History Creator / DanteAlighieri

** ''De vulgaria 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.

** ''Literature/VitaNuova'' – 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 stile nova'', 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 CourtlyLove.

** ''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.

** ''Literature/TheDivineComedy'' (''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.

Durante degli Alighieri (c.1265-1321), known as Dante, was an Italian poet, principally known for writing ''Literature/TheDivineComedy''. 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 [[TheMuse Beatrice]], whom he claims to have only met twice, at the ages of nine and eighteen. Like Creator/Petrarch's Laura, however, this was as much of a conceit of CourtlyLove 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.

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 [[TheMuse 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 CourtlyLove 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''', ''Inferno II ll.32-3''

** ''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 stile nova'', 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 CourtlyLove.

* AbhorrentAdmirer: The narrator of ''La Vita Nuova'' spend nine years pining after his lady, but when he treated to talk to her for the second time, she refused to even speak to him thanks to all the gossip hurting his good name. The narrator spends the rest of his lady's life content with being spurned while capturing her beauty in verse.
* AccompliceByInaction: The ninth poem of ''La Vita Nuova'' accuses those who see the poet [[BrownNote struck to death by beauty]] of sinning if they do not comfort the poet in his weakness.
* AndShowItToYou: In the first poem of ''La Vita Nuova'', Love appears out of thin air holding Dante's heart in his hand while it burns. Dante doesn't seem to be dying without the heart and the poem doesn't record his reaction to seeing Love feed it to someone, because dreams are weird like that.
* AnthropomorphicPersonification: Many of the poems in ''La Vita Nuova'' address Love as if it were a man, one who forced Beatrice to take the poet's heart and lorded over the poet for most of his life. There's a significant segment of Dante's commentary dedicated to establishing that he has the ArtisticLicense to speak in such a fantastical way by citing writers like Creator/{{Virgil}} and Creator/{{Ovid}}.
* AsTheGoodBookSays: Before mentioning Beatrice's death for the first time, Dante quotes the opening line [[Literature/BookOfJeremiah Book of Lamentations]] to set the extreme desolation of the world sans his lady.
* BlasphemousPraise: According to ''La Vita Nuova'', Beatrice's beauty is so great that even an angel admits to God's face that Heaven is flawed for the lack of her.
* CatapultNightmare: The poet awakens from his fever dream and immediately screams Beatrice's name in fear, although anyone besides Dante would have a hard time discerning the name between his sobs.
* ColorMotif: ''La Vita Nuova'' makes use of red to represent love, most strikingly in the crimson dress Beatrice wears when she first meets Dante and when she appears to him posthumously.
* CommonTongue: The ''Commedia'' and ''La Vita Nuova'' are some of the first major works in Italian, rather than Latin familiar to the learned.
* ClassicalTongue: 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.
* DeathSeeker: A fever causes the poet of ''La Vita Nuova'' such misery that he prays for death. His despair of life only grows worse as he hallucinates an apocalypse brought upon by the death of his love.
* DieOrFly: Beatrice in ''La Vita Nuova'' is said to make any who look upon her experience the joy of {{Heaven}} on Earth or kill them where they stand. This is exaggerated, of course, but beyond poetic license, Dante does tend either to enter into a state of radical bliss or despair depending on how his encounters with Beatrice go.
* TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt: Upon realizing his lover's mortality in ''La Vita Nuova'', the poet has a nightmare where the entire world falls apart upon her death. The sun goes black, the stars begin to cry, birds drop from the sky, and the whole earth quakes, in a scene right out of the Literature/BookOfRevelation.
* EvilCannotComprehendGood: The first GriefSong for Beatrice claims anyone wicked enough to leave that perfect lady unmourned must lack the mind to even picture her.
* FauxSymbolism: [[invoked]] After defending his use of personified emotions, Dante makes it clear that using such symbolic devices without any deeper meaning is a shameful thing and that his friends know plenty of poets who write in such a "stupid manner."
* FeverDreamEpisode: A poem from ''La Vita Nuova'' begins with Dante begging for death as some women wake him up from a fever-induced nightmare. The middle and end of the poem are the poet detailing his nightmare, where Beatrice died and ascended to Heaven while all the Earth was left in chaotic mourning.
