Who thinks me fit? Not others. And not I."
Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri (c.1265 – 14 September 1321), better known as Dante, was an Italian poet, writer, and philosopher, principally known for writing The Divine Comedy (Dante simply called it the Comedia (or "Comedy" in Italian), but Giovanni Boccaccio added "Divina" to the name), considered to be one of the greatest literary works in Italian.
Born in Florence to a family of minor nobility, Dante spent the first half of his life involved in the politics of Florence, rising to one of the Priors of the city in 1300. After his exile from the city in 1302, however, Dante turned to writing in response to the political strife which plagued Italy.
The Commedia (1308-21) occupied most of his later life, and it is on this that Dante has gained his reputation as the greatest poet in the Italian language, though he was also famous for his earlier poems, some of which have survived in various collections, and others of which are known only by references to them, by Dante and others. Much of Dante's poetry was focused on Beatrice, whom he claims to have only met twice, at the ages of nine and eighteen. Like Petrarch's Laura, however, this was as much of a conceit of Courtly Love as a real love, though what actually happened can never be known. Despite his life-long idolisation of Beatrice, Dante was married, to Gemma Donati, and had children. None are mentioned in any of Dante's writings.
Dante in exile was deeply concerned with the progress of Emperor Henry VII and his doomed struggle with the Papacy and Italian towns. Dante hoped that Henry would help restore him and his faction to Florence; after Henry's early death, Dante became ever more disillusioned with politics, and lost hope of ever returning to Florence. Extremely proud, he even refused an offer of amnesty due to it requiring an admission of guilt, which he would not accept. After nearly twenty years of exile, Dante died of malaria in Ravenna. The city of Florence has sought the return of his body almost ever since.
Trope Namer for Word of Dante.
His works include, but are not limited to:
- Poetry
- La Vita Nuova – Dante’s first book of poetry, an ordered set of poems and (slightly pedantic) prose detailing his love for Beatrice. The leading figure in a group of Florentine poets in writing in the 'sweet new style' (dolce stil novo, a term coined by Dante years later in Purgatorio XXIV), Dante was famous for these poems while he was still a young man. Key in the development and codification of Courtly Love.
- The Divine Comedy (La Divina Commedia) - A three-part epic poem in terza rima, detailing his journey through Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise. Vast and complex, it stands as one of the greatest works of literature ever produced. Divine was added (by Boccaccio) as a later compliment to the poem.
- Philosophy
- Convivio – A philosophical work set up as a discussion over a meal. Unusual in its combination of prose and poetry. Unfinished. The Commedia takes up some of its themes.
- De vulgari eloquentia – A defence of the use of the vernacular in literary works, written, ironically, in Latin. Dante stopped writing it at some point – the Commedia can be seen as a continuation, and proof, of the argument.
- Monarchia - A treatise on the independence of the Holy Roman Emperor from the Pope, seeking to refute papal claims to the contrary. Dante argues for an all-powerful emperor who would act as arbiter between lesser rulers. Ironically, this position is consonant with that of the Ghibellines, even though Dante himself was a Guelph (the nominally pro-Papacy party in medieval Italy's incessant conflicts between Pope and Emperor). The book was banned by the Church in the 16th century for suggesting that the Pope had no authority over secular rulers regarding secular affairs.
- Letters
- Epistolae – 13 letters of Dante have survived, most of them public letters about political issues. The most well-known is that to Cangrande I della Scala, sometime patron of Dante, which dedicates the Paradiso to him, and explains how the Commedia is to be read. note
Dante's work provides examples of:
- Common Tongue: The Commedia and the La Vita Nuova are some of the first major works in Italian, rather than Latin familiar to the learned.
- Classical Tongue: Dante's philosophical tracts and letters are generally in Latin, the dominant language used among men of learning and culture. Ironically, this includes De vulgaria eloquentia, which is about how the Tuscan vernacular language is worthy to be used for poetry.
- Take That!: Dante was quite fond of calling out anyone he didn't like. In La Vita Nuova he calls out "ungifted poets" who gained fame simply for being the first to write poetry in the vernacular and mentions that a number of such poets rank among his peers. The Divine Comedy famously sees him depicting a number of real life rivals and people he dislikes suffering horrible tortures in the depths of Hell, along with some moments where he compares his own poetry favorably to other poets who depicted similar scenes.
He's featured in the following media:
- In the Assassin's Creed franchise (Assassin's Creed II and Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood), Dante was a member of the Italian Brotherhood of Assassins who served as a mentor to Ezio Auditore's ancestor Domenico.
- Cesare - Il Creatore che ha distrutto takes place some 170 years after Dante's death, but he appears, essentially as a vision, while the college student main characters are discussing his work in class. Cesare Borgia is inspired by a passage in "Paradise" where Dante describes Heinrich VII, and how the ideal king should be, and Cesare dreams that he can someday become like that king. This is shown in the musical through songs where Dante and Heinrich appear and sing with Cesare. In contrast to the rest of the Cast Full of Pretty Boys in Gorgeous Period Dress, Dante's iconic red robes are singed and tattered, as if he'd been walking through hell. In the original cast, Dante was played by Masaaki Fujioka, who has been in many plays and concerts together with Akinori Nakagawa (Cesare). The two are also close friends. In Cesare, their experience harmonizing together shows in their powerful final duet, "Quo Vadis".
- Referenced indirectly in Dylan Dog: The Dead of Night, when Dylan gives one of his vampire friends a copy of Purgatorio, and upon seeing Dante's name on the cover, muses about his long lived immortality and mentions "I tell you, that guy could drink!"
- In Grimms Notes, Dante appears as a boss character, by the name "Chaos Dante".
- Inferno is a later book in Dan Brown's Robert Langdon series, and focuses on Dante the way that the series' most famous entry uses Leonardo da Vinci. Dante's death mask even ends up as a MacGuffin.
- In Sin, Michelangelo Buonarroti is a big admirer of Dante and is obsessed with the Inferno, which he knows by heart. At one point, Michelangelo is thrilled to be housed in the same room Dante occupied centuries ago and even has an hallucination of Dante himself in his red robes.
- Star Trek: Voyager. Captain Janeway is a fan of Dante, and is shown reading both La Vita Nuova and The Divine Comedy during the course of the series. "Latent Image" ends with the Doctor, starting to make peace with his breakdown by reading from Janeway's copy of La Vita Nuova.
- Roberto Benigni has written and performed the stand-up comedy show Tutto Dante, inspired by The Divine Comedy and the Tuscany tradition of improvisatory poetry.
