Dante

by Jackson W.-GMS

[[image:dante.jpg width="190" height="243" align="right"]]

 * __Dante's Early Years__ **

Durante degli Alighieri, also known to be called Dante, wrote the //Divine Comedy//. Dante had been born to a Florentine political family who would later influence his work, //The Inferno.// In his early years his mother died early, which started off a series of death that attributed to his thought process later in life to write //The Divine Comedy//. When Dante turned 12, his parents had arranged for him to marry Gemma Donati. In 1283, the pair had been married, but Dante had feelings for another woman, Beatrice Portinari. Dante had feelings for her before he was married at around age 9 (Biography.com). This woman would become a major part in Dante's mind and some even say that her character is the backbone of //The// //Divine Comedy////.// Beatrice did not have the same feelings for him though, as she married a banker named Simone dei Bardi in 1287. In 1290, his love. Beatrice, died unexpectedly. Five years later Dante published //Vita Nuava (The New Life)// which talked of his feelings for his deceased love, Beatrice. Beatrice had not been his wife though, he still had Gemma who he had married years earlier. Dante also lost his father the same year he married. Dante later joined the army and among all of his troubles, Dante still completed his education in 1282.

Dante had been part of a hostile political dispute between the Guelphs and the Ghibollenes which had attributed to his exile from Florence (www.shmoop.com). The Guelphs and the Ghibollenes had been two Italian factions well respected by the Pope. Dante was part of a family allied to the Guelphs but they had not been too nice to him as in 1302 they exiled him from Florence. The reason Dante was charged and put into exile was because he had been charged with barratary, the selling of political property. Dante had only been sentenced to two years of exile and fined. When Dante said he would not pay the fine, he had then been sentenced to death by absentia, which means he had been banished to die outside of the city of Florence. If Dante came back to Florence, he would be sentenced to death. These two factions actually played a role in Dante's //Divine Comedy.// When Dante had been in exile, he wrote his most famous work, the //Divine Comedy.// Being alone and exiled, Dante could trigger his inner thoughts and really express himself in his work. Dante also wrote a piece called //Convivio// or Banquet. He thought this could win him favor and he would be forgiven and allowed back into the city. This plan did not work. When Dante accepted that he would never return to Florence, he moved from place to place. Finally, he received an offer to return but he declined; he never set foot in Florence again.
 * __ His Exile __**


