Divine Comedy Summary Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) wrote his epic poem, the Divine Comedy, during the last thirteen years of his life (circa 1308-21), while in exile from his native Florence. There are three parts to this massive work: Inferno, Purgatory and Paradise. In each section Dante the poet recounts the travels of the Pilgrim-his alter ego-through hell, purgatory, and heaven, where he meets God face to face. The primary theme is clear. In a letter to his patron, Can Grande della Scala, Dante wrote that his poem was, on the literal level, about "The state of souls after death." It is, of course, that and much more. The poem works on a number of symbolic levels, much like the Bible, one of its primary sources. Like that sacred text, Dante meant his work and his Pilgrim traveler to serve as models for the reader. He hoped to lead that reader to a greater understanding of his place in the universe and to prepare him for the next life, for the life that begins after death. The greatness of the Divine Comedy lies in its construction as a summa, or a summation of knowledge and experience. Dante was able to weave together pagan myth, literature, philosophy; Christian theology and doctrine, physics, astrology, cartography, mathematics, literary theory, history, and politics into a complex poem that a wide audience, not just the highly educated, could read. For Dante boldly chose to write his poem of salvation in his own Italian dialect, not in Latin, which was the language of Church, State, and epic poetry during his time. Its impact was so great that Dante's Tuscan dialect became what we recognize as modern Italian. As one of the greatest works, not just of the late Middle Ages, but of world literature in its entirety, the influence of the Divine Comedy has been incalculable. The poem was immediately successful- Dante's own sons, Pietro and Jacopo, wrote the first commentaries on it-and it continues to be read and taught today. Many of western literature's major figures were indebted to Dante's masterwork. A highly selective list includes: Giovanni Boccaccio (1313-75); Geoffrey Chaucer (circa 1344-1400); Don Inigo Lopez de Mendoza, the first Marques de Santillana (1389-1458); John Milton (1608-74); William Blake (1757-1827); Victor Hugo (1802-85); Joseph Conrad (Teodor Josef Konrad Korzeniowski) (1857-1924); James Joyce (1882-1941); Ezra Pound (1885-1972); Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986); and Italo Calvino (1923-85).
About the Author: Dante Alighieri, or simply Dante ( May 14/ June 13, 1265 - September 14, 1321), was an Italian poet from Florence. His central work, the Commedia (Divine Comedy), is considered the greatest literary work composed in the Italian language and a masterpiece of world literature. In Italian he is known as "the Supreme Poet" (il Sommo Poeta). Dante and the Divine Comedy have been a source of inspiration for artists for almost seven centuries. Dante, with Petrarch and Boccaccio are also known as "the three fountains". Dante is also called the "the Father of the Italian language". The first biography written on him was by his contemporary Giovanni Villani. The most famous section in La Divina Commedia is the first third of it, the first 34 cantos of the poem, called Inferno, which is Dante's vision of hell. Life Dante Alighieri was born in 1265, between May 14 and June 13, under the name "Durante Alighieri." ca. 1450 (Uffizi Gallery). His family was important in Florence, and supported the Papacy. The poet's mother was Bella degli Abati. She died when Dante was 7 years old, and Alighiero soon married again, to Lapa di Chiarissimo Cialuffi. Lapa had two children, Dante's brother Francesco and sister "Tana" ( short version of "Gaetana"). Dante fought in the front of the Guelph troops in the battle of Campaldino (June 11, 1289). After the victory Dante gained an important part in public life. When Dante was 12, in 1277, he married Gemma di Manetto Donati. Dante had already fallen in love with another girl, Beatrice Portinari that is mentioned same in "Divine Comedy", (known also as Bice). Years after Dante's marriage to Gemma he met Beatrice again. He had become interested in writing poems. Dante had six children with Gemma: Jacopo, Pietro, Giovanni, Gabrielle Alighieri, and Antonia.