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Name: Dante Alighieri

Date of birth: 1265

Place of birth: Florence
Date of death: 1321
Place of death: Ravenna

Biography of Dante Alighieri

Dante Alighieri is a famous literary critic, theologian and poet. He gained worldwide fame thanks to his narrative work “The Divine Comedy”. In it, the author tried to show how perishable and short-lived life is, and tried to help readers stop being afraid of death and torment in hell.

Everything that is known about Dante Alighieri today is known from his works. He was born in Italy in the city of Florence, and until his death he was devoted to his homeland.

Unfortunately, almost nothing is known about his family. Alighieri barely mentioned her in his play The Divine Comedy. His mother's name was Bella and she died very early, and that is all that is known about her. The father tied the knot for the second time and had two more children. Around 1283 the father died. He left his family a simple but very comfortable estate in Florence and a small house outside the city. During the same period, Dante married Gemma Donati.

His friend and mentor Brunetto Latini played a very important role in the life and development of Alighieri as a person. This man had enormous knowledge; he constantly quoted famous philosophers and writers. It was he who instilled in Dante a love of beauty and light.

Dante was a slightly self-confident person. At the age of eighteen, he stated that he taught himself to write poetry and now does it perfectly.

Dante Alighieri often mentioned his talented comrade Guido Cavalcanti in his works. Their friendship was very complicated. Dante even had to leave Florence with him, since Guido found himself in exile. As a result, Cavalcanti contracts malaria and dies in 1300. Dante was saddened by this event, and paid tribute to his friend by including him in his works. Thus, in the poem “New Life” Cavalcanti is mentioned many times.

Also, in this poem, Dante described his brightest and first feelings for a woman - Beatrice. Today experts believe that this girl was Beatrice Portinari, who died very young, at 25 years old. The love of Dante and Beatrice is comparable to the feelings of Romeo and Jellyette, Tristan and Isolde.

The death of his beloved made Dante take a different look at life, and he began to study philosophy. He read Cicero a lot and thought about life and death. Also, the writer constantly visited a religious school in Florence.

In 1295, Dante became a member of the guild at a time when the struggle between the Pope and the Emperor began. The city was divided into two fronts: the “blacks” led by Corso Donati, and the “whites”, in which Alighieri was a member. It was the “whites” who won the battle and drove out the enemies. Over time, Dante became more and more against the Pope.

The “blacks” once entered the city and caused a real pogrom. Dante was repeatedly summoned to the city council, but he never appeared there. Therefore, he and several other “whites” were sentenced to death in absentia. He had to run away. As a result, he became disillusioned with politics and returned to writing.

It was during Ena, when Dante was away from his hometown, he began working on a work that brought him worldwide fame and success - the Divine Comedy.

Alighieri tried in his work to help those who are afraid of death. At that time, this was very relevant, because the souls of the people of that time were torn by the horrors of torment in hell.

Dante did not force people not to think about death, and did not claim that hell does not exist. He sincerely believed in both heaven and hell. He believed that only bright, kind feelings and courage would help him get out of hellish torment without harm.

In The Divine Comedy, Dante tells how he tried to write poetry in order to constantly reproduce in his memory the image of his beloved Beatrice through the lines. As a result, he began to understand that Beatrice did not die at all, did not disappear, because she was not subject to death, but on the contrary, she was capable of saving Dante herself. The girl shows the living Dante all the horrors of hell.

As Dante wrote, hell is not a specific place, but a state of the soul that at a certain moment can appear in a person and settle there for a long time precisely when a sin is committed.

In 1308, Henry became king of Germany. Dante again plunged headlong into politics. From 1316 to 1317 he lives in Ravenna. In 1321 he went to make peace with the Republic of St. Mark. On his way home, Dante contracted malaria and died in September 1321.

Bibliography of Dante Alighieri

Poems and treatises

• 1292 – New life
• 1304-1306 — About popular eloquence
• 1304-1307 - Feast
• 1310-1313 — Monarchy
• 1916 — Messages
• 1306-1321 —
• This is love
• The question of water and land
• Eclogues
• Flower

Poems of the Florentine period:

• Sonnets
• Canzone
• Ballads and stanzas

Poems written in exile:

• Sonnets
• Canzone
• Poems about the stone lady

Introduction

1 Life of Dante Alighieri

1.1 Love for Beach Portinara

1.2 Dante's political life

2 "Divine Comedy"

2.1 History and time of creation of the “Divine Comedy”

2.3 Dante's mastery of the Comedy

Conclusion

Bibliography

By the end of the 12th century, Italian literature took the free road, merging dying, feudal echoes with growing bourgeois motifs, combining surviving memories from Roman times, knightly Provençal motifs brought from beyond the Alps and new religious sentiments. Dante stands at its beginning.

The Divine Comedy arose in the troubled early years of the 14th century from the depths of the national life of Italy seething with intense political struggle. For future generations - near and far - it remains the greatest monument to the poetic culture of the Italian people, erected at the turn of two historical eras. Engels wrote: “The end of the feudal Middle Ages and the beginning of the modern capitalist era are marked by a colossal figure. This is the Italian Dante, the last poet of the Middle Ages and at the same time the first poet of modern times.”

Dante's twenty-year life as a political exile left to posterity the grandiose edifice of the three-part "Comedy", behind which the rumor of its first admiring listeners and readers forever established the enthusiastic epithet "divine" (Dante himself called his epic work "comedy", according to the norms of ancient poetics, as a work ending with a prosperous and joyful ending).

Is Dante alive or dead for us? Perhaps this question will not yet be answered by all his unfading glory over the centuries, because the true being of people like him is measured not by glory, but by being itself. To find out whether Dante is alive for us, we must judge him not by ours, but by his own. The highest measure of life for him is not contemplation, a reflection of the existence of existing things, but action, the creation of a new existence. In this way he surpassed all three others in the power of contemplation of his equal artists of the word: Homer, Shakespeare and Goethe. Dante not only reflects, like them, what is, but also creates what is not; not only contemplates, but also acts. In this sense, he alone reached the highest point of poetry (in the first and eternal meaning of the word poiein: to do, to act).

The name of Dante is loud in the world now, but people still don’t know who he is, for his bitter “fate”, fortuna, is oblivion in glory.

Dante was born into one of the oldest families in Florence. He was the first-born son of Messer Gherardo Alighiero di Bellincione and Monna Bella Gabriella, of unknown family, perhaps of Degli Abati. Only the year of birth, 1265, remained memorable, and the day was forgotten even by the people closest to Dante by blood, his two sons, Pietro and Jacopo, the first, but almost silent witnesses of his life. Only from Dante’s own astronomical memories of the position of the sun on the day when he “breathed the Tuscan air for the first time” can one guess that he was born between May 18, the sun’s entry into the sign of Gemini, and June 17, when it left this the sign came out.

The name given to the newborn at the font - Durante, which means “patient, enduring”, and forgotten for the affectionate, diminutive “Dante” - turned out to be true and prophetic for Dante’s destinies.

The ancient noble family of Alighieri became seedy, impoverished and fell into insignificance. Perhaps already in those days when Dante was born, this family belonged not to the great knightly nobility, but to the small one. According to some evidence, however unclear, Sir Gerardo was imprisoned for some dark money matters, which forever tarnished his memory.

