All world commemorate the 700th anniversary of passing of Dante. We hereby look at Dante’s life and his famous poem Divine Comedy.
“… Age thirty five, it is half of the way; we are in the middle of life like Dante” said Cahit Sıtkı Tarancı in his famous Otuz Beş Yaş (Age Thirty Five) poem. Dante (1265-1321) was not even thirty-five, when he was in the middle of journey of his life; however, he had wrote that human life is seventy years in Divine Comedy which is one of the most important poems of history of literature. Dante was thirty- five in a Friday in the year 1300, and he had written this in his poem in the following line: “… in the middle of journey of our life”. Actually, Dante lives a life ten times as long as human life, which he gave seventy years to live based on psalms, thanks to his poems and today all worlds commemorates him on the 700th anniversary of passing.
Photo: Illa Baksheev
Poet of Divine Comedy, Dante was born in Florence in 1265. He had lived in Florence until he was exiled in 1302. Dante was not only a poet, but he also a politician. He was engaged in politics in the autocratic atmosphere of Middle Age of Europe which can be understood from his poems. He started his political career after 1924s and held various offices over some years in Florence. Throughout his life, he both wrote poems and held offices in his city. Dante had never a good relationship with Pope Boniface VII; he was accused of corruption and financial wrongdoing and was exiled in 1302 and he never came back to his city.
A Masterpiece: Divine Comedy
We know that exile is fate of writers and poets; for instance Namık Kemal and Nazım Hikmet were also exiled from their cities. Centuries ago, it was same in the Italy and Dante was exiled from Florence. Then, he had experienced hard times and his was composed after his exile. The starts with Dante’s journey through Hell, Purgatory and Paradise. The is an allegorical text; he gave both his political criticism and philosophy of life with symbols, mythological figures. The depiction of hell has been one of the most impressive hell depictions since then.
