DanteBorn in Florence, 1265

At age nine, he meets Beatrice Portinari, whom he loves from afar for the next 16 years.

After Beatrice’s death in 1290, she becomes a symbol of perfection in many of Dante’s writings.

Dante becomes involved in complex Florentine politics, ultimately choosing the losing side in a power struggle.

He is banished in 1301, never to return to Florence.

He dies in 1321 in Ravena, where his bones still rest despite entreaties from Florence to have them returned.

CommediaDante was a prolific writer, but all of his other works are dominated by the scope and endurance of the Commedia (Divina Commedia--the Divine Comedy).

The poem is written in the Italian vernacular--an oddity for a work of this type written at this time.

The poem is a comedy because it ends happily and it deals with Mankind on a social level.

The poem is broken into three parts:InfernoPurgatorioParadiso

Some critics view the poem as an epic because of its vast scale and intent.

Most critics, however, call it an allegory of the Christian journey.

Allegory: a work whose setting, characters, and actions represent abstract concepts apart from the literal meaning of the work. The entire work takes on symbolic meaning.

The number 3 dominates the poem.

Each of the 3 sections contains 33 cantos (songs). Inferno contains an extra introduction canto, bringing for a total of 100 cantos--a perfect number.

The poem is written in a 3-line stanza: terza rima. The Rhyme Scheme is A B C D

B C D EA B C D

Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vitami retrovai per una selva oscurache la diritta via era smarrita

Ah, quanto a dir qual era e cosa duraesta selva selvaggia e aspira e forteche nel pensier rinova la paura!

Tant’e amara che poco e piu mortema per trattar del ben ch’io vi trovai,diro dell’altre cose chi’i’ v’ho scorte.

There are 3 Guides on the journey: Virgil takes the pilgrim through Inferno

and part of Purgatorio.Beatrice takes him through Purgatorio and

a portion of Paradiso.St. Bernard completes the passage

through Paradiso.

There are 3 different manifestations of Dante:

Dante-the-Poet: the actual living man who penned the poem.

Dante-the-Narrator: the first-person story-teller who recounts his adventures in the 3 realms of the Afterlife. He is a fictionalized creation of the poet.

Dante-the-Pilgrim: the innocent character who is on the journey and who experiences the horrors and wonders with new eyes. He is a fictionalized creation of the narrator.

InfernoThis first Book of the Commedia is the most interesting and widely read. Readers find it the most imaginative and appealing of the three.

The Roman poet Virgil--the embodiment of poetic perfection to the Medieval Europeans--guides the Pilgrim Dante through the 9 regions of the Underworld.

It is appropriate that Virgil, who had Aeneas take a journey to Hades, is the guide on Dante’s descent archetype.

Dante’s trip is an allegorical descent into one self. It is an internal as well as external journey