Dante Alighier | renaissance

Personal Life:

On a gloomy morning, on May21, 1265 a legendary poet was born. This person would end up changing the world with his teachings and messages towards worldview and life itself. His name was Durante Alighieri, but he went by Dante for short, as he was most known by this name. Born in Florence, Italy he was living among some of the wealthiest, secretive families and people of the Renaissance time. The Alighieri family itself was not very wealthy or rich in Florence, but they had power inside of politics, that other families wished of having. His father (Alighiero di Bellincione) and mother (Bella degli Abati) had 3 kids including Dante; they were Francesco Alighieri, and Gaetana Alighieri. Dante’s mom, Bella died when Dante was only 10, and according to unknown resources his dad went on to marry another lady. By the name of Lapa di Chiarissimo, and they had 2 kids themselves which were, Brother Francesco and Sister Tana Cialuffi. Although Bella did not see her son become one of the greatest poets in the world, she was watching over him through heavens gates. Although Dante had been through so much at such a young age, this was his era and the history, and brilliance he held within himself was just about was going to be spoken, to the world. In 1285, at only 12 years old, Dante took a huge leap from childhood to adulthood. He married a beautiful, wealthy, women by the name of Gemma di Manetto Donati. They then went on to have 3 or 4 kids, (the exact number is unknown). A few years later Dante started school, and was a disciple of Brunetto Latini. Brunetto had a critical role that could end up changing the world of poetry, and he accomplished this mission by being the first person to open the world’s gates to Dante. He also strongly influenced Dante’s cultural growth. Which lead to his critical thinking overflowing with ideas to write about. At school he also learned many new things. But his main subjects were rhetoric, grammar, philosophy, literature and theology. In his youth career, he was a Stilnovo poet and had many friends among the other members of the Stilnovo Poetical School. But one of his best friends was Guido Cavalcanti. Dante and Guido worked together on many different well known/famous projects. One major break down in Dante’s career was when one of his lovers outside of his marriage by the name of Bice di Folco Portinari passed away. Who went by Beatrice, in most of his poems. This shook Dante’s heart and he fell apart for a while, but gathered himself back up slowly. After this Dante began studying philosophy and theology in detail, and he also started attending some of the cultural associations in Florence. But, Dante personally preferred “the Studia” which provided lessons on a lot of wonderful and brilliant philosophers but the main ones were Aristotle and St. Thomas. After going to school and learning so much about the world and the ideas around worldview. Dante went into the field of politics. He worked under Pope Boneface the III and was a part of both the people's council and the council of 100. However one day while he was on a diplomatic mission the Black Guelph’s from the opposing party took control of Florence and sent him and many others into exile. While in exile, Dante roamed the country writing many famous poems and plays. In fact that is when he wrote his most famous poem “The divine comedy". This was his blessing in disguise.

Accomplishments:

The renaissance gave birth to several famous world known legends that brought a new way of life to the worldin ways such as inventions in the field of science, philosophy, art, writing and exploration. Well a man named Dante Alighieri or in other terms known simply as Dante was a poet, scholar, a man of politics, literary theorist and a philosopher. Although he lived during the middle ages, he influenced the renaissance drastically for he was able to translate his work into Italian; the language of the town he lived in which was Florence. This helped the uneducated people which were the majority to be able to understand his writings. He’s known as “The father of the Italian language”. As well he’s referred to along with Petrarch and Boccaccio as the “3 crowns of the renaissance” for they created the first stirrings of the renaissance. As well he influenced what would soon be known as humanism; in fact he demonstrated sort of a humanistic life. He created several famous poems and plays which were named “The Divine Comedy", "La Vita Nuova," "Convivio," "Monarchia", "De vulgari eloquentia" and "Vita Nuova". His writings were usually on politics, religion and love. He wrote “Vita Nuova” inspired by his young love Beatrice who unfortunately passed away and it was all about love. Furthermore, along with his career as a writer, he played a big role in politics at the time. Growing up in a wealthy family he grew up with a love for learning and went to college and soon became a politician. While serving as one he worked under Pope Boniface III. As well, he was in the people’s council and the council of 100. However unfortunately he was wrongfully exiled by the Black guelphs which were a group of people who came into power. But this was a blessing in disguise, for while in exile is when he started writing and became a well-known philosopher.

Dante himself was a quiet man, always silent. But his vision of the world and how it needed to be changed could never be silenced. Bullets pierced his thoughts, and his messages need to be spoken, and they did. Where Dante’s physical voice feared him, his ability to write surpassed even that of Shakespeare, the great. However, Dante’s teachings had an unknown and secret, hidden meaning. But only those who could find the truth within life and themselves would ever understand him. Some of what he said was also him teaching what he had learned through the great ancient philosophers, such as Plato. Plato’s ideas helped develop Dante’s mind, and also the view of the world in the Renaissance time. He also used his faith which was Christianity to justify his opinion and he used that and other studies of philosophers to help develop his ideas. Through most of these developing ideas, Dante wrote many works of art, which showed and taught the world the real meaning of life and how it works. He grew a reputation as a scholar and statesman, and he kept his ability to write. Furthermore people thought of him as the most outstanding and prominent figure of European literature and poetry. He was greatly admired for his divine depth of his spiritual vision and also for the range of his intellectual accomplishments through his very convincing opinion. In the end he used all of these thoughts and ideas to create his writing which was how he communicated to the people. He made sure to write them in Italian so that his people could contemplate his thoughts.

Over his lifetime, Dante wrote several poems and plays. However his most famous one was “The Divine Comedy “. It was originally named as "Commedia" in Italian and later named as "Divina by Boccaccio". Furthermore it’s regarded as one of the greatest literary work created in the Italian language and a masterpiece in the world of literature. This epic poem was about a man’s journey through Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise. Each section contained 33 chapters or cantos plus the introduction which added up to One hundred which stood for Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. As well he was the first author to give an interpretation about the afterlife. He gave people an understanding of his belief on how and where their life was taking them. This piece of writing would become one of the most famous poems in the world and his masterpiece or his best work. Moving on, because he wrote this book it marked the endpoint of the middle ages. Dante wrote in a modern European vernacular, or the common dialect which was Italian not Latin. Dante was referred to as the father of Italian language. Meaning people could read all of his writings and for people who could not read people who could read could read it to them. Dante was also indicated as the bridge between the middle Ages and the Renaissance for he brought a very unique perspective into the world.