Dante Alighieri A True Legend

Dante Alighieri was born in 1265 in Florence, Italy to Alighiero Bellincione and Donna Bella Abati. He is studies many subjects like Tuscan poetry, painting and music at Franciscan School. Later, he studies at the University of Bologna.

When he lost his father, the Poet Brunetto Latini became Dante’s guardian and mentor. Dante was heavily influenced by his work. Dante became a leader of the movement called The Sweet new Style.

The idea behind joining the movement was to use personal and political topics in his poetry. He started writing professionally in 1283. His first work was called The New Life. He Wrote this in Italian. The book took him twelve years to complete and was finally published in 1295.

Dante soon fell in love with Beatrice portinari. She was muse for Dante’s most famous work The Divine Comedy.

The divine comedy was the most significant literary narrative produced in the medieval period. It was based on Dante’s own experience of exile from his native city of Florence. It was a tree part poem which was divided into Inferno, Purgatorio and paradise. Bt the time his finished The Divine Comedy, it was composed of more than 14,233 lines.

The Divide Comedy was a story about the journey through hell, purification, paradise and the journey of the soul towards God. The poet was well-known for its content and it was revolutionary in its own way. Dante was the first poet to write on Christianity. The Divine Comedy became so popular that it the basis for the Italian style.

Thus, Dante influenced the course of literary development. He then turned his interests to philosophy and created some of the most important work.

Later on, he became a doctor and pharmacist and his launched his political career. As a politician, he achieved very little success, but he held various positions over the year in the city.

In 1302, Dante was exiled from Florence by the Black Guelph’s, the political leaders at the time. Dante traveled a lot during his exile. While traveling, he wrote many works including The Eloquent Vernacular (between 1302-1305).

In the book, he used Italian spoken words, which established Italian as an important literary language. He argued that the vernacular ought to be given the same respect and importance as the Latin language. This book became influential even before it was published.

Dante lived in Bologna for a few years, until Florentine exiles were banished and he moved on a Padua. When Dante wrote about his exile against the Florence government, he was exiled permanently from Florence.

In 1315, the government insisted that ex patriots were required to play a heavy fine and had to go through public punishment.

Dante remain in exile and refused to pay a fine. He was a politician and holder of government offices, about which very few people know. But it was politics that got him into trouble and led him to his exile from his own country.

Dante worked as a member of the White Guelph political party, who were liberal minded. Pope Boniface VIII never like Dante, so he made false charges against Dante, However, Dante never showed up to defend himself of clarify the issues. So, he was ordered to be burnt at stake, but this never materialized.    

An arrangement was made when Dante was around twelve years old that he would marry Gemma Donati, the daughter of a family friend. In 1285, they got married and had four children. But, Dante had been in love with another woman called Beatrice portinari for years. She had a significant influence on Dante’s works.