Dante Alighieri1265-1321

"Dante and Shakespeare divide the modern world between them. There is no third." (T. S. Elliott)

Dante•Dante Alighieri is generally considered the greatest of Italian poets•With the comic storyteller Boccaccio and the poet Petrarch, he forms the classic trio of Italian authors.•His reputation is primarily based upon The Divine Comedy.

Book Information• Title: The Inferno• From: The Divine

Comedy• Author: Dante

Alighieri• Date: 1314 (ish)• Genre: Epic Poem

Dante Alighieri – the formative years . . .• Born 1265– Rich & well connected family– Raised Roman Catholic in

Florence• Educated in both Christian

and Classical works such as the Bible, Virgil’s Aeneid, and the works of Aristotle

Dante• His mother died when he was young.• His father, whom he rarely mentioned, remarried and

had two more children.• As a young man served in the army and

eventually received appointments as an ambassador

• Was writing poetry, getting famous, and becoming an important person within the city of Florence . . .

Medieval Florence

Medieval Florence, Italy

• Pop. 100,000• Tightly Packed: Socially Diverse- Nobility,

Middle Class, and Poor lived close together. • Intensely Political Issues– 1215 two families quarreled over an arranged

marriage.– Factions also argued over political power.

The Guelphs & Ghibellines

• Florence was a city divided by two groups: the Guelphs and Ghibellines.

• Dante and his family were aligned with the Guelphs.– The Guelphs- Supported the Pope as a political as

well as religious authority.– The Ghibellines- Supported the German Emporer

as Leader. • Prior to 1300, the Guelphs gained political

control of the city.

Medieval Florence, Italy

• Pop. 100,000• Tightly Packed: Socially Diverse- Nobility,

Middle Class, and Poor lived close together. • Intensely Political Issues– 1215 two families quarreled over an arranged

marriage.– Factions also argued over political power.

The Guelphs & Ghibellines

• Florence was a city divided by two groups: the Guelphs and Ghibellines.

• Dante and his family were aligned with the Guelphs.– The Guelphs- Supported the Pope as a political as

well as religious authority.– The Ghibellines- Supported the German Emporer

as Leader. • Prior to 1300, the Guelphs gained political

control of the city.

• In around 1299, The Guelphs broke up into two groups over the power of the Pope in Florence– White Guelphs (anti-Pope) Dante– Black Guelphs (pro-Pope)

• In 1301 the Black Guelphs defeated the White Guelphs and took over Florence

• In 1302, Dante was charged with hostility against the Pope and sentenced to being burned at the stake for his involvement with the White Guelphs.

• He fled his beloved Florence and spent the rest of his days in Exile.

Dante in Exile

• From 1302 until his death in 1321, exiled from Florence– His wife chose to stay in Florence with

their children and he never was able to see them again

– Think of Romeo’s exile from Verona• Moved about from court to court and

stayed as a guest to various princes during his time in exile

• It was during his exile that he wrote The Divine Commedia, a poem which recounted his journey through Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise– The Inferno was so realistic that people were

heard to mutter, “There is the one who passed through hell unscathed” as he passed by

• Began the Divine Comedy in 1307• Ended in 1320 • Died 1321 in Ravenna, Italy

Basic Questions

• Why Does Man Act the Way he does?• What is the Nature of Good and Evil? • Why should anyone be Good?• What is Justice?• How should Man be Governed?• How does Spiritual Transformation occur?• Why read or write Poetry? What is Art and

what is it for?

Medieval Period: 14th Century• Accepted Concepts/Truths: Polarity- Extreme

opposites.– 1. Church vs. State (Pope vs. Emperor)

• German Emperor Frederick Hohenstaufen tried to assert control around 1220.

– 2. Theology (Religion) vs. Philosophy (Science and Math)

– 3. Brutish man vs. Angelic Man (Man is ½ way between Angels and Animals)

– 4. High Language (Latin) vs. Low Language (Vernacular)

– Personal realism (Life-like) vs. Symbolism (allegory)

Roman Catholic Background

• 3 Divisions of Afterlife

1. Hell2. Purgatory3. Heaven

Hierarchy of the Spiritual World- BASED ON THE ASTRONOMY OF THE TIME.

1. Moon2. Mercury3. Venus4. Sun5. Mars6. Jupiter7. Saturn8. Starry heaven9. Prime Mobile10. Empyrean

Dante’s Vision of the Afterlife

• The closer you are to God- the closer will be your eternal resting place in the afterlife.

• Hell: Center of the Earth (farthest from God)• Purgatory: Mountain of Earth• Heaven: Highest Point of the Mountain

(closest to God)

The Divine Comedy

• Three Divisions1. Inferno2. Purgatorio3. Paradiso

Language and Style• Low Style: Bawdy language/slang; grotesque imagery.• High Style: Elevated language. Poetic.• Academic Language: Latin• Vernacular: Italian• Dante Used: Italian, Vernacular• Use of Language follows journey: Low to High. • 14th Century Slang: Dante’s use of slang was shocking

to his audiences.• Polarity of Language: Shows the various possibilities

of language

THE INFLUENCE OF ARISTOTLE

Influence of Aristotle

• During the Middle Ages, Aristotle was the one classical philosopher that the Europeans kept studying

• His focus on precision, categorizing, and detail became the hallmarks of scholarship during the Middle Ages– Everything has a place– Each detail builds on the next

• “The Great Chain of Being”– Idea formed during the Middle Ages, influenced by Aristotelian

logic– Everything is connected, like links in a chain, from the lowliest

element to God sitting on the throne of Heaven; every creation has its place and they are all ordered from worst to best

The Great Chain of Being

Aristotle’s Definition of Tragedy“A tragedy is the imitation of an action that is serious and also,

as having magnitude, complete in itself; in appropriate and pleasurable language;… in a dramatic rather than narrative form; with incidents arousing pity and fear, wherewith to accomplish a catharsis of these emotions.”

• Aristotle’s argument is that a tragedy was a work in elevated language that started happily and ended in horror.

Dante’s Comedy turns that definition on its head.

Comedy: Has a successful ending (no one dies)

• For Dante, comedy meant a work written in unadorned language that started in sorrow and ended in joy.