{"id":249,"date":"2019-04-03T20:13:21","date_gmt":"2019-04-03T20:13:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/commons.mtholyoke.edu\/historyoftheromancelanguages2019\/?p=249"},"modified":"2019-04-29T15:30:38","modified_gmt":"2019-04-29T15:30:38","slug":"introduction-6","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/commons.mtholyoke.edu\/historyoftheromancelanguages2019\/2019\/04\/03\/introduction-6\/","title":{"rendered":"Introduction"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Domenico di Michelino, Dante and His Poem fresco, in the dome of the church of Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence, 1465.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

A socio-historical introduction to La<\/em>\u00a0Divina Commedia<\/i><\/strong><\/p>\n

Perhaps one of the most important works of literature, not just in Italy, but the world, is Dante Alighieri\u2019s <\/span>Divina Commedia<\/span><\/i>, a long narrative poem from the fourteenth century. Started in 1308, the <\/span>Divina Commedia<\/span><\/i> is divided into three parts: <\/span>Inferno<\/span><\/i>, <\/span>Purgatorio<\/span><\/i>, and <\/span>Paradiso<\/span><\/i>. More importantly, rather than being written in Latin, the language of writers and educated Europeans, Dante wrote in \u201cvulgar\u201d Italian, what was then a Tuscan or Florentine dialect and would later become the foundation for a \u201cstandard\u201d Italian language. Throughout the narrative, Dante describes his journey through Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise (Heaven) with Virgil, the Roman poet, as his guide. Allegorically, Dante\u2019s travels through these spiritual dimensions are meant to represent his soul\u2019s journey towards God. While references to religious themes were classic elements of medieval culture, the <\/span>Divina Commedia <\/span><\/i>diverged from its period through its novel approach to the topic of the afterlife. For these reasons and others, Dante is considered not only a bridge between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, but also a founder of the standard Italian language that is spoken and taught today. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For a long time, the Middle Ages was primarily considered a \u201cprimitive, barbarous, or Gothic\u201d point in history, which meant that Dante\u2019s work was viewed through the same lens (Brand 327). It wasn\u2019t until the late eighteenth century that Dante and the time period during which he worked were approached critically, giving rise to a variety of philosophical stances: \u201cDante as deficient <\/span>because of<\/span><\/i> his medieval culture, or Dante as great <\/span>in spite of<\/span><\/i> it, two common eighteenth-century views, in contrast with a common Romantic attitude that Dante was great <\/span>because of<\/span><\/i> his medieval background\u201d (Brand 327). Common to this medieval culture was the fact that people living in it were not aware of their medieval \u201cstatus,\u201d the only consensus was that the Roman Empire had fallen and that they were living in \u201cdark\u201d times. It was not until the fourteenth and fifteenth century that the Italian humanists aspired to distinguish themselves from the \u201cdarkness and ignorance separating them from the ancient Greek and Roman world\u201d (Encyclopedia Britannica, <\/span>Middle Ages<\/span><\/i>). Thus, the categorization of the Middle Ages came about from a need to differentiate between an unaware time period to a new self-conscious moment in history that would be known as the Renaissance. Geographically, Italy at this time was not unified, but rather divided between Maritime republics in the north, Papal States in the center, and the Kingdom of Naples and Sicily in the south. This geographic division also meant that there was no linguistic unification either; rather, each territory had its own \u201cdialect,\u201d as the concept of a standard Italian language did not yet exist. \u201c. . . Dante was disdained in Italy about [until] about 1800. He was \u2018awakened\u2019 there by the Risorgimento\u2026 The rediscovery of the Middle Ages was the common background. The Dante celebrations of 1865\u2026 preluded national unification\u201d (Curtius 350). <\/span><\/p>\n

The majority of Dante Alighieri\u2019s biography is known from his own descriptions of his life, particularly from his text <\/span>La vita nuova<\/span><\/i>. Born in Florence in 1265, Dante grew up during a time of great division in Italy, mainly due to conflicts between imperial and papal partisans referred to as the Ghibellines and Guelphs, respectively (Encyclopedia Britannica, <\/span>Dante Alighieri<\/span><\/i>). This ongoing conflict was historically bloody and brutal, included exiles, and in 1260 the Guelphs were defeated, but then regained power again in 1266 and expelled the Ghibellines from Florence (Encyclopedia, <\/span>Dante<\/span><\/i>). Dante\u2019s family sympathized with the Guelphs and so he grew up surrounded by constant war and conquest, which also led to him meeting intellectual figures who would influence his writing, particularly Brunetto Latini. Later in 1300, Florentine Guelphs had divided into Black and White Guelphs — the Blacks supported the Papacy while the Whites opposed it, and Dante supported the White Guelphs (Encyclopedia, <\/span>Dante<\/span><\/i>). As a result of his affiliation with the White Guelphs, he was condemned to perpetual exile by the Black Guelphs of Florence under accusations of corruption. If he returned to Florence without paying a fine, he would risk being burned at the stake; alternatively, Dante refused to pay the fine because he believed he was not guilty, but also because he could not since his resources in Florence were seized (Encyclopedia, <\/span>Dante<\/span><\/i>). It was during his time in exile that he wrote <\/span>La commedia<\/span><\/i>, which would later be called <\/span>La Divina Commedia<\/span><\/i>, in vulgar Latin or the Florentine vernacular, a radical decision considering the fact that Latin was the intellectual language at the time and the one use for works of literature. \u201cBoth as the greatest intellectual representative of his nation and as the greatest poet of the Christian Middle Ages, Dante entered the pantheon of world Classicism in the nineteenth century — a Classicism freed from all classicist theory\u201d (Curtius 350). Dante died in 1321 after he finished writing <\/span>Paradiso<\/span><\/i>, the third part of <\/span>La Divina Commedia<\/span><\/i>. <\/span><\/p>\n