 * __ The Divine Comedy __**

The //Divine Comedy,// one of the most well known pieces of literature from the Middle Ages, tells the story tells of Dante going through Hell or //The Inferno// and then to //Purgatory// with the long dead poet Virgil. Virgil guides him through the 9 circles of Hell. Virgil, a poet who lived B.C,had been chosen by Dante. As Dante chose Virgil, he made a literary leap as Virgil was closely connected to Homer. As Dante describes, the 9 circles of Hell have some pretty famous figures. The first circle, Limbo, for unbaptized pagans and non-Christians, he finds Homer, Socrates, Aristotle, Cicero, Hippocretes, and Julius Caeser, punished to live in an inferior heaven. The second circle, for people overcome by lust, he describes that the ones in the circle are blown back and forth by a strong wind so they cannot find peace. Here he finds Cleopatra, Tristan, and Helen of Troy. The third circle, gluttony this will be where the prisoners will be looked over by a worm monster, Cerberus. The gluttons live in pit of mush, pelted by icy rain and have the inability to see each other. Dante speaks with one who tells him that the Guelphs will defeat the Ghillibenes. The fourth circle is greed who are divided into 2 groups, ones who hoarded and those who spent. They both are punished by having heavy weights pushed into their chest and are guarded by Pluto, the god of the Underworld in Greek mythology. Here Dante sees many popes and clergymen. The fifth circle ,anger, will be where they travel by boat and are guided down the River Styx by Phlegyas where they see the wrathful fighting each other to get to the surface of the river. Here they see an old enemy of Dante who took his land when he was exiled, Fillippo Argenti. The sixth circle ,heresy, here will be where the souls are banished to eternity in flaming tombs. Here Dante meets some Florentines, Farinata degli Uberti and Cavalcante de' Cavalcanti. The seventh circle is violence, divided into three rings one would be for murderous people and people who were viloent to people and property, here he sees Alexander the Great as he burns in a lake of blood and fire. The second ring holds suicides who are turned into trees and are being constantly attacked by harpies. In the third ring, this holds the blasphemers and sodomites who burn in hot sad and scolding rain. Here Dante finds his old friend Brunetto Latini who had been accused of homosexuality even though no historical records show this to be true. The eighth circle, fraud, had been where they ride on the back of Geryo, a monster who has many different natures. The circle, divided into 10 pits with different souls in each. The ninth and last circle is for treachery, which had been run by Lucifer himself. There are 4 rings of completely frozen ice. The first ring, named Caina after Cain who killed his brother, was the thinnest. The second, named Antenora after Anthenor of Troy, is the second thinnest. The third ring, named Ptolomaea after Ptolemy, son of Abubus, is the second thickest. The last and for the worst sins, named Judecca after Judas Iscariot after Judas who betrayed Jesus Christ with a kiss, had been the thickest of them all. Purgatory also has 9 stages, they had been stubbornness, repentant, pride, envy, wrath, sloth, avarice, gluttony, and lust. This had been the climb up Mount Purgatory which symbolizes the Christian path. Now we have reached the good part, Heaven. Now Virgil leaves and Dante would now be accompanied by his lost love Beatrice. The 9 spheres of Heaven would be the Moon, Mercury, Venus, the Sun, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Fixed Stars, and Primum Mobile. (All information in this subtopic was found at http://historylists.org/art/9-circles-of-hell-dantes-inferno.html).


 * __ Death __**

Dante had moved around a lot but the last place he permanent stay was in Ravenna. While traveling in Venice, the poet caught some sort of disease -possibly malaria- but he returned to Ravenna (www.shmoop.com). He had caught malaria. Dante died in September of 1321. He was buried in San Pier Maggiore's Church in Ravenna. The place that banished him from their city, Florence wanted him to buried in his hometown, but Ravenna refused and he rested their until 1865 where his remains were dug up and stolen. In 1878 all of his remains were brought back to Ravenna. Even his death mask had been found. This had been placed on Dante's face as he died to show his last expressions before going to the places he visited in the //Divine Comedy.//

__** His Legacy **__

Dante lives on in modern literature. His work in the //Divine Comedy,// simply astounding. He has a statue in Florence, the city that once told him that if he came back, he would be executed. //The Canterbury Tales,// the first record of writing in the common Anglo-Saxon vernacular gave us a taste of what would come. Chaucer, credited for being the father of our common vernacular, wrote //The Canterbury Tales//. But if you go to Italy, Dante would be credited for being the father of the Italian common vernacular becasue of the //Divine Comedy,// written in Italian and not Latin which had been what most people wrote books in during Dante's time. His work with the //Divine Comedy// and especially //The Inferno// are still talked about and inspired movies and video games. His work can still be found in high school lesson plans. In all, Dante will always be an influential writer with a very influential work in the //Divine Comedy//.

__** Works Cited **__

https://sites.google.com/site/scaffoldedreading/home/why-virgil

//Dante Aligheri World Book Encyclopedia Ed 1 Vol 5 Pg 34//

http://www.shmoop.com/dante/timeline.html

http://www.biography.com/people/dante-9265912

http://historylists.org/art/9-circles-of-hell-dantes-inferno.html

__** Pictures Cited **__

https://www.wikiart.org/en/jean-leon-gerome/dante-he-hath-seen-

http://www.bestinfographics.co/dantes-inferno-nine-circles-of-hell-infographic/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/codename/12037774025