Dante Alighieri

Dante Alighieri, attributed to Giotto, in the chapel of the Bargello palace in Florence.

Durante degli Alighieri (1265–1321), commonly known as Dante, was a major Italian poet of the Middle Ages.

He was born in Florence, Italy.

When Dante was 12, he was promised in marriage to Gemma di Manetto Donati, daughter of Manetto Donati. Famously, Dante had by this time fallen in love with another, Beatrice Portinari, whom he first met when he was nine years old. Years after his marriage to Gemma, he claims to have met Beatrice again; although he wrote several sonnets to Beatrice, he never mentioned his wife Gemma in any of his poems.

In Italy, he is known as il Sommo Poeta ("the Supreme Poet") or just il Poeta. Dante, Petrarch, and Boccaccio are also known as "the three fountains" or "the three crowns". Dante is also called the "Father of the Italian language".

Source: www.wikipedia.com

Divina Commedia (Italian)

It is widely considered the preeminent work of Italian literature,and is seen as one of the greatest works of world literature.

The poem's imaginative and allegorical vision of the afterlife is a culmination of the medieval world-view as it had developed in the Western Church.

On the surface, the poem describes Dante's travels through Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven; but at a deeper level, it represents allegorically the soul's journey towards God. At this deeper level, Dante draws on medieval Christian theology and philosophy, especially Thomistic philosophy and the Summa Theologica of Thomas Aquinas. Consequently, the Divine Comedy has been called "the Summa in verse."

The Divine Comedy is composed of 14,233 lines that are divided into three parts—Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso—each consisting of 33 cantos.

INFERNO

CANTO I

“Halfway through our trek in life

I found myself in this dark wood,

miles away from the right road.

It’s no easy thing to talk about,

this place, so dire and dismal

I’m terrified just remembering it!”

CANTO I

“And here, just at the beginning,

there was a spotted animal like a leopard, racing about, who wouldn’t get away from me:

in fact, he impeded me so much

I often turned round to return…”

“But they couldn’t stop my panic when I found a lion there to, and he came for me, I thought, his head high, mad with hunger, so even the air seemed terrified.”

“Next a wolf, greediness itself oozing from her famished body, the cause of hurt to so many –

well, this one upset me so much just from the fear of her look, I gave up the hill completely.”

CANTO I

“I tell him, ‘Poet, I ask you now

by this God you didn’t know of,

so I escape this evil and worse,

that you take me where you’ve said,

so I can see St. Peter’s gates

and those you paint in such pain.;

Then off we went, and I follow.”

Circle I (Limbo) Not tortured, but not in heaven(virtuous pagans, unbaptized)

Circle II (Lustful) Whirlwind

Circle III (Gluttonous) Trapped in putrid soil

Circle IV (Avaricious and Prodigal) (joint punishment) each of the two groups completes a semicircle as they roll their weights at each other

Circle V (Wrathful and Slothful) (wrathful) Tied up to their waists in the muddy ground and constantly tear and mangle each other(slothful) the bubbles on the muddy surface indicate their presence beneath

Circle VI (Heretics) entombment of their living souls

Circle VII (Violence) Outer Ring – violent against people/property

Middle Ring – violent against self (suicides)

Inner Ring – violent against God and nature (blasphemers, usurers and homosexuals )

They are drowned in their victims’ blood.

The sinners are stuck as dead, black, lifeless trees. The only way they can speak is through pain,

like getting a branch torn off. 

All are punished in a desert of unbearable heat where fire rains from the sky.

Circle VIII (Malebolge) 1. panderers and seducers 6. hypocrites 2. flatterers 7. thieves 3. simonists 8. deceivers 4. false prophets 9. sowers of discord 5. grafters 10. falsifiers

Circle IX (Treason) 1. Caina – traitors to the kindred

2. Antenora – traitors to political entities

3. Ptolomea – traitors to friends/guests

4. Judecca – traitors to lords and masters

Sinners are stuck in ice up to their necks, necks are able to move, heads are allowed to bow.

Sinners are stuck in ice up to their necks however they cannot move their necks.

Sinners are immediately descended to hell and then their bodies are run by demons. These sinners are stuck in the ice, so only half of their faces show and there tears freeze their eyes shut.

The souls are completely covered in ice and are stuck in positions, they cannot move or speak.

Circle 8

1. Panderers (indulging in immoral desire) and seducers - They are whipped by devils who lash at them with “cruel

delight”, suggesting the devils gain sexual pleasure by inflicting pain.

2. Flatterers They are sunk in their own excrement. Their excrement symbolizes what they excreted in life. Since they were full of it, they have to be sunk in it.

3. Simonists - They are people who would sell church offices and sacraments

for their own good. - They are stuck in wells and set on fire.

4. Sorcerers/False prophets- Their heads are twisted backwards.

5. Grafters - They are immersed in boiling tar. Their dealings in life

under handed, now must stay under the tar. Their crimes stick to them just like the tar blackened their reputation.

6. Hypocrites- They are crushed under lead cloaks. They appear to be

golden on the outside but inside they are corrupt.

7. Thieves- They are turned into lizards and undergo endless

metamorphosis because they can’t distinguish what’s “mine” and what’s “yours” after all the transitions.

8. Deceivers- They are concealed by fire. They robbed others of integrity

when they urged them to practice deceit.

9. Sowers of Discord - They are hacked apart by the devil with a sword.

10. Falsifiers - They suffer from diseases. Their physical rottenness

symbolizes their corrupt souls.