Dante Alighieri

Patricio Díaz Room
Dante Alighieri
Dante Alighieri was an Italian poet that was born in Florence at 1265 during the middle ages. He was the son of Alighiero di Bellincioni, and Gabriela Degli Abati. He had a younger sister. When he was 7 years old, his mother died, as a result his father married again and had 2 siblings with Lapa di Chiarissimo. He wrote “The Divine Comedy”, this poem is thestory of the soul’s journey to salvation, it is divided in three main sections: Hell Inferno, Purgatory Purgatorio, and Paradise Paradiso.
This lengthy poem talks about the “travel” of Dante through the hell, purgatory and paradise, with the help of guides, sent by the Virgin Mary. In the hell and the purgatory Dante is guided by Virgilio, roman playwright who wrote “The Eneida”
In the paradise, heis guided by Beatriz a woman in which Dante was in love, but in the real life, she did not corresponds him.
Purgatory is described by Dante as a “Mountain of 7 circles” which is a place of temporary suffering. Then Dante goes out of the purgatory, crying because of saying goodbye to Virgilio.
Then, the paradise is divided in skys which are represented by planets.
At the end Dante discovers whatcan happen to him if he does not follow the god´s laws.

This is important, because is one of the fundamental works in the transition from the Middle Ages, to the Renaissance, and it is considered as the masterpiece of Italian literature.

In the Middle Age, Italy was not unified as a country; there were many regions with their own government. Anyway, the church had a great influence on thoseregions, with a great military and political power. At the time, Florence was a really important city, although the political ideology was divided. The “Ghibelilinis” supported the Holy Roman Emperor, and the “Guelphs” supported the pope. Dante’s family supported the pope, and that’s why Dante studied in convent schools.

The medieval thoughts are called theocentric, because god is the center of theintellectual life; it means that god is the explanation of all the questions of the human beings.
However, in the century XIV more people started to believe in the philosophy, in the study and in spreading the faith and reason, and begin to divide the culture and forget the idea of rationalizing the faith.
On the other hand, the changes to Renaissance thinking, express freedom, as well as renew ofeverything created and change traditions and ways of life. Also in Renaissance thinking, the human is the center of the world, instead of God.
Not many things are known about the education of Dante, although his books reflect a wide intellect contrasted with almost all the knowledge of the time. In its early days he received a great influence of the works of the philosopher and rhetoricianBrunetto Latini.
By 1285 he was in Bologna, and is supposed to have studied at the University of that City.
In 1289 he was part of the Guelph army of the city of Florence, who fought in the battle of Campaldino, in which the Guelphs defeated the Ghibellines of Pisa and Arezzo. At the same time he married Gemma di Manetto Donati, belonging to a prominent Guelph family florentin.
In the followingparagraphs we will talk about some important passages during Dante life:
When Dante was 9 years old, he fell in love with his neighbor Beatrice Portinari. Beatrice became Dante’s inspiration and lifelong love. Anyway, they did not become very close although Dante loved her for life. At the time, the parents married their children based on economic or political factors, so when he was 12 years old, Dantepromised marriage to Gemma Donati.

When Dante was 18 years old he married Gemma, shortly after his father died. Together, they had Jacopo, Pietro, Giovanni, Gabrielle and Antonia. Without any mother or father, Dante found a mentor in Brunetto Latini and Guido Cavalcanti, from which Dante learned literature and public affairs. Later, he became part of a Tuscan poets circle. This circle had a...