Storiascopio · Era 8 of 12 · lower secondary year 1
Dante begins the Divine Comedy
about 1307 · In exile, between Lunigiana, Verona and Ravenna
In short
Dante Alighieri was a Florentine poet and politician, driven into exile from his city in 1302. Far from Florence he began writing the Comedy, a long poem in verse. It tells of an imaginary journey through Hell, Purgatory and Paradise: in the first two realms his guide is the poet Virgil. He chose to write it in the everyday Florentine language rather than in Latin, so that even people who had not studied could understand it. It was Boccaccio who called it ‘divine’.
Why it matters The Divine Comedy lies at the root of the Italian language: many words and expressions Italians use come from it.
Source: Treccani, entry “Dante Alighieri”
Where we are in the era “Late Middle Ages”
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- 10
- 11
- 12
- 13
- 14
- 15
- 16
- 17
- 18
- 19
- 20
- 21
- 22
- 23
- 24
- 25
about 1050Event 21 of 251429
Your turn
Name ______________________ Class ______ Date __________
When did it happen? Find the date at the top and write it here:
Tell it in your own words: what happened?
Draw the scene below.
storiascopio.com/en/event/dante-begins-the-divine-comedy/ · free worksheet, you may photocopy it for your class