La Divina Commedia <\/span><\/i>is a long narrative poem written circa 1308-21 and is divided into three sections: <\/span>Inferno<\/span><\/i>, <\/span>Purgatorio<\/span><\/i>, and <\/span>Paradiso<\/span><\/i>. The story follows Dante on his journey through Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise, which serve as allegories for the soul\u2019s journey to God. In this journey, Dante is guided by the Roman poet Virgil, a representation of human knowledge, through circles of Hell up until they reach Purgatory. In Purgatory, sinners repent and Virgil leaves, and Dante eventually reaches the verge of Paradise. Once there, he meets Beatrice, who leads him to heaven where he is able to catch quick sight of God\u2019s glory. Each section of <\/span>La Divina Commedia <\/span><\/i>consists of 33 cantos (<\/span>canti<\/span><\/i>) in a hendecasyllabic <\/span>terza rima<\/span><\/i>. Perhaps the most distinct feature of the<\/span> Commedia<\/span><\/i> is the fact that it is written in vernacular rather than classical Latin: \u201cIn Dante\u2019s way of thinking, vernaculars are superior to grammatical languages on account of both the chronology and the logic of their creation. Any grammatical language, whether Latin or Greek or Hebrew, comes later than and is positioned below the vernaculars, the \u2018fall\u2019 of which it is designed to counter\u201d (Marchesi 23). <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Bibliography<\/span><\/p>\n

Brand, C. P. \u201cDante and the Middle Ages in Neo-Classical and Romantic Criticism.\u201d <\/span>The<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Modern Language Review<\/span><\/i>, vol. 81, no. 2, 1986, pp. 327\u2013336.<\/span><\/p>\n

Curtius, Ernst Robert, Willard R. Trask, and Colin Burrow. “Dante.” In <\/span>European<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Literature and the Latin Middle Ages<\/span><\/i>, 348-79. Princeton University Press, 1983. <\/span><\/p>\n

“Dante.” <\/span>Britannica Academic<\/span><\/i>, Encyclop\u00e6dia Britannica, 3 Nov.<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. academic.eb.com\/levels\/collegiate\/article\/Dante\/109641<\/span><\/a>. Accessed 27 Feb.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    2019.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Marchesi, Simone. “Linguistics.” In <\/span>Dante and Augustine: Linguistics, Poetics,<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

    Hermeneutics<\/span><\/i>, 19-64. Toronto; Buffalo; London: University of Toronto Press,<\/span><\/p>\n

      \n
    1. <\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      “Middle Ages.” <\/span>Britannica Academic<\/span><\/i>, Encyclop\u00e6dia Britannica, 2 Nov.<\/span><\/p>\n

        \n
      1. academic.eb.com\/levels\/collegiate\/article\/Middle-Ages\/52537<\/span><\/a>. Accessed 27<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

        Feb. 2019.<\/span><\/p>\n

        “The Divine Comedy.” <\/span>Britannica Academic<\/span><\/i>, Encyclop\u00e6dia Britannica, 2 Oct.<\/span><\/p>\n

          \n
        1. academic.eb.com\/levels\/collegiate\/article\/The-Divine-Comedy\/30678<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

          Accessed 27 Feb. 2019.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

            A socio-historical introduction to La\u00a0Divina Commedia Perhaps one of the most important works of literature, not just in Italy, but the world, is Dante Alighieri\u2019s Divina Commedia, a long narrative poem from the fourteenth century. Started in 1308, the Divina Commedia is divided into three parts: Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso. More importantly, rather than … Continue reading Introduction<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1219,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-249","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-michelle"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/commons.mtholyoke.edu\/historyoftheromancelanguages2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/commons.mtholyoke.edu\/historyoftheromancelanguages2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/commons.mtholyoke.edu\/historyoftheromancelanguages2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/commons.mtholyoke.edu\/historyoftheromancelanguages2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1219"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/commons.mtholyoke.edu\/historyoftheromancelanguages2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=249"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/commons.mtholyoke.edu\/historyoftheromancelanguages2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":404,"href":"https:\/\/commons.mtholyoke.edu\/historyoftheromancelanguages2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249\/revisions\/404"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/commons.mtholyoke.edu\/historyoftheromancelanguages2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=249"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/commons.mtholyoke.edu\/historyoftheromancelanguages2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=249"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/commons.mtholyoke.edu\/historyoftheromancelanguages2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=249"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}