How Did Dante Alighieri Use The Vernacular In The Epic?

Dante’s years of exile were years of difficult peregrinations from one place to another—as he himself repeatedly says, most effectively in Paradiso [XVII], in Cacciaguida’s moving lamentation that “bitter is the taste of another man’s bread and . . . heavy the way up and down another man’s stair.” Throughout his exile Dante nevertheless was sustained by work on his great poem. The Divine Comedy was possibly begun prior to 1308 and completed just before his death in 1321, but the exact dates are uncertain. In addition, in his final years Dante was received honourably in many noble houses in the north of Italy, most notably by Guido Novello da Polenta, the nephew of the remarkable Francesca, in Ravenna. There at his death Dante was given an honourable

Dante, the pilgrim, is surprised by invitation to be among the most respected and noted poets in the World. He was not boastful and didn’t even pride of the experience. Instead, felt unworthy to join but remembered that it was an invitation by another classical

"What is fame? Fame is but a slow decay  Even this shall pass away."  Theodore Tilton     The Divine Comedy, by Dante Alighieri, is a poem laden with such Christian themes as love, the search for happiness, and the desire to see God. Among these Christian themes, however, is Dante's obsession with and desire for fame, which seems to be a surprising departure from conventional medieval Christian morality. Indeed, as the poem progresses, a striking contradiction emerges. Dante the writer, in keeping with Christian doctrine, presents the desire for fame and glory among the souls of Inferno in order to replace it with humility among the souls of Purgatorio. Yet this purification of desire is not entirely embraced by Dante,

We see Dante’s first step is to acknowledge his inferiority to Virgil; it is to him he owes his modest authorial prowess. This sentiment is understandable indeed. It is only natural for Dante to have nothing but the utmost respect for the great poet who, having preceded him by thirteen hundred years, merits such treatment.

Domenico di Michelino (1417-1491), an Italian painter and medieval poet was known best for his epic poem, The Divine Comedy, which includes sections representing the three tiers of the Christian afterlife: Purgatory (Purgatorio), Hell (Inferno), and Paradise (Paradiso). This poem was a great work of medieval literature and was considered the greatest work of literature composed in Italian. The Divine Comedy was a Christian vision of mankind’s eternal fate. When The Divine Comedy was written, Dante made a cathedral painting that represents his poem called Dante and His Poem. In the painting, the Dante shows the 3 tiers related to the Christian afterlife. Dante was standing in a red robed colossus, revealing his poem to the city of Florence. The painting was full of great meaning, inspiring so many artists from Rodin to Robert Rauschenberg.

For The Divine Comedy, women act as both the initial force of inspiration and the final goal of the epic adventure — seen in Dante’s celebration of both Beatrice and the Virgin Mary (Paolucci, 140). The book opens with Dante pilgrim in a state of confusion, only to be instructed on the right path by Beatrice Portinari, Dante Alighieri’s love interest who has now come to life in The Inferno to act as motivator for his journey. It can

Alighieri, Dante. "The Divine Comedy, Inferno." Rpt. in The Norton Anthology of World Masterpieces. Ed. Mack Maynard. New York: W W Norton & Company, 1995. 1703-1829.

Dante presents the importance of reason and his admiration for the classics through extensive allusions to ancient literature, specifically Virgil’s Aeneid, and through the inclusion and appraisal of his other favorite classical poets. Dante makes his belief in the power of reason and faith clear from the beginning, as he, through Virgil’s words, describes sinners as “people who have lost the good of the intellect” (Inferno 2.16). Through this claim, the author brings forth the idea that reason is needed in order to prevent one from wrongdoing, as sin is the abandonment of reason in the face of achieving an immoral goal.

“My Guide and I crossed over and began to mount that little known and lightless road to ascend into the shinning world again.” The Inferno, by Dante Alighieri, is an epic poem, divine comedy, which was written in the 1500’s in Italian. Dante Alighieri lost his mother at a very young age and was exiled from his hometown, Florence when his group, the White Guelphs got into a disagreement with the Black Guelphs. Dante was a writer and greatly involved in politics which influenced him to write this epic poem. The story starts at with him meeting the ghost of Virgil, his idol, who becomes his guide for the remainder of the book and tries to escort Dante to heaven to be with his love, Beatrice.

In literature during the medieval and renaissance time a comedy meant that characters in a play, peom, or movie had to endure a hardship or disaster and the come to a happy ending. Comedy sometimes isn’t even a comedy, sometimes it has a deeper meaning. The significance of comedy in Dante`s Divine Comedy is that it stands up to the structural meaning of comedy. For example, it has a happing ending, which in most literature works, is the meaning of comedy.

His most famous piece of literature, The Divine Comedy, is said to be important also because of “It’s place in the history of the development of the Italian language'; (Dante: The Divine… Internet). To understand this we need to look at the language and writings at that time in history. During Dante’s lifetime different dialects of Italian were spoken in different parts of the country (Dante Alighieri, 1265-1321 Internet). Dante was a very skilled writer who wrote in both his Florentine Italian dialect and Latin, which was unusual since most scholarly writings at that time were in Latin (Dante Internet). Dante however believed that the language of one’s family was noble and he broke the traditions of those before him.

Often when we set out to journey in ourselves, we come to places that surprise us with their strangeness. Expecting to see what is straightforward and acceptable, we suddenly run across the exceptions. Just as we as self‹examiners might encounter our inner demons, so does Dante the writer as he sets out to walk through his Inferno. Dante explains his universe - in terms physical, political, and spiritual - in the Divine Comedy. He also gives his readers a glimpse into his own perception of what constitutes sin. By portraying characters in specific ways, Dante the writer can shape what Dante the pilgrim feels about each sinner. Also, the reader can look deeper in the text and examine the

Dante's `Divine Comedy', the account of his journey through hell, purgatory and heaven is one of the worlds great poems, and a prime example of a most splendidly realized integration of life with art. More than being merely great poetry, or a chronicle of contemporary events, which it also is, the `Comedy' is a study of human nature by a man quite experienced with it. The main argument I will make in this essay is that Dante's `Comedy' is chiefly a work of historical significance because in it lies the essence of human life across all boundaries of time and place. I feel that such a reading is justified, nay invited, by Dante himself when he says;

The Divine Comedy is much more than an epic poem depicting a man’s interpretation of Heaven, Hell, and Purgatory. Written by Italian poet, Dante Alighieri, the Divine Comedy frequently alludes to the political turmoil that was prevalent throughout 14th century Italy, specifically, the city of Florence. During this period of Italian history, there was a lack of a stable government and a power struggle between the Papacy and the Holy Roman Emperor. This paper will analyze the political aspects within the Divine Comedy and its connection to religion, focusing specifically on the Inferno.

The Divine Comedy is considered the greatest work of Dante. The author worked on it for many years and inserted all his internal and external experience in it. He called this poem a comedy meaning its middle style and a happy ending. The Divine Comedy is written in the genre of vision which was highly popular in medieval literature. In this genre, authors described people walking through torments. Dante modified greatly this genre, adding the whole universe to the abyss of Hell. Moreover, he goes personally through all the circles of the otherworldly place where he to his surprise comprehends such entities as truth, love, and beauty. The Divine Comedy is infused with the theme of love, which is especially noticeable when Dante enters Heaven and meets his beloved.