* GenreBusting: ''La Vita Nuova'' switches between large prose sections that provide background to the poetic sections, which in themselves take on genres like romance sonnet, GriefSong, prayerful ballad, and even a [[FeverDreamEpisode visionary]] apocalypse canzone.
* GirlWatching: ''La Vita Nuova'' is all about a few times Dante saw the most beautiful woman in the world from a distance and wrote poetry trying to capture her beauty.
* GossipEvolution: Dante writes a lot of poetry about a pretty women he doesn't really care about to throw people off the trail for his real love, Beatrice. Problem is, he writes so much cover poetry that Florence's gossipers make Dante out to be lusting after his defense. Hearing these rumors about his licentiousness, Beatrice refuses even to say hello to her secret admirer.
* GriefSong: ''La Vita Nuova'' includes a three-part canzone written immediately after Beatrice's death. It mentions a lot about crying.
* HeartTrauma: A rare positive example; a dream where Beatrice eats the poet's heart marks the beginning of his love for her and his quest to capture her beauty in any of the dozens of poems in ''La Vita Nuova''.
* HorrifyingHero: Once he's in mourning, the poet of ''La Vita Nuova'' scares off all men who see him because his face is as dead as a ghost's.
* HumbleHero: Beatrice was so devoid of pride that it astonished {{God}} and merited her entrance into the heaven of humility, sitting within reach of the Virgin Mary herself.
* InMediasRes: The FeverDreamEpisode of ''La Vita Nuova'' opens with Dante being awoken from his nightmare, while the rest of the poem details what he actually hallucinated.
* InternalMonologue: In the aftermath of Lord Love's vision, ''La Vita Nuova'' portrays an argument between voices in Dante's head about whether to submit to Love or to resist him. The internal argument forces Dante to constantly start, scrap, and re-start his poetry until he prays to Mercy herself.
* JerkWithAHeartOfJerk: Dante maintains that anyone who does not remember Beatrice and mourn must have a heart made of granite with no space for goodness.
* KeepingSecretsSucks: Dante's attempts to keep the prying eyes of Florence from knowing which woman he's in love with ends up ruining his chances with her. Turns out, pretending to love other ladies makes you look like a medieval whore, something Beatrice in no way wants to associate with much to Dante's secret misery.
* KilledOffscreen: The story of how Beatrice's passed from Earth to Heaven is left unsung in Dante's poetry, because he didn't feel he could do the subject justice.
* LongingLook: When the poet of ''La Vita Nuova'' is having a bit of a panic attack, he notices a young woman looking at him compassionately from a window. The poet is moved to tear by this look and even begins to feel Love in his soul for the first time since his lady's death.
* LoveAtFirstSight: ''La Vita Nuova'' begins with Dante seeing Beatrice for the first time. Every part of his being s cried in praise of her as Love took control of Dante, never to let go of him for as long as Beatrice was on Earth.
* LovePotion: In ''La Vita Nuova'', Dante admits that if his speech could fully communicate the worth of his lady, it would turn any of his listeners into lovers.
* MeaningfulName: In ''La Vita Nuova'', the poet's muse is named Beatrice, a fact known to all who meet her because they realize their beatitude by contemplating her beauty. Yes, Dante goes so far to say that his lady's beauty offers a glimpse of the eternal beatitude of {{Heaven}}, a praise that only becomes more apt after she passed into that world.
* MistakenDeclarationOfLove: People mistake Dante's longing poems for a declaration of love to an attractive woman that the poet doesn't really know that well. He's actually quite happy with the mistake, since it means no one will know who he really is in love with and he can continue with his writing without drawing suspicion.
* TheMourningAfter: According to ''La Vita Nuova'', it takes a year after Beatrice's death for Dante to even think about other women. Even then, one dream about his lost Lenore is enough to make him repent of writing poetry for any other women and dedicate his life to [[Literature/TheDivineComedy offer her praise never written before]].
* NoAntagonist: Whatever conflict there is in ''La Vita Nuova'' is driven by the narrator's fears, passions, and weaknesses. He has only himself to blame when his lady refuses to speak to him, when he mistakes base attractions for love, and when he finds himself unable to handle the death of the most beautiful woman on Earth.
* OneTrueLove: Beatrice is the only woman the poet of ''La Vita Nuova'' can truly love; all the women he fawns after her death are just distractions from the memory of his true beloved.
