Known as il Sommo Poeta, or “the Supreme Poet” in his native Italy, called “the Father of the Italian Language,” Dante Alighieri is the author of one of the best known epic poems of all time, poems that have continued to fascinate readers for centuries.

Born around 1265, Durante degli Alighieri’s was a prominent Florentine family – his father especially – who were tied to the Guelphs, a political alliance supporting the Papacy. It is important to note that the Guelphs were opposed to the Roman-backed Ghibellines.

Alighieri’s family ties heavily influenced much of his poetry. The division of the Guelphs into two warring factions, the White and Black Guelphs, was the central event in the poet’s life, as he found himself fighting on the side of the deposed White Guelphs. His opposition to the Black Guelphs resulted in Alighieri’s forced exile from his home of Florence. It was during this time that he began work on his poetic master work, the Divina Commedia, known in English as The Divine Comedy.

Considered one of the greatest works of the world’s literature, the Divine Comedy is an epic THAT consists of more than 14,000 lines divided into three canticas: Inferno (Hell), Purgatorio (Purgatory), and Paradiso (Paradise). Each of these sections is made up of 33 cantos, one of which is an introductory canto.

The Divine Comedy details Dante’s sojourn through the three realms of the afterlife – or death. As he makes these journeys, Alighieri is accompanied by a guide; the ancient Roman poet Virgil accompanies Alighieri through his journey into Hell and Purgatory, while a woman named Beatrice is his leader as he travels through heaven.

Although much of The Divine Comedy is obviously fantastic, the poem has autobiographical elements: the poem begins in the spring of 1300, which corresponds to Aligheri’s own lifespan, and Beatrice is based upon a woman known to Alighieri, a woman he considered a romantic ideal.

Beatrice featured prominently in at least one of Alighieri’s earlier poems, La Vita Nuova. Although The Divine Comedy is Alighieri’s best-known poem, he also wrote a number of other poems: Convivio, De Vulgari Eloquentia, Eclogues, De Monarchia, and Le Rime.

Dante Alighieri’s works are available online. An excellent resource for Dante Alighieri’s works on the internet is The World of Dante. This website has extensive information about Dante Alighieri and his work, and includes biographical information, cultural references, and much more.

An excerpt from The Inferno: