Dante Alighieri (his real name was Durante) was born in Florence, the son of Alighiero di Bellincione Alighieri, a notary belonging to an ancient but decadent Guelf family. Dante’s own statement in the Paradiso that he was born when the sun was in Gemini, fixes his birthday between 18th May and 17th June. There is not much known about his mother except that her name was Bella and she was Alighiero’s first wife.
Little is known about Dante’s childhood except what he has revealed. His mother died when he was a child and his father died before he reached manhood. A few months after the poet’s birth, the victory of Charles of Anjou over King Manfred at Benevento ended the power of the empire in Italy. It placed a French dynasty upon the throne of Naples and secured the predominance of the Guelfs in Tuscany. Dante thus grew up amidst the triumphs of the Florentine democracy.
Dante belonged to a typical middle-class family in an atmosphere that was conducive to learning and encouraging to young poets. His first studies were mainly in rhetoric, grammar, philosophy, literature and theology. He was strongly influenced by Brunetto Latini – a Florentine philosopher and rhetorician.
Latini also appears as an important figure in La Divina Commedia. Dante was unusually well-educated for his time, having studied the fundamentals of Dominican Aristotelian scholasticism and Franciscan Platonic mysticism. In his youth, he was a Stilnovo poet and had many friends among the other members of the Stilnovo Poetical School (especially Guido Cavalcanti).
Dante displayed an early predilection for writing poetry. He found his inspiration in his idealized love for a young girl. He was only nine years old, when he first saw her and fell in love, although she was unaware of his passion. In his Vita Nuova, he relates how he first set eyes on "the glorious lady of his heart, Beatrice." Dante never gives the slightest clue to her family name. But to Boccaccio, we owe the generally accepted fact that she was the daughter of Folco Portinari. Nine years later, he met her again, by which time she was already married to Simone de’Bardi. Describing the occasion, Dante wrote, "Passing through a street she turned her eyes towards the spot, where I stood greatly abashed and with ineffable courtesy, she saluted me most modestly."
Neither Beatrice’s marriage nor the poet’s own subsequent marriage interfered with his pure and Platonic devotion to her. Dante’s love for her was symbolic and mystical and it was destined to remain that way, for within seven years she had died of the plague.
Dante’s first book Vita Nuova was dedicated to the Florentine poet, Guido Cavalcanti, whom he calls "the first of my friends." It ends with a promise to Beatrice that he would write, "What has never before been written of any woman." Although Dante’s relationship with Beatrice never left the spiritual plane; their brief encounter was undoubtedly the most significant event in his boyhood and youth.
Dante’s adoration and idolization of Beatrice did not interfere with his marriage to Gemma Donati, who bore him three children. Beatrice had become for him a being transcending humanity, but there were times when he needed the companionship of somebody less ethereal, times when he needed to be more down-to-earth. At such moments he turned to his wife Gemma, or enjoyed extra-marital affairs. After the death of Beatrice, Dante began studying philosophy and theology in depth, also attending cultural associations, which provided lessons on Aristotle and St Thomas.
A HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE
The historical period that Dante lived in was the Middle Ages. This century saw the death of the traditional Medieval Culture, a culture formed by the influence of the Church, the Roman classical tradition and the German populace. Politically speaking, there were two auctoritates in Europe during the 13th and 14th centuries : the Emperor and the Pope. The former represented temporal earthly power, the latter the religious spiritual power.
In Italy, the country was divided into different town councils. There were two main political parties : the Guelfi and the Ghibellini. The Guelfi were in favor of the Pope while the Ghibellini favored the Emperor. At the beginning of the 14th century, the Guelfi led most of the councils in Italy. In Florence, the Guelfi party split into two factions : the whites (bianchi, in favor of the Emperor) and the blacks (neri, in favor of the Pope). Dante was a white Guelfi. The years around 1300 were the ones in which political fights between the bianchi and neri became more dramatic and bloody.
