The life, times, and poetry of the poet Dante.

New New books on writing poetry. Highlights of Poetry. Index of poetry. How to Write Poetry. New Books read.

How to write specific forms:
Haibun. Haiku. Hay(na)ku. Rengay. Tanka.
Ballade. Concrete. Ghazal. Lai. Pantoum. Prose poem. Rondeau. Rubáiyát.
Sestina. Skaldic verse. Sonnet. Terza rima. Triolet. Tritina. Villanelle.

Poets: Adam Zagajewski. Aleda Shirley. Anne Carson. The Beowulf Poet. Billy Collins. Billy Collins exercise.
Snorri's Edda. Carl Dennis. Charles Atkinson. Corey Marks. Dante. English Romantic Poets.
François Villon Franz Wright. Galway Kinnell. Gary Young. The Gawain Poet.
Jack Gilbert. Jane Hirshfield. J. Zimmerman. J. Zimmerman (haiku). Jorie Graham. Karen Braucher. Karl Shapiro. Kay Ryan.
Laureate Poets: Britain; USA.
Louise Glück. Len Anderson. Li Young Lee. Linda Pastan. Nordic Skalds. Pulitzer Poetry Prize (U.S.A).
Richard Hugo. Robert Bly. Sara Teasdale. Shiki (haiku). Snorri's Edda. Stephen Dunn. Ted Kooser. W.S. Merwin.

Robert Hollander's Dante: A Life in Works

Biography of Dante Alighieri. Very informative.

Orientation:

It is the Comedy that directs our attention to all the rest. And yet ... it is clear that when he undertook them, the other works were in his eyes not 'minor' in any sense at all. All of them are marked by the signs of his considerable excitement at assuming a new role in the nascent history of Italian letters, whether as a poet or commentator, apologist or polemicist. And each of them begins either with an unblushing announcement of its importance (Convivio, De vulgari Eloquentia, Monarchia) or with an absorbed self-awareness that has a similar effect (Vita nuova).

Sections:

Preface.
Chronology. Some data are used for the timeline below.
Introduction.
Dante's Life.
First Lyrics.
Vita nuova.
Later Lyrics.
Convivio I.
De vulgari Eloquentia.
Convivio II and III.
Convivio IV.
Commedia.

Truth and Poetry
Allegory
The Moral Situation of the Reader
The Moral Order of the Afterworld
Virgil
Beatrice
Bernard
Politics
The poetry of the Comedy [sic]

Monarchia.
Late Latin Works.
Notes.
Biographical Notes.
Index.

Poems

Timeline

Much information gleaned from Robert Hollander's Dante.

Early and mid-12th century: Flourishing Provençal venacular (and specifically non-Latin) love poetry that would later influence Dante.
1265: Birth of Dante.
1274: Dante's first meeting with his muse, Beatrice Portinari.
1277: Dante's marriage contract with Gemma Donati.
1283: Approximate year when Dante (age 18) begins writing poetry.
1290: Death of Dante's muse, Beatrice Portinari.
Approximately 1290-93: Vita Nuova written: " a theory of poetry and poetics" ["Introduction to Dante's Rime" by Giuseppe C. Di Scipio].
1295: Dante's begins his political career.; His name already inscribed in the guild of doctors and apothecaries.
1297: Financial troubles.
Approximately 1300-1308: Inferno (part 1 of Commedia) written.
1302: Dante banished from Florence for two years, with a fine on his return. Sentence later increased to death-by-burning should he return.
Approximately 1303-1305: De Vulgari written.
Approximately 1304-1307: Convivio written.
Approximately 1308-1312: Purgatorio (part 2 of Commedia) written.
1312-1318: Dante's residence in Verona.
Approximately 1316-1321: Paradiso (part 3 of Commedia) written.
1318-1321: Dante's residence in Ravenna.
1321: Death of Dante, of malarial fever, on return from mission as ambassador to Venice.
1576: Vita Nuova's first printed edition appeared in Florence ["Introduction to Dante's Rime" by Giuseppe C. Di Scipio].

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