DANTE ALIGHIERI: BIOGRAPHY AND LITERARY CONTRIBUTIONS - LITERATURE - 2024

Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) was a Florentine poet of the thirteenth and sixteenth centuries, the author of the Divine Comedy, a bulwark of universal literature, among other poetic and philosophical works that marked the transition between medieval theocentric thought and the literary Renaissance.

He is considered one of the fathers of Italian literature, along with Francesco Petrarca and Giovanni Bocaccio, who published important writings in Italian at a time when even the great literary works were published in Latin (the lingua franca at the time).

Dante Alighieri. Source: UnknownUnknown, British School, via Wikimedia Commons

At that time, Italian and the other Romance languages ​​(derived from Latin) were considered vulgar and not conducive to poetic and intellectual expression.

Biography

Birth, education and youth

Dante Alighieri's date of birth is not exactly known, but it is around May or June 1265, thanks to some allusions that the same author reflects in the Vita Nova and in the Divine Comedy.

It is known, however, that he was baptized on March 26, 1266 in the Baptistery of San Giovanni in Florence. It was during a collective act, and it was given the name of Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri.

Loss of parents

His parents were Alighiero de Bellincione and Gabriella degli Abati, belonging to the Florentine bourgeoisie and followers of the Guelph party. At an early age, when he was about five or six years old, his mother passed away and a few years later so did his father.

Guardianship of Latini and Calvancanti

During his childhood and adolescence, he was tutored in his hometown by the writers Brunetto Latini and Guido de Calvancanti. These men markedly influenced the development of humanistic thought in the poet and in his work in the manner of the Dolce stil nuovo. With Calvancanti he established a long friendship.

It is believed that most of his education was obtained from home, studying Tuscan poetry and the various languages ​​then used in the different states that made up Italy.

Between approximately 1285 and 1287 he lived in Bologna for a period and it is presumed that he enrolled in the university of that city.

His first meeting with Beatriz

In 1274, when he was 9 years old, he saw Beatriz Portinari for the first time, who was barely a year younger. It is believed that she was the daughter of Folco Portinari, from a wealthy family and founder of the Ospedale di Santa Maria Nuova, the main hospital in Florence at that time.

As recounted in the Vita Nova, Dante loved her from the first meeting, although he never established any kind of relationship with her. It is believed that he only saw her on a few occasions. After that first meeting, 9 years passed until Dante found her again, when Beatriz was 18 years old.

Death of Beatrice and marriage of Dante

Beatriz married the banker Simone dei Bardi in 1287 and died in 1290. After her death, Dante devoted himself to the study of philosophical issues. In 1291 he married Gemma Donati, another Florentine lady, to whom he had been engaged since he was a teenager. They had four children: Jacopo, Pietro, Antonia and Juan.

Political life and exile

After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, Italy was fragmented into a series of small states in constant conflict and instability. There were two opposing sides: The Guelphs and the Ghibellines. The former supported the Pontificate and the latter the Holy Roman Empire.

Dante, like his father, supported the cause of the Florentine Guelph Knights. Later, when the Güelfo party split, Dante militated with the White Guelphs, led by Vieri dei Cerchi.

The White Guelphs sought the independence of the Florentine state from papal power. Their counterparts were the Black Guelphs, followers of Corso Donati.

Dante and the pharmacy

Dante became a doctor and pharmacist to rise in status in society. At that time it was necessary that the nobles and bourgeoisie who belonged to political life, and had aspirations to public office, were in one of the guilds of the Corporazioni di Arti e Mestieri, which is why Alighieri joined the union of apothecaries.

An intense political activity

From 1284 he actively participated in the political conflicts that occurred in Florence, such as the siege of Poggio di Santa Cecilia in 1285 and the battle of Campaldino in 1289.

In that same year he was part of the bodyguards of the grandson of Carlos I of Sicily, Carlos Martel de Anjou-Sicilia, during his stay in Florence.

In 1295 he was a participant in the Special Council of the People and later was appointed as part of the council in charge of electing the priors.

In 1300 he was elected as one of the six highest-ranking magistrates in Florence and traveled to fulfill a diplomatic assignment to San Gimignano, in favor of a peace agreement that would prevent the occupation of Florence by Pope Boniface VIII.

Control of the Black Guelphs and banishment

However, the Black Guelphs managed to control Florence and eliminate their enemies, while Dante was held in Rome against his will.

As a result of the above, in 1301, Dante was exiled from his hometown for two years. In addition to that, a large fine was imposed that the poet refused to pay, for which he was sentenced to perpetual exile, with a death warrant if he returned to the city. Later this sentence was extended to his descendants.

