Dante Alighieri Essay -- Poet Poetry Dante Biographies Essays

Dante Alighieri Dante Alighieri was the first and best Italian poet and wrote chiefly on passionateness and religion. His Divine clowning is considered the greatest book of the last millennium. George Steiner said, Dantes totality of poet form and philosophic thought, of local universality and language, remains unrivaled. At a time where the notion of culture and of European culture in p cheaticular, is somewhat in doubt, Dante is the sovereign underwriter. His are the solutions beyond logic (Twito 5).On June 5, 1265 Dante was born Durante Alighieri, Dante was a nickname, in Florence, Italy. His family was of decayed nobility with some pretensions to military group (Giles 1). He was taught the classics and scholastic Christian literature, and wrote much poetry when he was young, consisting mainly of love lyrics in the style of Guido Guinizelli and Guido Cavalcanti. This style that used poetical art not only to speak about love, but to celebrate it, he called Stilnovo which means new style (Giles 2).He fell in love with a woman named Beatrice, who was also called Bice di Folco Portinarti by some, whom he met only in two ways in 1274 and 1283 at the age of nine and eighteen respectively. His love was a transformation of courtly love popularized by the Provencal literature of minstrels, troubadours, and the such. To Dante, Beatrice symbolized inspired grace and supreme beauty. He wrote La Vita Nuova about her, and she was his guide through and through Purgatory in La Divina Commedia (Auerbach 1). Because Beatrice died in 1290, Dante married Gemma di Manetto Donati even though he didnt completely love her. They had between three and seven children unneurotic (Giles 1). Dante, who was in the Guelph party, was deeply involved in the issues and events of his day, which reflected in his writing. He was a member of the Florentine cavalry that routed the Ghibellines at Campaldio in 1289. In 1300 he became one of the six priors, or governor s, of Florence (Mojana 56). At the beginning of the thirteenth century, political life was factionalized into the Ghibellines, who represented the old imperial aristocracy, and the Guelphs, a party that was earlier bourgeois and looked to the pope as a political power alternatively than a spiritual leader. At the beginning of the 14th century, the Guelphs held most councils in Italy. The Guelfi split into two groups, t... ...s to understand or accept (Benfell 7). 1Dantes life spanned the troubled years of the late Middle Ages. He influenced Longfellow, Tennyson, master Hugo, and T.S. Elliot (Benfell 15). Dantes vision was born not so much from a literary intent as from an authentic experience of action and thought, lit in a moment of grace. Along with William Shakespeare, he is one of the eminent figures of western literature (Cooksey 35).Works CitedAuerbach, Erich. Dante Alighieri. Grolier Encyclopedia Online 11 Oct 2000 Available http//go.grolier.comBenfell, V. Stanley . sibyllic Madness The Bible in Inferno. MLIV Jan 1995 v110 n1 p195 Online Internet Oct 00 Available http//rac.galegroup.com/itar/infomark/199/241.htmCooksey, Tina. The Divine Comedy Hell, Purgatory, Heaven. Library Journal 1Sep. 1997 181-183Giles, Mary E. Dante Alighieri. Great Thinkers of the Western gentleman 1999 ed.Lansing, Richard H. Dante Alighieri. World Book 1999 ed.Mojana, Beeky M. Dante Benets Readers Encyclopedia. 1987 ed.Twito, Dao Dante Alighieri on the Web 8 May 1997 Online Internet 9 Oct 2000 Available http//www.geocities.com/1kurio/