A Poem of Exile on Dante Day. (n.d.). National Gallery of Art. Retrieved April 25, 2024, from https://www.nga.gov/stories/poem-exile-dante-day.html
The Divine Comedy begins on March 25th, which is now Dante Day. The National Gallery of Art has written a brief summary of Dante’s life, highlighting his exile. They share a painting from the 16th century called, Allegorical Portrait of Dante. The painting depicts Dante holding a manuscript with a poem from Paradiso, which the National Gallery of Art translates and highlights.
Aberson, N., & Stoker, B. (2020, August 1). Dante's Inferno - A Summary of the Divine Comedy Pt. 1. YouTube. Retrieved April 25, 2024, from https://youtu.be/-_xdcS66fKU
This video provides a summary to the first part of Dante’s Divine Comedy. It highlights key themes and events. It presents the work in a comprehensible way while still providing analysis. Aberson and Stotker describe Dante’s journey through the inferno, and breaks down each circle of hell and its sinners.
Ader, Jason, "The Political Persecution of a Poet: A Detail of Dante's Exile" (2012). A with Honors Projects. 44. https://spark.parkland.edu/ah/44
Jason Ader takes into consideration the effect that exile had on Dante and his writing. Adler explains the political climate in Florence and how it led to the poet's exile. He also provides insight into how Dante’s relationship with Florence has changed because of his exile. Finally, Adler analyzes the effect that exile had on the writing of the Divine Comedy.
Alighieri, D. (1961). The Divine Comedy: Volume 1: Inferno (J. D. Sinclair, Trans.). Oxford University Press.
Inferno is the first part of the epic poem, the Divine Comedy written by Dante Alighieri. Inferno follows Dante, who is led by the ancient Roman poet Virgil on a fictional journey through the 9 circles of hell which each represent different sins. Each sin has a corresponding punishment. Here Dante meets people from his past and other historical figures. Morality and reflection are major themes seen throughout Dante’s Inferno.
Alighieri, D. (1961). The Divine Comedy: Volume 2: Purgatorio (J. D. Sinclair, Trans.). Oxford University Press.
Purgatorio is the second part in Dante’s Divine Comedy. Dante, still led by Virgil, now ascend the mountain of purgatory, where sinners must face their punishments before entering heaven. There are seven terraces that make up the mountain, and each terrace corresponds to one of the seven deadly sins. Similarly to Inferno, Dante meets people from his past and other historical figures. Redemption is the main theme in the second part of Dante’s Divine Comedy.
Alighieri, D. (1961). The Divine Comedy: Volume 3: Paradiso (J. D. Sinclair, Trans.). Oxford University Press.
Paradiso is the final part of Dante’s Divine Comedy. In this part, Dante is led through Paradiso (heaven) by his love Beatrice and also by St. Benard. Paradiso is divided into spheres, each representing a celestial body (the moon, the sun, Mercury, etc). These spheres each are represented by a different quality in which its inhabitants have perfected. The final part of Dante’s Divine Comedy, Paradiso represents a soul's final ascent to God.
Barolini, T., & Botterill, S. (2000). The Dante encyclopedia (R. H. Lansing, Ed.). Garland Pub.
The Dante Encyclopedia is a one stop place for information regarding the life and works of Dante Alighieri. The author describes this work saying, “since Dante’s imagination is so fundamentally encyclopedic in nature, it is only fitting that this volume reflect the poet's demiurge by taking the form of an encyclopedia”. (Lansing & Barolini, 2000, viii). A lot of Dante’s writing relates to the events that have occurred in his life, and this encyclopedia provides context to the events surrounding Dante’s life. This book allows us to reference abbreviations and latin frequencies that are found from this time period as well as the Italian that Dante used. Formatted alphabetically this resource provides easy access to users to find a specific topic in Dante’s life or works.
Boccaccio, G. (2002). Life of Dante (J. G. Nichols, Trans.). Hesperus.
Giovanni Boccaccio is another Italian writer who has had significant influence on the culture and language. Boccaccio is most well known for his book, The Decameron, written from a time where The Black Death had taken over Europe. Similar to Dante in a way by taking real life circumstances and applying it to a work of literary fiction. Boccaccio wrote the early idea of a biography, Life of Dante, in 1360. Boccacio gives some of the earliest accounts of a look into Dante’s life whether it be from politics, military, love, and poetry. Not only is this source about Dante, but is a historical source to the time period both Dante and Bocaccio lived in.
