Inferno as a Manifestation of the Pain of Dante Alighieri Essay

Inferno as a Manifestation of the Pain of Dante Alighieri Dante's "Inferno" was a great epic poem of the early Renaissance. It was known for its astute commentary on political and religious levels, both deeply woven into the work through allegory. "Inferno," written in 1314 by Dante Alighieri, was the first canticle of the "Divine Comedy." Dante called it a comedy both because of its happy ending and its style, "which lies between that of the tragedy and that of the elegy."(Vossler, 665) Although most respected writers of the time wrote in Latin, Dante wrote the "Divine Comedy" in the vernacular Italian language so that the common man could read it. The fact that this masterpiece was written in the vernacular helped elevate Italian as the written language of their new age. From the misery and corruption surrounding him in his beloved Florence, he wrote the comedy because he wished to show the path to goodness, the salvation of the human soul "guided by both reason and divine grace."(Vossler, 665) Dante intended the work to be read on three levels: literal, allegorical, and moral. The work was structurally written in eleven syllable lines grouped in threes to make interlocking tercets. The rhyme scheme that he created f!or this is called "terza rima"(Vossler, 664), which forms the words in the pattern aba-bcb-cdc-ded and so on. These are grouped into conceptual units of 150 lines each, called cantos. The entire "Divine Comedy" has one hundred cantos, consisting of one introductory canto and three "principal divisions"(Vossler, 664) or canticles of thirty-three cantos each. In the spring of 1265 Dante was born to a modest noble Florentine family called Alighieri. Even though they were nobles, the family had lost its riches and high social stature through the generations. His mother died when he was young and his father is not often mentioned. He received a careful education, although little of it is known precisely. His family's modest social standing did not prevent him from pursuing his studies. Dante probably studied rhetoric with the scholar Brunetto Latini, from whom he says that he learned "how a man becomes eternal"(Inferno XV line 85). As a young man, Dante largely taught himself how to write verse, but he also studied with the great troubadours of Florence, writing to them and circulating his own love lyrics. In 1295 he began an active ... ... lines 52-53). The most treacherous crime Dante accuses Boniface of comes out of the mouth of another damned soul. Directly saying the pope had sinned was not a wise thing to do, one could be called a heretic and be killed. This poor spirit, Guido, was a soldier whose duty was to militarily advise Boniface when he broke into war with the Colonna family in 1297. Guido was very ill towards Boniface, saying, "But for the High Priest - may he rot in Hell!"(Inferno XXVII line 70). He says about Boniface that "he, the Prince of modern Pharisees,/ Having a war to wage by Lateran -/ Not against Jews, nor Muslim enemies,/ Every foe he had was a Christian,"(Inferno XXVII lines 85-88). Guido charges the pope with waging war not against Jews or Muslims, but other Christians. "Inferno" was a manifestation of the frustration and pain Dante must have felt from the political and religious events of his day that exiled him from the city he so loved. Although Dante's journey took him through the depths of hell and expressed Christian beliefs about the afterlife, his thoughts were secular as he condemned one religious leader after another to the depths of the hell they had created for him.