“Dante’s Apprenticeship:
Vita Nuova, De Vulgari Eloquentia, Convivio”
Orazio Donato
An Abstract of a Thesis
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree of
Master of Arts
In Modern Languages
Central Connecticut State University
New Britain, Connecticut
Spring, 2003
Thesis Advisor: Dr. Maria C. Passaro
Department of Modern Languages
“Dante’s Apprenticeship:
Vita Nuova, De Vulgari Eloquentia, Convivio”
Dante Alighieri wrote the Divina Commedia, a poem of enormous
importance in world literature. How did Dante become such a great poet and how
did he create such an incredible masterpiece? His personal and political
experiences, education and minor works led him to the Divina Commedia. This
thesis analyzes Dante’s biography, and three of his minor works: the Vita Nuova,
the De Vulgari Eloquentia and the Convivio, as his apprenticeship to the Divina
Commedia. It will show that the content and objectives of the Divina Commedia
are the result of Dante’s real life experiences and his minor works.
The study looks at Dante’s life from birth to maturity, his family, his
education, his political tendencies, and the artistic and economical environment
that surrounded him. It identifies Dante’s personal interests, difficulties,
disappointments, and achievements prior to the Divina Commedia. It offers a
literary analysis of the three minor works relevant to his masterpiece. As far as
the Vita Nuova is concerned, it analyzes the young poet and his creativity, the
Dolce Stil Nuovo and the love for Beatrice. As far as the De Vulgari Eloquentia,
it concentrates on its content in relation to the “vulgar” language. It delineates
Dante’s ideas on the evolution of languages, his examination of the current
dominant Italian dialects and writers, and his notion about properties of a new
Italian language. It explains why Dante wrote this work in Latin and not in
Italian. When it turns to the Convivio, it analyzes the banquet of knowledge, the
food of the mind for those who do not speak Latin.
Successively, the study connects Dante’s apprenticeship, his biography
and the three minor works, to the Divina Commedia. It analyzes the form, the
themes, the plot, the setting and goals of the masterpiece. It will show
connections to the poetry and ideology of the Dolce Stil Nuovo, which is sinew of
the Vita Nuova. It shows how the Divina Commedia puts in practice the linguistic
theories generated in the De Vulgari Eloquentia, and how Dante demonstrates that
his Italian language is as worthy as Latin. It proves that the Divina Commedia is
an encyclopedia with the same goals as the Convivio.
Specific examples from the Divina Commedia will show how Dante
incorporates events from his life as well as episodes from his minor works in his
culminating masterpiece, how the Divina Commedia is the end of a life journey.
It will identify and connect many characters, events and situations in the Divina
Commedia to Dante’s own past. The “mad flight” of Ulysses, the words of
Francesca da Rimini, the placing of Boniface VIII and others in Hell will be used
as direct examples of Dante’s apprenticeship. The study, furthermore, will
examine the role of Pier Delle Vigne in order to establish a correlation between
his life and the life of Dante.
Finally, the study concludes by showing the intent of the Divina
Commedia’s desire to reach out to its readers in order to help them find their inner
selves and become who they are. It is the hope of this study to educate its readers
about Dante, and his minor works in relation to his masterpiece, to prove that he is
still a major figure in the history of literature even without the Divina Commedia.
This study will conclude with the aim of stimulating thoughts for future critical
investigations.
“Dante’s Apprenticeship:
Vita Nuova, De Vulgari Eloquentia, Convivio”
Orazio Donato
A Thesis
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree of
Master of Arts
In Modern Languages
Central Connecticut State University
New Britain, Connecticut
Spring, 2003
Thesis Advisor: Dr. Maria C. Passaro
Department of Modern Languages
Table of Content
I.
Introduction
2
II.
Dante’s Life
A. The Alighieri Family
B. Political Ambiance
Page
Page 8
Page
9
C. Educational and Cultural Growth
III.
Page 11
The Minor Works
A. Vita Nuova
Page 16
B. De Vulgari Eloquentia
Page 24
C. Convivio
IV.
Divina Commedia
Page 29
Page 33
V.
Conclusion
Page 50
VI.
Appendix
Page 52
VII. Bibliography
Page 55
VIII. Biographical Note
Page 58
Introduction
Dante Alighieri is an essential part of the Italian culture and his work has
influenced the arts, religion, history and many other disciplines for over seven
centuries all over the world. Dante Alighieri is undoubtedly the greatest Italian
poet with a very well deserved universal fame. In the books of world literature, he
is found among other greats such as Homer, Sophocles and Shakespeare. His
name and his masterpiece, the Divina Commedia, are synonymous and known to
all world’s most famous scholars. Who would not be impressed by a poem made
up of thousands hendecasyllabic verses where form and content develop in an
exceptionally majestical way, reaching perfection? Only the thought of such a
poetic composition would seem impossible to most human beings. In some
languages the lexicon may not permit the elaborate creation of such a colossal
work of art.
How did Dante Alighieri arrive at the creation of the Divina Commedia?
The Vita Nuova, the De Vulgari Eloquentia and the Convivio may seem minor
works when compared to his masterpiece, but they are extremely important in the
psychological and artistic development of the Poet, as are his active political life
and educational growth among the leaders of his time. The purpose of this thesis
is to show how the encyclopedic content and perfect form of the Divina
Commedia is the culmination of Dante’s linguistic, poetic, and cognitive skills
already present in his earlier works and personal life. This thesis is an analysis of
the Vita Nuova, the De Vulgari Eloquentia, the Convivio, and Dante’s biography
as they culminate in the Divina Commedia.
Dante did not come up with the idea of the Divina Commedia overnight.
The concept of the Divina Commedia must have begun to occupy a good part of
his thoughts at least since the time when he composed the Vita Nuova. His young
love for Beatrice and proud membership among the ‘Dolce Stil Nuovo’ poets,
made Dante well aware of his artistry in the new vulgar language.1 The poems
1
In this thesis, “vulgar” will be used to mean “of the common people,” as it was used at the
time of Dante. Thus, “vulgar language” stands for “the language of the common people,” the
popular language as opposed to Latin.
included in the Vita Nuova are of immense beauty, and their meter shows an
obvious talent that will eventually not surprise the reader of the Divina
Commedia. Many other elements, present in this early work, are going to be an
essential part of the Divina Commedia: Dante himself as the protagonist of the
journey and the use of particular numbers are two examples. At the end of the
Vita Nuova, Dante announces his intention, to write about his woman “what had
never been written before,”2 and Beatrice becomes his heroine and stimulation.
Did Dante intend to write the Divina Commedia to immortalize Beatrice?
At the time of the composition of the Vita Nuova it may have seemed so, as the
poet himself, at the approximate age of twenty-six, admits again in the last
chapter:
…apparve a me una mirabile visione, ne la quale io vidi cose che
mi fecero proporre di non dire più di questa benedetta infino a
tanto che io potessi più degnamente trattare di lei (Vita Nuova,
XLII).3
Evidently, he was aware of his potential and looked forward to be the Poet as he
was about to become.
Between 1304 and 1305, Dante wrote the De Vulgari Eloquentia. The De
Vulgari Eloquentia deals, among other things, with the evolution of the human
language, how it evolved into vulgar languages and these languages’ historical,
theoretical and linguistic differences. Dante does an elaborate analysis of the
Italian language. He identifies its dialects and its regional differences and he
2
Dante says: “…io spero di dicer di lei quello che mai non fue detto d’alcuna” (La Vita
Nuova, XLII).
3
“…a miraculous vision appeared to me, in which I saw things which made me decide to write
nothing more of this blessed one until such time as I could treat of her more worthily.” Translation
by A. S. Kline (Kline, “Dante – La Vita Nuova,” XLII).
recognizes major exemplary writers not excluding himself. Finally, in De Vulgari
Eloquentia, Dante argues that Italian is a language capable of expressing the
hardest concepts, those of arms, love and virtues. He proposes poetry as the most
appropriate form of self-expression in the vulgar language, and elevates the
hendecasyllable. The Divina Commedia is an epic poem written in the vulgar
tongue consisting of 14,233 verses, each made of eleven syllables with an a-b-a-bc-b-c rhyme scheme and absolutely no exceptions. Arms, love and virtues are
among its essential themes (there is philosophy, theology, cosmography,
astronomy, etc.). A reason will be given as to why Dante wrote the De Vulgari
Eloquentia in Latin and not in Italian. Dante was very capable of writing in either
language.
Around the same time as the De Vulgari Eloquentia, Dante wrote a third
literary work, the Convivio. “Convivio” means banquet. Dante uses this
metaphor and presents the banquet of knowledge to those who do not know Latin
and are not literate. With the Convivio, his intention is to educate the public at
large with his profound philosophical acquisition, his political interests and his
linguistic reflections. The invited guests can only perceive this encyclopedic
knowledge in Italian as they only speak the vulgar language. Thus, the
importance of the Italian language again, as Dante needs it to express his
meditated knowledge. Does the Divina Commedia have the same goal as the
Convivio? It certainly gives us an abundant amount of information relevant to
Dante’s time. The author structured the Divina Commedia in such a way as to
allow the plot to include whatever theme, character or vision delighted him. In
the Inferno, Purgatorio and Paradiso of the Divina Commedia there is space and
ambiance to accommodate anybody or anything, be it physical or metaphysical,
past, present or future.
Dante’s active political life develops in Florence, a city that was about to
become the capital of the Renaissance as well as the most populated and
wealthiest one of its time. The city also played a significant role in his
apprenticeship. Guelphs and Ghibellines dominated and conflicted with their
respective political ideologies. The Guelphs overcame the latter and took political
control of the city-state. However, as differences grew within the party, the
Guelphs split into Blacks and Whites. Dante, a White Guelph, played a major
political role in the city of Florence. When the Black Guelphs gained control of
the city, Dante was forced into exile. Political experiences and personalities will
be an integral part of the Divina Commedia.
A lot of studies have been conducted on Dante’s Divina Commedia and on
his minor works. Many critics have made connections citing one work into
another or supporting their comments of a particular idea found in the Divina
Commedia with facts found in other works. Dante alludes to his big intention in
all of the three above-mentioned minor works. Two of these works, the De
Vulgari Eloquentia and the Convivio, were never completed, most likely because
Dante took on the arduous task of writing the Divina Commedia.