Botticelli, S. (c. 1480). Map of Hell [Painting].
This painting by Botticelli represents the nine circles of hell, as depicted in Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy.
Cogan, M. (1999). The design in the wax : the structure of the Divine comedy and its meaning. University of Notre Dame Press.
The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri is not a straightforward story, there is meaning behind everything. Through numbers, structure, rhyme schemes, and more, Dante has created a masterpiece in the form of literature. Cogan highlights all of these examples and more and explains the significance in the meanings behind Dante’s writing. Considering the Medieval context in which Dante lived in, Cogan provides analysis on each part of the Divine Comedy.
Corbett, G. (2017). Vertical readings in Dante’s Comedy. Volume 3 (G. Corbett & H. Webb, Eds.). Open Book Publishers.
The Vertical Readings take a new approach at analyzing Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy. Thirty-four scholars take aim to look at the poem differently. Each scholar gets a canto and uses that same number in each cantica, and attempts a vertical reading of the poem. They do this to see if there is a correlation between each numbered canto.
Dante. (1998). In C. T. Gaffke & A. J. Sheets (Eds.), Poetry Criticism (Vol. 21). Gale. https://link-gale-com.libproxy.albany.edu/apps/doc/ZFMTBO773433298/LitRC?u=albanyu&sid=bookmark-LitRC&xid=e6b66a21
Found in the journal, Poetry Criticism, authors Gaffke and Sheets provide a biography on the Italian poet, Dante Alighieri. The article provides a concise summary of the lifes and works of Dante Alighieri, as well as surrounding context in his life. The authors also list many of his other works, such as La Vita Nuova. Gaffke and Sheets also provide a glimpse into the critical reception of the poet.
Domenico di Michelino. (1465). Dante and the Three Realms of the Afterlife [Painting]. Florence Cathedral (Santa Maria del Fiore), Florence, Italy.
This is a painting by Domenico di Michelino. This is a widely recognized painting of Dante holding his commedia in front of depictions of hell, purgatory, and paradiso in Florence. The painting is currently in Santa Maria del Fiore, the Florence Cathedral commonly referred to as the Duomo.
Heather Webb. (2015). Vertical readings in Dante’s Comedy. Volume 1 (G. Corbett & H. Webb, Eds.). Open Book Publishers.
The Vertical Readings take a new approach at analyzing Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy. Thirty-four scholars take aim to look at the poem differently. Each scholar gets a canto and uses that same number in each cantica, and attempts a vertical reading of the poem. They do this to see if there is a correlation between each numbered canto.
Heather Webb. (2016). Vertical readings in Dante’s Comedy. Volume 2 (G. Corbett & H. Webb, Eds.). Open Book Publishers.
The Vertical Readings take a new approach at analyzing Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy. Thirty-four scholars take aim to look at the poem differently. Each scholar gets a canto and uses that same number in each cantica, and attempts a vertical reading of the poem. They do this to see if there is a correlation between each numbered canto.
Holiday, H. (1883). Dante and Beatrice [Painting]. Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, England.
The painting Dante and Beatrice by Henry Holiday was painted with the poem La Vita Nuova in mind. The picture depicts Beatrice walking in Florence with two friends, ignoring Dante’s greeting as she has heard rumors of him talking to other women.
Jacoff, R. (2007). Introduction to Paradiso. In R. Jacoff (Ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Dante, Second Edition, Cambridge (pp. 107-124). Cambridge University Press.
The Cambridge Companion to Dante provides analysis on each cantica of the poem. The significance and explanation of the poet's journey are included. Jacoff enhances the reader's experience of the Divine Comedy by providing analysis and contextualization to the poem's final part Paradiso.
Kay, T., McLaughlin, M. L., & Zaccarello, M. (Eds.). (2011). Dante in Oxford: The Paget Toynbee Lectures. Chapter 3: Exile and Disgrace Modern Humanities Research Association and Maney Publishing.
This chapter of Dante in Oxford, highlights what exile has done to the poet. It looks at exile and examines the effects that this has had on Dante and how he reflects the feelings he had in the Divine Comedy. This chapter also looks into the political climate in Florence and Dante’s role.
Lewis, R. W. B. (2001). Dante's Beatrice and the new life of poetry. New England Review, 22(2), 69-80. https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/dantes-beatrice-new-life-poetry/docview/234262776/se-2
Dante’s Beatrice and the new life of poetry is a journal article from the New England Review that discusses Dante and Beatrice Portinari. Beatrice is often referred to as Dante’s muse, and he has written many poems for her despite not knowing her all too well. Lewis gives background to their relationship and how that has shaped Dante’s poetry, highlighted in La Vita Nuova.
Pertile, L. (2007). Introduction to Inferno. In R. Jacoff (Ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Dante, Second Edition, Cambridge (pp. 67-90). Cambridge University Press.
The Cambridge Companion to Dante provides analysis on each cantica of the poem. The significance and explanation of the poet's journey are included. Jacoff enhances the reader's experience of the Divine Comedy by providing analysis and contextualization to the poem's first part, Inferno..
Quinones, R. J. (2024, April 23). Dante Alighieri | Biography, Poems, The Divine Comedy, & Facts. Britannica. Retrieved April 25, 2024, from https://www.britannica.com/biography/Dante-Alighieri
This is a web page from Britannica, which is accessible for everyone. This webpage provides a simplified biography of Dante Alighieri.
Schnapp, J. T. (2000). Dante (Dante Alighieri) (1265–1321). In R. Padgett (Ed.), World Poets (Vol. 1, pp. 305-315). Charles Scribner's Sons. https://link-gale-com.libproxy.albany.edu/apps/doc/CX1386400037/GLS?u=albanyu&sid=bookmark-LitRC&xid=1f3c0404
Jeffrey Schnapp writes a brief biography of Dante Alighieri for the World Poets publication which is a reference source for students and researchers in poets and poetry. Schnapp discusses Dante’s life and works, including the Divine Comedy and La Vita Nuova. Schnapp also highlights several terms relevant to this topic and provides definitions. He also lists all of Dante’s works, and provides many sources written about Dante.
Schnapp, J. T. (2007). Introduction to Purgatorio. In R. Jacoff (Ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Dante, Second Edition, Cambridge (pp. 91-106). Cambridge University Press.
The Cambridge Companion to Dante provides analysis on each cantica of the poem. The significance and explanation of the poet's journey are included. Jacoff enhances the reader's experience of the Divine Comedy by providing analysis and contextualization to the poem's second part, Purgatorio..
Stoker, B. (2023, February 17). Dante's Inferno, Purgatorio & Paradiso - A Complete Summary of The Divine Comedy. YouTube. Retrieved April 25, 2024, from https://youtu.be/wnkzLf8fsE8
This video provides a summary to each part of the Divine Comedy. The video explains the significance throughout each cantica, and creates a straightfoward understanding of the poem.
The Divine Comedy – Digital Dante. (n.d.). Digital Dante. Retrieved April 23, 2024, from https://digitaldante.columbia.edu/dante/divine-comedy/
Columbia University has created a tool that is called Digital Dante. This tool allows users to click on each individual canto in each canticho. Within each canto, you can see a summary of the canto explained, along with the significance of what Dante has written. You can also view texts and translations. In this tab, you can see the original text in Italian directly next to it English translation. There is also a gallery, video, and audio of readings of each canto.
The Divine Comedy. (n.d.). Library of Congress. Retrieved April 19, 2024, from https://www.loc.gov/item/2021667870/
This is a digitized version of a manuscript of the Divine Comedy from 1313. This manuscript and its illustrations were created by Giovanni Bocaccio.
Took, J. (2021). Dante. Princeton University Press.
Dante is a biography that was written by John Took. Took acknowledges the fact that Dante’s writings are a great biographical source for himself. It also gives an insightful look into life in the Middle Ages during that time period. Took brings context to Dante's life and works and created a concise biography. The book is written from the Early Years to the Final years and Took corresponds with Dante's writings in those sections. Took also provides Historical Considerations by discussing Florence and the Guelphs and Ghibellines from 1215-1279.