Dante was born in
Dante was 9 years old when he first saw Beatrice Portinari who was a year younger. He immediately and forever became infatuated with her even though he rarely saw her afterward.
As a teenager, Dante became familiar with the poetry of troubadours from Provence with its emphasis on courtly and one-sided “love.” He also appreciated the Roman poet Virgil (70 BC-AD 19) and essayist Cicero (106-43 BC).
After Dante turned 18, he saw Beatrice again and his infatuation for her intensely deepened. Still he never exchanged more than public greetings with her and she never knew of his feelings.
Dante married Gemma Donati around 1285. Beatice married another man in 1287.
On June 11, 1289, Dante fought as part of the Florentine cavalry in a brief battle near Poppi, a city about 25 miles (40 km) east of
Beatrice died in 1290. In response, Dante buried himself in classical philosophy, especially The Consolation of Philosophy (524) by Boethius (480-524) and On Friendship (44 BC) by
In 1301, Florentine rulers sent Dante and other delegates 175 miles (280 km) southeast to
Dante then lived in various cities, which may have included
Around this time, and perhaps as early as 1308, Dante started writing what would become his only work of world-historical significance: The Divine Comedy. In 1318, Dante accepted an invitation from the ruler of
The structure of The Divine Comedy was deeply influenced by the theology of Thomas Aquinas. The book describes Dante’s journey through Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven. On this journey he is guided first by Virgil and then by Beatrice. Surprisingly, Dante did not write the poem in Latin but in the regional Florentine dialect of Italian. Because of the poem’s range, depth, and beauty, Dante’s dialect became the normative expression of the Italian language. The poem is called a comedy because of its profoundly happy ending: Dante’s vision of God.
Copyright © 2013 by Steven Farsaci.
All rights reserved. Fair use encouraged.
All rights reserved. Fair use encouraged.