Dante Alighieri

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Dante Alighieri Biography

Dante Alighieri took the world to hell and back. The thirteenth-century poet’s most enduring work, The Divine Comedy, is an epic, three-volume journey through hell (Inferno), purgatory (Purgatorio), and heaven (Paradiso). Perhaps the most famous of the three parts is Inferno, which describes in great, gory detail the nine layers of hell and the punishments of those imprisoned there. Dante’s main achievement in The Divine Comedy is that he transformed and elevated Italian literature to world-class status with his philosophical and poetic writing. In the seven centuries since its publication, Dante’s masterpiece has continued to influence thinkers, artists, and authors from every major period that followed, including the Renaissance and the Enlightenment.

Facts and Trivia

  • Florence figures prominently in many of Dante’s works. Ironically, Dante was exiled from Florence during the last two decades of his life.
  • In addition to his writing career, Dante also served as a physician, soldier, and dilettante politician.
  • While not necessarily a laugh-out-loud story, Dante’s The Divine Comedy is so named because the story ends happily.
  • Language is one of the many important reasons why Dante is so integral to the evolution of Italian literature. Until his time, erudite works were composed almost exclusively in Latin and Greek. By incorporating Tuscan Italian (among other sources) into his writing style, Dante helped cement Italian as a truly literary language.
  • Dante’s literary and cultural impact is diverse and extensive. He has been quoted, adapted, or otherwise referenced in works as varied as American Psycho, Frankenstein, A Series of Unfortunate Events, and Hannibal (as in Lecter).

Biography

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Dante Alighieri, the son of a nobleman, was born in May of 1265 in Florence, Italy. Dante received his early education in Florence but later attended the University of Bologna. His learning experiences included a tour in the Florence army when he fought at the Battle of Campaldino.

Dante’s great love seems to have been Beatrice—probably Beatrice Portinari. Dante and Beatrice met when they were children and Dante apparently worshipped her. Beatrice was Dante’s inspiration for The Divine Comedy; after her death in 1290, he dedicated a memorial “The New Life” (La Vita Nuova) to her. Though each married, they did not marry each other.

Dante instead entered an arranged marriage in 1291 with Gemma Donati, a noblewoman; they had two sons and either one or two daughters. Records contain little else about their life together.

By 1302 Dante was a political exile from Florence. He probably started The Divine Comedy after this exile. Politics, history, mythology, religious leaders, and prominent people of the time, of literature, of the past, and of Dante’s personal life—including Beatrice—appear throughout The Divine Comedy. The work was a major departure from most of the literature of the day since it was written in Italian, not the Latin of most other important writing. Dante finished The Divine Comedy just before his death on September 14, 1321; he was still in exile and was living under the protection of Guido da Polenta in Ravenna. Perhaps still bitter from his expulsion from Florence, Dante wrote on the title page of The Divine Comedy that he was “a Florentine by birth, but not in manner” (Bergin, 444).

Bergin describes Dante as “the first important writer to emerge after the Dark Ages” and his work as “the beginning of the Italian Renaissance in literature” (444). According to Bergin, “The Divine Comedy is a complete expression of medieval philosophy, religion, and culture. The beauty of its poetry and the universality of its scope [especially in this time when distractions abound] make it one of the most sublime achievements in all literature” (444). While some found fault with a writer who put those with whom he differed in Hell and those whom he favored in Heaven (Vincent), many critics of the day heaped praise on the work which reflected the religious outlook of an earlier day and yet contained the robust language of the Italian people along with vivid imagery. Other Italian writers, such as Petrarch and Boccaccio, used Dante’s work as a model—the most sincere form of flattery.

Biography

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As is common with medieval writers, our knowledge of Dante Alighieri's personal life is limited. In his work Convivio (circa 1304-1307), also known as The Banquet, Dante mentions that he was born in Florence, Italy. Today, we estimate his birth occurred in late May or early June of 1265 in the city's San Martino district. His father, Alighiero di Bellincione d'Alighieri, worked as a notary, and his mother, Donna Bella, was likely the daughter of the noble Durante degli Abati. She passed away before Dante reached fourteen, after which his father remarried Lapa di Chiarissimo Cialuffi. They had two children together, a son named Francesco and a daughter named Tana. Although the Alighieri family held noble titles, by 1265, their social standing and wealth had diminished. Despite this, when Alighiero died around 1283, he left his children reasonably well-off with properties in both the city and countryside.

