Dante Alighieri: Biography of an Italian Poet, Writer, and Philosopher

Dante Alighieri's epic poem, later given the title Divine Comedy by Giovanni Boccaccio, is widely considered one of the most significant literary works of the Middle Ages and the crowning achievement of medieval Italian literature. Originally titled simply Comedy, this allegorical tale of Dante's imagined journey through the afterlife has had an enduring impact on Western culture.

By deciding to compose his masterpiece not in scholarly Latin but rather in the Tuscan vernacular, Dante boldly ...