2014+SH+P6+Dante+Alighieri

Dante Alighieri

Aim-Alex Clark Dante Alighieri was an Italian poet, philosopher, and politician whose aims were to stand by the core principles of the church and prevent corruption. Dante’s various pastimes determined the purpose of his works (Britannica 1). As Dante was alive during medieval times, religion influenced his viewpoints greatly, which in turn would affect the aim of his works. As with anything, Dante’s political views swayed his opinion on the church. In a time when corruption within the church was high, Dante criticized this because of his political beliefs (Tompsett 1). In turn, the church attempted to find heresy within his Divine Comedy but were unable to. Because Dante believed in the core principles of the church, church officials were unable to find anything incriminating. Dante’s The Divine Comedy chronicles Dante’s descent into hell and the horrors that ensued. This supports the church’s views on hell and eternal punishment as a result of being sent to hell, therefore negating any charges of heresy. Therefore, Dante’s aim with his works and beliefs were to stand by core church teachings and stop the unlawful corruption within the Catholic Church.

Works Cited “Dante (Italian Poet).” Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc: 2014. Web. 26 Aug. 2014 “Dante Alghieri and The Divine Comedy.” Vision.org. Vision.org: 2013. Web. 27 Aug. 2014

Audience-Cassie Price Dante took on a philosophical view in his writing, which he hoped to align with his audience. His goals, according to Winthrop Wetherbee at the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, were to “...raise the level of public discourse by educating his countrymen and inspiring them to pursue happiness in the contemplative life.” Dante was an incredibly well educated Italian man, and wanted to share his philosophical beliefs with his contemporaries. To ensure understanding of the ideas he followed to his audience, Dante wrote them in poetry, versus the difficult original scriptures the ideas were inscribed in. However, in the case of The Inferno, “...we can discount the idea that Dante was writing to appeal to a large audience… Probably Dante wrote the Inferno largely to gratify himself, to denounce his enemies and gain a certain amount of revenge” (Hubbard). At the time, Dante lived in a time of great political unrest in Italy. The country was divided among two main groups: those that supported the papacy, and those that supported the Emperor. Dante eventually ended up in exile from Florence due to his unfavorable political influence in the city. Additionally, neither copyright laws nor the printing press existed yet, so his works were naturally not well-shared. The Inferno’s political aspect, as well as the happenings and inconveniences of the time, greatly imply that the book’s audience is rather limited to contemporaries of Dante and Dante himself.

Works Cited Hubbard, Eleanor. "Divine Comedy-I: Inferno Background." Study Guides & Essay Editing. GradeSaver, n.d. Web. 27 Aug. 2014. Wetherbee, Winthrop. "Dante Alighieri." Stanford University. Stanford University, 29 Jan. 2001. Web. 27 Aug. 2014.

Historical- Hunter Whitlow Dante Alighieri was born in the year 1265 in Florence, Italy. In his early life, when Dante was a young child, Dante met Beatrice Portinari, who influenced his life greatly. Later on, “two great factions, the Guelfs and the Ghibellines, had competed for control of Florence” (Wetherbee 1). Dante was allied with the Guelfs, and according to Wetherbee, they “became the dominant force in Florence,” and later, in 1301, split into the “Whites” and the “Blacks”. Not long after, “Pope Boniface VIII instigated a partisan settlement which allowed the Blacks to exile the White leadership, of whom Dante was one. He never returned to Florence…” (Wetherbee 1). This exile from Florence had a strong impact on Dante, changing his life and with it, his writing. He developed a very philosophical view, and according to the Academy of American Poets, he wrote The Divine Comedy as“somewhat autobiographical work, set at the time in which he lived and peopled with contemporary figures”. With everything that happened during his life, Dante found more than enough inspiration for writing The Inferno. Dante’s writings reflected his thoughts and his experiences in every story he wrote, showing his audience what he was thinking and experiencing in his life.

Works Cited "Dante Alighieri." Poets.org. Academy of American Poets, n.d. Web. 25 Aug. 2014. Wetherbee, Winthrop. "Dante Alighieri." Stanford University. Stanford University, 29 Jan. 2001. Web. 27 Aug. 2014.

Cultural- Margo Faoro Dante’s The Inferno has inspired a whole history of criticism in the poetic world that has affected the way literature is evaluated. As stated by David Lummus at Stanford, “... modern poets of every bent have been drawn to the Inferno and to the other two canticles of the Comedy as an example of poetry’s world-creating power and of a single poet’s transcendence of his own spiritual, existential, and political exile.” Lummus then goes on to explain how the poetic criticism was sparked shortly after the epic’s publication, how it lead to the work being considered a classic, and the multiple interpretations of the themes of the story. He also explains how those themes have affected the themes other poets thereafter implied in their own work. Allusions to this text have been made time and time again in many modern media forms. The epic is so influential, that “Since its creation in the fourteenth century, Dante's Inferno and the other canticas of Dante's Divine Comedy have been commonly referenced in all forms of media and culture”(Brown). Dante’s Inferno has been referenced to in film, music, art and other literature since 1911. Not only has the epic changed the way poetry is interpreted, but it has also made many appearances centuries after its publication in modern pop culture.

Works Cited Brown, Sapphire M. "Referenes to Dantes Inferno." Humanities 360. 8 Jan. 2009. Web. 28 Aug. 2014. Lummus, David. "Dante’s Inferno: Critical Reception and Influence." Dantes Inferno. Engerda: Arun, 2000. 63-79. Print.