Dante was a little boy when his uncle Geri del Bello, having killed a Florentine citizen, was himself soon villainously and treacherously killed. The eldest in the family, Sir Gerardo, the brother of the murdered man, was supposed, according to the law of “bloody revenge,” to avenge his brother; and since this was not done, a second eternal shame fell on the entire Alighieri family. Knowing Dante’s frenzied, sometimes almost “satanic” pride, one can imagine the feeling with which he lived for his father. Never, in any of his books, does he say a word about his father: this silence is more eloquent than anything he could say.

Dante's mother died when he was six years old, giving birth to two more daughters after him. In childhood, Dante will feel the unquenchable and then unquenchable thirst for maternal love all his life, and what he did not find in this world, he will look for in that one. Who left him in great orphanhood - a deceased mother or a living father - he probably himself does not know very well. A shameful father is worse than a dead one. He began his life with longing for his father; he will end it with longing for his fatherland; started as an orphan and ends as an exile. He will always feel his earthly orphanhood as an unearthly resentment - loneliness, abandonment, rejection, expulsion from the world. On May 15, 1275, an event occurred that was the greatest in Dante’s life and one of the greatest in the life of all mankind.

“Nine times since my birth, the Sky of Light returned to almost the same point of its rotation when it appeared to me for the first time... clothed in clothes of a lilac and noble color, as if blood, girded and crowned as befitted her youthful age, the Radiant The lady of my soul, called by many who did not know her real name, is Beatrice.”

This "Radiant Lady" is an eight-year-old girl, Biche Portinari. Perhaps the main bliss for Dante in this first meeting is that his earthly orphanhood - an unearthly resentment - suddenly ended, and that he found his lost mother again. A nine-year-old boy loves an eight-year-old girl as a Sister - Bride - Mother, one in Three.

On February 9, 1277, a written agreement was concluded at the notary between Sir Alighieri and his closest neighbor Manetto Donati about the future marriage of Dante with Manetto’s daughter Gemma. Dante had known her for a long time, perhaps even earlier than Bice Portinari, because they lived in neighboring houses. But on the day of the engagement, looking at this familiar, perhaps pretty, but for some reason suddenly disgusted, alien, boring girl, did he not remember that other one, the only one dear and desired to him?

Probably, Sir Alighiero, when planning this marriage, according to the usual family, political and monetary calculations in those days, wished well for his son: he thought that it would be useful for him to enter the Donati family, untainted by anything.

This is how Dante’s two engagements took place: the first, with Biche Portinari, earthly and heavenly together, and the second, with Gemma Dnati, only earthly.

In 1238, Dante's father dies. In the same year, Bice Portinari was married to Messer Simone de Bardi, from a noble family of the richest Florentine money changers. It is very likely that Sir Folco Portinari, giving his daughter away, wanted her well just as Dante's father wanted his son.

The first to doubt the existence of Beatrice in the 15th century was the life writer of Dante Giovanni Mario Filelfo. In the 19th century, this doubt was eagerly taken up, and although later dissipated by the multitude of evidence found about the historical existence of Monna Bice Portinari, so the question is: was there a Beatrice? - almost as absurd as the question: did Dante exist? - the doubt still remains and will probably remain forever. Dante's love for Beatrice is, in fact, one of the miracles of world history, one of the points of her contact with what is above her. But no matter how much Dante made Beatrice an “Angel,” he was already too much of a lover of truth not to know that it was not the Angel’s husband who was entering the bedroom, but the woman’s, and not to think about it, not to see with his eyes what it means for her and for him.

Death and love are internally connected, because love is the highest affirmation of personality, and its extreme negation is death. The eternal fear of a lover is the death of the loved one. That is why Dante, having just fallen in love with Beatrice, began to be afraid of losing her.

Death is coming closer and closer to her: first her friend dies, then her father. Many ladies gathered there where Beatrice cried for him. Dante became seriously ill shortly after Beatrice's father died, in early 1290. He sees Beatrice's death in a terrible vision. She died suddenly - on the night of June 8-9, 1290.

“His grief... was so great... that his loved ones thought he would die,” Boccaccio recalls. “All emaciated, overgrown with hair... he didn’t look like himself, so it was a pity to look at him... he became like a wild animal or a monster.”

Florence experienced a difficult political and economic crisis during Dante's life. In essence, it was a struggle of the bourgeoisie, realizing its political significance, against the hereditary aristocracy. This circumstance explains why, by the middle of the 13th century, the traditional political slogans - Guelphs (supporters of the pope) and Ghibellines (supporters of the imperial power) did not contain a positive content. Such parties emerged in a number of cities, and everywhere the struggle was waged for the political dominance of classes and led to the expulsion of one of the warring parties. In exile, yesterday's enemies, who found themselves outside the boundaries of their hometown, united, fraternized and jointly opposed their recent like-minded people. All of Italy was split into two camps: one side (the Ghibellines) defended an archaic era that had passed into the realm of legend and fought for a kind of feudal-democratic republic, autocratic and tyrannical, the other (the Guelphs) stood for a new order of things and sought to organize a republic of merchants and artisans . This economic and social struggle was supported, with varying degrees of success and in equally violent ways, by popes and secular foreign sovereigns who dreamed of realizing the medieval ideal of a worldwide Roman monarchy. Peculiar local conditions caused fragmentation and stratification within the two main parties, so that Dante, who considered himself a Guelph, belonged to a special wing of them, the so-called whites, led by the Cerchi family; Along with them there were “blacks”, led by the Donati family. This division followed the expulsion of the Ghibellines and reflected the different orientations of individual sections of the Guelph population.

The Donati mastered the methods of struggle of the aristocrats and managed to attract small artisans and villagers who had little understanding of political affairs. In this state of affairs, it was advantageous for them to enlist the support of Pope Boniface VIII and thereby deprive the more peaceful, moderate side - the “whites” - of any influence. The latter relied on large workshops and sought to create a position for Florence independent of the influence of the aristocracy and the pope.

The internal schism was cleverly exploited by Boniface VIII. Hiding behind the pretext of pacifying the parties, the pope sent Charles of Valois, brother of the French king Philip the Fair, to Florence, and his arrival was a signal for the “blacks” to repress the “whites.”

While Dante represented the interests of his like-minded people at the papal court (January 1302), the “blacks” in Florence put him on trial, accused him of bribery, bribery, intrigue against the church and sentenced him to exile for two years, a large fine and deprivation of rights hold public positions, and since Dante was not able to appeal this decision, the judges decided to banish him forever, and if he appears, burn him at the stake.

The undeserved blow deeply offended Dante's proud soul. This was a blatant injustice. His ardent and selfless desire to work for the benefit of his beloved Florence was trampled into the mud. During 1302 - 1304, Dante intended to return to Florence in alliance with other “whites” expelled by the Ghibellines, but the picture of personal intrigue and licentiousness in their camp repulsed him. He separated from his like-minded people and organized a “party of himself.” For twenty years, the poet wandered around Italy, enjoying the support of enlightened magnates and rulers of individual cities. Little is known about the years of these wanderings; we know, however, that Dante visited Verona, Casentin, Lunigiana, Ravenna.