* OpinionChangingDream: A dream of Beatrice at age nine reminds Dante of his OneTrueLove, convincing him to renounce the other women he's fallen for and only write about his first muse.
* OrganAutonomy: A symptom of LoveAtFirstSight in ''La Vita Nuova'' is that your organs give a play-by-play commentary of the romance. The heart starts to worship the beloved, the brain recognizes Beatrice as a true source of happiness, and the stomach laments that the lover has a higher goal than satisfying his hunger.
* PropheticName: Love admits to Dante that Lady Giovanna was only given that name and her nickname, Primavera, to foreshadow the role she would play in coming before Beatrice on that early spring morning that Dante would see her again.
* ReligiousAndMythologicalThemeNaming: Giovanna from ''La Vita Nuova'' is named so because, like how John (Giovanni) the Baptist came before [[UsefulNotes/{{Jesus}} Christ]], she appears just before Beatrice when Dante first sees her in adulthood.
* TheScottishTrope: Most of the poems in ''La Vita Nuova'' go out of their way not to mention Beatrice's name to keep his love for her a secret. The only time he writes down her name is in the poem he makes to mourn her death and in the last poem of the collection, when he sees her in a vision.
* SequelHook: ''La Vita Nuova'' ends with a reference to an unseen vision which inspires the poet to praise his deceased beloved in ways never achieved before. Nine years later, that inspiration would bear fruit with first canto of the ''[[Literature/TheDivineComedy Inferno]]''.
* SuperEmpowering: One of Beatrice's powers listed in ''La Vita Nuova'' is the ability to dignify any man who looks upon her, transforming them from a wretched slave of sin to a noble soul in union with [[{{God}} the Omnipotent]].
* TemporaryLoveInterest: About a year after Beatrice's death, the poet of ''La Vita Nuova'' begins to write sonnet about another beautiful woman, only to have a vision of Beatrice that makes him realize his attraction to the new woman was a vain and shallow imitation of Love.
* TimeSkip: ''La Vita Nuova'' begins with a brief prose section about Beatrice and Dante's first meeting in 1274 before segueing into Dante's poetry about her written from 1283 to 1293. The poet explains that he didn't want to go much into his youth since stories about kids tend to sound like tall tales.
* TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth: Beatrice dies young as her humility and magnanimity made her too noble to suffer life on mortal Earth. Instead, she passed into the realm of the angels as was befitting her.
* TryingNotToCry: The poet of ''La Vita Nuova'' is overwhelmed by a LongingLook of pity from a beautiful woman and is barely able to hide away before bursting into tears.
* UnexpectedlyDarkEpisode: After a series of rather domestic poems about the beauty of a kind woman, the FeverDreamEpisode suddenly employs apocalyptic and spiritual imagery to describe how the poet wished to die after facing his love's mortality.
* UntranslatedTitle: ''La Vita Nuova'' is rarely ever translated under the title ''The New Life'', with most translators preferring to keep Dante's title.
* VirginInAWhiteDress: In ''La Vita Nuova'', Beatrice is seen dressed in pure white when she first greets Dante, a moment surrounded by assurances of her benevolence and predestined beatitude in Heaven. The next time Beatrice is seen in white is five years later, when a white veil shroud her corpse after her soul was taken by a legion of angels to Heaven.
* WhamLine: The second line of Chapter 28 abruptly announces that Beatrice is with the Virgin Mary in {{Heaven}}, dead before Dante could ever express his love to her face. The entire course of ''La Vita Nuova'' and of the poet's life shifts in accordance with this single sentence.
* WhatBeautifulEyes: ''La Vita Nuova'' makes note that one can see the perfect image of Love in Beatrice's eyes. What that means in practice is that no one who sees her gaze at her can resist the spirits of love from moving their hearts.
* YourCheatingHeart: There's a post-humous example in ''La Vita Nuova''. Even though Beatrice has died, Dante feels he must preserve the memory of her wonder through poetry and continue to grieve her even a year later, yet he soon comes to harbor base desire for some pretty women who sympathize with him. He struggles with his heart over whether this is sincere love, but a vision of Beatrice fully convinces Dante his desires were leading him astray.
* YourSoulIsMine: Lord Love has ruled over Dante's soul since the age of nine, when the poet saw Beatrice for the first time. Since that day, Dante has had no choice but to do whatever Love commands.
* YouTasteDelicious: In a dream-vision, Beatrice is fed Dante's heart directly by Love to mark the beginning of his literary courtship with her.

