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Dante Alighieri's time and culture
Dante Alighieri's time and culture
Dante's whole literary work
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Making change in a time of dark beliefs and harsh criticism is a difficult task to achieve. The poet, Dante Alighieri’s world was one filled with spirituality and stigmas. Unlike many other artists of his time, he completed his most famous and influential work in Europe’s 1300’s. Dante’s piece, The Divine Comedy, demonstrates the journey one takes throughout life, to find one’s self and connect with the world and religion, all through three volumes of poetry. Of his talent, came a business of the arts. In addition, he changed the way the Italian language was perceived. He used his writing to help women be viewed as equals to men, and took a more tolerant position with regard to religion. Due to its effects on language, religion, and societal protocol, The Divine Comedy unquestionably affected Italian culture in the time of its author, and beyond.
Language amongst a nation may seem definite, but in the 14th century, Italy was simply a geographical region in need of leadership and unity. Bardertscher discussed the way Dante helped to unite the country in a single language. “Written in the Tuscan dialect rather than in Latin, "The Divine Comedy" helped strengthen the use of the vernacular as a literary language. It also led to the dominance of Tuscan, which became the basis of modern Italian” (Bardertscher, 2005, p. 1). By writing his work in Tuscan Italian, Dante made two great strides for Italy. First, he established Italian as a language which was versatile and as useful as Latin. In addition, Dante’s use of a particular dialect led to the Italian government adopting this dialect as the standard language. Even today, Dante’s Tuscan dialect is the version of Italian which American students learn and the majority of Italians spea...
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Burge, J. (2011). Dante: Reason and religion. Retrieved December 14, 2011, from http://web.ebscohost.com/src/detail?sid=5cd2709b-b242-4ee4-b1ba-8dc080c53953%40sessionmgr13&vid=1&hid=13&bdata=JnNpdGU9c3JjLWxpdmU%3d#db=ulh&AN=59526105
Chou, P. (1999). Romance: Dante & Beatrice. Retrieved December 9, 2011, from http://www.wisdomportal.com/Romance/Dante-Beatrice.html
Hutchinson’s Biography Database. (2011). Dante Alighieri. Retrieved December 9, 2011, from http://web.ebscohost.com/src/detail?sid=c33e3860-8c08-48cc-b3e1-edf9a2b50b6e%40sessionmgr15&vid=1&hid=13&bdata=JnNpdGU9c3JjLWxpdmU%3d#db=mih&AN=32216798
Knight, K. (2009). Thomism. Retrieved December 9, 2011, from http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14698b.htm
Rubin, H. (2004). Dante in love. New York: Simon & Schuster.
Alighieri, Dante. The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri: Inferno. Trans. Allen Mandelbaum. Notes Allen Mandelbaum and Gabriel Marruzzo. New York: Bantam Books, 1980
Dante Alighieri created The Divine Comedy around the time he was exiled from Florence Italy. The Divine Comedy is made up to three books that’s called inferno, purgatory and paradise. The inferno tells the story about him entering the nine circles with a fellow poet Vigil. During the journey are many Historical, Social and Cultural Context.
Two years ago I went to an exhibition in Milan titled: “Artemisia: storia di una passione” (“Artemisia: history of a passion”). The exhibition was sponsored by the Assessorato alla Cultura of the Comune of Milano and curated by Roberto Contini and Francesco Solinas, with the scenographic and theatrical work of Emma Dante.
Christianity is one of the most popular religions in the world today. Christianity has the largest amount of followers today. Over time, the religion has developed and change depending on the era. However, most of the traditional values are kept the same since its creation. Throughout many years, there have been numerous ideas originating from Christianity that do not exist today. During the development of the western world, religion played a big role in everyday lives. During the 14th century, an era of change began with the Renaissance as people experienced change and development through the western worlds. In Dante’s Inferno, some of these new beliefs, changes, and different forms of imagery can be noticed throughout the whole poem. Throughout
Thesis- Dante and Virgil have an interesting relationship that changes throughout Dante’s Inferno. They started off very different and Virgil didn’t care much for Dante. Dante looked at Virgil differently after he had heard Beatrice sent him to guide him. Throughout their travels, their relationship changed as they went through every layer of hell. Something happened in each one that changed their relationship either drastically, or barely at all. Their travels are very intriguing and their relationship is very complex. They become very close, so much that Dante acquires a deep trust in Virgil. They are no longer “just friends.” They are both poets and can communicate very well through words and Literature.
The political history of Italy is quite extensive. The Greeks were the first to settle in Italy and established colonies in the southern part of the country and in Sicily. There was not a sense of political reality as much as there was a civilization (Windows on Italy- History). While the Greeks controlled the south the Gauls, or Celtic people, ruled the north and the Po Valley. But the most important group to settle in Italy was the Etruscans. Because of their advanced civilization, the Etruscans were the only ones to establish political and cultural ideas before the Roman Empire (Windows on Italy- History). At the end of the Etruscans rule, Rome began a unification of Italy and established Latin to be the general language (Defusco).
