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Dante Alighieri


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Dante Alighieri (1265-1321), Italian poet wrote La Divina Commedia (The Divine Comedy), his allegory of life and God as revealed to a pilgrim, written in terza rima; Inferno (Hell), Purgatorio (Purgatory), and Paradiso (Paradise), written between 1307 and 1321.

The dates of when Dante’s works were written are inexact and many are unfinished, although there is no doubt that Dante is known as the source of modern Italian. Inspired by Virgil and Aristotle and inspiring other such poets as Geoffrey Chaucer and William Blake, Dante has affected a profound influence on numerous poets, playwrights, and authors right into the 21st century.

Although his exact birth date is not known, Dante Alighieri was born in Florence, Italy in the year 1265. His mother Donna Gabriella degli Abati died when he was very young. His father was Alighiero di Bellincione Alighieri, a notary from a family loyal to the Guelphs. The Guelphs supported the Papacy, while the other predominant family of the neighboring area in Tuscany, the Ghibellines, supported the German emperor, thus spurring many power struggles between the two.

It is said that Dante fought with the Guelphs as a cavalryman in the battle of Campaldino (1289), referred to in Purgatorio, which led to the defeat of the Ghibellines. The constitution of the Republic of Florence was reformed and around 1295 it was necessary for Dante to matriculate into the Guild of Physicians and Apothecaries in order to be active in government affairs as diplomat and magistrate. However by 1300 the Guelphs were themselves bitterly divided into two factions, Bianchi and Neri, the Black Guelphs and the White Guelphs. When the Black Guelphs seized power in Florence, all White Guelphs were banished in 1302, including Dante, with the threat of being burned alive if he ever returned.

Dante had married Gemma di Manetto Donati, with whom he had four children; Jacopo, Pietro, Giovanni and Antonia. Gemma remained in Florence after his exile. Years before his marriage it is said that Dante had fallen in love with Beatrice Portinari (d.1290) the young woman in his autobiographical Vita nuova (c1293) (The New Life);

“At that very moment, and I speak the truth, the vital spirit, the one that dwells in the most secret chamber of the heart, began to tremble so violently that even the most minute veins of my body were strangely affected; and trembling, it spoke these words: Ecce deus fortior me, qui veniens dominabitur michi.”

Dante traveled throughout Italy, for a time a guest of Malaspina, and there is some evidence that he also visited Paris and England. De vulgari eloquentia (1304) (On the Eloquence of Vernacular), though unfinished, is Dante’s Latin treatise on and support of the use of the vernacular in poetry. Convivio (c1304) (The Banquet) is a philosophical treatise;

“Since knowledge is the ultimate perfection of our soul, in which resides our ultimate happiness, we are all therefore by nature subject to a desire for it.” —Canto I

Dante’s autobiographical Inferno contains one of the most detailed and influential literary descriptions of Hell. Descending into a dark wood where the sun is silent and sinful temptations abound, he is guided by Virgil through the nine circles of Hell, the Gates which read;

“Through me the way is to the city dolent;
Through me the way is to eternal dole;
Through me the way among the people lost.
Justice incited my sublime Creator;
Created me divine Omnipotence,
The highest Wisdom and the primal Love.
Before me there were no created things,
Only eterne, and I eternal last.
All hope abandon, ye who enter in!” —Canto III

Having survived the torments of Hell Dante and Virgil set out for Purgatorio, ascending its mountain and seven terraces representing the Seven Deadly Sins. Beatrice joins him and together they journey through the nine spheres of Paradiso which ends;

“ But my own wings were not enough for this,
Had it not been that then my mind there smote
A flash of lightning, wherein came its wish.
Here vigour failed the lofty fantasy:
But now was turning my desire and will,
Even as a wheel that equally is moved,
The Love which moves the sun and the other stars.” —Canto XXXIII

De Monarchia (On Monarchy) (c1317) is Dante’s treatise on the relationship between Church and Empire;

“It is indeed an arduous task, and one beyond my strength, that I embark on, trusting not so much in my own powers as in the light of that Giver who "giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not”.—Canto I

Dante Alighieri died when living in the city of Ravenna in central Italy in 1321.

Biography written by C.D. Merriman for Jalic Inc. Copyright Jalic Inc. 2006. All Rights Reserved.


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Recent Forum Posts on Dante Alighieri

Why is Dante considered a great?

I don't want to seem like an ignorant teenager but I don't understand why Dante is considered as one of the 'greats'. Maybe I just read a bad translation but reading The Divine Comedy felt more like a chore than an enjoyable or enlightening read. :brickwall

Posted By Homers_child at Thu 4 Jun 2009, 6:36 PM in Alighieri, Dante || 15 Replies

Dantesque Movie Please

I think there should be some talented cinema director )it could be italian or american italian) could be doing a great movie by intance of Tha Divine Commedy. We are living turbulent times all sins are untied and shown.All crimes are justified ..all aberrations forgived...(by human justice) The Divine Commedy its about God Justice...understanding justice from an absolute perspective... misericordy isnt negligence... I would love to see a good movie inspired on Dantes ideas.the director could chose actors, the bests from all the countries...making universal casting to have only the best. Good brasilian, mexican, spanish, italian, greek,french, german,american actors to make the movie the new millenium is asking for.... I can think of many, still alive, actors to the shocking characters and theyr sins and punishments. So, if not now...:flare:

Posted By Ludmila607 at Tue 17 Feb 2009, 7:57 AM in Alighieri, Dante || 10 Replies

Robin Kirkpatrick's translation of the Divine Comedy?