EARLY YEARS
Dante Alighieri (his real name was Durante) was born in Florence, the son of Alighiero di Bellincione Alighieri, a notary belonging to an ancient but decadent Guelf family. Dante’s own statement in the Paradiso that he was born when the sun was in Gemini, fixes his birthday between 18th May and 17th June. There is not much known about his mother except that her name was Bella and she was Alighiero’s first wife.
Little is known about Dante’s childhood except what he has revealed. His mother died when he was a child and his father died before he reached manhood. A few months after the poet’s birth, the victory of Charles of Anjou over King Manfred at Benevento ended the power of the empire in Italy. It placed a French dynasty upon the throne of Naples and secured the predominance of the Guelfs in Tuscany. Dante thus grew up amidst the triumphs of the Florentine democracy.
Dante belonged to a typical middle-class family in an atmosphere that was conducive to learning and encouraging to young poets. His first studies were mainly in rhetoric, grammar, philosophy, literature and theology. He was strongly influenced by Brunetto Latini – a Florentine philosopher and rhetorician.
Latini also appears as an important figure in La Divina Commedia. Dante was unusually well-educated for his time, having studied the fundamentals of Dominican Aristotelian scholasticism and Franciscan Platonic mysticism. In his youth, he was a Stilnovo poet and had many friends among the other members of the Stilnovo Poetical School (especially Guido Cavalcanti).
Dante displayed an early predilection for writing poetry. He found his inspiration in his idealized love for a young girl. He was only nine years old, when he first saw her and fell in love, although she was unaware of his passion. In his Vita Nuova, he relates how he first set eyes on "the glorious lady of his heart, Beatrice." Dante never gives the slightest clue to her family name. But to Boccaccio, we owe the generally accepted fact that she was the daughter of Folco Portinari. Nine years later, he met her again, by which time she was already married to Simone de’Bardi. Describing the occasion, Dante wrote, "Passing through a street she turned her eyes towards the spot, where I stood greatly abashed and with ineffable courtesy, she saluted me most modestly."
Neither Beatrice’s marriage nor the poet’s own subsequent marriage interfered with his pure and Platonic devotion to her. Dante’s love for her was symbolic and mystical and it was destined to remain that way, for within seven years she had died of the plague.
Dante’s first book Vita Nuova was dedicated to the Florentine poet, Guido Cavalcanti, whom he calls "the first of my friends." It ends with a promise to Beatrice that he would write, "What has never before been written of any woman." Although Dante’s relationship with Beatrice never left the spiritual plane; their brief encounter was undoubtedly the most significant event in his boyhood and youth.
Dante’s adoration and idolization of Beatrice did not interfere with his marriage to Gemma Donati, who bore him three children. Beatrice had become for him a being transcending humanity, but there were times when he needed the companionship of somebody less ethereal, times when he needed to be more down-to-earth. At such moments he turned to his wife Gemma, or enjoyed extra-marital affairs. After the death of Beatrice, Dante began studying philosophy and theology in depth, also attending cultural associations, which provided lessons on Aristotle and St Thomas.
Dante had other interests apart from his poetry and his amours. He had the makings of a learned professor, who wanted to teach philosophy and practiced the exercise of arms. He was also involved in public business and had dabbled in astrology. Dante was reputedly an expert in the black arts. Most important of all, in view of what was about to happen to him, he was fascinated by his country’s politics and in the struggle then going on between the church and the state.
In Florence, there were violent clashes between the church party (Guelfs), and the constitutional party (Ghibellinis). Dante initially supported the Guelfs and in 1289, he was with the Guelf army of Florence at the Battle of Campaldino. The Florentines triumphed over the Ghibelline armies of Pisa and Arezzo. This victory was followed by a reformation of the Florentine constitution. All nobles and magnates were strictly excluded from the government and subjected to severe penalties for offences against Plebeians. To take part in any public life, it was necessary to be enrolled in one or other of the ‘Arts’ (Guilds in which artisans were banded together). In order to begin a political career, Dante joined the guild of physicians in 1295. His career grew quickly and he became a priore (Governor) in 1300. In Florence, the differences between the neri and the bianchi Guelfs became more prominent and there were serious internal struggles.
