Remembering Dante
On this day in 1321, the great poet, Dante Alighieri, died in Ravenna. From inside of the dark heart of vendetta culture, his beloved home city of Florence had exiled him 19 years earlier. Dante the poet confronted his exile with his epic The Divine Comedy, in which Dante the pilgrim journeys through Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise. Though often misread as an exploration of judgment, punishment, reward, and the afterlife as such, Dante's masterpiece is more aptly read as an exploration of life here and hereafter: it is an unveiling of the eternal now and in this world and how one suffering man responds. As one of the greatest works of humane letters in all of history, the Divine Comedy, is the occasion for any of us to journey with the great 14th century pilgrim.
On more than one occasion, Florence would try to return his remains to the city that exiled him under threat of execution. They are in Ravenna to this day, resting beneath a lamp fueled by Florentine olive oil.
You can get a good handle on the major events in Dante's life with this brief but helfpul chronology.
For a helfpul discussion on Dante's Inferno, check out this podcast:
Andrew J. Zwerneman serves as president of Cana Academy and is author of History Forgotten and Remembered to be released later this month.
Educator, Author; Faculty Member at Oakcrest School, Former Lecturer at the Catholic University of America
4 年We used the Cana Academy's Guide to the Inferno and it made all the difference for our students! By the end, we came to love this seemingly daunting work, and it's a pleasure to now catch all those cultural references to this masterpiece.