This study will attempt to show how the content of Dante’s minor works is
included in the Divina Commedia as if they were the brainstorming to the
masterpiece. Major points and ideas in the Divina Commedia, as analyzed and
admired by scholars, will be connected to the minor works or shown to be already
present in them. This thesis may create a web to facilitate future studies, stimulate
ideas and put in evidence Dante’s minor works. The form and content of the
Divina Commedia are already present in Vita Nuova, De Vulgari Eloquentia, and
Convivio. Does he use the Divina Commedia as a compilation of his minor
works? What is the Divina Commedia? Is it an epic poem of a soul’s purifying
journey through a religiously believed afterlife? Whom is it written for and what
is its purpose? Some of these questions may have been answered already, but
considering the massive amount of information in the Divina Commedia coming
from the minor works, each with its own individual theme, then these answers
may become more realistic and not so metaphysical. The purpose of the Divina
Commedia may very well be as humanistic as the Renaissance was about to be: it
has a didactic objective and it stimulates the reader to find his/her inner self.
Originally, Dante called it the Commedia, as it has a happy ending. Later
Boccaccio added the word Divina thus Divina Commedia as we know it
nowadays. Dante’s minor works are relatively minor only to the Divina
Commedia, and his professional growth influenced cultures worldwide.
It is the intent of this thesis to make evident how the Divina Commedia is
a compilation of the Poet’s life-long accomplishments based on his political and
personal experiences, philosophical tendencies of his minor works. Some
scholars say that Dante would still be a great poet solely on the basis of his minor
works. Dante excels as a poet because he wrote the Divina Commedia. Could
Dante have written the Divina Commedia without his apprenticeship, without
writing the Vita Nuova, the De Vulgari Eloquentia or the Convivio?
Dante’s Life
The Alighieri Family
Dante Alighieri was born in Florence in late May or early June of the year
1265. His family was of noble descent and traces of his ancestry date back to the
Roman Empire (Garavaglia-Bonghi, “Biografia di Dante”). His great-greatgrandfather, Cacciaguida [Par., XV, 22; XVII,13], lived in Florence with his two
brothers, Moronto and Eliseo. There is evidence of a person named Cacciaguida
in a document of 1131 (Dante Alighieri, La Divina Commedia. Comment, p. 757).
He was knighted by the emperor Corrado III and died during the second crusade in
the Holy Land. Cacciaguida married Aliguiera, a woman from Ferrara, in the Po
valley. They had several children, one of which was Alighiero I, named after his
mother. Alighiero I was the father of Bellincione, who, likewise named his son
Alighiero II. Alighiero II was the father of Durante, called Dante for short
(Garavaglia-Bonghi, “Biografia di Dante”). Little is known about Dante’s
mother. Her name was donna Bella (Gabriella) and she died during Dante’s
childhood. His father died before Dante’s eighteenth birthday, in 1283. However,
in 1277, when Dante was only 12 years old, Alighiero II, through a deed attested
by a notary, arranged his son’s future wedding to Gemma Donati, daughter of
Manetto Donati (Garavaglia-Bonghi, “Biografia di Dante.” Online). Dante
married Gemma4 and they had at least three children5: two sons, Iacopo and
Pietro, and a daughter, Antonia, who later took the name of Beatrice6 in the
Convent of Santo Stefano degli Olivi in Ravenna. Gemma Donati remained in
Florence and outlived her husband. She died sometime before 1343 (Dante
Alighieri, La Divina Commedia, Introduction, p. xviii). What role did Gemma
Donati have in Dante’s life is not clear. She was the mother of his children and a
housekeeper. Dante was a poet and lived according to his time. His wedding did
not stop him expressing the love he felt for his heroine (Bonghi, “Biografia di
Dante Alighieri.” Online ).
Political Ambiance
4
The date of Dante and Gemma’s wedding varies: Charles S. Singleton, in his itruduction to
the Divina Commedia, dates it between 1283 and 1285 (p. xviii); Maria Adele Garavaglia and
Giuseppe Bonghi date it with some hesitance in 1285 but no later than 1290 (Garavaglia-Bonghi,
“Biografia di Dante.” Online ); and Piero Cudini in 1295 (Dante, Convivio. Introduction R. G., p.
VII).
5
A document from 1308 mentions a fourth child, Giovanni (Dante Alighieri, La Divina
Commedia. Introduction, p. xviii).
6
Giuseppe Segre gives evidence that Giovanni Boccaccio personally met Dante’s daughter as
she was going through sisterhood (Boccaccio, Decameron. Nota bibliografica, p. 16).
At the time of Dante, Italy did not exist as a country but only as a
geographical place. It consisted predominantly of city-states and Florence was
about to become the most dominant.7 Florence was the city of Arnolfo da Cambio
and Giotto [Purg., XI, 95], the architect, sculptor and greatest painter of his time,
pupil and successor of Cimabue [Purg., XI, 94], who brought new life into the
Byzantine art.8 It was the city where the vernacular was about to acquire the same
attributes and empowerment as Latin. It was the city where poets such as Dante’s
“first friend” Guido Cavalcanti [Inf., X, 63; Purg., XI, 97], the notary Lapo
Gianni, Dino Frescobaldi, Gianni Alfani e Cino da Pistoia, and Dante himself, to
mention a few, spoke in verses under the ‘guidance’ of Love (Pedrina, Poesia e
Critica, p.204). It was a city where a new style of courtly poetry was about to
emerge: the Dolce Stil Nuovo. It was the city of the musician Casella9 [Purg., II,
76]. Nevertheless, it was a place where politics and strong opinions, supported by
the power of kings and the Pope, also prevailed. As in many other places at this
time in the peninsula of Italy, the conflict between the Guelphs and Ghibellines
was alive and noticeable in the city of Florence. Dante and his ancestors were
Guelphs. Eventually the quarrel stopped with the defeat of the Ghibellines in the
battle of Benevento in 1266, but when an inner conflict developed among the
Guelphs, they divided into two separate political parties: the Whites, under the
Cerchi family, represented the new power of industry and money; the Blacks, led
by the Donati, represented the old nobility (Alighieri, La Divina Commedia.
7
During the Renaissance Florence would become as populated as Tenochtitlán in Mexico and
the wealthiest city in Europe with the rise of the Medici family. It would become the Florence of
Leonardo Da Vinci and Michelangelo Buonarroti.
8
Charles S. Singleton considers Giovanni Cimabue the restorer of painting in Florence
(Singleton, Dante Alighieri. Footnote #94, p. 410).
9
According to M. Passaro, Casella was, probably, from Siena or Pisa.
Introduction, p.xvii). The Whites supported innovative changes that eventually
led to the lucrative, magnificent and industrial Florence of the Renaissance. The
Blacks continued to respect the dominance of the established nobles and gave
little admiration to the ones with newly acquired wealth. Dante believed in
ideologies of the White Guelphs and became an active
participant in the political life. He matriculated in the guild of physicians and
apothecaries in order to participate in public office and eventually was nominated
one of the six priors of Florence. As such, he was partly responsible for the exile
of his good friend and colleague, Guido Cavalcanti. In 1301, with the military
assistance of Pope Boniface VIII [Inf., XIX, 53; XXVII, 70; Purg., XX, 87; Par.,
XXX, 148], the Black Guelphs took over the city. Dante was infuriated by the idea
of a Pope stepping out of his Papacy and taking on active part with the military in
a political conflict. As he saw it, the Pope had every responsibility to administer
his spiritual power while abstaining from any temporal power. In 1302, Dante
received the death penalty as a White Guelph. For the next twenty years, he lived
in exile from one podestà to another. He never returned to Florence. It is difficult
to imagine a man during the Medieval Ages living without his wife and children
and hopping from one city-state to another. Was his wife so passive to the
circumstances because she was a Donati and, therefore, associated with the Black
Guelphs? Three of his children eventually joined Dante in Ravenna (Alighieri, La
Divina Commedia. Introduction, p. xviii).
Educational and Cultural Growth
A schematic summary of Dante’s educational background and social
responsibilities will be helpful in understanding the experiences and mental
growth he had developed by the time he began to write the Divina Commedia.
Even though Dante came from a modest noble family with poor financial
resources, he was able to interact among the elite and courtly life of the early
cosmopolitan Florence and acquire a decent education. Dante began his
elementary education among the Dominicans in the Convent of Santa Maria
Novella. The church of Santa Maria Novella is a monumental landmark in Italy
known for Cimabue’s Crucifix and other masterpieces. It may be here that Dante
began to develop an interest in contemporary art.10 Consequently, Dante attended
the Franciscan convent of Santa Croce where he became immersed in theology,
philosophy and classic erudition. At the time Santa Croce was the center of town
meetings, ecclesiastic mediations, liturgical celebrations and pastoral and cultural
conventions of the Franciscans (Di Fonzo, “L’Osservatore Romano”). A perfect
place for gaining experience and stimulating the mind!
Under the guidance of Brunetto Latini [Inf., XV. 30], Dante continued the
study of rhetorical art. Ser Brunetto, as Dante calls him in the Divina Commedia,
was an important figure in the city of Florence. He was born around 1220 from a
distinguished family and became a well-known notary (thus the title of Ser) with a
love for the arts and culture. In 1260, he was sent to Spain as ambassador to the
court of Alphonse X. As the Guelphs were overthrown by the Ghibellines at
10
Coincidentally, art history wants also Masaccio, Lippi, Ghirlandaio, Brunelleschi and
Uccello to leave their signatures at Santa Maria Novella during the next century following the
presence of Dante. A more mature Giotto (and later Donatello) also adorned the Basilica of Santa
Croce.
Montaperti, Brunetto Latini, a Guelph himself, delayed his return to Italy and
sojourned in France. There he wrote Le livres dou Trésor, an encyclopedia
written in French. He returned to Italy in 1266 after the Guelphs regained power
by defeating the Ghibellines in the aforementioned battle of Benevento. He held
various public offices. In Italian verses he wrote a didactic composition in
allegorical form called Tesoretto. He died in 1294 (Alighieri, La Divina
Commedia. Comment, p. 134). Dante attended many of Brunetto Latini’s lectures
and was greatly influenced by his Florentine teacher. Comparing the life of
Brunetto to the life of Dante, the former seems to set up a model for the latter as
Dante goes through the similar political, social and cultural paths.
After the death of Brunetto Latini, Dante begins his political immersion.