Dante had to take determining political decisions : he decided to oppose Pope Bonifacio VIII’s expansion policy, which was supported by the neri (blacks). As a member of the magistracy of the Florentine republic, he went with two other representatives to Rome. The object was to prevent the Pope from sending Charles of Valois on a ‘peace-making’ mission into Tuscany. While Dante was away, Charles entered Florence and the bianchi (whites) were defeated.
Dante was now involved in the dangerous situation that led to his exile. In his official capacity of priore he could not but help being drawn into the struggle for supremacy between the nobles and the wealthy traders. He was also obliged to take sides in a family feud between the Cerchi and the Donati whose followers were the bianchi (whites) and neri (blacks) respectively. Dante could not escape the consequences of the rising in November 1301. (The treacherous part played by Charles of Valois earned Dante’s merciless invective in his Purgatorio).
Dante was charged with corrupt practices and was fined heavily, two years exile and perpetual exclusion from office. Six weeks later, the Commune (the governing body of the republic), published a second degree proclaiming that if Dante fell into their hands he would be buried alive.
THE EXILE
News of the first sentence reached Dante at Sienna on his way back to Florence. Initially he decided (along with his companions, who had also been exiled) to take up the Commune’s challenge and fight his way into his native city. Instead, he severed relations with his fellow exiles and began a wandering existence. He trudged from city to city through Tuscany and Romagna, never settling anywhere for long. After 1302, Dante never saw his hometown again; but found shelter in various Italian cities and rulers.
The charges against Dante ruined his reputation. According to the neri (blacks), Dante had been guilty of spending public money improperly and of pursuing policies contrary to those of the Papal party. He would never again be allowed to hold an official position in Florence.
Opinions vary as to how the poet spent the earlier years of his exile. It is generally agreed that he devoted himself to making a fairly comprehensive tour of Italy from the Alps to Rome. He visited Arezzo, Pisa, Lucca, Mantua, Forli, Venice, Bologna, Verona and Ravenna. There are biographers who maintain that his travels took him to Switzerland, Flanders, Germany and even across the Channel to England. Evidence exists that places him, in October 1306, in the Lunigiana district, where he helped patch up a quarrel between the Marquises Malaspina and the Bishop of Luni.
Although he had been unjustly treated, a fierce love for his own birth place burned within him and he attempted to restore his shattered reputation among the Florentines in two prose masterpieces which he left unfinished (De Vulgare Eloquentia and Il Convivo).
Dante’s exile brought his political career to an abrupt end but it gave a fillip to his literary aims. His sincere desire, though, was to see a crowned emperor ruling over the Italians in peace and in righteousness.
Dante’s political hopes were strongly aroused by the arrival in Italy in 1310 of Henry VII, king of Germany and Holy Roman emperor. Dante wrote to many Italian princes and political leaders, urging them to welcome the emperor and entreating them to look upon him as a means of resolving the bitter strife among the Italian cities. Henry’s death in Siena in 1313, ended Dante’s hopes.
LATER YEARS
Almost two years after Henry’s death, came Dante’s chance to return to Florence and rebuild his fallen fortunes. But the terms offered to him were those generally reserved for pardoned criminals. He might have been prepared to pay the sum of money that was asked of him as one of the conditions of re-instatement. What he could never have endured was the humiliation of performing the act of ‘oblation’ at the altar, a ceremony that all released prisoners had to undergo. Dante rejected the invitation, maintaining that he would never return unless he was accorded full dignity and honor. He continued to live in exile.
The government’s offer was made in the spring of 1315. Seven or eight months later a particularly vicious decree was published. If Dante and his sons ever fell into the hands of the rulers of Florence they would be beheaded. Thirteen years back the Commune had threatened to bury him alive; now his punishment was the guillotine.
Despite this, the closing years of Dante’s exile brought the poet a good measure of happiness and satisfaction. It was Ravenna that became Dante’s ultimate refuge.