St. Francis was an Italian Catholic and a talented poet. As an Italian, his heart moved naturally to deep affection, love and enjoyment. As a poet, he could see right through the outcome of those answers. One night during a dream, he saw his house turned into a palace. The walls of this palace were hung with glorious armory, banners, shields, and swords – all instruments of war. Suddenly he heard a voice, it explained that this was to be his palace, the gathering place for all his knights. The arms were theirs, the banners, and tokens of their countless conquests. To complete this wonderful dream, a gorgeous bride awaited him. St. Francis awoke charmed. A few days after that, he left Assisi to go to Southern Italy to enlist. He reached Spoleto, wh...
The issue focused on ancient Rome language is demonstrated to be very important to the Roman. Roman languages included Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese. The reason why the
Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy is said to be the single greatest epic poem of all time. The opening story of the character of Dante the Pilgrim is told in the first of the three divisions: The Inferno. The Inferno is a description of Dante’s journey down through Hell and of the several degrees of suffering and many mythical creatures that he encounters on the way. Throughout his travel Dante displays many different feelings and actions but the emotion that summarizes the entire poem is fear. While some of his character traits change as his mind matures and acknowledges the justice being carried out, from the very beginning until the final Canto, his fear does not subside. This does well to reinforce the symbolism of Dante as Everyman and serves to direct the reader to the moral purpose of Divine Comedy, because of the humility and dependence upon God that fear produces. In the first Canto, which serves as an introduction to the entire comedy, Dante encounters the three beasts which impede his progress out of the dark woods. Coming upon the She-Wolf he writes: "This last beast brought my spirit down so low / with fear that seized me at the sight of her, / lost all hope of going up the hill" (I.52-54). Dante is so shaken by the appearances of the three beasts that he rushes headlong into the dark woods he has just come out of. This is only the first obstacle Dante encounters, but it proves an insurmountable one.
About eighty years after Divine Comedy was written, a surge of architecture and sculpture had risen. Three prominent artists in the later Middle Ages were famed for their original designs that held Roman, Greek, and Christian influences within their work. Donatello and Brunelleschi contributed to an era that perpetually changed Western art and it was due to
Italy’s national self image was disjointed in the past and remains this way today. According to Neapolitan historian Luigi Blanch, “The patriotism of the Italians is like that of ancient Greeks, and is love of a single town, not of a country; it is the feeling of a tribe not of a nation. Only by foreign conquest have they ever been united. Leave them to themselves and they split into fragments.” (Koellhoffer) In “Conflicting Identity is Part of Italy’s History”, Patriarca, who grew up in the region of Piedmont says “The Northern League has attacked the idea of Italian unity by asserting that the south is different and a burden on the population.” Patriarca agrees with Blanch that there is no unity and blames the northern part of the country. She claims that the north is responsible for splitting the nation after the Cold War due to economical differences. (Sassi) However, there has been occasional unity. Unity can be brought about by a strong leader like Machivelli or Dante. Many people still will not join even the strongest political leader in order to support their country beca...
Catherine of Siena. The Dialogue of the Divine Providence . Trans. Algar Thorold. 1907. 25 Feb. 2004 .
“If you would not be forgotten as soon as you are dead and rotten, either write things worth reading or do things worth writing.” This maxim applies to the poet Dante Alighieri, writer of The Inferno in the 1300s, because it asserts the need to establish oneself as a contributor to society. Indeed, Dante’s work contributes much to Renaissance Italy as his work is the first of its scope and size to be written in the vernacular. Due to its readability and availability, The Inferno is a nationalistic symbol. With this widespread availability also comes a certain social responsibility; even though Dante’s audience would have been familiar with the religious dogma, he assumes the didactic role of illustrating his own version of Christian justice and emphasizes the need for a personal understanding of divine wisdom and contrapasso, the idea of the perfect punishment for the crime. Dante acts as both author and narrator, completing a physical and spiritual journey into the underworld with Virgil as his guide and mentor. The journey from darkness into light is an allegory full of symbolism, much like that of Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, which shows a philosopher’s journey towards truth. Therefore, Dante would also agree with the maxim, “Wise men learn by others’ harms; fools scarcely by their own,” because on the road to gaining knowledge and spiritual enlightenment, characters who learn valuable lessons from the misfortunes of others strengthen their own paradigms. Nonetheless, the only true way to gain knowledge is to experience it first hand. Dante’s character finds truth by way of his own personal quest.
Movement is a crucial theme of the Divine Comedy. From the outset, we are confronted with the physicality of the lost Dante, wandering in the perilous dark wood. His movement within the strange place is confused and faltering; `Io non so ben ridir com'io v'entrai'. Moreover, it is clear that the physical distress he is experiencing is the visible manifestation of the mental anguish the poet is suffering. The allegory of the image is one of mid-life crisis, but it is physically represented by the man losing his way in a dark wood. Such an observation may seem far too simple and obvious to be worthy of comment. However, I would argue that it is from this primary example of the deep connection between the physical and the mental, that one can begin to categorise and explain the varying types of movement in the work. The first section of this essay will be a close analysis of several important moments of physical activity or the absence of such. The final section will be an overview of the whole and a discussion of the general structure of the Comedy, how movement is governed and the implications of this.
Lummus, David. "Dante’s Inferno: Critical Reception and Influence." Dantes Inferno. Engerda: Arun, 2000. 63-79. Print.