At this time in Florence, members of the lower nobility were not allowed to take
part in public office unless they belonged to a guild. For this reason, Dante joined
the guild of apothecaries. In 1295-1296, he served as a city councilman. In the
Jubilee Year of 1300, during June 15 and August 15, he was elected prior for two
months. It was during this office, as one of the six highest magistrates of
Florence, that Dante and the other five priors became responsible for the exile of
Guido Cavalcanti from the city of Florence. In 1301, he went to Rome as an
ambassador representing the White Guelphs in order to calm down Pope Boniface
VIII as he was about to use his temporal power to help the Black Guelphs defeat
the Whites. Dante would never see his native city again. While he was kept in
Rome, the Black Guelphs with the support of the Papacy took control of the city
and began an outrageous ousting of their political opponents. At first Dante was
banished from Florence for two years and forever forbidden to take public office
again. Accused of barratry, extortion and opposition to the Pope, he was asked to
apologize. Dante refused. On March 10, 1302, the podestà of Florence,
Cantarelli da Gubbio, confiscated his possessions and changed his sentence to a
perpetual exile condemned to the stake as a consequence should he ever return to
the city (Alighieri, Convivio. Introduction, p. VIII). In vain, Dante tried to react
by seeking the support and action of others affected by the same circumstance.11
Disappointed by their incompetence, he isolated himself and broke away from the
White Guelphs definitively and sought accommodation for himself and his family
among the courts of northern Italy. Between 1304 and 1306 he was in Verona,
Treviso, Padova, Venice and possibly Bologna, where he met Gentile da Cingoli
at the University of Bologna. According to Maria Corti, Gentile da Cingoli
provided Dante with many linguistic ideas (Livi, “De Vulgari Eloquentia”). He
was a guest of Bartolomeo della Scala [Par., XVII, 71] in Verona, of Gherardo da
Camino (Purg., XVI, 124) in the area of Treviso. Between 1306 and 1307 he was
a guest of the Malaspinas in Lunigiana, of the counts Guidi (Par., XVI. 64) in
Casentino and in Lucca. From 1310 to 1313 he supported the emperor Arrigo VII
[Inf., VI, 80] and wrote letters to the Italian princes seeking help while blaming
the Florentines for opposing Arrigo VII. In 1315 he was offered amnesty, which
would have allowed his return to Florence, but refused it because he considered
the conditions humiliating. He was a guest of Cangrande della Scala [Par., XVII,
76] in Verona for nearly five years. In 1318, he moved in with Guido Novello da
Polenta [Inf., XXVII, 41] in Ravenna for whom he traveled often to Venice to
11
Dante had participated actively in other battles previously: the battle of Campaldino against
the Ghibellines of Arezzo in 1289; and later, the victorious attack on the castle of Caprona in Pisa
(Alighieri, Convivio. Introduction R. G., p. VII).
discharge various diplomatic responsibilities. In 1321, after one of these trips,
Dante became ill and died (Alighieri, Convivio. Introduction by R. G., p. VIII).12
It was under this personal, political and social stress that Dante Alighieri wrote
The Vita Nuova, the Convivio and De Vulgari Eloquentia.
12
Dante died in Ravenna on September 13 or 14, 1321. His remains have been kept in
Ravenna despite appeals from the Florentines who maintain a cenotaph for Dante in the Church of
Santa Croce (“Dante Alighieri,” Microsoft® Encarta®).
The Minor Works
Vita Nuova
The Vita Nuova is one of the first works of Dante written in vulgar tongue
and the last to be printed. It is a composition of prose and poetry of exemplary
beauty and it is of extreme importance for those who begin the study of Dante
Alighieri. It is the first work of art in Italian literature where the author comments
on his own poetry. Already with the Vita Nuova (and well before writing the
Divina Commedia), Dante asserts himself as the divine Poet and vernacular writer
whose contemporary “stilnovistici” writers13 could not deny him an obligation of
admiration. In the Vita Nuova there is the personification of Love and the
“angelication” of woman as seen by the Dolce Stil Nuovo, as well as the
numerical perfection so typical of Dante and the concept of the “Dante
protagonist” of the Divina Commedia.
The date of the composition of the Vita Nuova varies in the opinion of
literary critics. Some, like Rajina and Casini, believe Dante wrote the booklet
between 1292 and 1295, while others, like D’Ancona, place it in the spring of
1300 (Bonghi, “Introduzione a La Vita Nuova.” Online). But the most credible
13
“Stilnovistici” in Italian means writers belonging to the Dolce Stil Nuovo.
and easy to accept is the date given by Giovanni Boccaccio.14 In his Trattatello in
Laude di Dante, Boccaccio says:
[Dante] primieramente, duranti ancora le lagrime della morte della
sua Beatrice, quasi nel suo ventesimosesto anno compose in un
volumetto, il quale egli intitolò Vita nova, certe operette, sì come
sonetti e canzoni, in diversi tempi davanti in rima fatte da lui,
maravigliosamente belle; di sopra da ciascuna partitamente e
ordinatamente scrivendo le cagioni che a quelle fare l’avea[n]
mosso, e di dietro ponendo le divisioni delle precedenti opere. E
come che egli d’avere questo libretto fatto, ... è egli assai bello e
piacevole, e massimamente a’ volgari (XXVI).
Boccaccio explains clearly that, after the death of his Beatrice15, and in his twentysixth year,16 Dante put together in a booklet sonnets and canzoni previously
written, explaining first the reason for writing them, and then, having divided each
composition in several parts, explaining the content. The first edition of the Vita
Nuova was published in Florence much later in 1576 by Nicolò Carducci with the
title of Vita Nuova di Dante Alighieri con XV canzoni del medesimo e la vita di
esso Dante scritta da Giovanni Boccaccio nella stamperia di Batolomeo
Sermatelli MDLXXVI. Two are the reasons for this late first edition: first, the
poetic beauty of the compositions of the Vita Nuova was such that people would
prefer to read only the poems without the narrative; second, the immense
greatness of the glorious Divina Commedia superimposed itself over the rest of
Dante’s works (Bonghi, “Introduzione a La Vita Nuova.” Online) overshadowing
their existence.
14
The reason why so much credibility is given to Giovanni Boccaccio, as opposed to others,
is: first, he was almost a contemporary of Dante; second, he had the opportunity to interact with
sister Beatrice, Dante’s daughter, as previously stated.
15
After 1290. Beatrice died in 1290.
16
Approximately in 1291. Dante was born in1265.
“Il libretto assai bello e massimamente piacevole ai volgari,”17 Boccaccio
continues to say in his work on Dante (Boccaccio, Trattatello in laude di Dante,
XXVI). By “volgari” he meant common people and by common people we can
see not only those who wanted to read poetry in their vernacular language, but the
other poets who were part of the Dolce Stil Nuovo group. These poets saw Love
as a spiritual elevation and the angelic woman as the one who inspired humility
and raised man to God. According to the philosophy of this artistic movement,
Love lives in the gentle heart, only the gentle heart can give Love hospitality and
only the gentle heart is capable of falling in love. This seems to be a logical step,
after the religious poetry of San Francesco [Inf., XXVII, 44; Par., XI,16; XIII, 33;
XXII, 90; XXXII, 35], passing from the brotherhood to the gentleness and, at the
same time, keeping the religious attitude. Guido Guinizzelli [Purg., XI, 97;
XXVI, 92] became the leader of the Dolce Stil Nuovo and his poem, “Amore e
cuore gentile,” became its manifestation. According to Guinizzelli,
Al cor gentil repara sempre Amore
com’a la selva augello ’n la verdura,
né fe’ amore anzi che gentil core,
né gentil core anzi ch’amor natura...
(Pedrina, Poesia e critica, p. 199)
That is, Love will always find a nest in the gentle heart as does the bird in the
forest, and both, Love and the gentle heart, were born at the same time. Dante
looks up to Guinizzelli and recognizes him as “saggio”18 in the sonnet “Amore e
‘cor gentil” [Vita Nuova, XX]:
17
18
“The booklet is extremely beautiful and a delight to read for the common people.”
A wise man.
Amore e ’l cor gentil sono una cosa,
Sì come il saggio in suo dittare pone,
e così esser l’un sanza l’altro osa
com’alma razional sanza ragione...
Like Guinizzelli, Dante sees Love and the gentle heart as if they were the same
thing, analogizing the existence of one without the other as the rational soul
without reason: Love and the gentle heart are inseparable. The angelic and
spiritual power of the woman from the Dolce Stil Nuovo becomes evident in the
sonnet “Ne li occhi porta” [Vita Nuova, XXI]: Dante’s woman has Love in her
eyes and everything she looks at becomes sweet; seeing her walk by, every man
turns around (becomes shy), and if she greets him, it makes his heart tremble; if
she looks down all become pale and repent of their imperfections: arrogance and
anger flee before her, etc.
Ne li occhi porta la mia donna Amore,
per che si fa gentil ciò ch’ella mira;
ov’ella passa, ogn’om ver lei si gira,
e cui saluta fa tremar lo core,
sì che, bassando il viso, tutto smore,
e d’ogni suo difetto allor sospira:
fugge dinanzi a lei superbia ed ira...
Even this idea of the “superwoman,” Dante borrows from Guinizzelli:
Passa per via sì adorna e sì gentile,
ch’abassa orgoglio a cui dona salute...19
As the greeting of Dante’s woman makes the heart tremble, Guinizzelli’s woman
lowers the pride of those she greets.
19
Guinizzelli, “Il fascino della donna amata” (Pedrina, Pesia e Critica, p. 201).
Dante dedicates the Vita Nuova to Guido Cavalcanti [Inf., X, 97; Purg.,
XI,
97], friend and also poet of the Dolce Stil Nuovo.20 Nevertheless, Cavalcanti’s
theory of Love is different from Dante’s in that Guido Cavalcanti treats Love with
a scientific method and perceives it as a demoniacal force. Under the name of
Love he expresses the restlessness of his soul. He distinguishes between the
organic powers of the body: the mind, the heart and soul. This theoretical
concept together with two other details, the fact that Guido “ebbe a disdegno”
[Inf., X, 63]21 and that Dante, as a just prior of Florence, was obliged to send him
in exile, are probable reasons for which Dante seems not to include Guido among
the group of poets when he discusses the Dolce Stil Nuovo in the Canto XXIV of
the Purgatorio (Singleton, Dante Alighieri, p. 521). The group of poets from the
Dolce Stil Nuovo mentioned by Dante in the De Vulgari Eloquentia, does include
Guido Cavalcanti with Lapo Gianni, Cino da Pistoia and Dante Alighieri himself
[De Vulgari Eloquentia, I, XIII, 3].