The poet did not lack friends and companions in Ravenna. Among his acquaintances was Giovanni del Virgilio, an obscure professor from Bologna. Giovanni advised Dante to write an epic, not in the vernacular but in Latin. Dante replied politely in Latin eclogues and actually sent his correspondent two new cantos of the work he had written.
Dante went on to complete his last and greatest work, La Divina Commedia. Here the poet gains his victory over his persecutors, for in a sense the work itself is his revenge. The obscure exile takes his enemies to task, examines the soul of every man and anticipates the day of reckoning. At the same time, he secures "ever lasting glory for himself" for in one way or another, he is the true protagonist of the poem.
With the completion of La Divina Commedia, Dante’s pilgrimage on earth was almost over. In 1321, the poet was sent to the Queen of the Adriatic as Guido Novello’s ambassador. On his return journey he was laid low by a fever while passing through the marshy district between Pomposa and Comacchio. Although only in his 56th year, he was already too worn out physically to resist what must have been a severe attack of malaria.
On September 21, shortly after reaching Ravenna, Dante’s exile ended. Just as in the Purgatorio when Virgil invested him with crown and mitre, Dante Alighieri was at last "lord of himself."
DANTE ALIGHIERI (1265 - 1321)
Italy, in 13th century, was the epitome of culture, with contributors in various fields of art. It was the time when the church bells and the bells of the castles were tolling against eachother. The Renaissance was looming low on the Italian culture when Dante appeared on the scene to leave his imprints on time.
Dante used his art of poetry against the dominance of church in politics at the end of the Medieval Age. He voiced the changing times and represented the Italian cultural heritage.
The littérateur George Steiner proclaimed The Divine Comedy as the greatest book of the last millennium. He says, "Dante’s totality of poetic form and philosophic thought, of ‘local universality’ and language, remains unrivalled. At a time when the nation of culture and of European culture in particular, is somewhat in doubt, Dante is the sovereign underwriter." Dante Alighieri’s most celebrated work is the La Commedia (which came to be known after his death as La Divina Commedia (Divine Comedy)). It is a vision of hell, purgatory and heaven and gives an encyclopedic view of the highest culture and knowledge of his age.
Dante Alighieri is beyond doubt the greatest of Italian poets and many readers think, one of the greatest poets that Western civilization has produced. W B Yeats called him ‘the chief imagination of Christendom. T S Eliot, one of the must prolific poet-critics of the 20th century said : "Dante and Shakespeare divide the world between them. There is no third."
The work of modern poets throughout the world has been inspired by Dante and suffused with Dantean imagery especially that of Ezra Pound and T S Eliot, Gabriele D’ Annunzio, Paul Claudel and Anna Akhmatova.
1265
Dante was born on May 29.
1274
He met and fell in love with Beatrice Portinari.
1283
Dante’s father died and shortly afterwards he married Gemma Donati.
1289
Participated in the battle of Compaldino as a cavalryman.
1290
Dante’s beloved Beatrice died.
1292
He wrote the Vita Nuova.
1294
Dante met Charles Martel, king of Hungary.
1300
Dante was priore for two months (15 June – 15 August); one of the six highest magistrates in Florence.
1301
Dante was sent to Rome as an envoy to Pope Boniface VIII.
1302
The black’s (neri) seized power in Florence. Dante was banished from the city and forever excluded from public office.
1304
Dante started on De Vulgari Eloquentia.
1310
Henry of Luxembourg descended into Italy and Dante addressed an Epistle to him.
1314
Inferno was published.
1315
Dante moved to Verona as a guest of wCangrande della Scala and worked on Purgatorio and Paradiso.
1319
Dante moved to Ravenna as a guest of Guido Novello da Polenta.
1321
Dante fell ill on his return from Florence and died in September.
The dates and sequence of Dante’s various works are only vaguely known. La Vita Nuova, which tells of his boyish passion for Beatrice, is probably the earliest. The most celebrated is La Commedia (which came to be known after his death as La Divina Commedia), a vision of hell, purgatory and heaven. He also wrote several shorter poems, as well as treatises on government and language.
