Dante's first work is "New Life".
Introduction:
/kloc-At the end of 0/3 century, on the eve of the Italian Renaissance, a great poet was born in Florence, which was praised by Engels.
Dante alighieri (1265— 132 1) was the last poet in the middle ages and the first poet in the new era.
Divine Comedy represents the highest achievement of medieval literature. The emergence of such an epoch-making masterpiece is inseparable from the social situation in Italy at that time, the poet's profound knowledge and unique personal experience.
Dante lived in a different era from the beginning of the century, when European society developed relatively slowly, industry and commerce were extremely underdeveloped, and Christianity completely monopolized ideology. /kloc-In the 3rd century, Genoa, Venice, Florence, Milan and other places in northern Italy became the richest areas in Europe due to the vigorous development of maritime trade and industry and commerce.
The early bourgeoisie became more and more powerful, established city-states and countries, and gained autonomy. Although this is only a small victory of the bourgeoisie compared with the whole of Europe and even most other parts of Italy, it has had a far-reaching impact on social reality and the historical process of Europe. Dante's political inclination is consistent with that of the Italian bourgeoisie.
Italy at that time was not a unified country in today's sense, but a fragmented geographical name with extremely unbalanced economic development. There are two main forces that dominate Italy politically, one is the Holy Roman Emperor, and the other is the Pope. The so-called "Holy Roman Emperor Car" is a historical name left over from the middle Middle Ages.
In 962, Chi Di appointed Pope John XII as King Otto I of Germany (reigned from 936 to 973) and made him the "Holy Roman Emperor". Italy was owned by Italy. Therefore, all emperors are of German descent. Due to the civil strife in Germany itself, its king was only a strong or weak feudal Lord, and the ruling center was always in Germany, and the control over Italy was tight and loose. The Pope has always regarded Italy as his sphere of influence, which is full of contradictions with the imperial emperor. The Italian people want national reunification, but the struggle between the Pope and the emperor and their respective ambitions are obstacles to reunification. They adopted the policy of divide and rule because they were afraid that a unified Italy would pose a threat to their rule. The intricate contradictions make Italy's political life extremely active, and the confrontation between political opponents and the conflict of interests between different classes are often manifested in extremely cruel forms. Dante is one of the witnesses of political persecution.
From a cultural point of view, by the12nd century, the tight control of Christianity had been insufficient. In the process of theological discussion, it is often necessary to prove and discuss the existence and attributes of God and explain the relationship between the earth and the other side with the help of the concepts and logical argumentation methods of ancient Greek philosophy such as Plato and Touaris.
/kloc-after the 0/2 century, more and more compilations of ancient Greek and Roman works appeared. The original intention of the church is to find methodology and basis for its own theological theory, but researchers have found another cultural realm completely different from Christian theory. The earliest classical scholar in western Europe appeared in Italy, and Dante was one of the most learned scholars.
Dante was born in a noble family in Florence, and his father had been in business for a long time because of his poor family. At that time, there were Kipling Party which supported the Pope on behalf of the feudal nobles, and Guelph Party which supported the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire and represented the interests of the bourgeoisie. Dante's father naturally supported the Guelph Party, and Dante himself later became one of the party's leaders.
Dante studied Latin, rhetoric, poetics and classical literature systematically under the famous scholar Brunetto Latini in his early years, and spoke highly of the great Roman poet Virgil. In the fields of painting and music, Dante is also accomplished. In addition, Dante studied theology and philosophy very carefully, and the thoughts of the ancient godfather Saint Augustine had a great influence on him.
Dante had an unforgettable love, which left an indelible mark on his literary creation. It was in his youth that he attended a friend's party with his father and met a girl named Beatrice. The girl's dignity, chastity and elegance made Dante fall in love with her at first sight and never forget it. Unfortunately, Beatrice later married someone else according to her father's instructions, and died of illness within a few years after marriage. Sad Dante wrote 3 1 lyric poems to Beatrice in succession in the past few years, and named it "New Life" (1292- 1293) for publication. The poem expresses the poet's deep affection, pure love and endless yearning for the girl. The style is fresh and natural, delicate and euphemistic.
This collection of poems is one of the important works of the "gentle new style" poetry school in Italian literary world at that time, and it is also the first autobiographical poem in the history of western European literature to reveal the heart and secret feelings.
As early as his youth, Dante joined the Guelph Party with full political enthusiasm, devoted himself to the struggle against feudal nobles and participated in the battle to crush Kipling Party. After the Guelph Party came to power in Florence, Dante was elected as the chief executive of the city. The party later split into black party and white party. Dante belongs to a white party and opposes the Pope's interference in Florence. Together with the French army, the Pope supported the Black Party to defeat the White Party in 1302, seized power and began to purge the members of the White Party. Dante was confiscated of all his property and sentenced to life in exile. It was not until the guest died in Lavaine that he returned to his hometown.