Returning to Boccaccio and his Trattatello in Laude di Dante, it is
explained that the Vita Nuova consists of three elements:

The narration of the events that moved the poet to write the
rhymes,

The rhymes, “marvelously beautiful” – compilations of pre-written
sonnets and canzoni for Beatrice and some other women,
20
For a detailed ascertainment regarding the dedication of the Vita Nuova, see La Vita Nuova
di Dante Alighieri by Guglielmo Gorni.
21
Here the long discussion of Dante’s famous line “forse cui Guido vostro ebbe a disdegno”
as he talks to Cavalcante de’ Cavalcanti, Guido’s father. He is punished in the sixth circle of Hell,
among the heretics and epicureans, for not believing in the immortality of the soul and enjoying
their materialistic life. In Guido’s case, Dante may be referring to Virgil as Guido, an averroist,
showed skepticism toward the Aeneid and the classics (Passaro, Italian 470. Class discussions).

The divisions that Dante uses to explain the content of the rhymes
(XXVI).
These three elements not only complement each other in forming an artistic unity,
but they show with great clarity the poetic and narrative ability that the
young writer has in his vernacular language. Not only does Dante offer practically
the same content in two different forms, i.e. prose and poetry, but he explains with
his literary divisions what was his intention, thus making the Vita Nuova a
didactic composition. The “libello,”22 as Dante calls it [Vita Nuova, I], consists of
42 chapters. D’Ancona divides it in the following way giving also his opinion of
the dates of the various compositions (Bonghi, “Introduzione alla Vita Nuova.”
Online):
Sectio
n
Chapters
1st part
I-XVII
2nd part
XVIII-XXVII
3rd part
XXVIII-XXXIV
4th part
XXXV-XXXVIII
5th part
XXXIX-XLII
Content
Young love and first rhymes about
the physical beauty of Beatrice
Praise of the spiritual beauty of
Beatrice
Death of Beatrice and the
“rime dolorose”
Love and rhymes for the gentle
woman
Return to the love and cult for the
dead Beatrice
Date of
Composition
1274-1287
1287-1290
1290-1291
1291-1293
1294
Then there is the introduction or proemio, as Dante calls it [Vita Nuova, Proemio].
Again the opinion of literary critics differs on their interpretation of what Dante
22
Libello means Booklet. With this term Dante defines the Vita Nuova also in the Convivio.,
II, II.
intended with the title Vita Nuova. Some believe that Dante by “new life” meant
to talk about his adolescence as he defined it: up to twenty-five years old. Others
see “new” in the medieval sense: the youthful or renewed life. While a third
group sees a “new life” not in the age of the protagonist but in his psychological
change: the “new life” that Dante acquires with love of Beatrice (Bonghi,
“Introduzione a La Vita Nuova.” Online). Moreover, there may be another
interpretation: could it not be possible that Dante was alluding to the Dolce Stil
Nuovo? Even here there is the word “new.” And couldn’t the fact that this Dolce
Stil Nuovo saw love from a theoretical point of view, as a God that brings to
salvation, and women as angels, be a poetic way to give a “new life” to whoever
wants to accept this new metaphysical conception?
In the last chapter of the Vita Nuova, Dante says: “apparve a me una
mirabile visione, ne la quale io vidi cose che mi fecero proporre di non dire più di
questa benedetta infino a tanto che io potessi più degnamente trattare di lei ... io
spero di dicer di lei quello che mai non fue detto d’alcuna.” With this Dante preannounces his masterpiece: the Commedia. Reading the Vita Nuova after Dante
had written the Divina Commedia, seems almost as if the former were an exercise
for the latter. Many essential elements in the Divina Commedia already appear in
the Vita Nuova:

In both works, Dante is both the protagonist and the author;

Dante’s “heart” in the Vita Nuova has to ascend the mountain of
“Purgatorio” to be purified, and thus worthy of Beatrice;

As on Earth “ne li occhi porta la mia donna Amore”23 (Dante, Vita
Nuova, XXI), so up above Dante will arrive in Heaven through the
eyes of Beatrice;

The numerology perfection and Dante’s logical explanations, wellknown in the Divina Commedia, are present in the Vita Nuova.
For example, the number nine, or the square of three, the perfect
number, is repetitively attributed to Beatrice: first encounter with
Beatrice at nine years old, second encounter after nine years, first
greeting at the ninth hour, vision of Beatrice in the “prima ora
delle nove ultime ore de la notte,”24 [Vita Nuova, III], the name of
Beatrice in the ninth place among the names of the women, the
regaining of Beatrice’s greeting “ne la nona ora del die,”25 [Vita
Nuova, XII] the vision of Beatrice’s death in the ninth day of her
illness, and so on with the date of birth and death26 (Bonghi,
“Introduzione a La Vita Nuova);

There is no discussion about the poetic beauty of the Divina
Commedia, but the poetry of the Vita Nuova needs not to be
underestimated: the rhymes of the two works are written by the
same poet;

The visions that abound in the Vita Nuova become real in the
Divina Commedia.
The Vita Nuova is a hagiography of the angelical Beatrice: the
superwoman with the power to raise whatever man to heaven. It is an
autobiography of the poet-protagonist: the poor young man infatuated by his
23
Beatrice brings Love in her eyes.
First hour of the last nine hours of the night.
25
In the ninth hour of the day.
26
See Vita Nuova, XXX, to find out how Dante connects the number nine and Beatrice with
the Holy Trinity.
24
heroine, philosophically excited by new ideas of the Dolce Stil Nuovo, and with a
great desire to say in his vernacular language “quello che mai non fu ditto”27 [Vita
Nuova, XLII]. The Vita Nuova is the manifest of the Dolce Stil Nuovo, where
Love lives in the hearts of gentlemen in love with blessed angels.
De Vulgari Eloquentia
During 1304 and 1305, Dante wrote the De Vulgari Eloquentia, possibly in
Bologna. Maria Corti attributes many of the linguistic, rhetorical and poetic ideas
that Dante presents in this work to Gentile da Cingoli, a grammatician teaching at
the University of Bologna ((Livi, “De Vulgari Eloquentia.” Online ). Other
sources of greater importance present in the De Vulgari are the De Inventione of
Cicero, the Ars Poetica of Horace [Inf., IV, 89] and the Trésor of Brunetto Latini.
At the time Bologna was known to be the center of the Latin and Vulgar cultures.
Cino da Pistoia may have been in Bologna at this time also (“Opere teoriche.”
Online). Even if many critics consider the De Vulgari contemporary to the
Convivio, the beginning of its compilation is posterior to the latter. Dealing with
the change that languages undergo in relation to time and space, Dante states in
the Convivio: “Di questo si parlerà altrove più conpiutamente in uno libello che
io intendo di fare, Dio concedente, di Volgare Eloquenza”28 [Conv., I, v, 10].
From this declaration, it is obvious that Dante began the Convivio before the De
Vulgari. Both works are considered incomplete, but while the Convivio is written
27
To say what had never before been said.
I will talk about this in more details somewhere else in a booklet I intend to write, God
willing, about the vulgar language.
28
in vulgar, the De Vulgari is written in Latin. What is the content of the De
Vulgari and why does Dante write it in Latin?
The De Vulgari consists of two books. The first book deals with the
nature, origin and history of language, the difference and geographical
distribution, the case of Romance languages and Italian dialects, and the
conceptual formulation of the “volgare illustre”29 as Dante calls it. The second
book deals with the authors that use the “volgare illustre,” their themes, metrical
form and style (Fubini & Neri, Opere Minori di Dante Alighieri. Introduction by
Sergio Cecchin, p. 355). At this point the work stops incomplete. Some critics
presumed that Dante wanted to deal with prose in a third book and with comedy
in a fourth (“Opere Teoriche: De Vulgari Eloquentia”).
In the first book, Dante distinguishes between the natural language that
people learn as infants, and the “grammatica”,30 the syntactical language learned
from teachers. The natural language, spontaneously used by everyone in every
situation, is without rules, whereas the “grammatica” requires studies and can be
identified in the natural language used by the scholars, by the “grammatici
speculative”31 (“Opere Teoriche.” Online). Therefore, the vulgar, learned
naturally without studies, acquires the universal property to express whatever
concept, the same as Latin and Classical Greek [De Vulgari, I, I]. Dante derives
the origin of language from God, and how God gave Adam the gift of formulating
29
The proper Italian language.
Literally, “grammar”.
31
Speculative grammarians.
30
a language: not the ability to learn a language, but the formative principles
(“forma locutionis”), the organizational ability to create a language. According to
Dante, language is a unique characteristic of the human properties and it is not
necessary to angels nor animals [De Vulgari, I, II-II]. With this gift, Adam created
Hebrew, the language spoken by Christ and the first language used by man [De
Vulgari, I, IV-VI]. When the giant Nembrot and his followers challenged God with
the Tower of Babel [De Vulgari, I, VII], God punished them by depriving man of
the organizational linguistic ability He had originally given to Adam.
Consequently, a linguistic confusion was born. From this confusion, a migratory
flow moved west carrying a triple idiom (“ydioma tripharium”). Finally, this
idiom developed into three distinct varieties: the langue d’oil in northern France,
the langue d’oc in southern France and northern Spain, and the langue de sì in
Italy [De Vulgari, I, VIII]. Since these languages were the products of man
deprived of the original organizational linguistic ability pleasant to Adam, they are
subject to change with time and place [De Vulgari, I, X]. Dante sees the strength
of the langue d’oil and the langue d’oc in the prose of romances and vulgar poetry
consecutively, while the langue de sì comes closer to the “grammatical” and
becomes an authoritative tool in the hands of those worthy of it, such as Cino da
Pistoia and Dante himself.