Between 1280 and 1310, a new poetic movement was born known as the Stilnovo. The name was invented by Dante and is Italian for "new style". This new way to write poetry was founded by Guido Guinizzelli. The most important Stilnovo poets were Dante, his friend Guido Cavalcanti and Cino da Pistoia. This movement used the art of poetry to speak about love and to celebrate it. According to the Stilnovo theory, love is seen as an absolute ideal, which is able to save man and make him noble. Women are seen as angels and often celebrated as examples of purity and virtue. It meant that the work of art must see the content perfectly in harmony with the form. The poet had to use a precise and specific vocabulary to speak directly about love.
There was also a cultural debate waging at Dante’s time about the language to be used in literary works. The Questione della Lingua was about choosing either Latin or an Italian dialect (vernacular) to write the works. The Italian dialects were various since Italy was neither culturally nor politically united. Dante proposed a solution to this problem in De Vulgari Eloquentia.
Dante was thoroughly educated in both classical and Christian literature. By the time he was 18, he had already become interested in writing verse, sending an early sonnet to the poet Guido Cavalcanti. Dante also dedicated his first book to Cavalcanti.
LA VITA NUOVA (1292)
The work, La Vita Nuova celebrated Dante’s love for Beatrice. The nature of his love had its roots in the medieval concept of "courtly love" and the idealization of women. This work was written within a short period of the death of Beatrice. Composed of sonnets and canzoni woven together with a prose commentary, this work narrates the course of Dante’s love for Beatrice, his premonition of her death in a dream, her actual death and his ultimate resolve to write a work that would be a worthy monument to her memory. The work begins with Dante’s first encounter with Beatrice, when she is nine years old. Nine years later she greets him. From that moment onwards, Dante decides to praise her in his poems.
La Vita Nuova is an anthology divided into 42 chapters and is written in Italian. The title means "new life" and is also a sort of poetical autobiography, which documents young Dante’s adherence to Stilnovo ideals. It transcends the Provincial tradition. In that it not only describes the poet’s love in terms of a lofty idealism but suggests a spiritual significance in the object of his adoration.
La Vita Nuova in its sustained intensity of feeling, is one of the greatest verse sequences in European literature.
DE VULGARI ELOQUENTIA (c. 1304)
De Vulgari Eloquentia was an argument for writing poems and other works in the vernacular rather than in Latin. It comprises two books and is an unfinished work.
This work can be considered as the first work of literary criticism on Italian literature. Dante explained his ideas about the problem of Questione della lingua in it. He stated that it was time to use Italian dialects in literature and that Latin should be used only in technical works (such as essays).
To explain these ideas, Dante first distinguished between the natural language (Locutio Prima) which everybody directly learns from one’s parents; and the secondary language (Locutio Secundaria or Grammatica) which is the language used to study and is learnt at school (i.e. Latin). In Dante’s opinion, the first language is nobler than the other, since it is more natural and better for art. He nevertheless said that a technical language was needed but it (Latin) must not be used in literature. He analyzed all the 14 Italian dialects but rejected them all since he felt that they were not good enough. He thought that the ideal language must be eminent (illustre), cardinal (cardinale) and courtly (curiale). Since such a language did not exist, Dante stated that it must be created by poets and used by them in their works.
Despite these ideas, Dante usually used a common Florentine dialect. From this time on, the 'Questione della lingua' is discussed in Italy for the following centuries. There has never been a definitive solution to the problem.
IL CONVIVIO (c. 1304)
Il Convivio was written around the same time as De Vulgari Eloquentia. In this work he discusses grammar and styles of poetry and complains that his own poems have been much misunderstood.
The title is Italian for "The Banquet". It was intended to be a digest of all the knowledge of his time. The first book was to be introductory and the remaining 14 were to take the form of poems as a commentary. Only the first four books, however, were completed.