The last outbreak of Dante's political hopes dates back to 1310: at this time Emperor Henry VII of Luxembourg arrived in Italy, on whom the Ghibellines had high hopes. But Henry died in 1313 and did not have time to give any of them access to Florence. The poet's expulsion was confirmed by decree on November 6, 1315, and he was twice excluded from the list of amnestied citizens (in 1311 and 1316).

Dante spent his last years in Verona and Ravenna and died in Ravenna, surrounded by the attention and care of his last patron, Guido Novello da Polenta. Dante’s body rests in Ravenna even now, despite all the attempts of Florence to return to its walls the ashes of the one whom it failed to protect during his lifetime.

A sad and anxious life completely tormented Dante’s soul, but at the same time it prepared and predetermined his greatness as a poet. His work, undoubtedly, could not have been molded into the forms that it took if Dante had quietly lived his life in Florence and devoted his leisure time to public affairs. The years of exile brought to life and largely determined the pathos and mood of the Divine Comedy.

2 "The Divine Comedy"

"Comedy" is the main fruit of Dante's genius. Of course, this has been said more than once, if there had been no “Comedy”, Dante would still have been a brilliant poet: “New Life”, “Feast” and canzones would be enough to mark a new era in Italian poetry. But without the Comedy, Dante would have been simply a brilliant poet. He would not be Dante, that is, the world frontier in literature. “Comedy” sums up everything that was experienced and changed by feudal culture: in it “ten silent centuries spoke for the first time.” Theologian and philosopher - Dante is all in the past. But Dante the artist is a child of a new, bourgeois culture, which sharpened his sense of reality, gave vigilance and observation to his eye, put into his soul a restless interest in nature, fraught with poetic images, understanding and recognition of all the spiritual movements of man.

“The Comedy” reflected everything that was dear to the poet in life: love for Beatrice, scientific and philosophical knowledge, torment and thoughts, delights and sorrows of an exile. Dante calcined what he experienced in the fire of passion, from personal to public, from Italian to world, from temporary to eternal.

2.1 History and time of creation of the “Divine Comedy”

The Divine Comedy took almost fourteen years to write. The very name “Comedy” goes back to purely medieval meanings: in the poetics of that time, tragedy was called any work with a sad beginning and a prosperous, happy ending, and not the dramatic specificity of the genre with a focus on laughter. For Dante, it was a “comedy” (understood outside of connection with the dramatic canon - as a combination of the sublime with the ordinary and trivial), and in addition, “poeta sacra” - a sacred poem interpreting the revelations of unearthly existence. The epithet “Divine” was first used by Boccaccio, emphasizing its poetic perfection, and not at all its religious content. It is under this name, which was adopted for the poem in the 16th century, shortly after Dante’s death, that we become acquainted with the poet’s great work.

Commentators have worked hard to determine firm dates for the composition of the three cants of the Comedy. They are still controversial. There are only general considerations suggested by the content of both “Hell” and “Purgatory”.

When he wrote Inferno, Dante was entirely influenced by the events surrounding the exile. Even Beatrice, fleetingly named at the beginning of the poem and then mentioned 2-3 more times in connection with various episodes of wandering through the underworld, seemed to fade into the background. At that time, Dante was interested in politics, viewed from the point of view of the Italian commune. “Hell” saw off the poet’s past, his Florentine happiness, his Florentine struggle, his Florentine catastrophe. Therefore, I somehow especially persistently want to look for the date of writing “Inferno” during the period when Dante sheathed the sword raised against his native city, broke with the emigrants and delved into thinking about what he had experienced in the last two years of Florentine life and in the first five-year exile. "Hell" must have been conceived around 1307 and took 2 or 3 years of work to complete.

Between “Hell” and “Purgatory” lay a large period of scientific pursuits that revealed the world of science and philosophy in a different way for Dante. While working on Purgatory, the identity of Emperor Henry VII was revealed. However, it was impossible to delay interweaving Beatrice into the storyline. After all, the poem was intended as a glorification of her memory. It was in “Purgatory” that Beatrice was to appear, bringing with her all the burden of complex theological symbolism, to take the place of Virgil, a pagan who was denied the path to heaven. These three themes: political, scientific-philosophical and theological-symbolic related to Beatrice - again approximately determine the years of the emergence of the second canticle. It had to be started no later than 1313 and no earlier than 1311 and completed before 1317.

The first two cants were published when “Paradise” was not yet finished. It was completed shortly before the poet's death, but had not yet been published at the time of his death. The appearance of lists of all three parts of the poem as part of 100 songs dates back to the years immediately after the poet’s death.

2.2 Artistic features and poetics of “Comedy”

The plot of the Comedy is a journey beyond the grave, a favorite motif of medieval literature, used dozens of times before Dante. This fruit of the eschatological passions of the Middle Ages, the exalted curiosity of people of naive faith, has little in common with the Comedy. “Afterlife” wanderings and “visions” were written in the silence of monastery cells, in ascetic ecstasy, in passionate denial of the world and pious acceptance and anticipation of otherworldly existence - the only thing necessary and important for a Christian.

It was much more important for Dante that afterlife wanderings were a very popular artistic motif among the classics: Lucan, Statius, Ovid and, above all, Virgil, who depicted in such bright colors the descent of Aeneas into the underworld. For Dante, who longed to pour out in his creativity everything that had accumulated in his soul, to throw out his moral judgments to the world, to distribute to everyone political assessments that seemed to him infallible, it was also important to capture in poetry the entire complex of philosophical thought developed by the previous era.

How did Dante himself imagine, already approaching the end of the poem, its meaning and significance? He speaks about this with great detail in the mentioned Latin letter (Epist., XIII) to Cangrande della Scala, which accompanied the dedication of "Paradise". The authenticity of this letter, which has long been in doubt, is now not disputed by most researchers. Dante says there, repeating in part his reasoning placed at the beginning of the second treatise of the Symposium: The meaning of the poem is varied (polusemos, hoc est plurium sensuum): it is not only literal, but moreover also allegorical, moral and anagogical, that is, as follows from the formulations of the “Feast”, going above the meaning (anagogico, eio е sovrasenso).

To breathe life into this vast scholastic allegory, to infuse the thrill of reality into this abstract scheme, a grandiose poetic genius was needed. It’s not without reason that “Comedy” resonates for all times. It is not for nothing that every era finds something familiar in it. For contemporaries, the Comedy was either a truly divine book - after all, they called it “divine” soon after the poet’s death - where they sought a living personal relationship with the deity, as in the mystical teachings of heresies and in the Franciscan religion of love; or an encyclopedia that contains a huge amount of knowledge “moral, natural, astrological, philosophical, theological” (G. Villani).

The extraordinary formal organization of the Comedy is the result of using the experience of both classical poetics and medieval poetics. But the entire formal side serves the main purpose - to be a frame for realistic art.

Dante felt that the path of a true artist in his day was the path of realism. “Earth” (“Paradise”, XXV, 2) subjugated him to its power and firmly led him along the proper path. So much so that his only deviation from medieval theoretical canons was in the field of poetics.