In Italy, Dante identifies at least fourteen dialects and, if considering
second and third varieties of these, he could eventually count over one thousand
dialects [De Vulgari, I, X]. Dante is in search of an “Italiano illustre”. He
recognizes the Sicilian to be the municipal vulgar used to write vulgar poems and
distinguishes between the spoken Sicilian of the common people and that of the
court of Federick II [Inf., X, 119; XIII, 59; XXIII, 66; Purg., XVI, 117; Par., III,
120]. Of the Scuola Siciliana, he mentions Guido delle Colonne, “Anchor che
l’aigua per lo foco lassi” and “Amor che lungiamente m’ài menato,” Giacomo da
Lentini (Purg., XXIV, 56), “Madonna, dir vi voglio”, e Rinaldo d’Aquino [Par.,
X, 99], “Per fino amore vo sì letamente” [De Vulgari, I, XI-XII]. Of the vulgar
from Tuscany, after mentioning Guittone d’Arezzo [Purg., XXVI, 124],
Bonagiunta da Lucca [Inf., XVIII, 122; XXI, 38; XXXIII, 30; Purg., XXIV, 20],
Gallo Pisano, Mino Mocato e Brunetto Latini, he recognizes Guido Cavalcanti,
Lapo Gianni, Cino da Pistoia and himself to be the vulgar poets by excellence [De
Vulgari, I,
XIII].
He recognizes the dialect spoken in Bologna to be the best in any
municipality and mentions Guido Guinizzelli and Guido Ghisilieri [De Vulgari, I,
XIV-XV].
Dante excludes that the “Italiano illustre” may be found in one of its
dialects [De Vulgari, I, XVI], and offers his definition of the vulgar by excellence:
the Italian language needs to be illustrious, cardinal, aulic and curial. It needs to
be illustrious by eliminating coarse words, accents and colloquial constructions,
acquiring clarity, perfection and finesse [De Vulgari, I, XVII]. It needs to be
cardinal in order to become the pivot, the point of reference for all Italian dialects.
It needs to be aulic to be worthy of the court. It needs to be curial to be noble and
worthy of representing the Italian people [De Vulgari, I, XVIII]. The last chapter of
the first book serves as an introduction to the second [De Vulgari, I, XIX].
In the second book, Dante establishes that the vulgar language can be used
for prose and poetry but only by those capable to do so [De Vulgari, II, I]. He
proposes arms, love and virtue as themes to elevate it [De Vulgari, II, II]. He says
that the canzone is the most suitable form to express oneself in vulgar followed by
the ballad and the sonnet [De Vulgari, II, III], while the hendecasyllable (eleven
syllable verse) is the best verse followed by the seven, five and three syllable
verses consecutively. He discourages the use of the nine syllable verses for their
monotony and all parisyllabic verses [De Vulgari, II, V]. He suggests the use of
the seven-syllable verse to compose the canzone with the hendecasyllable as the
only verse, and the canzone to express the tragedy. He continues with an analysis
of the stanza, the melodic division, the number of verses and possible articulations
[De Vulgari, II, VIII-XI]. He declares the hendecasyllable the first verse of the
stanza [De Vulgari, II, XII]. He recommends to follow a symmetrical scheme of
the rhymes and says that the extension of the stanza depends on the feeling that
inspires the poet [De Vulgari, II, XVI] (“Dante-Riassunti: De Vulgari Eloquentia.”
Online).
Dante loves the tools of his profession: the vulgar and the metric. He
writes the De Vulgari in Latin because he directs it to those experts who continue
to write in Latin and don’t see the vulgar as a true language capable to express
whatever concept in prose or poetry, be it philosophical, political or religious.
Dante proposes the most difficult themes for his new language: arms, love and
virtue. He chooses the canzone and tragedy to not only elevate and deepen the
Italian vulgar poetry, but to show how this vernacular language is capable to say
“what was never said before.” He does not find his language in the dialects, but
sees its existence in the works of the greatest writers not only in his region but all
over Italy. With the vulgar language, Dante sees the birth of the Italian people,
the birth of a nation that he so strongly inspires in the Divina Commedia.
Convivio
That Dante is a Renaissance man, it is seen by many in his
hendecasyllables:
Ma io, perché venirvi? O chi ‘concede?
Io non Enea, io non Paulo sono (Inf., II, 32).32
With this not so modest attitude, Dante recognizes his greatness, and with the
Convivio, he wants to offer that bread “by which thousands shall be satiated. His
baskets will be full overflowing with it. This will be a new light, a new sun …to
those who lie in shadows and in darkness because the old sun no longer sheds its
light upon them” (Lansing, “The Convivio by Dante Alighieri.” Online):
Quello pane orzato del quale si satolleranno migliaia, e a me ne
soperchieranno le sporte piene. Questo sarà luce nuova, sole
nuovo, lo quale surgerà là dove l’usato tramonterà, e darà lume a
coloro che sono in tenebre e in oscuritade per lo usato sole che a
loro non luce.33
(Convivio I, xiii, 12)
Dante writes the Convivio in vulgar as he does with the Vita Nuova. It should
have consisted of fourteen books plus an introduction but, as mentioned before, it
will not be completed probably because of the development of the Divina
Commedia. The Convivio, also like the Vita Nuova, is a “prosimetro,” a work in
prose and verses.
32
“Why me…? I am not Aeneas, I am not St. Paul.”
“This commentary shall be that bread made with barley by which thousands shall be
satiated, and my baskets shall be full to overflowing with it. This shall be a new light, a new sun
which shall rise where the old sun shall set and which shall give light to those who lie in shadows
and in darkness because the old sun no longer sheds its light upon them” (Translation by Richard
Lansing in “The Convivio by Dante Alighieri.” Online).
33
G. Mazzotta describes the Convivio as a work that tears up the itinerary of
an encyclopedic knowledge that would substitute what the University cannot offer
(Mazzotta, “Why Did Dante Write the Comedy?” p. 65). “Convivio” means
banquet. Dante uses this metaphor and presents the banquet of knowledge. He
invites everyone but, first of all, those who do not know Latin and are not
educated, friends, those who strive for the common good (Bonghi, “Introduzione
al Convivio di Dante Alighieri.” Online). It is the first doctrinal work of Dante.
With the Convivio, Dante not only shows that Italian is a true language, a
language capable to express philosophical concepts or whatever other concept
Latin is capable of expressing, but he reaches out to a more vast clientele of
readers so that all can benefit from his work. With the Convivio, Dante shows a
deep acquisition of a profound philosophical culture, the development of his
political interests and a linguistical reflection (“Opere Teoriche: Convivio.”
Online).
The Convivio was published (printed) for the first time in 1490 and it is
structured as follows: the first book serves as introduction and contains thirteen
chapters; the second and third books contain fifteen chapters and the canzoni “Voi
che ‘ntendendo ‘l terzo ciel movete,” and “Amor che ne la mente mi ragiona”
respectively; the fourth book contains the canzone “Le dolci rime d’amor ch’l
‘solia.” While in the Vita Nuova prevails the number nine, here prevails the
number fifteen. Thus, like the Vita Nuova and what will be the Divina
Commedia, the Convivio is extremely well organized, although incomplete
(“Opere Teoriche: Convivio.” Online).
The theme of the first book is the vulgar language and the role of the
intellectual. Here Dante explains the metaphor of the “banquet of knowledge”
where the drinks are the canzoni and the bread is the prose. The invited are
laymen who speak in vulgar and not the educated and experts who speak in Latin.
They are men and women with noble souls, starving for knowledge (Bonghi,
“Introduzione al Convivio.” Online). In the second book, Dante comments on the
canzone “Voi che ‘ntendendo ‘l terzo ciel movete” (which was written in 1293)
and discusses the meaning of the scriptures and the allegorical value in poets and
theologians. The four meanings of the scriptures are: literary, allegorical, moral
and anagogical. He remembers the death of Beatrice, the consequences of her
death, and ancient philosophers like Boethius [Par,. X, 125] and Cicero, from
whom Dante understands the philosophical idea that the gentle and merciful
woman is able to comfort the suffering mind because she is the master of truth.
The third book is dedicated to the ‘gentle Philosophy.’ In the fourth book, Dante
abandons the theme of love and defines the idea of nobility as a moral quality and
gift of divine grace (“Opere Teoriche: Convivio.” Online).
The Convivio represents the desired intellectual destination that Dante, the
aspiring philosopher, tends to: the return home, inevitably with a happy
conclusion, which remains realistically unattainable (Mazzotta, “Why Did Dante
Write the Comedy?” p. 65). Dante knows that education during his time is still a
class privilege and does not like the fact. The poet becomes restless and feels the
need to bring the Italian language to the same level as Latin. He has no choice but
to stop working on the Convivio and the De Vulgari Eloquentia, and write the
great encyclopedic poem that will emphasize the properties of a great vulgar
language while influencing the entire world simultaneously. If the Vita Nuova is
an autobiography of the young author and a poetic exercise for the vulgar
composition, than the Convivio reveals an intellectual need to express his own
political, moral, linguistic and didactic thoughts in a vulgar language fully
developed. The Divina Commedia will be the culmination of Dante’s ‘minor
works.’
Connections to the Divina Commedia
Dante gave the title Commedia34 to his masterpiece because, as he explains
in his letter to Cangrande, Epistola a Cangrande,35 the poem begins among the
damned and ends among the blessed. Giovanni Boccaccio was a great admirer of
Dante. Born in 1313, Boccaccio lived in Florence and knew Dante’s daughter
well. In 1373-1374, he did a series of public readings of the Commedia in the
church of S. Stefano di Badia, sponsored by the city of Florence. Boccaccio
added the word “Divine” to the title of Dante’s poem to make it the Divina
Commedia, as we know it today. What is the Divina Commedia?
Structurally, the Divina Commedia is a colossal monument to admire and
dissect. It is written in the vulgar language and it is divided into three
“cantiche:”36 Inferno, Purgatorio and Paradiso.37 Each cantica is divided into
thirty-three “canti,”38 with the exception of the Inferno that has thirty-four canti, as
the first serves as an introduction. Every single verse of each canto is a
hendecasyllable. The total number of hendecasyllables in the Divina Commedia is
14233. There are no other verses of different length. In the De Vulgari
Eloquentia, Dante was in search of an “Italiano illustre.” The vulgar language he
develops for the Divina Commedia will become the national language of Italy.
34
“Comedy.”
In this letter to Cangrande, Dante identifies himself to be ‘Florentine by birth, not by
character’ (Alighieri, “Epistola a Cangrande.” Dedication.).