Dante metaphorically represents this work like a wisdom-banquet, where the parts in poetry represent the courses and the ones in prose are the bread. The guests to this banquet are all the ones who are eager to gain knowledge. In the second book, Dante explained that, just after Beatrice’s death, he started to study philosophy. So, he personified philosophy in a gentlewoman, whom he imagined to love. In the third book, he carefully described this woman using the Stilnovo style. He also defined philosophy as a use of wisdom. In the fourth book he defined nobility as something not inherited but gained from God.
Many philosophical and political ideas in this work were later used in other works especially La Divina Commedia and the Monarchia.
DE MONARCHIA
This work is a treatise presenting Dante’s argument for a temporal power centered in Rome. This political essay was written in Latin divided into three books. The title is the Latin word for "monarchy". He thought that the best form of government was a universal monarchy.
In the first book, Dante states that the Empire was necessary since he believed that it was the only way peace could be maintained. The second book was about the Roman Empire, which according to Dante was founded by divine will. The third book explained how the power must be divided. According to Dante, God directly gave the power both to the Pope and to the Emperor. The Emperor must assure earthly happiness to man while the Pope must prepare him for happiness after life. The political ideas expressed in this work were later used in La Divina Commedia.
LA DIVINA COMMEDIA (c. 1317)
La Divina Commedia (Italian for The Divine Comedy) is considered to be Dante’s masterpiece and is one of the best expressions of the medieval culture in literature. The original title of the work (the one given by Dante) was simply Commedia. Giovanni Boccaccio suggested adding the adjective Divina ("divine") in order to, both, explain the kind of content and to celebrate the greatness and beauty of the work.
The word Commedia indicates the literary genre of the work. Dante himself explains that a Commedia is a work representing a story with a happy ending. Dante’s Commedia, therefore, ends well since the protagonist meets God. Dante’s literary models in his writing La Divina Commedia, were the Bible and Canto VI of Virgil’s Aeneid. Cicero’s influence, too, can be seen in Dante’s work. He also used Aristotle’s physical version of the universe and the philosophy of St Thomas Aquinas. Dante’s ethical scheme and metaphysics are mainly Aristotelian while the medium he uses is that of the popular medieval tradition. He also modified Virgil’s pagan vision of after-life, according to the religious dogmas of the Bible. The result is a medieval vision of the cosmos, based mainly on religious ideals, but considering also the classical culture.
The poem is divided into three books, each one representing a kingdom : Inferno, Purgatorio and Paradiso. Each of the books contains 33 cantos except for the Inferno, which has 34 cantos. The 100 cantos are composed of triplets with a rhyme scheme of ababcbc (rima concatenata). Each verse is hendecasyllabic i.e. of 11 syllables. This uniform and well-organized structure represents the framework of God’s Trinity. La Divina Commedia is a description of Dante’s travel through the three kingdoms of Inferno (Hell), Purgatorio (Purgatory) and Paradiso (Heaven). Dante tries to describe the situation of the human soul after death through this imaginary journey.
The general plot of the Commedia cannot be summarized in a few sentences since there are various themes and many stages. The unifying elements are the constant presence of the three protagonists and the theme of travel. The whole journey can also be seen as the moral and religious conversion of the protagonist, Dante, who symbolizes the conversion of mankind. The result of this conversion is seen as a refusal of sin and a life eased towards God and eternal bliss. In each of the three realms of Hell, Purgatory and Paradise, the poet meets with mythological, historical and contemporary personages. Each character is symbolic of a particular fault or virtue, either religious or political. The punishment or reward meted out to the characters further illustrate the larger meaning of their actions in the universal scheme.
There are three protagonists in the travel. The first is Dante himself who is a symbol of the whole of mankind. The second is Virgil who for Dante is the symbol of human reason. He is Dante’s guide through Inferno and Purgatorio. The third is Beatrice, Dante's first love. She guides Dante through Paradiso. The journey begins in 1300, on Good Friday and lasts for seven days. Dante chose this year since it was crucial for him, for Florence and the world. The year was important for him since it was the year in which he became priore : the political position which would be the cause of his exile. For Florence, because the struggle between the bianchi and neri became harder and bloody fights broke out. For the world since it was the year of the first jubilee ordered by Pope Bonifacio VIII. The jubilee was a universal call to moral conversion and the Commedia was symbolic of every man’s conversion.