Some scholars compare Dante with Qu Yuan in China, saying that Qu Yuan was exiled and endowed with Li Sao, and Dante was exiled before The Divine Comedy. If the spiritual realm of the two poets keeps rising in the process of being displaced, and they are worried about the country and the people, then this comparison is meaningful. Twenty years' exile has made Dante have a deeper understanding of the reality of Italian society, and gradually integrated his destiny into deep thinking about the future of the nation.
In the first few years of exile, Dante wrote two books, Banquet (1304- 1307) and On Common sayings. The former hopes to use morality and knowledge to eliminate conflicts and attacks between polis and factions within polis. The latter refutes the tendency to emphasize only Latin and despise Italian. This not only shows that Dante transcends narrow partisanship and thinks about national reality and future with rational consciousness, but also shows that he attaches importance to national language and culture, which is of far-reaching significance to the development of Italian literature.
Dante has the tenderness and passion of a poet and the sharpness and wisdom of a scholar. He was one of the most outstanding linguists at that time, and also a politician surfing in the torrent of the times, which was the basis for the publication of the profound divine comedy.
The Divine Comedy (1307-1321) is a long poem written by Dante during his fourteen years in exile, formerly known as Comedy. In the Middle Ages, people interpreted "comedy" differently from today, which meant a story with a happy ending. After 1555, people added the modifier "sacred" before the original title, which not only expressed their reverence for the poet, but also implied the solemn and profound theme and lofty artistic conception of the poem. In China, the title was translated into Divine Comedy.
The Divine Comedy is 14233 lines long and consists of three parts: hell, purgatory and heaven. It is a magical description of Dante's fantasy journey to the Three Realms. The poet described himself as in the spring of the holy year of Amnesty 1300, which happened to be the middle of his 35-year-old life. On April 8, 2008, the poet got lost in a dark forest. Just as he tried to climb the mountain, the only exit was blocked by the female leopard, the male lion and the female wolf, which symbolized lust, rape and greed. The poet panicked and was in a dilemma. At this critical moment, the great Roman poet Virgil suddenly appeared. Entrusted by Beatrice, Dante's spiritual lover and an angel, he rescued Dante from danger and went to hell and purgatory. Under Virgil's leadership, Dante entered hell for the first time, but when he saw the evil wind whistling and the evil waves surging, his mood was terrible and his scenery was shocking. Hell is divided into nine layers, shaped like a funnel, getting smaller as it goes down. The people who live here are all people who committed serious crimes before their death. Their souls are arranged at different levels and punished forever according to the severity of their crimes. There are corrupt officials, hypocrites, evil popes, mentors, businessmen, thieves, prostitutes, false accusers, usurers, and greedy, greedy and irritable cultists. The poet hated traitors and traitors most, and locked them in the ninth floor, frozen in the cold lake and tortured them.
Cross the center of the earth from the bottom of the ice lake and you will come to purgatory. Purgatory is an isolated mountain in the sea, and it is also divided into nine floors. This is a place where guilty souls wash their sins. After their sins are purified, they still hope to enter heaven. Criminals who repent late are not allowed in and wait outside the mountain gate for a long time. In each floor of purgatory, the souls of the lesser of the seven deadly sins of Christianity, such as arrogance, jealousy, anger, laziness, greed, food and lust, live respectively. Dante traveled layer by layer, and finally came to the top heaven, and Virgil left immediately. It turns out that he is eligible to enter heaven and can only wait in the "waiting room". At this time, the sky is full of colorful clouds and auspicious clouds. In the colorful rain curtain, Beatrice, wearing an olive-leaf laurel tree, a raccoon red dress and a white gauze, slowly descended. Beatrice gently rebuked the poet for being lost in the forest symbolizing evil, and guided him to appreciate the scenic spots around. Under her guidance, Dante entered Forgotten Sichuan, refreshed and forgot the pain of the past, and then Beatrice took him to heaven.
There are nine heavenly ways, namely, the moon, mercury, Venus, the sun, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, stars and crystals. Angels live here, and those who can enter heaven are upright people, wise monarchs and scholars. Only saints and devout priests can enjoy eternal happiness here. The weather in heaven is magnificent and solemn, full of brilliance, love and joy. On the eighth day, Dante was ecstatic when asked by three saints about the theological virtues of "faith, hope and love". He followed St. peinado into the mysterious and bright sky and got a glimpse of the profound significance of the "Trinity", but when he saw the golden light, his fantasy and whole poem came to an abrupt end in a blissful atmosphere.