The deviation from the old aesthetic canons became more active as the poem grew. In Canto XII of “Purgatory,” Dante describes the images on the slabs with which one of the circles of the purgatory mountain is paved:

It seemed the dead were dead, the living were alive;

It is impossible to see reality more clearly,

Than what I, the silent one, trampled upon.

The ideal has been defined. The task of art is to depict in such a way that what is depicted seems to be reality. This is the main thesis.

The poet creates not because he needs to formulate philosophical thoughts, not because he needs to find conventional expressions for conventional feelings. He creates to give vent to the inner excitement caused by immediate feeling. The word and the verse must convey a genuine living thrill that has just been born in the poet’s chest. The idea of ​​the tasks of poetry has changed. The source of poetry has moved from the brain to the heart. Poetry must develop in the direction of simplicity and naturalness, freeing itself from the conventions that fettered Italian poetic creativity throughout the 13th century.

2.3 Dante's mastery of the Comedy

What is Dante's mastery? "Comedy" is, first of all, a very personal work. There is not the slightest objectivity in it. From the first verse, the poet talks about himself and does not leave the reader without himself for a single moment. If it seems to him that in some episode the reader might have forgotten about him, he immediately reminds him of his existence. The reader, for example, has just managed, carried away by Francesca’s drama, to distract his thoughts from the poet, but Dante pulls him out of his stupor, informing him that he himself fell unconscious from shock.

And I fell like a dead man falls...

He interrupts the bacchanalia of devils picking up sinners from boiling resin with pitchforks with a story about their attempt to attack him. In purgatory, he even accepts torment by fire in order to cleanse himself from the sin of voluptuousness. It's like that everywhere.

The subjectivity of "Comedy" is a deliberate technique. With it, the poet immediately captivates the reader. And not only as an artist. If he set himself up as the judge of the people and affairs of his time, if he endured this difficult role to the end, then he was right, it means that his genius brought him justification. He, a man full of love, hatred and passions, found in himself enough moral strength not to abandon this mission and to bring it to the end with poetic power that did not weaken for a single moment. Passion gives plasticity to his images, fills them with hot blood, makes them human and alive. In the pictures of hellish darkness and dazzling heavenly light, the most valuable and most beautiful thing trembles: the image of a living person by a living person.

Dante built his vision of nature in the poem from pieces of real life. Dante wants to make everything incredible, unprecedented, created by imagination understandable and simple, comparing it with very well-known things. He carries out this technique in the most consistent manner. Everything seen in life - what was absorbed by memory and stored for future use in the thinnest convolutions of the brain - at the right moment was melted down by the imagination and merged into a new picture. And Dante knew how to give extraordinary strength and impressiveness to this picture. The image that appears before the reader’s eyes with the power of Dante’s poetry is saturated with colors and feelings brighter than reality.

With even greater power, he managed to create and establish the art of portraiture in the new literature of Europe. Passion gives his images palpability and color. She makes them human and alive. Two images stand as if separately: Virgil and Beatrice. They are made in a different way than the rest of the inhabitants of the afterlife - sinners, purifiers and righteous people. They have less internal dynamics. Everything that bears the features of drama has faded away in them. Dante does not look for typicality or any elements of Realism in them. But there is still a big difference between them. Dante treats both Virgil and Beatrice with the greatest love. But love for Virgil is different. Virgil - duca, signore, maestro: leader, teacher, master. Love for him is free from exaltation. Love for Beatrice, even in heaven, is completely devoid of peace.

Dante's images of sinners are especially vivid. His underworld is very densely populated. He snatches out one or another figure from the crowd, instantly outlines it, but in such a way that the reader is immediately impressed with both appearance and character. The reader seems to grasp this image once and for all in the light of lightning. Naturally, Dante is most interested in the Italians, and especially the Florentines. He knows them personally or by hearsay: after all, many had not yet died when the inexorable poet pronounced his sentence on them.

The most characteristic feature of the remaining images of the Comedy is their dramatic nature. Each of the inhabitants of the afterlife has its own drama, which has not yet been overcome. They died long ago, but none of them forgot about the land.

In his ability to depict concretely, tactilely nature and man - the triumph of realistic art - Dante for the first time overcomes the limitations of medieval everyday skills and views. Interest in reality, nature and man - this is what separates Dante from the Middle Ages and makes him the forerunner of a new worldview. Ascetic ideals normalized contempt for the world and everything connected with the world. In the city, these sentiments gradually melted away, and Dante managed to give artistic completion to the city protests against asceticism. He transferred these protests into the sphere of art and showed through the power of poetry what precious sources of spiritual life can be discovered by studying man and nature.

In the Comedy, Dante sought to achieve relief of the image through simplicity and tactility. "Comedy" and simplicity! This combination sounds like a paradox. Meanwhile, nothing defines more fully the realistic techniques of the Comedy. The structure of the poem was so cumbersome, the world of ideas squeezed into it was so complex, the terzina controlled the grammar so tyrannically, symbolism, allegory and scholasticism weighed it down so much that it was necessary to simplify its understanding at any cost. Therefore, the placement of words in the verse, which is extremely condensed, had to be brought as close as possible to the simplest requirements of syntax, symbols and allegories, if possible, to look for the simplest verbal expressions, to more clearly present the theological subtleties that are inevitable according to the plan of the poem.

Another feature of Dante's verbal mastery is tactility. By achieving tactility, the poet achieved the effect of reality. His thoughts take a concrete form with extraordinary ease, ideas are embodied in things and images. He never allows his imagination to cross the boundaries of what is possible in reality. He always wants to represent plastically the objects of his visions and even tries, if possible, to measure exactly what he drew. The principle of visibility and tactility imparted one feature to Dante’s images. They are overwhelmingly graphic and sculptural, but poor in colors. Their lack of color, too, apparently was intended, because Dante had a keen sense of color.

Dante had his own well-thought-out technique, and the six hundred years that have passed since he finished his poem under the pines of Pineta have shown that his techniques can withstand any test. No wonder poets continue to learn from him.

Conclusion

The definition of Dante’s role in the history of art by F. Engels has become classic and has not lost its significance for today’s history of literature and culture: “Dante was the last poet of the Middle Ages and the first poet of modern times.” It is important to see in the process of formation of Dante the poet how, from studying the lyrics of the French troubadours and mastering the poetry of the “new sweet style” through personal tragedy and an attempt to comprehend everything he experienced, he came to the creation of a work that reflected the concept of the universe and the place of Man in it.

The immortality of the “Divine Comedy” and its significance as one of the greatest creations of world literature was determined not by its complex system of symbols and allegories, requiring painstaking study and detailed commentary, and not, finally, by its completeness of reflection and embodiment of medieval culture and the medieval system of thought, but by the new and creatively bold in what Dante said about his visions and about himself, and in the way he said it. The personality of the poet, this first poet of modern times, in its deep and historically specific content rose above the schemes of scholastic thought, and a living, poetic awareness of reality subjugated the aesthetic norms dictated by the traditions of medieval literature.

The difficulties of poetic translation, aggravated in this case by the historical and creative features of the text of the Divine Comedy, raised, of course, their own serious obstacles to getting acquainted with this exceptional literary monument, in particular for its Russian interpreters. Several old translations of Dante's work that we had at our disposal, including translations by D. Min, D. Minaev, O. Chumina and others, were far or relatively far from a worthy transfer of both the true content and complex stylistics of the original.