I have been meaning to read Dante's Divine Comedy for a good couple of years, and recently received the Inferno for Christmas. Anyway, the edition I have is the relatively new Penguin Classics edition translated by Robin Kirkpatrick. I was just wondering if anyone here had encountered this translation, and if it was good\bad in comparison to other translations. Anyway I’m off to begin the (rather long) introduction...

Posted By crjs1 at Sun 18 Jan 2009, 4:34 PM in Alighieri, Dante || 0 Replies

Favorite Quotes from Dante's 'The Divine Comedy'

"Envy and Arrogance and Avarice Are the three sparks that have all hearts enkindled." (Canto VI, lines 74-75, page 33 "Lost are we, and are only so far punished, That without hope we live on in desire." (Canto IV, lines 41-42, page 20) Translation by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Posted By HunterBrown1968 at Sun 23 Dec 2007, 4:47 AM in Alighieri, Dante || 3 Replies

An English Translation Recommendation for 'La Divina Commedia'

I have hitherto perused both the Mendelbaum and the Carlyle-Wicksteed translations of 'La Divina Commedia'. The Mendlebaum translation is rather too modern and unpoetic for my fastidious self to ever relish. The Carlyle-Wicksteed translation, on the contrary, bears an essence that is far more antiquated (which I prefer), yet, is slightly more prosaic and less intelligible withal. Would anyone happen to know who penned the eldest translation of 'La Divina Commedia', and, moreover, the translation that may, to some degree, boast the following criteria: antiquated language, a semi-poetic essence, and, a pre-twentieth century production? Merci Grammaticus

Posted By Grammaticus at Sat 6 Oct 2007, 1:27 PM in Alighieri, Dante || 8 Replies

Should I read Virgil first?

I have all three part of the Divine Comedy in the John Cardi translation, and I have started the Inferno a couple of time a few years ago, but I have never finished it. I was wondering, should I read Virgil's Aeneid first?

Posted By TrickyRick at Mon 16 Apr 2007, 7:57 PM in Alighieri, Dante || 7 Replies

Translations of Dante

What translations of the Commedia would you reccomend? I just finished reading my second translation of the Commedia, by Robert Hollander on the Princeton Dante Project. My first was Dorothy L. Sayers' rhyming translation for Penguin (which I preferred, and occasionally revisit). And also, don't you hate it when the Commedia is translated into prose? I hate leafing through copies at bookstores and finding solid blocks of paragraphs, with no meter, no rhyme, and no rhythm staring up at me.

Posted By botkin at Wed 14 Feb 2007, 2:42 AM in Alighieri, Dante || 3 Replies

English Translation ?

Hi there :) I'm planning to re-read The Divine Comedy soon, and I would like to collect your opinions concerning English translations of it. My criteria would be affordability :D and, if possible, on-page annotions. What edition do you have, and would you recommend it ?

Posted By Schokokeks at Wed 31 Jan 2007, 8:04 AM in Alighieri, Dante || 6 Replies

More On: Dante's Vision and Mine

THE SIP Dante's Divina Commedia is an allegory of human life in the form of a vision of the world beyond the grave. It was written avowedly with the object of converting a corrupt society to righteousness: "to remove those living in this life from the state of misery and to lead them to a state of felicity." My own poetic opus contains a vision of the world beyond the grave, but it is not as systematic as Dante's, nor as concrete and certainly not set in a Christian framework. Given the extent to which the Bahá’í writings describe the afterlife, much more comprehensively than any previous religious revelation, there exists a basis for a theology of thanatos and the worlds, the kingdoms, beyond this one. I have drawn on this aspect of Bahá’í theology to some extent in my poetry thusfar and it is my intention to draw on it much more in the years ahead as I head into the late evening of my own life, from "this least of worlds to the high Heavens." Dante's Divina Commedia is composed of a hundred cantos written in the measure known as terza rima with its normally hendecasyllabic lines and closely linked rhymes. Measure, rhyme and metre are hardly given any thought in my work, a work I have entitled Pioneering Over Four Epochs. Dante so modified his work from the popular poetry of his day that his long poem may be regarded as his own invention. I also modified my work over the three decades I have been writing. I have modified it in such a way that poetry and prose mingle. Indeed I came to regard poetry and prose as one entity in different forms. Twenty years after the event, the vision which was granted to him for his own salvation while leading a sinful life, Dante began writing his Divina Commedia. The vision took place during the year of jubilee, 1300. For seven days, so went his vision, beginning on the morning of Good Friday he passed through hell, purgatory, and paradise, spoke with the souls in each realm, and heard what the Providence of God had in store for himself and his world. In the vision, Beatrice, representing divine philosophy illuminated by revelation, led him up through the nine moving heavens of intellectual preparation, into the true paradise, the spaceless and timeless empyrean, in which the blessedness of eternal life was found in the fruition of the sight of God. There her place was taken by St. Bernard who symbolized the loving contemplation of eternal life for the soul. St. Bernard commended Dante to the Blessed Virgin with whose intercession he was able to obtain a foretaste of the Beatific Vision. The poem closed with all powers of knowing and loving fulfilled and consumed in the union of the understanding with the Divine Essence and his will made one with the Divine Will-the Love that moved the sun and the other stars. I could construct a world of nine concentric circles to balance those down here, where in some high heavens I'd find my home & garden, mystical contemplation and light & sip forgiveness' cup.

Posted By Ron Price at Fri 26 Jan 2007, 4:06 AM in Alighieri, Dante || 0 Replies

dante alighieri and his love

I've heard of Dante and his works... Honestly, I didn't give much attention to it though many gave good complements on his works. I was more intrigue about his story and Beatrice...guys, can you help me? I want to know more about Dante and Beatrice. Can you tell me more about them?Please...thanks!!!

Posted By rhei_27 at Mon 5 Dec 2005, 12:41 AM in Alighieri, Dante || 4 Replies

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