Today's readers often feel that the Divine Comedy is complicated in content, bizarre in plot and obscure in meaning, which is due to their unfamiliarity with the medieval cultural background of the book. The Divine Comedy is actually rigorous in structure, and the plot obeys the theme of the poem, in which both the characters and the scene refer to something. Here we only talk about related issues from a big perspective. Dante hated Pope Benifa west eight I and some heinous popes at that time, and held a clear negative attitude towards religious ignorance, but he did not deny Christian belief. The last chapter of the third volume of Imperialism written in 1309 is a key to understanding the Divine Comedy. Dante believes that there are two kinds of happiness in life: "the happiness in this life lies in personal kindness;" The happiness of eternal life lies in accepting God's grace. ""The happiness in this life is symbolized by heaven on earth, and the happiness in eternal life is symbolized by heaven. The happiness of this life must be realized through the practice of morality and knowledge under the guidance of philosophy (including all human knowledge). The happiness of eternal life must be realized through the practice of theological virtues (faith, hope and love) under the guidance of enlightenment. "This is actually a replica of the paradise on earth and the kingdom of heaven put forward by Augustine in The City of God. In The Divine Comedy, Dante carefully arranged two characters as his mentor, one is Virgil, who symbolizes reason and knowledge, and the other is Beatrice, who symbolizes faith and piety. As we said before, Christianity believes that everyone is a sinner. So prisoners in hell and purgatory are guilty souls. The only difference is the nature of the crime and the severity of the crime. Are the manifestations of people of all colors in real society. People in heaven are souls who have experienced purgatory and can share glory with God. Before Dante entered purgatory, heaven carved seven words "P" (the first letter of the word "sin" in Italian) on his forehead with a sharp knife. Every time the poet climbs a layer in purgatory, the angel erases a word. When he walks out of the mountain of purgatory, all seven words "P" are erased, indicating that his sin has been cleared and he can go to heaven. Hell, purgatory and heaven correspond to "paradise on earth" and "heaven" respectively. Virgil, who symbolizes rationality, can only act as a guide for the poet in "paradise on earth", and Beatrice, who symbolizes faith, is qualified to lead the poet into "heaven". This clearly shows that Dante put faith above reason. The theme of Divine Comedy is to explore the future destiny of the poet himself, the Italian nation and even mankind. Dante's conclusion is that the Italian nation and all mankind must be inspired by faith, rationally regulate their behavior, and constantly surpass their moral perfection and spiritual realm, so as to be integrated with the highest truth and gain a bright future. The structure of the nine heavens in Dante's works is based on Ptolemy's theory of heaven accepted by the church. The so-called "permanent roulette" in the poem is a portrayal of Ptolemy's theory that the universe is a sphere composed of nine heavens on the same axis.
As a poet in the transitional period between the old and the new, Dante could not fail to accept the baptism of medieval culture, but the profound critical spirit and the germination of new ideas in The Divine Comedy made the poet a prophet of the coming Renaissance. Dante sincerely praised the sages of ancient Greece and Rome, such as Plato, Aristotle, Homer, Virgil and others, affirmed the representatives of these splendid cultures in the pagan period, affirmed the spirit of knowledge and rationality, and objectively criticized the cultural absolutism and obscurantism in the Middle Ages. Although as a Christian, Dante could not arrange them directly in heaven, he put these "noble" pagans in a beautiful and quiet place in hell without suffering. Dante also sympathized with Paul and France, who were killed for love and suffered in hell, and criticized the asceticism of the church. In many places, long poems show a strong desire to end party disputes and achieve national unity, and the love for the motherland often makes poets unable to help themselves. In the sixth poem of "Hell", divided Italy caused Dante's infinite regret:
Alas, slave-like Italy, your sad journey, your boat without a helmsman in the storm, you are no longer a housewife from other provinces, but a brothel! ..... You sick people live in you, not a day goes by without war, but people surrounded by city walls and moats kill each other. You poor bastard! Look at the coast of your country and look at your hinterland. Is there a land that enjoys peace and happiness? Sighing the reality of national homeland has turned into anger at those who have brought disaster to the country and people. Dante revealed that some popes interfered in secular politics and coveted power, which was the chief culprit in the dispute between the state and the city-state. In hell, the poet met the soul of Pope Nicholas III and denounced: "Because of your greed, the world was plunged into suffering, the good people were ravaged, and the evil people were promoted". Pope Boniface VIII thought it was fashionable on earth, but the poet found a place for him in prison, fell into a cave and was punished by fire. Dante also attacked the corrupt church forces, comparing the products of the greedy bishop and the apostle Peter to "a wolf in a shepherd's coat". The poet despised those politicians who lost their principles and got caught in fierce political struggles in have it both ways, so he set up a gallery for their souls outside the first floor of hell. These people refused to take refuge in hell, were stung by numerous rhubarb peaks in the promenade, and were blown to the east and west by strong winds. In fact, although the Divine Comedy took the form of a dream, its specific description-especially in the chapter of hell-was a microcosm of Italian social reality at that time.
The Divine Comedy has made great achievements in art and is a treasure bred by medieval literature. With the help of the Christian concept of redemption and the theological teaching of hell, purgatory and heaven, the poet put complicated materials into a rigorous framework. Long poems are naturally divided into three articles, each with 33 articles and a preface, *** 100. Every three lines are divided into sections, and the verses of each poem are roughly the same, which is not only neat and symmetrical, but also symbolic in structure itself. Although many characters in the poem are ghosts in Dante's works, they are all based on reality, so they are flesh and blood and have distinct personalities, which make readers unforgettable. The poet inherited the tradition of prophetic literature and apocalyptic literature, combined the surging passion with incredible fantasy, combined the judgment of reality with sincere belief in the "kingdom of heaven", showed the poet's amazing imagination, and pushed the medieval literature and art characterized by fantasy, implication and symbol to the peak.
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