Dante Alighieri: A Poetic Descent into Metaphorical Hell.”
“Abandon all hope, ye who enter here.”
Only through a journey into hell can we hope to attain paradise.
His Early Life:
Dante Alighieri was born under the sign of Gemini. He was born in Florence, the son of Alighiero II. His family was one of lower nobility. His mother died when he was a child, and his father when he was eighteen.
According to him, the most profound event in his youth was when he met Beatrice in 1274. Scholars believe her to be Beatrice Portinari, a noble woman. It doesn’t really matter who she was, as he saw her infrequently and never spoke to her. Nevertheless, she became the focus of his love, and after her death, she became his muse. She is a focal point in his works, including La vita nuova (The New Life) and La divina commedia (The Divine Comedy). Dante’s education remains unknown, but his writing skill and knowledge make it evident that he was well-schooled. It is thought that he attended Florentine schools but also continued learning on his own.
He seemed to be greatly influenced by Brunetto Latini, who played a large part in The Divine Comedy. His early writings caught the attention of Guido Cavalcanti, a popular Italian poet of the day. As Dante’s skills became more defined, the two became friends. It is also believed that Dante studied at the University of Bologna around the year 1285. He became involved in some political altercations, joined the Guelphs (as opposed to the Chibellines), and emerged victorious from a battle. Around the same time in 1290, Beatrice died. After her death, he began studying philosophy and reading the works of Boethius and Cicero. He soon married Gemma Donati, a member of a noble Florentine Guelph family.
He attempted to settle down and forget Beatrice, but he became more and more engulfed in the party scene. He discovered the pleasure of banquets and was seen engaged in public rhyming contests. These contests were a sort of poetic insult contest that often decayed into vulgarity. Thankfully, this period did not last long. In 1295, Dante suddenly became very interested in the political situation in Florence.
His adult life was marked by several local offices he held in 1295. He was then elected to be one of the six magistrates of Florence, but he held this position only for two months. From 1295 to 1297, Dante was part of the Special Council of the People. He also took part in the campaign for the prior and was a member of the Council of the One Hundred. The political situation in Florence at the time was very turbulent, with the two feuding factions within the Guelph party in Florence, the Cerchi and the Donati, or the Whites and the Blacks, both vying for power.
The Blacks, or Donati, were of noble birth and lineage but were not exceedingly rich, and they saw the pope as an ally against imperial power. The Whites, or Cerchi, were not of noble lineage but had made a vast fortune trading and wished to become a part of the aristocracy. They wished to remain independent of all control, papal or imperial. After a particularly violent skirmish, the leaders of both parties were exiled to provide peace. However, Pope Boniface VIII helped the leaders of the Black return. These Blacks seized power and banned Dante from the city for two years, imposing heavy fines on him. He did not pay the fines, and they threatened to kill him should he ever return to Florence. Dante immediately desired to join with the other exiles and organize to retake the city by force.
The exiled people were more concerned with their own interests than retaking Florence. The movement never really got underway. There were a few isolated skirmishes, called the Wars of Mugello, but they were all unsuccessful. Dante was disgusted by the utter lack of motivation in his companions, and he decided to go his own way. Dante spent time in Northern Italy and in Verona. He made his way to Paris around 1307, where he joined the Ghibellines, hoping to unite all of Europe under the reign of an “enlightened emperor”. There are no certain records documenting Dante’s travels, so most of the information on this period is mere speculation.