La Divina Commedia begins with Dante, lost and walking in a dark wood, unable to remember how he got there or how long he had been walking. He meets Virgil and follows him. Virgil conducts him through Hell to Mount Purgatory. They climb the mount and at its summit they find Paradise. There Beatrice meets Dante, and conducts him upward through the planetary spheres. The poem ends with Dante soaring beyond the planets and stars. He beholds the whole of heaven and is given a vision of the glory of God himself.
Inferno
In the first part of La Divina Commedia, Dante’s style is chiefly influenced by Virgil. His dramatic sense pictured human nature laying bare the secrets of the heart. We see in the Inferno (Hell), those who have chosen evil and rejected the Grace of God, enduring the consequences of their choice. First, in the upper circles of Hell, Dante shows the sins of incontinence, or lack of self-control. Next there are those who cannot refuse themselves, dramatically represented by the gluttons. Each chooser is shown living forever with what he has chosen. The lovers, if asked what they wanted, would have said, "To be with each other forever." In Dante’s vision, they are forever joined, and circle like a flock of birds, borne on the howling wind of their own passions. Passing the circles of incontinence, we come to those of violence, of those who have injured or sought to injure others, oneself, or God. Beneath these lie the circles of Fraud, the place of those who not only injured others but betrayed their confidence to do so. Passing the circles of Fraud is simple, we come to those of Fraud complex and so past Satan at the very bottom of the universe. They emerge from hell at the foot of Mount Purgatory.
Purgatorio
The Purgatorio is considered to be the most artistically perfect of the three books. Dante conceives purgatory as a lofty mountain rising out of the ocean. The meeting with Beatrice on the banks of Lathe, with Dante’s confession of an unworthy past, completes the story of La Vita Nuova after the bitter experiences and dillusions of a lifetime. As they climb the mountain, they find seven cornices on which penitent sinners are cleansed by the grace of God. The seven cornices stand for the vices of pride, envy, anger, cloth, avarice, gluttony and lust. The opposing virtues are instilled in them, all by God’s grace. At last Dante, still led by Virgil, reaches the top of the mountain and there is met by Beatrice whom Virgil has mentioned to him repeatedly throughout the journey. She prepares him for his journey through paradise. Paradiso shows how love is to be set in order and how it is rendered perfect and finally attains union with Divine love.
Paradiso
With Beatrice by his side, Dante mounts up instantly from the peak of Mount Purgatory to the first of the Heaven. In medieval astronomy, the earth is considered to be surrounded by a set of whirling transparent spheres, each carrying with it one of the planets. Now Dante moves upward through the spheres, he sees in each sphere some of the redeemed, perfected Christians whose lives and callings to serve God are in some way represented by the characteristics of that planet. In the sphere of Mars, for example, he meets martyrs and others who have shed their blood for the faith of Jesus. In the sphere of Jupiter, he meets righteous kings and judges and those who have served justice. In the sphere of the sun, he meets theologians and others who have enlightened their fellow Christians. Finally, he soars beyond the planets, beyond the stars and is given a vision of the glory of God.
The poem has multiple meanings. On one level, La Divina Commedia can be read simply as a journey through the three kingdoms of the Dead. On another level, it is a journey through the individual human heart. It can also be read as a description of the disintegration of a society.
Dante’s vehement denunciation of the ecclesiastical corruption of his times and his condemnation of most of the contemporary Popes to hell have led to some questioning about the poet’s attitude towards the church. Attempts were made to find heresy in La Divina Commedia and De Monarchia was burnt at Bologna by order of a papal legate.
The sacred poem, the last book of the Middle Ages sums up the knowledge and intellectual attainment of the centuries that passed between the fall of the Roman Empire and the beginning of the Renaissance; it gives a complete picture of Catholicism in the 13th century in Italy. The pity and terror of certain episodes in the Inferno – the fruitless magnanimity of Farinata degli Uberti, the Fatal love of Francesca da Rimini, the Fall of Guido da Montefeltro, the doom of Count Ugolino – reach the utmost heights of poetic excellence. The most profound mystery of faith is set forth with vivid clarity and precision that is hard to be surpassed.