* YourSoulIsMine: Lord Love has ruled over Dante's soul since the age of nine, when the poet saw Beatrice for the first time. Since that day, Dante has had no choice but to do whatever Love commands.

* YourCheatingHeart: There's a post-humous example in ''La Vita Nuova''. Even though Beatrice has died, Dante feels he must preserve the memory of her wonder through poetry and continue to grieve her even a year later, yet he soon comes to harbor base desire for some pretty women who sympathize with him. He struggles with his heart over whether this is sincere love, but a vision of Beatrice fully convinces Dante his desires were leading him astray.

* WhatBeautifulEyes: ''La Vita Nuova'' makes note that one can see the perfect image of Love in Beatrice's eyes. What that means in practice is that no one who sees her gaze at her can resist the spirits of love from moving their hearts.

* WhamLine: The second line of Chapter 28 abruptly announces that Beatrice is with the Virgin Mary in {{Heaven}}, dead before Dante could ever express his love to her face. The entire course of ''La Vita Nuova'' and of the poet's life shifts in accordance with this single sentence.

* VirginInAWhiteDress: In ''La Vita Nuova'', Beatrice is seen dressed in pure white when she first greets Dante, a moment surrounded by assurances of her benevolence and predestined beatitude in Heaven. The next time Beatrice is seen in white is five years later, when a white veil shroud her corpse after her soul was taken by a legion of angels to Heaven.

* VirginInAWhiteDress: In ''La Vita Nuova'', Beatrice is seen dressed in pure white when she first greets Dante, a moment surrounded by assurances of her benevolence and predestined beatitude in Heaven. The next time Beatrice is seen in white is five years later, when a white veil shrouds her corpse after her soul was taken by a legion of angels to Heaven.

* VirginInAWhiteDress: In''La Vita Nuova'', Beatrice is seen dressed in pure white when she first greets Dante, a moment surrounded by assurances of her benevolence and predestined beatitude in Heaven. The next time Beatrice is seen in white is five years later, when a white veil shrouds her corpse after her soul was taken by a legion of angels to Heaven.

* ColorMotif: ''La Vita Nuova'' makes use of red to represent love, most strikingly in the crimson dress Beatrice wears when she first meets Dante and when she appears to him posthumously.

* VirginInAWhiteDress: Beatrice first appears in ''La Vita Nuova'' at nine years old in a pure white dress as Dante first learns of her purity and grace. The next time Beatrice is seen in white is sixteen years later, when a white veil shrouds her corpse after her soul was taken by a legion of angels to Heaven.