The enormous work of recreating Dante’s great work in Russian was responsibly and inspiredly carried out only in the Soviet era by the greatest master of poetic translation, M.L. Lozinsky. Awarded the State Prize of the 1st degree in 1946, this work has every right to be recognized as an outstanding phenomenon in Russian poetry.

Dante's work provided the basis for the creation of numerous works of art. Byron's poem "Dante's Prophecy", Liszt's sonata "According to Dante's Reading", Tchaikovsky's symphonic poem "Francesca da Rimini", Rachmaninov's opera "The Divine Comedy", Dore's illustrations are just a small part of them.

Bibliography

1. Auerbach Erich. Dante is a poet of the earthly world. – St. Petersburg: University Book, 2000. – P. 148 - 173

2. Dante Alighieri. Divine Comedy. New life. – M: Artist. lit., 1967. – P. 687

3. Dzhivelegov A.K. Creators of the Italian Renaissance. In 2 books. - Book 1: – M: TERRA – book club: Republic, 1998. – P. 277 - 339

4. Merezhskovsky D.S. Dante. – Tomsk: Aquarius, 1997. – P. 5 - 62

5. Chernozemova E.N. History of foreign literature of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance: workshop: Plans. Developments. Materials. Assignments: Textbook. Benefit. – M.: Flinta: Nauka, 2004. – P. 64 - 74

The years of exile coincided with Dante's creative maturity. He created a number of works, including scientific treatises. Among them is “The Banquet,” conceived as a kind of encyclopedia in the field of philosophy and art and intended for the widest circles of readers; the name “Banquet” is allegorical: simply and clearly presented scientific ideas should saturate not the chosen ones, but everyone, since Dante considered it necessary to make learning and culture the property of the masses; his idea was extremely democratic for those times. The treatise “The Banquet” (unfinished) was written in Italian, it alternates poetry and prose, integrating allegory and specifics.

In "The Banquet" the image of Beatrice appears again, but now she is "Saint Beatrice", since by then the real Beatrice Portinari had died. Dante mourned her bitterly and canonized her (although there was no official canonization of Beatrice, and it was audacity on Dante’s part to declare her a saint himself). Dante admitted that he even retained “spiritual fidelity” to his late beloved: he had other hobbies, but again and again he returned his memories to Beatrice. The poet identifies Beatrice with the only faith in his life, sometimes he calls it “bottom Philosophy,” which guides him through life, helping him comprehend the labyrinth of his own consciousness.

In “The Banquet,” Dante expresses one of his most intimate thoughts - about human dignity, which lies not in the nobility of birth, and certainly not in wealth, but in a noble heart and, above all, in noble thoughts and actions for the good of people. This thought prophesied the humanistic concept of man. True nobility, according to the creator of “The Banquet,” involves physical beauty, “nobility of the flesh.” The concept of harmony between the physical and spiritual indicates the closeness of the poet of the 14th century. to the humanism of the Renaissance. In “The Banquet,” as in the previous “New Life,” the poet anticipates imminent and beneficial changes, which is why both works, excellent in style, are filled with a feeling of spring renewal. Dante writes about the new literary language: “It will be a new light, a new sun... and it gives light to all who are in darkness and darkness, since the old sun no longer shines on them.” By "old sun" the poet meant Latin and, perhaps, the entire old belief system.

The problem of a new literary language became central to the treatise “On Popular Eloquence,” probably written in those same years (disputes about the dating of this treatise continue). Dante wrote this treatise in Latin, since he addressed it not only to the Italian, but also to the European reader as a whole. Dante presents the question of the origin of languages ​​according to the Bible, but his thoughts on the commonality of Romance languages, their classification, and consideration of Italian dialects are extremely interesting for the history of linguistics. It is noticeable that Dante views Latin not as the language of communication of the Romans, but as a constructed, conventional language of modern Europe, necessary for the communication of scientists. According to Dante, the living Italian language should become the language of art and poetry.

Dante examines the various dialects of the Italian language, highlighting the most “learned” of them - Florentine and Bolognese, but will come to the conclusion that none of them, taken separately, can become the literary language of Italy; some kind of generalized modern language is needed that fits would be all dialects. Dante “entrusts” the task of creating such a language to professional Italian writers, poets, people called by God to literary work. This was Dante's boundless faith in the possibilities of a creative person. Probably, Dante realized that it was he who had to complete this extremely difficult task - to create an Italian literary language, as it happened in the near future, since Dante did so much for the national literary language that his followers, even such outstanding ones as F. Petrarch and G. Boccaccio, all that remains is to follow the path that he paved.

In his treatise “On Popular Eloquence,” also unfinished, Dante talks about three literary styles. Here he adheres to ancient traditions, in particular, the aesthetic precepts of Horace. Dante distinguishes the tragic, comic and elegy styles (i.e., the middle one). In all cases, we are not talking about dramatic, but specifically about lyrical genres: the style of tragedy belonged to writing about high feelings, the style allowed for simple folk language, which could dominate the comic style. In a colloquial style, it was permissible to talk about the “animal” in man, since for the medieval poet man was a “divine animal” (“divino animal”), intellect brought her closer to God, instincts - to animals.

During the years of exile, Dante moved away from the Black Guelphs, who kicked him out and threatened him with burning at the stake if he appeared unauthorized in Florence, also moved away from his allies - the White Guelphs and became, to quote him, “his own party.” But still, Dante’s political views brought him closer to the Ghibellines, who believed in the German emperor. In his treatise “On Monarchy,” Dante presents his political program, according to which all European countries, including Italy, should unite under the single authority of the German emperor, while state power, concentrated in the hands of the emperor, should become independent from papal power, the church should not interfere in earthly state affairs. As at that time, this idea was not only daring, but also seditious, since the poet wanted to remove the church from the executive power of the emperor.

In his treatise “On the Monarchy,” Dante also expressed the idea of ​​​​consolidating the divided Italian city-communes, the idea of ​​​​the unity of the Italian nations. Dante condemned feudal strife and wrote about peace and unification as necessary conditions for statehood. All three treatises (“The Banquet”, “On Popular Eloquence”, “On the Monarchy”) affirmed the idea of ​​Italian state unity, which was to be based on the unity of territory and language. The poet's compatriots saw in these treatises the theory of future Italian statehood.

Dante Alighieri (1265-1321), Italian poet, creator of the Italian literary language. In his youth, he joined the school of “Dolce Style Nuovo”, translated as “New Sweet Style” (sonnets praising Beatrice, autobiographical story “New Life”, 1292-93, edition 1576); philosophical and political treatises (“Feast”, unfinished; “On National Speech”, 1304-07, edition 1529), “Epistle” (1304-16). The pinnacle of Dante’s work is the poem “The Divine Comedy” (1307-21, edition 1472) in 3 parts (“Hell”, “Purgatory”, “Paradise”) and 100 songs, a poetic encyclopedia of the Middle Ages. He had a great influence on the development of European culture.

