Richard McKeon does not consider him such "by the crucial test that, despite the philosophic doctrines that crowd his poems, scholars have been unable to agree concerning what his attitude toward the philosophers he uses is." But this is to make a very special category of philosophers. To what extent Dante may properly be considered a philosopher depends on one's definition of the term. Mention should also be made of his Rhymes, a collection of verses of varying kinds -some purely lyrical, some moralistic, and some, one might say, philosophical. The Convivio, composed after the author went into exile, is a didactic work the De vulgari eloquentia is a milestone in the history of linguistics, being the first serious study of a vernacular tongue and the De monarchia is the vehicle for Dante's expression of his political theory. His Vita Nuova is the story of his idealistic love for Beatrice, presumably of the Portinari family, who married Simone de' Bardi and died in 1290. He seems to have served his patrons as adviser and on occasion specifically as ambassador it was after an embassy to Venice on behalf of Guido da Polenta, Lord of Ravenna, that the poet died.īy choice Dante might well have devoted himself to political life: circumstance deprived him of this opportunity and constrained him to put his great gifts to the service of letters his masterpiece, the Divine Comedy, is generally regarded as the supreme poetic achievement of the Western tradition and has assured his fame. He wandered from court to court of medieval Italy, with especially long sojourns at Verona and at Ravenna, where he spent the last three years of his life. Aided by the intervention of Charles of Valois, the Blacks took over the city and Dante, a White, went into exile. He took part in the government of his native city, serving on various city councils (1295 –1297, 1301), as prior (1300), and as ambassador to San Gimignano (May 1300) and later to Rome (October 1301), where his mission was to negotiate with the pope to bring about a just peace between the warring factions of White Guelphs and Black Guelphs. He fought in the battle of Campaldino (1289) and a few years later married Gemma Donati, by whom he had at least three children. It is likely that he frequented the church schools, and he probably spent a year at the University of Bologna. Dante Alighieri, the author of the Divine Comedy, was born in Florence of a middle-class family with some pretensions to nobility.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |