence, and was made a citizen of all Italy. His wife did not accompany him into exile. He moved from court to court, and eventually died in the court of Guido Novello da Polenta in 1321. He was buried in San Pier Maggiore’s Church where he still lies, although the church is now called San Francesco’s (Giles 2). The main ideas of Dante, which are on love, are as follows. Love is the movement of the spirit and the primitive energy of the universe. In romantic love, the soul moves toward the object of its erotic affections. In 3 philosophical love, the soul contemplates the world of nature through the exercise of reason. In mystical love, the soul desires union with God, which is the harmony of the will of the soul and the will of God. Poetry reveals the movement of the spirit, or love, through its literal sense. The literal sense of poetry contains the manifestations of love in terms the poem’s allegorical, moral, and anagogical meanings. These ideas were woven into all of his works (Giles 1). Dante’s first major work was La Vita Nuova. It is thirty-one lyric poems and prose narrative that expresses his love for Beatrice in three movements (Benfell 4). The first movement is , at the age of nine, when he sees and falls in love with the maid, Beatrice . The second movement is, when the power of a maturing love sweeps through him. The third movement is about when, at twenty-seven, he suffers the death of Beatrice, already foretold him in a dream, and dedicates his life to her. The desire to discern the movement of the spirit is unmistakable to serious readers of La Vita Nuova (Twito 3). The second work composed by Dante was La Divina Commedia (originally called just Commedia), and arguably is his best work. It was begun between 1307 and 1314 and was finished just before his death in 1321, and is composed in terza rima. It starts with Dante in a “dark wood” in which he finds himself in middle age; through the nine circles of the damned in the Inferno and the mountainous wasteland of the Purgatorio, with the poet Virgil as his guide. In Paradisio is his final comprehension of the divine plan of 4 justice aided by his beloved Beatrice. The Divine Comedy is a summary of medieval thought and has been called, “an allegorical compendium of the medieval moral and scientific world view in its subtlest form.” Virgil’s influence on the work is a tribute to Italy’s classical past. The adoption of popular speech and a large cast of very human and contemporary characters helped free Italian literature from its ancient confines. Dante became Italy’s first national poet with this work (Auerbach 4). La Divina Commedia defines the deterioration of minds and society as infinite. Dante is extremely pessimistic in Inferno, when most of his friends and leaders are being tortured eternally. This pessimistic view comes from being exiled from his beloved Florence. In this and other late work there is a sense of “solitude and isolation from a world he no longer understands, or at least refuses to understand or accept” (Benfell 7). 1 Dante’s life spanned the troubled years of the late Middle Ages. He influenced Longfellow, Tennyson, Victor Hugo, and T.S. Elliot (Benfell 15). Dante’s vision was born not so much from a literary intent as from an authentic experience of action and thought, illuminated in a moment of grace. Along with William Shakespeare, he is one of the towering figures of western literature (Cooksey 35). Bibliography: Works Cited Auerbach, Erich. “Dante Alighieri.” Grolier Encyclopedia Online 11 Oct 2000 Available: http://go.grolier.com Benfell, V. Stanley. “Prophetic Madness: The Bible in Inferno.” MLIV Jan 1995: v110 n1 p195 Online Internet Oct 00 Available: http://rac.galegroup.com/itar/infomark/199/241.htm Cooksey, Tina. “The Divine Comedy: Hell, Purgatory, Heaven.” Library Journal 1Sep. 1997: 181-183 Giles, Mary E. “Dante Alighieri.” Great Thinkers of the Western World 1999 ed. Lansing, Richard H. “Dante Alighieri.” World Book 1999 ed. Mojana, Beeky M. “Dante” Benet’s Reader’s Encyclopedia. 1987 ed. Twito, Dao Dante Alighieri on the Web 8 May 1997 Online Internet 9 Oct 2000 Available: http://www.geocities.com/1kurio/ Word Count: 1133
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