Biography

Dante's family belonged to the urban nobility of Florence. The poet's grandfather was the first to bear the family name Alighieri (in another vowel, Alagieri). Dante was educated at a municipal school, then, presumably, studied at the University of Bologna (according to even less reliable information, he also attended the University of Paris during the period of exile). He took an active part in the political life of Florence; from June 15 to August 15, 1300 he was a member of the government (he was elected to the position of prior), trying, while fulfilling the position, to prevent the aggravation of the struggle between the parties of the White and Black Guelphs (see Guelphs and Ghibellines). After an armed coup in Florence and the coming to power of the Black Guelphs, on January 27, 1302 he was sentenced to exile and deprived of civil rights; On March 10, he was sentenced to death for failing to pay a fine. The first years of Dante's exile are among the leaders of the White Guelphs, taking part in the armed and diplomatic struggle with the victorious party.

The last episode in his political biography is associated with the Italian campaign of Emperor Henry VII (1310-13), to whose efforts to establish civil peace in Italy he gave ideological support in a number of public messages and in the treatise “Monarchy”.

Dante never returned to Florence; he spent several years in Verona at the court of Can Grande della Scala, and in the last years of his life he enjoyed the hospitality of the ruler of Ravenna, Guido da Polenta. Died of malaria.

Lyrics

The bulk of Dante's lyric poems were created in the 80-90s. 13th century; with the beginning of the new century, small poetic forms gradually disappeared from his work. Dante began by imitating the most influential lyric poet of Italy at that time, Guittone d'Arezzo, but soon changed his poetics and, together with his older friend Guido Cavalcanti, became the founder of a special poetic school, which Dante himself called the school of the “sweet new style” (“Dolce Stilo Nuovo” ). Its main distinguishing feature is the utmost spiritualization of the feeling of love.

Dante, providing biographical and poetic commentary, collected poems dedicated to his beloved Beatrice Portinari in a book called “New Life” (c. 1293-95). The actual biographical outline is extremely sparse: two meetings, the first in childhood, the second in youth, marking the beginning of love, the death of Beatrice’s father, the death of Beatrice herself, the temptation of new love and overcoming it. The biography appears as a series of mental states leading to an ever more complete mastery of the meaning of the feeling that has befallen the hero: as a result, the feeling of love acquires the features and signs of religious worship.

In addition to the “New Life,” about fifty more poems by Dante have reached us: poems in the manner of the “sweet new style” (but not always addressed to Beatrice); a love cycle known as “stone” (after the name of the recipient, Donna Pietra) and characterized by an excess of sensuality; comic poetry (a poetic altercation with Forese Donati and the poem “Flower”, the attribution of which remains doubtful); a group of doctrinal poems (dedicated to the themes of nobility, generosity, justice, etc.).

Treatises

Poems of philosophical content became the subject of commentary in the unfinished treatise “The Feast” (c. 1304-07), which represents one of the first experiments in Italy in creating scientific prose in the popular language and at the same time the rationale for this attempt - a kind of educational program along with the defense of the folk language. In the unfinished Latin treatise “On Popular Eloquence,” written in the same years, an apology for the Italian language is accompanied by the theory and history of literature in it - both of which are absolute innovations. In the Latin treatise "Monarchy" (c. 1312-13), Dante (also for the first time) proclaims the principle of separation of spiritual and temporal power and insists on the complete sovereignty of the latter.

Dante's works are largely autobiographical. From them we recognize the author as a passionate, irreconcilable fighter for bright ideals, endowed with truly human, high feelings. He expressed a desire for good, faith in the power of human thought. Human feelings for him were higher than everything divine, what the church fathers preach. His autobiography “New Life” reflected the strength and depth of his feelings, the desire for unity and cohesion of people. He sees love for Beatrice, a woman whom he praised more than once in his poems, as the highest earthly happiness.

All of Dante's works are distinguished by sincerity, depth of feelings and philosophical thoughts, high artistic skill, deep patriotism, eternal love for his native country - Italy and concern for the fate of all humanity. At the same time, a characteristic feature of his work is the contradictory views, thoughts, aspirations and dreams of the author. On the one hand, with all his thoughts and feelings he is tied to medieval traditions, on the other hand, he inexorably strives for a distant happy future. As a convinced Catholic and monarchist, he sincerely believed in the magic of numbers and dreamed of creating an ideal empire led by a just monarch. And at the same time, it was he who became the discoverer of many advanced ideas and views of new times.

The book “New Life” is a kind of lyrical confession of the author, in which the whole story of the poet’s sublime love for Beatrice is revealed to us. And at the same time it is an excellent source of information about the life and customs of Florentine society of that time. Delving deeper into his spiritual world, Dante reveals to us all feelings, thoughts, and aspirations. The death of his beloved had a great influence on the worldview and further creative path of the poet. He seeks peace in philosophy, science and theology. The result of these searches was his book “The Feast”, and a little later - the scientific treatise “On the People's Language”. Both of these books testify to the writer's innovative views, as well as his desire to bring the light of science to the common people. Science, in his opinion, will become a “new sun” that will illuminate the path for those “who are in cold and darkness.” In The Symposium, Dante develops beautiful, bold ideas that would later become the basis of the ideology of the humanists of the Renaissance.

Here the thoughts are expressed that every person is born for happiness, that all people should live in peace and strive to make life better and more joyful. Here we see the embodiment of the author’s dream of a world monarchy that will “calm down” and “make happy” the whole world. The same idea is the basis of another work of the poet - “Monarchy”.

Lecture 13. The works of Dante Alighieri

1. A brief overview of the life and work of Dante. Autobiographical confession “New Life”.
2. Poem "The Divine Comedy".

Literature:

1. Golenishchev-Kutuzov, I.N. Dante's creativity and world culture. – M.: Nauka, 1971.

2. Dobrokhotov, A.L. Dante. – M., 1990.

3. History of foreign literature. Middle Ages. Revival. – M., 1987.

4. Lukov, V.A. History of literature. Foreign literature from its origins to the present day. – M.: Academy, 2005. – P. 86-90.

5. Dante A. New life. Divine Comedy.

Dante Alighieri(1265 - 1321) - Italian poet, “the last poet of the Middle Ages and the first poet of modern times,” the first European writer of the Pre-Renaissance era, to whom the definition of “great” is rightfully applicable. A descendant of an old and noble Florentine family, a member of the guild of doctors and pharmacists, which included persons of various intelligent professions, Dante Alighieri appears in his life as a representative of a comprehensively educated, active, strongly connected with the locals, typical for his time and for the developed urban structure of his homeland cultural traditions and public interests of the intelligentsia. Dante was born in Florence, into an old knightly family. Dante's youth proceeds in the brilliant literary circle of the young poetic school of the "new sweet style" (doice stil nuovo), headed by his friend Guido Cavalcanti, and in communication with the outstanding political figure and one of the early Florentine humanists - Brunetto Latini.

Florence was the richest city-commune in Italy in the 13th-14th centuries; two antagonistic parties stood out in it: the Guelphs (supporters of papal power) and the Ghibellines (supporters of the German emperor).

The Ghibellines were defeated and expelled from Florence, and the Guelphs were divided into Whites (who separated from the supporters of the pope) and Blacks. Dante belonged to the first. The White Guelphs paid more attention to the needs of the common people. During the reign of the white Guelph party, Dante held prestigious positions, and when the blacks came to power, he was expelled from the city along with other white Guelphs. After 10 years, he was allowed to return to his homeland, but Dante refused, since this required him to undergo a humiliating, shameful procedure. Then the city authorities sentenced him and his sons to death. Dante died in a foreign land, in Ravenna, where he was buried.