Lesser known works
Il Fiore (The Flower)
Il Fiore is a small poem of 232 sonnets written in the Italian language. It was based on Roman de la Rose; an allegorical French novel of the 13th century. It is doubtful whether Dante is the definite author of this work. The style is comic and the poem is about the hero’s love for a woman Fiore and his conviction that this love will end happily.
- Detto d’ Amore
Detto d’ Amore like Il Fiore is based on Roman de la Rose and the authorship is doubtful. Only a part of it survives – precisely 480 lines, each one seven–syllables long.
Among the minor works written during the last years of Dante’s life are the Questio de Aqua et Terra and two Latin eclogues. The former is a cosmological treatise in Latin, dealing with a matter of great concern to contemporary thinkers - whether the sea level exceeds the earth level anywhere on earth. The eclogues are modeled after those of the Roman poet Virgil, whom Dante considered one of the most important influences on thought.
EPISTULAE
Dante’s letters (named Epistulae in Latin) numbering 13 are all written in the Latin language. They are on various topics and are a very important biographical source. They are addressed to various people including the counts of Romena, Harquis Moroello Malaspina and his friends.
Dante also wrote a number of other miscellaneous poems and several Latin epistles.
• How bitter another’s bread is, thou shall know by tasting it; and how hard to the feet another’s stairs are, up and down to go.
• The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who, in time of great moral crisis, maintain their neutrality.
• Many times the matter cannot be moulded by the artist as he wants, because it opposes the intentions of the artist.
• And he said to me : Here, there are the souls of the ones who lived without doing neither good nor bad things.
• After my recognizing several ones, I saw and recognized the soul of the one who refused the papacy because of cowardice.
• The faith is the foundation of what you hope and the firm belief of what you can’t see; and I think that’s its essence.
• I did my job so faithfully that I lost my peace and my life.
• Oh, how faint and ineffective are the words to express my idea !
• It’s useless to fidget when the destiny rules.
• If you follow your natural bent, you will definitely go to Heaven.
• Follow me, and let the people speak : stay still like a tower which doesn’t collapse when a strong wind blows.
• A man must not forget the favors gotten from a less important friend when he becomes the friend of a more important one.
• You have been given reason, which can distinguish between good and bad.
• They couldn’t stop my strong desire to know the world and the vices and virtues of mankind.
• You must be satisfied to know how things are, because if you could have known everything, the virgin wouldn’t have had to give birth to Jesus.
• There are laws, but who commands respect to them ?
• There’s nothing more painful than remembering something happy while you are distressed.
• The more you are learned, the more you dislike losing your time.
• Consider your origins : you were not made to live as brutes, but to follow virtue and knowledge.
• Let us not speak of them; but look, and pass on.
• For what is liberty but the unhampered translation of will into act ?
• O conscience, upright and stainless, how bitter a sting to thee is a little fault !
• Follow your own star !
• The more perfect a thing is, the more susceptible to good and bad treatment it is.
La Divina Commedia is a poem that has always inspired artists. Many Italian cities had established professorships for the study of The Divine Comedy by the 15th century. In the centuries following the invention of printing, almost 400 Italian editions were published. Editions have appeared illustrated by the Italian masters Sandro Botticelli and Michelangelo; the English artists John Flaxman and William Blake; and the French illustrator Gustave Dorè. The Italian composer Gioacchino Antonio Rossini and the German composer Robert Schumann set parts of the poem to music. It formed the subject of a symphonic poem by the Hungarian composer Franz Liszt. It has been translated into more than 25 languages. Among the many notable translations into English are verse renditions by the American poet
H W Longfellow and in the 20th century, by the English writer Dorothy L Sayers and the American poet and critic John Ciardi.
Dante’s unparalleled eminence as a poet has perhaps best been expressed in the words of Borges, who says, his are "the solutions beyond logic".