Travel in exile

During exile he traveled to Verona, Liguria, Lucca, and other Italian cities. It is believed that he also stayed in Paris for a period, around 1310-1312. His wife stayed in Florence to prevent their property from being taken away.

The exile of Florence meant great suffering in Dante's life. Throughout his life, conflicts in the city persisted. In 1310, Henry VII of Luxembourg invaded Italy and Dante saw a possibility to return, but it was thwarted after the king's death in 1313.

Negotiation of return and death

After this, he was offered a couple of opportunities to return, but they required submission to public derision as a criminal, in addition to the cancellation of large fines. Dante refused to return on those terms.

Dante Alighieri's tomb. Source: By Petar Milošević, from Wikimedia Commons

Towards the end of his life he resided in Ravenna, as the guest of Guido Novello de Polenta. He died in 1321 at 56 years of age.

Beatrice in Dante's work

Both his life and his literary work were marked by devotion to Beatriz Portinari, a lady from Florence who died at an early age. Dante knew her during his childhood and youth. Beatriz was idealized by the poet in the Vita Nova and the Divine Comedy.

This great love was the starting point for Dante to connect with what the historian and politician Francesco de Sanctis would later call Dolce stil nuovo ("Sweet new style").

The Dolce stil nuovo was a lyrical style with which a group of Italian poets of the second half of the 13th century were identified. These developed the theme of love as a purifying and ennobling fact for the spirit, with clear Neoplatonic and neo-Aristotelian influences.

Dante's most transcendent work was the Divine Comedy, a three-part epic written in hendecasyllable verses. This text narrates the journey of Dante, guided by Virgilio, through hell, purgatory and paradise, where he meets his beloved Beatrice.

It is a writing loaded with religious, cabalistic and philosophical symbolism in which countless historical and mythological characters make their appearance. The Commedia has been studied through the centuries and has been considered to be of immense verbal and allegorical richness. It has been translated into 25 languages.

Literary contributions

The most important works bequeathed by Dante Alighieri were the Vita Nova, De Vulgari Eloquentia and the Divine Comedy. However, there are other writings of his authorship such as the treatises Convivium and De Monarchia and some eclogues.

Vita nova

The Vita Nova (“New Life”) dates from around 1293, shortly after Beatriz Portinari's death. They are a set of poems interspersed with autobiographical prose texts that narrate his encounters with Beatriz and her songs of love.

It is in these texts that Dante shows off his handling of Dolce stil nuovo, in terms of structure and theme. It consists of 31 poems (including 25 sonnets, three songs and a ballad), interspersed with 42 prose texts that are explanatory narratives of the songs.

The themes that are exposed are love as a fact that fills the soul of the lover with virtue, the exaltation of the beloved that gives meaning to the life of the poet and the death and transcendence of the beloved, who is Beatriz.

In the Vita Nova Dante narrated how he obtained immense happiness when Beatriz greeted him when he met her for the second time at 18 years old. However, he decided not to reveal his feelings and wooed another lady, so Beatriz withdrew her greeting.

Dante had a vision of Love in dreams and it revealed the death of Beatriz in a prophecy. Dante managed to recover Beatriz's greeting and after her death, once convinced that he did not love any other, he decided to consecrate his life and his poetry to the praise of his beloved.

By Vulgari Eloquentia

The poet and his work have been plastically represented by Rafael Sanzio, Giotto, Domenico di Michelino, Andrea del Castagno, Gustave Doré, Sandro Botticelli, William Blake, Miguel Ángel, Auguste Rodin, Salvador Dalí, among others.

They have also been represented in musical pieces, such as Franz Liszt's "Dante Symphony", and many others by Gioacchino Antonio Rossini, Robert Schumann, etc. Also, in literary and theatrical works from the Renaissance to the present day.

References

1. Dante Alighieri. (S. f.). (N / a): Wikipedia. Recovered: wikipedia.org
2. Dante Alighieri. (S. f.). (N / a): Biographies and Lives, the online biographical encyclopedia. Recovered: biografiasyvidas.com
3. Dante Alighieri, birth and death of a poet. (S. f.). (N / a): National Geographics Spain. Recovered: nationalgeographic.com
4. Dante Alighieri. (S. f.). (N / a): Search Biographies. Recovered: Buscabiografias.com
5. Dante Alighieri. (S. f.). (N / a): History-Bography. Recovered: historia-biografia.com