Around the same period, Dante fulfilled a marriage arranged by his father in 1277 by marrying Gemma Donati, a gentlewoman. They had two sons, Pietro and Jacopo, and at least one daughter, Antonia. It's possible...

(This entire section contains 892 words.)

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they had another daughter, Beatrice, who might have been Antonia's monastic name. Dante's marriage and family life did not appear to influence his poetic work. In hisDivine Comedy (circa 1308-1321), he makes no mention of his immediate family, though there might be a nod to a sister in La Vita Nuova (The New Life) (circa 1292-1300).

During his youth, Dante may have attended Florence's Franciscan lower school and studied philosophy. Brunetto Latini (circa 1220-1294), a respected scholar, teacher, statesman, and author, encouraged Dante to study rhetoric at the University of Bologna. In La Vita Nuova, Dante shares that he taught himself to write verse. He emerged as one of Florence's leading poets, collaborating and exchanging works with other notable writers such as Guido Cavalcanti (circa 1240-1300), Lapo Gianni (circa 1270-1332), and Cino da Pistoia (circa 1270-1336). Dante was also acquainted with musician and singer Casella and likely knew artists Oderisi da Gubbio (circa 1240-1299) and Giotto (circa 1267-1337).

In 1274, at the age of nine, Dante recounts meeting Bice Portinari, whom he later referred to as Beatrice, the "bringer of blessedness." His affection for this beautiful daughter of Folco Portinari became a significant influence in his life. After her sudden death in 1290, Dante compiled the lyric poems he had written for her, combined them with prose commentaries, and created La Vita Nuova, a slender volume that marks the beginning of his magnum opus, the Divine Comedy. The connection between the two works is Dante's love and idealization of Beatrice, a love he elevated from physical to spiritual. In the Divine Comedy, Beatrice guides Dante the Pilgrim, preparing him for his ultimate encounter with God.

Dante was not only a renowned poet but also served as a soldier, politician, and diplomat. Like many families of lesser nobility and the artisan class, the Alighieris aligned with the Florentine political faction known as the Guelfs (or Guelphs). Their adversaries, the Ghibellines, represented the feudal aristocracy. Dante joined the cavalry in 1289 and participated in military service. He fought alongside Florence and its Guelf allies against Arezzo, achieving victory at the Battle of Campaldino in 1289, as well as at Caprona in August of the same year.

In 1295, Dante took his first steps toward significant public roles by joining the Guild of Physicians and Apothecaries. That year, he served on the People's Council of the Commune of Florence and was part of the council responsible for electing the city's Priors. By 1296, he was a member of the Council of the Hundred, a powerful political body that dealt with Florentine civic and financial matters. In 1300, he traveled as an ambassador to San Gimignano and was elected to the esteemed position of Prior that same year.

As an ambassador, Dante's faction, the White Guelfs, sent him to negotiate with the Pope at Anagni. During his absence, the White Guelfs lost power, and their rivals, the Black Guelfs, exiled Dante for two years, accusing him of conspiring against the Pope and Florence. Dante refused to attend his trial in 1302 or pay the fines, as he believed doing so would imply guilt. The Black Guelfs warned him that if he returned to Florence, he would face arrest and execution by burning. There is no indication that he ever returned to his cherished Florence.

From 1303 onward, Dante traveled extensively throughout northern Italy, spending the remainder of his life as a courtier and educator in exile. In 1303, he stayed with Bartolomeo della Scala in Verona and, in 1304, appeared in Arezzo, attempting to re-enter Florence with other exiled Whites and Ghibellines. This effort ended in failure, and Dante likely moved to Lunigiana, where he provided diplomatic services for the Malaspina family from 1305 to 1307. Some historians speculate that he traveled to Paris in 1309 to study at the University, though evidence is scarce. From 1312 to 1318, he lived in Verona under the patronage of Can Grande della Scala, to whom he dedicated his Paradise, the third volume of the Divine Comedy. While in Verona, the Florentine authorities again sentenced Dante to death, extending the threat to his sons as well. Between 1318 and 1321, Dante resided in Ravenna under the protection of Guido Novella da Polenta, surrounded by eager students and celebrated as the author of Convivio, Inferno, and Purgatory. Dante passed away in Ravenna on September 13 or 14, 1321, where he is interred.

Criticism by Dante Alighieri

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