36
Giuseppe Ragazzini, in his Italian/English dictionary, translates “cantica” as a religious or
narrative poem (Ragazzini, Il Nuovo Ragazzioni). Nowadays, in Italy in particular, “cantica” is
commonly understood as one of the three parts of the Divina Commedia (Zingarelli, Lo Zingarelli
2001).
37
Literally: Hell, Purgatory and Heaven.
38
Cantos.
35
His search for the perfect idiom is over and his conceptual formulation of the
“vulgare illustre,” sought in the De Vulgari Eloquentia, has become a reality.
Dante’s choice of the hendecasyllable is clearly justified as he had already
considered this meter to be the worthiest for its rhythmic length and its ability to
express thought, ease grammatical construction, allow a greater choice of
vocabulary and, in the following case, use a figuratively “falling” musical tone
along the strong o’s and a’s of the Inferno:
“E cad•di
1
2
3
↓
co•me cor•po
4
5
6
7
↓
mor•to
8
9
↓ ca•de”39 [Inf., V, 142].
10
11
And, as the verse falls, Dante fell unconsciously as he heard the moving story of
Francesca Da Rimini among the lustful in the fifth Circle in Canto V. This canto
brings the reader to the Breton Cicle of king Arthur and courtly love as it declares
the book of “Galeotto” to be the means of seduction just like Gallehaut brought
Lancelot and Guinevere together:
Galeotto fu ’l libro e chi lo scrisse.
[Inf., V, 137]
When Francesca begins three consecutive tercets with the repetition of the word
“Amor,” it also brings to mind the Dolce Stil Nuovo of Guido Guinizzelli and his
39
“And I fell as a dead body falls.”
poem’ “Al cor gentil rempaira sempre amore,” or Dante’s own poem from the
Vita Nuova’ “Amore e ’l cor gentil sono una cosa:”
Amor, ch’al cor gentil ratto s’apprende,
[Inf., V, 100]
Amor, ch’a nullo amato amar perdona,
[Inf., V, 103]
Amor condusse noi ad una morte.
[Inf., V, 106]40
The vulgar eloquence, Dante predicted in the Vita Nuova, becomes even
more evident with the recreation of the “mad flight” of Ulysses. The Greek hero
used his eloquence to persuade his crew in order to satisfy his desperate need for
knowledge. He is being punished in the Inferno among the evil counselors. He
tells his life story in a few verses:
…“Quando
mi dipartì da Circe, che sotrasse
me più d’un anno là presso Gaeta,
prima che sì Enea la nomasse,
né dolcezza di figlio, né la pietà
del vecchio padre, né ’l debito d’amore
lo qual dovea Penelopè far lieta,
vincer potero dentro a me l’ardore
ch’i ebbi a divenir del mondo esperto
e de li vizi umani e del valore;
ma misi me per l’alto mare aperto
sol con un legno e con quella compagna
picciola da la qual fui diserto....
‘O frati,’ dissi, “che per cento milia
perigli siete giunti a l’occidente,
a questa tanto picciola vigilia
d’i nostri sensi ch’è del rimanente
non vogliate negar làesperienza,
di retro al sol, del mondo sanza gente.
40
Translation by Allen Mandelbaum: “Love, that can quickly seize the heart [100]…Love,
that releases no beloved from loving [103]…Love led the two of us unto one death [106]”
(Mandelbaum, The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri, p. 45).
Considerate la vostra semenza:
fatti non foste a viver come bruti,
ma per seguir virtute e conoscenza.’...”41
[Inf., XXVI, 90-120].
This is a favorite passage of the Divina Commedia. This extract shows the
advanced level of eloquence, imagination and ingenuity that Dante has reached.
In a few words, Dante’s Ulysses tells his life story. He includes and feels for his
family, and declares the sin of his eloquence. Is Dante feeling guilty of the same
sin? At this time, as Dante was writing this portion of the Divina Commedia in
exile, he, too, felt for his family and was spreading his virtual intelligence and
courageous opinions with his incredible eloquence. This story of Ulysses is a
pure creation of the Poet. Anyone who is familiar with Homer’s Odyssey, will
notice the difference in the plot and Ulysses’ character, and, according to
Singleton, Dante had not read Homer (Alighieri, La Divina Commedia. Comment,
p. 227).42 How is Ulysses punished? He is enveloped in a tongue of fire together
with Diomedes who is punished the same way. As throughout the Divina
Commedia, Dante is a master at making the punishment fit the crime: as Ulysses
and Diomedes were associated on Earth, they are together in Hell; as they used
their tongue to hide their thoughts and manipulate others, tongues of fire now
41
For the English translation see Appendix: Ulysses’ speech, p. 52.
Charles S. Singleton probably bases his assumption of Dante’s poor or no understanding of
classical Greek on the following verses:
“...ma fa che la tua lingua si sostegna.
Lascia parlare a me, ch’i’ ho concetto
Ciò che tu vuoi: ch’ei sarebbero schivi,
perch’ e’ fuor greci, forse del tuo detto.” [Inf.,XXVI, 72-75]
Virgil tells Dante not to talk and to allow him to question Ulysses.
42
envelop them. This is commonly known among Dantists as “la legge del
contrappasso.”43 Another example that affirms Dante’s ingenuity to make the
punishment fit the crime can be found among the lustful: as they were taken by
their passion of carnal love on Earth, in Hell these spirits are taken by a
windstorm that scatters them all over the place:
La bufera infernal, che mai non resta,
mena li spirti con la sua rapina;
voltando e percotendo li molesta...
Quando giungon davanti a la ruina,
quivi le strida, il compianto, il lamento;
bestemmian quivi la virtù divina.
Intesi ch’a così fatto tormento
enno dannati i peccator carnali,
che la ragion sommettono al talento.
E come li stornei ne portan l’ali
nel freddo tempo, a schiera larga e piena,
così quel fiato li spiriti mali
di qua, di là, di giù, di sù li mena;
nulla speranza li conforta mai,
non che di posa, ma di minor pena.44
[Inf., V, 31-45]
The themes that Dante proposes in the De Vulagari Eloquentia, arms,
love and virtue, are all present in the Divina Commedia: from the Breton and
Carolingian Cicles to Fredrick II and the crusades, from Boniface VIII to St.
Thomas Aquinas, from the love of the earthly fire as its flames reach for the
43
“The law of retaliation.”
For English translation, see Appendix: The lustful, p. 54.
44
“Sphere of Fire”45 to the his own love for Beatrice.
Many personalities mentioned in the De Vulgari Eloquentia are scattered
throughout the Divina Commedia and some names appear more than once. Guido
Cavalcanti, Brunetto Latini, Guido Guinizzelli, Frederick II, and Guittone
D’Arezzo are some examples of leading characters. The character of Pier delle
Vigne, a representative of the Scuola Siciliana, seems to have a direct correlation
with Dante, almost as if the Poet immortalizes him in Hell for they had so much in
common. Most of Dante’s apprenticeship is reflected in this character.
Biographically, the life of Pier Delle Vigne is a reflection of Dante’s experiences,
accomplishments and difficulties. Dante saw him as a predecessor. Dante was
born of noble descent and Pier Delle Vigne came from a dominant family. His
father was a judge in Capua and was associated with the Norman-Swabian
administration. Like Dante, Pier Delle Vigne began his studies at a very young
age and studied civil and canon law at the University of Bologna. After
graduation, he met Bernardo di Castacca, the archbishop of Palermo, who
introduced Pier Delle Vigne to the emperor Frederick II. He worked for Fredrick
II from 1221 to 1249. His presence at the court of Frederick II is evidenced in
many documents such as the Foundation of the University of Naples in 1224, the
Constitution of the Sicilian kingdom in 1231, the wedding of Isabella of England
and Frederick II in 1235 and the emperor’s defense of his second
excommunication by Pope Gregory IX in 1239 (Detti, “Pier Delle Vigne.”
45
Dante believed that love was an attraction and many things, not just people, were capable of
loving. According to his theory, plants love their soil and that is why they die if moved to a
different geographical region where they would not be attracted to a different soil. Fire rises trying
to reach the Sphere of Fire believed to be surrounding the Earth during Dante’s time according to
the Ptolemaic system.
Online). In the De Vulgari Eloquentia, Dante recognizes the Sicilian dialect to be
the best municipal vulgar and highlights the variation spoken at the court of
Fredrick II. Pier Delle Vigne was among the best poets of Frederick II. Two of
his poems are “Amore, in cui disio ed ò speranza,” and “Amando con fin core e co
speranza.” The first poem expresses the traditional feudal servitude to the loved
woman with the characteristic weakness for typical denied love and hope for
change. The second is an emotional moaning for his dead woman (De Blasis,
“Commento Sul Documento.” Online). It is fair to say that the themes of Pier Delle
Vigne’s poems are of common interest to Dante. In 1249, after twenty-eight years
of loyal service to the emperor, Pier Delle Vigne was convicted (possibly) of
treason.
According to the Chronicle of Salimbene, a thirteenth-century Italian
Franciscan, Pier Delle Vigne was accused of betraying Fredrick II at Lyon where
he was sent with several other ambassadors to the Pope. Even though Frederick II
told them not to have any private conferences with the Pontiff, Pier Delle Vigne,
apparently, did so and his friends told on him. In order to avoid humiliation, he
committed suicide (Halsall, “Internet Medieval Sourcebook.” Online).46 Wasn’t
Dante sent as an ambassador to Boniface VIII and then accused of barratry?
Dante, the protagonist, is in the seventh circle of Hell in a forest with no
paths:
“…un bosco
che da neun sentiero era segnato”
[Inf., XIII, 2-3];
46
The stories of the crime (if a crime was ever committed) of Pier Delle Vigne vary. Matteo
Paris tells that Pier Delle Vigne planned with a doctor to poison Fredrick II and that the emperor
found out. Iacopo D’Aqui describes Pier Delle Vigne to be very jealous of his beautiful wife,
Costanza, and Fredrick II.
with no green leaves, only dark; with no smooth branches, but knotted and
twisted; with no fruit, but poisoned thorns:
Non fronda verde, ma di color fosco;
non rami schietti, ma nodosi e ‘nvolti;
non pomi v’eran, ma stecchi con tòsco
[Inf., XIII, 4-6].
