Dante (circa 1265 – 1321), born as Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri, and commonly known by his pen name Dante Alighieri, was an Italian poet during the Late Middle Ages. His Divine Comedy, originally called Comedia, and later christened Divina by Giovanni Boccaccio, is widely considered the most important poem of the Middle Ages and the greatest literary work in the Italian language. In the late Middle Ages, most poetry was written in Latin, making it accessible only to the most educated readers. But Dante would write in the Tuscan dialect for works such as The New Life and the Divine Comedy. This highly unorthodox choice set a precedent that important later Italian writers such as Petrarch and Boccaccio would follow. Dante was instrumental in establishing the literature of Italy, and his depictions of Hell, Purgatory and Heaven provided inspiration for the larger body of Western art. He is cited as an influence on John Milton, Geoffrey Chaucer and Alfred Tennyson, among many others.

Quotes by Dante…