For example, in the second circle of hell, Dante and Virgil witness the whirlwind of lovers, people guilty of the sin of lust being battered around by a ferocious wind. Many of the sinners are identified as real people. There he encounters the spirit of the Roman poet Virgil, who reveals that he has been sent by Beatrice to help Dante by guiding him on a spiritual journey.įirst Virgil takes Dante through the nine circles of hell, where they see all kinds of gruesome punishments inflicted on sinners. It begins with Dante wandering lost and downhearted in a forest, a metaphor for his exile. The poem is divided into three books, one for each of these afterlife realms. The Divine Comedy recounts Dante’s visionary journey through the realms of hell, purgatory and heaven to reach God. His love for her would remain a central theme in his poetry throughout his life.ĭante being expelled from Florence and writing the Divine Comedy in exile, from a manuscript of the Divine Comedy made in Siena, 1444-c. Although they only met a few times, Beatrice held a tremendous power over Dante’s imagination. But Dante’s love for Beatrice could never be realised: both were placed in arranged marriages by their families, and Beatrice died when she was only twenty-five. By his own later account, Dante instantly fell in love with her. This political setting played an important part in shaping both Dante’s life and poetry.ĭante encountered another of his great influences when, at the age of nine, he went to a party at the house of an eight-year-old Florentine girl, Beatrice Portinari. Yet the politics of the city was torn apart by conflict between two rival factions, the Guelphs and the Ghibellines. 13th-century Florence was an up-and-coming metropolis, with a growing economy based largely on the textile trade and banking. The video has been made by European and American Collections in collaboration with Western Heritage Collections.ĭante Alighieri was born in around 1265 into a prominent family in Florence. The British Library holds outstanding Dante collections, dating from the Middle Ages right up to the present day, which you can find out about in the following video made especially to celebrate this anniversary. This epic poem in Italian narrates the poet's spiritual journey from the frozen depths of hell to the cosmic heights of heaven, while exploring themes such as sin, virtue and transcendent love. 14 September 2021 is the 700th anniversary of the death of Dante Alighieri (14 September 1321), author of one of the greatest works of medieval poetry, the Divine Comedy.
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