According to L. De Belli, this contrast, the antithesis, repeated three times,
suggests unnaturalness of the scenery as an introduction to the unnatural act of
committing suicide (De Belli, “Inferno: Canto VIII). This is where the ugly
harpies make their nest:
Quivi le brutte Arpie lor nidi fanno
[Inf., XIII, 10],
those scary birds with wide wings, human necks and faces:
Ali hanno late, e colli e visi umani
[Inf., XIII, 13],
and everywhere Dante hears moans but cannot see a soul:
…sentia d’ogne parte trarre guai
e non vedea persona che ‘l facesse
[Inf., VIII, 22-23].
Upon the suggestion of Virgil, Dante breaks a branch off a tree and immediately
the trunk screams: “Why do you break me?”
“… perchè mi schiante?”
[Inf., XIII, 33].
It is the soul of Pier Delle Vigne who speaks. Finally, after thirty-three verses of
crescent anxiety, he tells the secret of the forest:
“uomini fummo, e or siam fatti sterpi”
[Inf., XIII, 37],
“once we were men, now we’re dried twigs,” says Pier Delle Vigne. 47 The trees
and bushes in the forest are the souls of those who committed suicide. These
sinners, by taking their lives, took away the freedom of corporal movement that
distinguishes man from the vegetable world. On Judgment Day, their bodies will
hang from their branches where the harpies can continue to torture them. Again,
“la legge del contrappasso,” the punishment fits the crime!
The Dantesque character of Pier Delle Vigne is guilty of the suicidal act,
but innocent of the crime attributed to him by Frederick II. He identifies himself
as the one who held both keys Fredrick’s heart:
B.
Io son colui che tenni ambo le chiavi
del cor di Federigo…
[Inf., XIII, 58-59].
He describes himself to have been so faithful to the glorious office that he lost
sleep and strength:
fede portai al glorioso offizio,
tanto ch’i’ ne perde’ li sonni e ‘ polsi.
[Inf., XIII, 62-63]
He defends himself by blaming envy:
La metrice …
infiammò contra me li animi tutti
[Inf., XIII, 64-67].
He swears by the ‘nine’ roots of his tree never to have been unfaithful to his lord
who deserved so much honor:
Per le nove radici d’esto legno
47
A coincidence? Dante breaks a soul in verse thirty-three, the age of Christ when He died.
vi giuro che già mai non ruppi fede
al mio segnor, che fu d’onor sì degno.
[Inf., XIII, 73-75]
He admits that his mind, because of its temper, to avoid humiliation, made him be
unjust against himself:
L’animo mio, per disdegnoso gusto,
credendo col morir fuggir disdegno,
ingiusto fece me contra me giusto.
[Inf., XIII, 70-72]
The character, as he talks, makes the reader almost forget the horrible
metamorphic reality of the forest, and creates a humble atmosphere. The damned
Pier Delle Vigne is more afflicted by the false charges and rumors that ruined his
reputation and honorability, than by the awful infernal punishment. Only when
Dante returns among the living and clears the accusations, will Pier Delle Vigne
find comfort. Dante believes him, as the Sicilian poet fascinates him. Also, if it
is possible to take Dante’s very well known verse directed at Virgil in the
beginning of the canto:
Cred’io ch’ei credette ch’io credesse.48
[Inf.,
XIII, 25]
and look at it as an introduction to the theme of loyalty and trust, then the word
“believe” is highly emphasized. Another factor that supports Dante’s opinion of
the innocence of Pier Delle Vigne in relation to Fredrick II, is that Minos49
confines him to the seventh circle of Hell and not deeper, among the traitors.
48
49
12].
“I believe that he believed that I believe.”
Minos judges the souls as they enter Hell and places them according to their sins [Inf., V, 4-
Everything in Dante’s apprenticeship is present in the character of Pier
Delle Vigne: the admiration for poetry and the courtly love of the Vita Nuova, the
Sicilian vulgar and the themes of the De Vulgari Eloquentia, the historical
information of the Convivio and all the autobiographical details from early
education to the death penalty to the erroneous public opinion. The beauty of the
metamorphoses stands alone as it is evidence of the mature Poet of universal
admiration. Dante knows himself at this point to be equal to Ovid’s
Metamorphoses.
Finally to show the flexibility of his new language and his superb
dominance of it, Dante writes the Divina Commedia so that the reader can read it
logically, in a sequential and chronological order, or he can read it horizontally
across (more difficult but possible). To read it in a sequential order, the reader
starts with the first canto of Inferno and finishes with the thirty-third of Paradiso:
it starts with Dante lost in the “dark forest;” continues through Hell and
Purgatory; finishes over the stars on the seventh day. To read it horizontally, the
reader would read the same numbered canto from each cantica consecutively and
still find a thematic connection. For example, in canto V of the Inferno, Paolo
and Francesca find themselves in the lower abyss because they were unable to
repent before being killed by Gian Ciotto, Francesca’s husband and Paolo’s
brother. Sad story! Canto V of Purgatory deals with people who died of a violent
death but were able to repent before dying. The main character of this canto is
Count Buonconte da Montefeltro, a Ghibelline leader who died in the battle of
Campaldino in 1289. Let’s connect this story to Dante’s real life as he took part
in that battle. Canto V of the Paradiso presents souls of broken vows and bad
promises. Had Francesca been able to ask forgiveness before dying, chances are
she would have ended up in this heaven after a long permanence on the mountain
below.
How do we classify the Divina Commedia? Is it an epic poem? Is it an
autobiography? Is it a religious scripture? Is it an encyclopedia? Thanks to the
cleverness of Dante, it can be all of the above and much more. The imaginary
setting of Dante’s pilgrimage to the stars is such to allow him to include whatever
character, place or thing he wishes depending whether he is in the Inferno,
Purgatorio or Paradiso. Freud’s psychological analysis, Descartes’ inexistence of
miracles, or any one of us can easily find her/himself a place for discussion
somewhere in the Divina Commedia.
As an epic poem, it narrates the journey of a hero through the darkness and
the heavens as he takes on a seven-day trip to purge his soul. The protagonist of
the Divina Commedia is the same main character of the Vita Nuova: the once
young Florentine in love with his heroine, representative of the Dolce Stil Nuovo,
with some minor linguistic dilemma. However, this character, whose name is still
Dante, has matured. He has meditated so much on the question of the vulgar
language that he is able to narrate his journey in his new language so eloquently
and beautifully to deserve comparison with the greatest epic poems ever written,
such as Virgil’s Aeneid or Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey. He has acquired a wealth
of education from his studies and associations with other scholars. He has
developed strong political tendencies and gained crucial experiences from his
active public life. Apparently, the journey takes place before Dante’s exile, but
the poem was written in 1306 and the nostalgic feeling for the city of Florence is
obvious at every opportunity.
The hero of the Divina Commedia finds himself in a state of dismay, and
feels anxious as he did in the Vita Nuova after Beatrice’s death. He begins his
divine journey “nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita”50 (Inf., I, 1), at thirty-five
years of age in the Jubilee year of 1300. He looses his path in a shadowed forest
(Inf., I, 2-3). The sun was in the constellation of Aries (Inf., I, 37-40), therefore,
during the spring equinox. According to some critics, in the Florence of the
Middle Ages, this was considered New Year’s Day (De Panfilis, “Il viaggio di
Dante.” Online). Then, Dante becomes lost, arrives in the Inferno at dawn of the
first day of the Jubilee year and his journey lasts exactly seven days. What
perfection! Did Dante acquire so much theology from the Franciscans to feel the
responsibility to recreate the Christian world as the omnipotent God did in seven
days? He uses a very similar approach and reasoning in the Vita Nuova to
associate Beatrice to the “perfect” number nine: according to the Arabian custom,
her soul departed in the first hour of the ninth day of the month; According to the
Syrian custom, she departed in the ninth month of the year; and in her own
Christian world, it was the ninth Holy Year of the thirteenth century51 (Vita
Nuova, XXIX). Why was this number nine so friendly to her? Because she was
perfect! The root of nine is three and three are the Father, the Son and Holy
Spirit. If Beatrice was a nine then her root was the Holy Trinity, which makes her
a miracle (Vita Nuova, XXIX). The vast astronomical, cultural and religious
50
51
“Half way through our life.” During Dante’s time, life expectancy was at seventy.
Beatrice Died in 1290.
knowledge acquired during his apprenticeship is very evident in these
associations.
Dante “protagonist” enters the gate to the suffering city near Jerusalem
(Inf., III). He goes down the Inferno, ascends the Purgatorio and arrives in
Paradiso. Virgil is going to be his master52 and guide through part of the journey
until the pilgrim meets his heroine, Beatrice in the Purgatory. The promise made
at the end of Vita Nuova is honored. Beatrice is immortalized. The angel that
guided Dante’s Love on Earth will now guide him to God. Dante will look in the
eyes of Beatrice and will ascend to the higher heavens. The personality of his
heroine is again very well portrayed: she is the same Beatrice of the Vita Nuova;
she still resents the “sgarbo”53 and Saint Beatrice is portrayed with qualities of
superiority, leadership and dominance in contrast with Dante’s humbleness. In
the Vita Nuova, a woman asked Dante where he found his beatitude. Dante
admitted to have found it in “the words that praise my woman:”
E poi che alquanto ebbero parlato tra loro, anche mi disse questa
donna che m’avea prima parlato, queste parole: “Noi ti preghiamo
che tu ne dichi ove sta questa tua beatitudine.” Ed io, rispondendo
lei, dissi cotanto: “In quelle parole che lodano la donna mia”54
(Vita Nuova, XIII).
If Dante is finding his beatitude in the words, then can this angiography of
Beatrice be an allegory for Dante’s devotion to poetry?
The Divina Commedia has had an enormous impact on the Christian
52
Dante always addresses Virgil with great respect.
A discourteous act committed by Dante in the Vita Nuova.
54
“And after talking among themselves, again this woman that spoke to me before, asked:
“We beg you to tell us where this beatitude of yours is.” And I, answering her, said this: ‘In those
words that praise my lady.’”
53
culture. As people read about the metaphysical journey, they have become
influenced by it. Many of its theories, ideas and imagination have been absorbed
in their culture. Before the Divina Commedia, less emphasis was given to the
Virgin Mary or the Garden of Eden. After the Divina Commedia, the veneration
of the Virgin Mary has become a practice similar to the adoration of God. Her
icons often adorn Catholic churches and Christian households, just as the Garden
of Eden as become a representation of the divine beauty of Mother Nature.