Dante's poetry testifies to his extraordinary erudition in medieval and ancient literature, knowledge of the natural sciences, and awareness of contemporary heretical teachings. The first poems were written in the late 80s. 13th century By Dante’s own admission, the impetus for the awakening of the poet in him was his reverent and noble love for the young and beautiful Beatrice. The autobiographical confession “New Life” (“Vita nuova”) remained the poetic document of this love. A commented poetic cycle and at the same time the first European artistic autobiography. It included 25 sonnets, 3 canzones, 1 ballata, 2 poetic fragments and a prose text - a philological and biographical commentary to the poems. The basis for the creation of the work was an important event that happened in 1274. At this time, Dante (he is 9 years old) meets in the church the girl Beatrice Portinari, who was also 9 years old at that time (according to other sources, Dante writes about 16 years old). this meeting like this: “For the ninth time after I was born, the sky of light was approaching the starting point in its own rotation, when for the first time the glorious lady who reigned in my thoughts appeared before my eyes, whom many - not knowing what her name is, - they called Beatrice. She had been in this life for so long that the starry sky had moved to the eastern limits by a twelfth of one degree. So she appeared before me almost at the beginning of her ninth year, I already saw her almost at the end of my ninth. Appeared dressed in the noblest blood red color, modest and decent, adorned and girded as befitted her young age. At that moment - I truly say - the spirit of life, dwelling in the innermost depths of the heart, trembled so strongly that it was terrifyingly manifested in the slightest beat... I say that from that time Amor began to rule over my soul, which soon completely submitted to him. And then he grew bolder and acquired such power over me thanks to the power of my imagination that I had to fulfill all his wishes. Often he ordered me to go in search of this young angel; and in my teenage years I went away to see her” (excerpt from “New Life”).

The second meeting with Beatrice occurs 9 years later. The poet admires Beatrice, catches her every glance, hides his sublime love, demonstrating to others that he loves another lady, but thereby disfavors Beatrice and is full of remorse. The girl is given in marriage to another, and before reaching the age of 25, she dies in 1290.

Book " New life"(1292) and is dedicated to the meeting with Beatrice. In it, poems alternate with passages dedicated to the beloved. The finale contains a promise to glorify Beatrice in verse, and under the poet’s pen, Beatrice becomes the image of the most beautiful, noble, virtuous woman, “the bestower of bliss” (this is the translation of her name into Russian). For example, a sonnet beginning: "In her eyes..."

In her eyes Amora is a revelation,

Transforms everyone with her greetings.

Where he passes, everyone looks after him;

4 Her bow is an earthly blessing.

It creates reverence in hearts.

The sinner sighs, he whispers a vow.

The light will drive out pride and its anger;

8 O ladies, we will give her praise.

Humility in her words

It is present, and it heals hearts.

11 Blessed is her path that was foreshadowed.

When he smiles a little,

Can't express it to the soul. The soul rejoices:

14 Behold, a new miracle has appeared to you!

The poems are interspersed with prose commenting on their sublime content and connecting individual links of poetic confessions and reflections into a consistent autobiographical story, into a diary of an excited heart and an analyzing mind - the first literary diary of personal love and philosophical feelings in new European literature. In the “New Life”, Dante’s poetic experiences are clothed in the formulas of the “sweet style”, in exquisite words and refined forms of philosophical lyrics they glorify the great charms of inspired love, attached to ideal spheres, and glorify the excitement of sublime and sweet feelings. And yet - this is the unfading significance of "New Life" - the poetic formula does not obscure it clear aspiration to really significant, plastic, tangible and truly felt life values.

« Divine Comedy"(1307 - 1321) is one of the greatest monuments of world literature, which arose in the troubled early years of the 14th century from the depths of the national life of Italy seething with intense political struggle. The book was created during the years of exile, in Ravenna. Dante gave his work the title “Comedy” (in the medieval sense, an entertaining work with a happy ending). The epithet “Divine” was given to her by Boccaccio (author of the Decameron) as a sign of admiration for the beauty of the poem, and this epithet remained with her.

It is believed that the impetus for the creation of the poem was a dream seen by Dante in 1300. Dante reaches the age of 35 (half of his earthly life according to medieval ideas). This is a time of summing up and reassessing values. The poet decides that he is now ready to create a hymn to his love for Beatrice. The poem is written in a simple style, but at the same time it gives a picture of divine creation, the afterlife as a kind of eternal life, for which temporary earthly life is only a preparation. The Lord God himself does not appear in the poem, but the presence of the Creator of the Universe is felt everywhere.

Dante is considered the creator of a common Italian literary language - his main work was written not in medieval Latin, but in the popular Tuscan dialect.

It is written in a modified genre of vision (“Dream”), since Dante presented not only Hell, but the entire universe. The main idea of ​​the poem is retribution for all earthly deeds in the afterlife. The plot of the work is based on the journey (the pilgrimage of a holy pilgrim to holy places) of the author himself, a living, sinful person through the afterlife. In the center he placed his personal image, the image of a living person, a man of a large and proud soul, marked by the features of deep tragic struggles, a harsh fate, endowed with a living and diverse world of feelings and relationships - love, hatred, fear, compassion, rebellious forebodings, joys and sorrows , and, above all, by a tireless, inquisitive and pathetic search for truth that lay beyond the boundaries of the medieval way of concepts and ideas.

Four meanings of the poem :

1. The literal meaning is a depiction of the fate of people after death.

2. The allegorical meaning is the idea of ​​\u200b\u200bretribution: a person endowed with free will will be punished for sins committed and rewarded for a virtuous life.

3. The moral meaning is the poet’s desire to keep people from evil and direct them to good.

4. The analogous (higher) meaning is the desire to glorify Beatrice and the great power of love for her, which saved him from delusions and allowed him to write a poem.

The plot of the poem is suggested by the allegorical-edifying and religious-fantastic tradition of medieval descriptions of walks into the afterlife and visions of posthumous human destinies. The most subtly developed system of Catholic teaching about the afterlife of sinners, repentants and righteous people pleasing to God, with its meticulous description of posthumous punishments, rewards and rewards, allegorical and symbolic character, determined the main directions of Dante’s poetic story and the division of his poem into three parts, dedicated to the story of hell, purgatory and heaven. The mystical numbers 3, 9, 100, etc. play a great role in the poem.

The poem is divided into 3 parts (edges) - “Hell”, “Purgatory”, “Paradise”. Each part has 33 songs (hell has 34 because it's the wrong element), and together there are 100 songs. Hell is also part of world harmony and is included in the final number of 100, since evil is a necessary element of the world. At the beginning of the poem, Dante, lost in the forest (an allegory of earthly life full of sinful delusions), meets a lion (Pride), a she-wolf (Greed) and a panther (Voluptuousness), threatening the poet, from which Virgil saves him (Earthly wisdom: reason embodied in philosophy, science, art), sent to the poet to help Beatrice (Heavenly wisdom: faith and love), whose soul resides in Paradise. Thus, it is established that heavenly wisdom is superior to earthly wisdom and governs it. Christian symbolism is found in the composition of each part. So, Dante, led by Virgil, goes through 9 circles of Hell and 7 ledges of Purgatory, and under the leadership of Beatrice he flies through 9 spheres of Paradise and sees the divine light. So, the world vertical consists of 3 spheres: Hell, Purgatory, Paradise, the corresponding parts of the poem.

