| DANTESQUE In the manner of Dante Alighieri (1265-1321), the Italian Poet, especially as revealed in his great Christian epic poem The Divine Comedy. In the middle of the journey of our life I came to myself within a dark wood where the straight way was lost. These moving opening lines set the tone of confession for an intense spiritual autobiography that reverberates with allegorical overtones. At the age of 35 (in 1300) Dante, exiled from Florence and in a state of turmoil, sets out to rid himself of the temptation to sin. He seeks the way to purify his soul and attain redemption. He will have two guides on his journey: Virgil, the author of the Aeneid and the master of classical learning, will lead him through the Inferno (hell) and the Purgatorio (purgatory); BEATRICE, Dante's ideal love and the symbol of divine revelation, will lead him through the Paradiso (heaven). Along the way Dante meets and converses with many historical personages who have been consigned, according to the gravity of their sins, to the appropriate circle in the nine circles of Hell. Their punishments fit their trangressions. The Divine Comedy thus becomes not only a passionate quest for the individual's soul's salvation, bu also a compendium of Catholic doctrine, philosophy and learning in Dante's time. What makes the The Divine Comedy the supreme expression of medieval literature is not only it's intellectual brilliance, it's spiritual intensity and vision, but also it's soaring, memorable language, it's poetry. "DANTESQUE" has come to mean a passage through hell, whatever the nature of that hell may be. ~Facts on File Dictionary of Historical and Cultural Allusions. Beatrice: Probably Beatrice Portinari (1266-90) of Florence, Italy, whom the poet DANTE first met when he was nine years old and again when he was 18. She died in 1290 when Dante was only 25. She had married Simone de' Bardi, and Dante in 1293 married Gemma Donati, who remained in Florence when Dante was exiled for life in 1302. The love of Dante for Beatrice was an ideal, spiritual love. She was his muse and inspired much of his writing. "La Vita Nuova" (1292) tells in prose and poetry the story of that love. In The Divine Comedy, Dante's masterpiece, Beatrice guides Dante through Paradise. She is the symbol of divine revelation and leads Dante to the beatitude of salvation. A Beatrice, therefore, is an ideal beloved, an inspiration to spiritual wholeness and creative endeavor---a muse. ** For William Blake's magnificent illustrations of Dante's Divine Comedy go HERE |