Born in the northern Italian city of Florence, Dante Alighieri (DAHN-tay al-eeg-YEER-ee) had the first significant experience of his life when he was eight years old. It was then, in 1274, that he first met Beatrice Portinari, who was a
“Midway upon the journey of our life / I found myself within a forest dark, / For the straightforward pathway had been lost."
Divine Comedy, opening verse
Portrait: Reproduced by permission of the Corbis Corporation.
Few months younger than he. Nine years later, on the threshold of adulthood, he again saw her, and instantly regarded her as a symbol of God's perfection in human form. From then until the day he died, he would love her deeply, though they never had a relationship of any kind; rather, Beatrice was Dante's muse, or the inspiration for his work.
During the course of his teens, Dante showed an early ability as a writer, and he studied under several great Florentine masters of literature. Among these was Brunetto Latini, celebrated for writing in Italian rather than Latin. Latini introduced the eighteen-year-old Dante to Guido Cavalcanti, another poet who had a great influence on the young man.
Also at eighteen, Dante inherited a modest family fortune, both of his parents having died when he was younger. Two years later, he married Gemma Donati in a union apparently arranged by their fathers years before. The couple would later have three children, and their son Pietro would grow up to become a well-known commentator on the Divine Comedy.
Marriage did not stop Dante from loving Beatrice, however; nor did her death in 1290, when Dante was twenty-five. It was then that he began writing poetry in earnest, attempting to overcome his grief. In the process, he also overcame the influence of his early teachers and forged his own style.
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