Dante Alighieri: biography, dates of life, creativity

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

The name of the famous Italian poet Dante Alighieri has worldwide fame. Quotes from his works can be heard in a variety of languages, since almost the whole world is familiar with his creations. They have been read by many, translated into different languages, studied in different parts of the planet. On the territory of a large number of European countries there are societies that systematically collect, research and disseminate information about his heritage. Anniversaries of Dante's life are among the major cultural events in the life of mankind.

Step into immortality

At the time when the great poet was born, great changes awaited humanity. It was on the eve of a grandiose historical upheaval that radically changed the face of European society. Medieval peace, feudal oppression, anarchy and disunity were a thing of the past. A society of free commodity producers emerged. The times of power and prosperity of nation-states were coming.

Therefore, Dante Alighieri (whose poems have been translated into different languages of the world) is not onlythe last poet of the Middle Ages, but also the first writer of the Modern Age. He tops the list, consisting of the names of the titans of the Renaissance. He was the first to begin the fight against violence, cruelty, obscurantism of the medieval world. He was also among those who were the first to raise the banner of humanism. This was his step into immortality.

Youth of the poet

The life path of Dante Alighieri, his biography is very closely connected with the events that characterized the social and political life of Italy at that time. He was born into a native Florentine family in May 1265. They represented a poor and not very noble feudal family.

His father worked for a Florentine banking firm as a lawyer. He died very early, during the youth of his later famous son.

The fact that political passions were in full swing in the country, bloody battles constantly took place within the walls of his native city, Florentine victories followed defeats, could not escape the attention of the young poet. He was an observer of the collapse of Ghibelline power, the privileges of the giants and the consolidation of the Polanian Florence.

Dante's education took place within the walls of an ordinary medieval school. The young man grew up extremely inquisitive, so the meager, limited school education was not enough for him. He constantly updated his knowledge on his own. Very early, the boy began to be interested in literature and art, paying special attention to painting, music and poetry.

The beginning of the poet's literary life

But Dante's literary life begins at the timewhen literature, art, crafts greedily drank the juices of the civil world. Everything that before that could not fully declare its existence burst out. At that time, new art forms began to appear like mushrooms in a field of rain.

For the first time as a poet, Dante tried himself during his stay in the "new style" circle. But even in those fairly early poems, one cannot help but notice the presence of a violent surf of feelings that smashed the images of this style.

In 1293 the first book of the poet called "New Life" was published. This collection contained thirty poems, the writing of which dates back to 1281-1292. They had an extensive prose commentary, characterized by an autobiographical and philosophical-aesthetic character.

In the verses of this collection it was first told about the love story of the poet. The object of his adoration was Beatrice Portinari back in those days when the boy was barely 9 years old. This love was destined to last all his life. Very rarely, she found her manifestation in the form of rare chance meetings, fleeting glances of her beloved, in her cursory bows. And after 1290, when Beatrice was taken by death, the poet's love becomes his personal tragedy.

Active political activity

Thanks to the "New Life" the name of Dante Alighieri, whose biography is equally interesting and tragic, becomes known. In addition to a talented poet, he was an outstanding erudite, one of the most educated people in Italy. The breadth of his interestswas unusually large for that time. He studied history, philosophy, rhetoric, theology, astronomy, geography. He also paid special attention to the system of Eastern philosophy, the teachings of Avicenna and Averroes. The great ancient poets and thinkers - Plato, Seneca, Virgil, Ovid, Juvenal - did not escape his attention. Particular attention will be paid to their creations by Renaissance humanists.

Dante was constantly nominated by the Florentine commune for honorary positions. He carried out very responsible diplomatic missions. In 1300, Dante Alighieri was elected to a commission of six priors. Its representatives ruled the city.

Beginning of the end

But at the same time there is a new escalation of civil strife. Then the Guelph camp itself became the center of the height of hostility. It split into "white" and "black" factions, which were very hostile to each other.

The mask of Dante Alighieri among the Guelphs was white. In 1301, with the support of the pope, the "black" Guelphs seized power over Florence and began to mercilessly crack down on their opponents. They were sent into exile and executed. Only the absence of Dante in the city saved him then from reprisal. He was sentenced to death in absentia. Burning awaited him immediately after arriving on Florentine land.

Period of exile from homeland

At that time there was a tragic break in the life of the poet. Left without a homeland, he is forced to wander around other cities of Italy. For some time he was even outside the country, in Paris. His wereglad to see him in many palazzos, but he never stayed anywhere. He felt great pain from the defeat, and also missed Florence very much, and the hospitality of the princes seemed to him humiliating and insulting.

During the period of exile from Florence, the spiritual maturation of Dante Alighieri took place, whose biography until that time was very rich. During his wanderings, there was always enmity and confusion before his eyes. Not only his homeland, but the whole country was perceived by him as "a nest of untruth and anxiety." It was surrounded on all sides by endless strife between city-republics, cruel strife between principalities, intrigues, foreign troops, trampled gardens, devastated vineyards, exhausted, desperate people.

A wave of popular protests began in the country. The emergence of new ideas, the popular struggle provoked the awakening of Dante's thoughts, urging him to look for all sorts of ways out of the current situation.

Ripation of a dazzling genius

During the period of wanderings, hardships, mournful thoughts about the fate of Italy, the genius of Dante has matured. At that time, he acts as a poet, philosopher, politician, publicist and research scientist. At the same time, Dante Alighieri wrote The Divine Comedy, which brought him immortal world fame.

The idea of writing this work appeared much earlier. But in order to create it, you need to live a whole human life filled with torment, struggle, sleepless, sizzlinglabor.

Besides the Comedy, other works by Dante Alighieri (sonnets, poems) are also published. In particular, the treatise "Feast" refers to the first years of emigration. It touches not only theology, but also philosophy, morality, astronomy, natural philosophy. In addition, "Feast" was written in the national language of Italian, which was very unusual at that time. After all, then almost all the works of scientists were published in Latin.

In parallel with the work on the treatise in 1306, I saw the world and a linguistic work called "On Folk Eloquence". This is the first European scientific study of Romance linguistics.

Both of these works remained unfinished, as new events directed Dante's thoughts in a slightly different direction.

Unfulfilled dreams of returning home

Dante Alighieri, whose biography is known to many contemporaries, was constantly thinking about returning. For days, months and years, he tirelessly and persistently dreamed about it. This was especially evident during the work on the Comedy, when creating its immortal images. He forged the Florentine speech and raised it to the national political level. He firmly believed that it was with the help of his brilliant poetic creation that he would be able to return to his native city. His expectations, hopes and thoughts of returning gave him the strength to complete this titanic feat.

But he was not destined to return. He finished writing his poem in Ravenna, where he was granted asylum by the authorities of the city. In the summer of 1321, the creation of Dante AlighieriThe Divine Comedy was completed, and on September 14 of the same year, the city buried the genius.

Death from believing in a dream

Until the end of his life, the poet firmly believed in peace in his native land. This mission he lived. For her sake, he went to Venice, which was preparing a military attack on Ravenna. Dante really wanted to convince the leaders of the Adriatic Republic that the war should be abandoned.

But this trip not only did not bring the desired results, but also became fatal for the poet. On his way back there was a swampy lagoon area, where the scourge of such places "dwelled" - malaria. It was she who became the reason for the crushing of the poet's forces, torn by very hard work, for several days. Thus ended the life of Dante Alighieri.

And only after a few decades did Florence realize who she had lost in the person of Dante. The government wanted to take the remains of the poet from the territory of Ravenna. His ashes until our time are far from the homeland, which rejected and condemned him, but for which he remains the most devoted son.