The idea of ​​the Holy Trinity is reflected even in the meter of the poem, written in terzas, in which lines 1 and 3 rhyme: aba bcb cdc. Thus, we have before us a mathematically organized system that allows us to visualize what cannot be represented. In this regard, the goal of comedy is the salvation of everyone, bringing humanity closer to God. The hero’s path is a symbol of life, the aspiration of the soul towards God.

Despite all the importance of scholastic concepts and traditions of medieval philosophical thought for the structure, theological content and narrative system of the “Divine Comedy”, its emergence and creation were predetermined not by the abstract edifying allegorical intentions of the poet and not by a self-contained system of scholastic worldview, but by specific and effective prerequisites of the surrounding life and the personal fate of the poet. So, in particular, for the grandiose canvas of “Hell” with its terrible journey through nine circles of retribution and punished crimes, the poet’s reactions to the socio-political struggle of his time and the uncooled ardor of a persecuted and indignant emigrant who came into contact with acute political problems and their reflections were of decisive importance. in the unrest of large and small passions of the social environment surrounding him. The likes and dislikes of Dante the exile were imprinted in the main political assessments of “Hell,” sometimes openly journalistic, sometimes veiled with moral and allegorical allegories and images.

Hell structure

Hell presents the reader with an image of death in self-knowledge, which does not free the hero from trials. Hell becomes the preparation of the hero for the further path. To rise to the higher spheres, you need to go down to the very bottom.

In Dante's interpretation, Hell is triumph of God's justice. That is why a person who goes to hell has no right to judge, but can only sympathize and sympathize. Dante's characters can be called conventionally characters, but they have psychology and passion. Each hero can combine sinful passions and great noble thoughts and actions. The structure of hell corresponds to the symbolism inherent in the introduction: on the way to the hill, Dante is blocked lynx(a symbol of the attractiveness and illusory nature of earthly life, selfishness), lion(the personification of pride, power and violence) and she-wolf(the embodiment of greed and hypocrisy). In this regard, the sequence of circles of hell correlates with the idea of ​​​​the severity of sins.

Circles 1-6 are the possessions of the Lynx, in which are those who are convicted of intemperance (ACHERON LIMBUS - insignificant): 1) sinners of the flesh who failed to overcome their instinct: drunkards, harlots, gluttons, 2) sinners of love who violated marital fidelity (Francesca and Paolo); 3) misers, 4) spendthrifts, 5) angry, 6) heretics who denied the immortality of the soul (they burn in the fiery graves of the stone city of Dita).

The 7th circle is the domain of Leo, in which those convicted of violence (PHLEGITON) live: rapists against their neighbors, rapists against themselves (suicides), desecrators of church shrines, dealers in indulgences and church positions..

8-9 circles are the domain of the She-Wolf, in which there are deceivers and traitors (GERION): pimps and seducers, flatterers, soothsayers, hypocrites, thieves, traitors to relatives, homeland, friends, benefactors, crafty advisers, instigators of discord. The last 9th circle is devoid of movement, heat, flame, it is all frozen, cold and ice, traitors are frozen into it (meeting with Count Ugolino, who in earthly life was doomed to death in a tower of hunger along with his four sons, for whom there was no guilt ). In this episode, earthly torments seem more terrible than hellish ones, and God’s fair judgment is contrasted with the cruelest, unjust earthly judgment.

The low and central point of hell is Lucifer. It is placed where there is no time and space, movement and rest. His description combines exactly the opposite details. On the one hand, he is a windmill, on the other, ice. He is surrounded by fire and cold from different sides. Lucifer is the antithesis of the Holy Trinity. He has three faces and six wings. The middle face (red) is a symbol of hatred, the right (yellow) is a symbol of powerlessness, the left (black) is a symbol of ignorance.

Structure of Purgatory

Purgatory is the reverse projection of Hell. Therefore, the method of movement changes - you can go up only in the light of the sun. It is Purgatory that is the most real part of the poem, since it reflects the author’s life philosophy. Compositionally, this is the most thoughtful part. It begins with 2 traditional symbols: dew (symbol of purification) and reed (symbol of humility). At the entrance to Purgatory (gate), travelers are greeted by an angel in a sad robe. To climb to it, you need to overcome three steps (1 step made of white marble - a symbol of pristine nature, 2 steps - made of rough gray stone - a symbol of sin, 3 steps made of purple stone - a symbol of the atoning sacrifice. An angel draws 7 P on the traveler’s forehead. As you complete each circle, one of the letters is erased.

Purgatory is a constant change in the status of the soul, constant moral development. The hero has to go through 7 circles, in which there are 1) the proud, 2) the envious, 3) the angry, 4) the sad, 5) the misers and spendthrifts, 6) the gluttons, 7) the voluptuous. In the 7th circle, Dante settled the troubadours. It is after meeting them that he feels prepared to meet Beatrice. Purgatory is separated from earthly Paradise by a wall of purifying fire, which burns but does no harm. With fear, Dante approaches the fiery wall, but Virgil tells him that Beatrice is behind the wall. At the end of Purgatory, Beatrice appears and explains the purpose of Dante’s wanderings: “So deep was his misfortune that salvation could only be given to him by the spectacle of those who perished forever.” In this part, the poet breaks up with Virgil, since Dante acquired in his wanderings what humanity had lost: justice, rationality, divine wisdom.

Structure of Paradise

In Paradise, the hero will have to visit 9 above-ground spheres: (1) the Moon for those forced to break their vow; 2) Mercury for active people; 3) Venus for lovers; 4) The sun is for the wise; 5) Mars for militants (warriors who died for a just cause); 6) Jupiter for the fair; 7) Saturn for contemplators; 8) starry sky for those celebrating; 9) crystal, Prime Mover, paradise rose, God and angelic ranks.

Dante draws special attention to the fact that Paradise is non-judgmental. The status of the soul does not change from sphere to sphere. They are all already in Paradise (“Blessed”) and do not feel envy towards each other. Everyone receives as much bliss as they can perceive.

Dante's poem is a unique work of its kind, for it contains the whole world as the poet imagined it. It presents a grandiose picture of the universe, nature and human existence. Dante's powerful poetic fantasy painted such a complete system of extraordinary worlds and celestial spheres filled with music that all previous literature since the time of Homer could not create. The poem, which tells about the afterlife, is very human, partial and literally breathes life: the otherworldly in it does not at all obscure the earthly. This is due to the fact that the poem expresses the reality of the world, its specifics, living people, their feelings and actions.

With his multifaceted creativity, Dante opened a new era in world literature. He is inclined to think that life and creativity have not divine, but natural sources, based on human life perception. The poet showed everyone an example of the ability of art to embrace the whole world at one glance. His poetry comes from the depths of human feeling and uses simple and powerful techniques of verbal expression.