Dante 2
Through out the course of literature, various authors utilize their own past experiences and histories to enhance the plot of their works. Anything from their childhood to a random person that they meet on the street can create a spark that will create a character or a thought in a piece of literature. Dante's environment was full of people and events that could have influenced his writings. In the Inferno Dante's perception of hell is heavily influenced by the people in his life both directly and indirectly. The Provencal love-cult, Beatrice, and Boniface VIII most heavily influenced Dante in his writing.
The Provencal love-cult, a school of poets started by William of Poitou, ...
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The Sicilian School, a refinement of the Provencal, had "significant linguistic effect upon his contemporaries" (Smith 20). Giacomo Lentini, inventor of the sonnet, was a prominent poet in this school along with Cecco Angiolieri and Cino da Pistoia who heavily influenced Dante. These two contemporaries, like Dante, wrote about female idolatry. They gave special attention "to gracefulness of expression"(Smith 20), as displayed in Vita Nuova where "Dolce stil nuovo"(Smith 20). Smith defines Dolce stil nuovo as being the will that directs the lover's intellect towards the true adoration of beauty that resides the lover's happiness(Smith 20). Smith also adds that Love is said to rise from its sensual origins to a realm of purity, where it blends with the divine. Even though the Provencal school vanished by the time Dante started writing its messages and influences, they affected him immensely.
Historians know little about Dante's beloved Beatrice: she seemed to be the perfect ...
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more idealized than when the beloved was on earth"(Smith 26). His faith told him that she would be in heaven waiting for him, so they could share the rest of their lives together in paradise. Beatrice plays a big role in Dante's Comedy, as he meets her when he visits Heaven. Dante explains Beatrice's beauty in Paradiso, XIV, 71-76 when he says "O genuine glitter of eternal beam! With what a sudden whiteness did it flow, o'erpowering vision in me. But so fair, so passing lovely, Beatrice show'd, mind cannot follow it, nor words express her infinite sweetness"(Smith 26). Smith also adds that all this doesn't mean that Beatrice has no symbolic significance, but that she cannot have one, ...
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"Dante 2." Essayworld.com. July 5, 2004. Accessed November 22, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Dante-2/10548.
"Dante 2." Essayworld.com. July 5, 2004. Accessed November 22, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Dante-2/10548.
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