DANTE

Dante is most famous for his work, the Divine Comedy, a three-part work describing his journey through Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven. He also wrote a number of other pieces of poetry, describing his life and experiences.

I'm really enjoying the Inferno so far, because his descriptions of the scenery and people, are quite vivid. Although, I feel like it would be even better in the original Italian, as the translator probably doesn't stay one hundred percent true to the original. One thing I noticed while reading is that his ego seems a bit large. Although it's probably allegorical or something, he writes about how his love Beatrice, some saint, probably the Virgin Mary, and the great poet Virgil are all worried for his well-being and send Virgil to personally guide him. Also, when Virgil shows Dante the circle in hell where he resides, Limbo, he introduces him to Virgil's group of great poet friends, including Homer, Horace, Ovid, and Lucan. This group of poets honor Dante as one of their own (except it's actually Dante writing himself in).

Another thing that is interesting to consider when reading Dante is that he was married to a woman named Gemma after being promised in marriage to her when he was twelve. He makes no mention of her in any of his poems, but mentions Beatrice—the woman he met once, maybe twice, and fell instantly in love with—countless times, exalting her beauty. Even though it was an arranged marriage and Gemma probably didn't love Dante much either, she probably didn't feel too good with her husband writing thousands and thousands of lines of poetry about some other woman, with no mention of his wife.

All in all, though, I am enjoying his writings. The Divine Comedy is kind of like fantasy with its descriptions of otherworldly landscapes and creatures, and it gives a look into the religious beliefs of that time period regarding eternal punishment. All that I've read of his other poetry is the sonnet, which is similar to all of the other thousands of sonnets about love, but this one coupled with Dante's background of impossible love make for an interesting read.