Dante’s studies of theology in the convents of Santa Maria Novella and Santa
Croce, and their influence on his religious tendencies and beliefs are evident
throughout the poem. Saint Francis (Par., XI, 16; XIII, 33; XXII, 90; XXXII, 35)
and Saint Dominic (Par., X, 95; XII, 70) are present in Heaven to offer the world
their holy doctrines on life, while Pope Boniface VIII (Inf., XIX, 53; XXVII, 70),
still alive, is already placed in Hell for his sins of simony. When Nicholas III
(Inf., XIX.) mistakes Dante for the Pope, he predicts where Boniface VIII will
eventually end up and affirms why:
…“Se’ tu già costì ritto,
se’ tu già costì ritto, Bonifazio?
Di parecchi anni mi mentì lo scritto.
Se’ tu sì tosto di quell’aver sazio
per lo qual non temesti tòrre a inganno
la bella donna, e poi di farne strazio?”…
Allor Virgilio disse: “Dilli tosto:
‘Non son colui, non son colui che credi’ ”55
(Inf., XIX, 52-62)
55
For English translation, see Appendix: Prediction of Nicholas III, p. 54.
A very clever way for Dante to punish the current Pope! Boniface VIII, as afore
stated, was Dante’s political enemy in that the Pope supported militarily the Black
Guelphs. G. Iannace of Central Connecticut State University, used to consider
Dante “an ‘orthodox’ catholic,” using the adjective ‘orthodox’ literally to mean
that Dante integrally adhered to the official dogmas he had acquired in his
religion. Boniface VIII, according to Dante, manipulated and abused his religion
to satisfy his own greed. The story of Paolo and Francesca can serve as an
example and an invocation to Pope Boniface VIII to repent and avoid his
predicted place in Hell. One of the strongest points of Catholicism and what has
helped it become a universal religion,56 is that it offers salvation to anyone who
asks forgiveness. Paolo and Francesca did not have that opportunity. Pope
Boniface VIII did, as he was still alive. If this is the case, then Dante is saying
that man can help his own destiny, anticipating The Prince of Niccolò Machiavelli
in full Renaissance.
After everything being said, it may seem that the Divina Commedia ought
to be considered the autobiography of Dante’s soul, and some, like Charles
Singleton, validly state so. But it is also valid to say that another goal of the poem
is that of educating its readers. It’s a complete encyclopedia that took over the
making and objectives of the Convivio. It is full of names: Boethius, Horace,
Ovid, Lucan, Caesar, Constantine, Bacchus, Alexander, Charlemagne, king
Arthur, Cleopatra, Helen, Lucretia, Mohammed, Noah, Socrates, Hercules,
Hippocrates, Aesop … It travels all over Italy: Gaeta, Genoa, Apulia, Cosenza,
Arezzo, Bari, Benevento, Bologna, Mantua, Lucca, Palermo, Brescia, Milan,
56
The word “catholic,” from the Greek katholikós, means “universal.”
Modena, Naples, Assisi... and the Medieval world: Croatia, Navarre, Egypt,
Arabia, Crete, Cyprus, Ethiopia, England, Malta, Majorca, Catalonia, Portugal,
Provence, France, Greece... It even precedes us into the universe of Mars, Saturn
and Mercury. Did Dante have a company of assistants to help with researches?
Even in the web-based world, such wealth of information would be difficult to
attain. Although the didactical objective of the Convivio coincides with the
Divina Commedia, the latter is a “visionary poetry” and not a commentary or
philosophical discursive poetry.
Conclusion
If all roads lead to Rome, all of Dante’s minor works lead to the Divina
Commedia. It is the end and final product of Dante’s personal, artistic, linguistic,
educational, cultural, political, philosophical, religious, psychological and moral
achievements. It is the product that clearly assesses his enduring apprenticeship.
It is a Michelangelo’s Pietà, a Picasso’s Guérnica, a Roman Coliseum!
In his masterpiece Dante includes just about any topic known to man at
his time: from mathematics to political science, from history to philosophy, from
gastronomy to astronomy, from art to economy, from geography to theology. If it
were not for the Divina Commedia, we would not know many of the personalities
presented in it, either because they were not documented in history or because
their documents were lost. Among the ones mentioned, for example, Paolo,
Francesca’s lover, is not found anywhere else in history before Dante. Dante cites
from all the classic masterpieces known to his generation and shows an excellent
acquisition of such. The Divine Commedia is a compilation of his minor works,
experiences and education collected through the years. Dante could not have
written the Divina Commedia without writing his minor works. It was a life long
artistic process that led to the masterpiece. Beatrice, the beloved heroine of the
Vita Nuova, becomes the “master of truth” [Convivio, II] and leads Dante to a
happy ending in his Commedia. G. Cambon of the University of Connecticut was
convinced that Dante would have been a great writer even without writing the
Divina Commedia. Dante also wrote the Rime, the De Monarchia, the Ecloge, the
Epistole, and some associate him with Il Fiore. All of these minor works are also
attributes to the Divina Commedia.
G. Mazzotta says that Dante writes the Divina Commedia because we may
read it. Its destination is the reading that induces the reader to find out who he is,
assuming the point of view of Dante’s conscience and alienating himself from his
subjectivity in order to penetrate into the imaginary poetic world. The Divina
Commedia is a search to find our inner self. According to George Santayana,
Mazzotta continues, the only benefit to have great literary masterpieces, such as
the Divinal Commedia, is what they can help us become (G. Mazzotta, “Why Did
Dante Write the Comedy?” p. 64). “Homer brought the Gods down to Earth and
materialized them, Dante brings man to God and spiritualizes him,” says M.
Passaro (Italian 470, lectures). Dante assumes the responsibility to educate the
reader spiritually and materialistically with his universal encyclopedic knowledge.
His medieval world becomes alive in the Divina Commedia. Dante Alighieri
elevates his Italian vulgar language to be worthy among other languages, such as
Latin, and encourages everyone, literate or illiterate to read or listen to one of the
greatest poem ever written. With the common vulgar language, he strengthens the
Italian culture and evokes the future peninsular unification.
______________________
Appendix
Translations by Allen Mandelbaum
(Mandelbaum, The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri: Inferno)
Ulysses’ speech
(Inferno, XXVI, 90-142)
“When
I sailed away from Circe, who’d beguiled me
to stay more than a year there, near Gaeta
before Aeneas gave that place a name
neither my fondness for my son nor pity
for my old father nor the love I owed
Penelope, which would have gladdened her,
was able to defeat in me the longing
I had to gain experience of the world
and of the vices and the worth of men.
Therefore , I set out on the open sea
with but one ship and that small company
of those who never had deserted me.
I saw as far as Spain, far as Morocco,
along both shores; I saw Sardinia
and saw the other islands that sea bathes.
And I and my companions were already
old and slow, when we approached the narrows
where Hercules set up his boundary stones
that men might heed and never reach beyond:
upon my right, I had gone past Seville,
and on the left, already passed Ceuta.
‘Brothers,’ I said, ‘o you, who having crossed
a hundred thousand dangers, reach the west,
to this brief waking-time that still is left
unto your senses, you must not deny
experience of that which lies beyond
the sun, and of the world that is unpeopled.
Consider well the seed that gave you birth:
You were not made to live your lives as brutes,
but to be followers of worth and knowledge.”
I spurred my comrades with this brief address
to meet the journey with such eagerness
that I could hardly, then, have held them back;
and having turned our stern toward morning, we
made wings out of our oars in a wild flight
and always gained upon our left-hand side.
At night I now could see the other pole
and all its stars; the star of ours had fallen
and never rose above the plain of the ocean.
Five times the light beneath the moon had been
rekindled, and, as many times, was spent,
since that hard passage faced our first attempt,
when there before us rose a mountain, dark
because of distance, and it seemed to me
the highest mountain I had ever seen.
And we were glad, but this soon turned to sorrow,
for out of that new land a whirlwind rose
and hammered at our ship, against her bow.
Three times it turned her round with all the waters;
and at the fourth, it lifted up the stern
so that our prow plunged deep, as pleased an Other,
until the sea again closed-over us.”
The lustful
(Inferno, V, 31-45)
The hellish hurricane, which never rests,
drives on the spirits with its violence:
wheeling and pounding, it harasses them.
When they come up against the ruined slope,
then there are cries and wailing and lament,
and there they curse the force of the divine.
I learned that those who undergo this torment
are damned because they sinned within the flesh,
subjecting reason to the rule of lust.
And as, in the cold season, starlings’ wings
bear them along in broad and crowded ranks,
so does that blast bear on the guilty spirits:
now here, now there, now down, now up, it drives them.
There is no hope that ever comforts themno hope for rest and none for lesser pain.
Prediction of Nicholas III
(Inferno, XIX, 52-63)
“Are you already standing,
are you already standing there, o Boniface?
The book has lied to me by several years.
Are you so quickly sated with the riches
for which you did not fear to take by guile
the Lovely Lady, then to violate her?”
And I became like those who stand as if
they have been mocked, who cannot understand
what has been said to them and can’t respond.
But Virgil said: “Tell this to him at once:
‘I am not henot whom you think I am.’ ”
And I replied as I was told to do.
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Biographical Note
Orazio Donato was born in 1960 in the little provincial town of Castel
Campagnano in Italy. He attended the Classical Lycée, ‘Pietro Giannone,’ in the
city of Caserta. He moved to the United States in the mid ‘70s and graduated with
honors from Southington High School, Southington, Connecticut, in 1979.
He attended the University of Connecticut, the National Autonomous University
of Mexico, and Central Connecticut State University. Prior to completing his
M.A. in Modern Languages at Central Connecticut State University with a 4.0
GPA, he earned a B.A. in Modern Languages from the University of Connecticut,
Teacher Certification from the State of Connecticut and an M.S. in Spanish from
Central Connecticut State University. He taught Spanish at the University of
Connecticut and Italian at the Greater Hartford Community College. He has been
teaching Spanish at Avon Middle School since 1985, and has been a part-time
Spanish lecturer at Central Connecticut State University since 1996. He is a
member of Alpha Mu Gamma, the Foreign Language National Honor Society, and
Sigma Delta Pi, the Hispanic National Honor Society. He received several
Awards for Excellence in language studies. He lives happily in Southington,
Connecticut, with his wife and two wonderful children. He enjoys sports, his
Harley Davidson, and his life long goal of becoming American acculturated while
proud of his Italian heritage.