Smocknotes--Dante!!!

[smock]

This is especially for imoan, but I figured I'd just post it here in case anyone else wants some Dante smocknotes!


-Did you know that Dante claimed he fell in love with Beatrice the very first time he saw her? She was eight, he was nine. And later he had a dream where she ate his heart. Eww!

-Did you know that Beatrice was married AND Dante was married the entire time he wrote love poems to her? Most historians think they never even talked to each other. And Dante continued to write her poems after she was dead, and in Purgatorio when she meets Dante, she chastises him for "giving up on her" after death. WTF!

-Did you know that the doctrine of Purgatory was very new in the church when Dante wrote? It was only accepted as official doctrine when Dante was nine--the same year he met Beatrice! So Dante was essentially charting new ground in his poem. That's just one reason his Divine Comedy pissed off the church!

-Did you know that by writing in Italian, Dante broke all the conventions for medieval writers? He even invented a ton of words, and essentially turned the Tuscan dialect into modern-day Italian. No wonder Italians love Dante!

-Did you know that Dante was offered a deal to return to Florence in the middle of his 20 year exile from the city? Well, he was. And he turned it down because he would have been forced to admit he was guilty of treason, and he refused to do so. Dante was buried in Ravenna, but the Florentines tried to dig up his bones and return him to Florence. Ungrateful jerks!

-Did you know that Boccaccio wrote the first biography of Dante? In the bio, Boccaccio complained about how Dante's wife held him back from greatness by expecting him to be a husband, oh, and Boccaccio went on a long rant about the unfairness of men not being allowed to "test out the goods" before they're saddled with a wife. Zing!

-Did you know that Dante was full of himself? Yes, he was! Not only did he write an epic poem starring himself about a magical journey to heaven, he also made lots of characters praise his fame and reputation! When he reached the level for pride in Purgatory, Dante says "yep, I'll be spending a few thousand years here, since clearly I'm full of myself!"


This has been Smocknotes, the Dante edition. The End.

[Deleted]

I love Smocknotes. I also loved the Divine Comedy when I read it, but he really was a pompous guy.

[housegeek]

These are great