Dante As A Madman Analysis

Introduction

According to English writer, A. N. Wilson, in ‘Dante in Love’, Dante Alighieri,

A.N. Wilson’s perspective of Dante Alighieri as a poet, as well as a madman

According to (Wilson 2011), Dante Alighieri, author of the Divine Comedy, is a man whom resembled both a poet and a madman. Wilson briefly emphasises in, ‘Dante in Love’, the two contrasting depictions from Leonardo Bruni and Giovanni Boccaccio, of whom Dante was with regards to the role that he played within the Florentine society and how it influenced him as a poet in his work. (Sayers 1949), asserts that the ‘Divine Comedy’ is an allegorical poem, influenced by, “Dante’s theological, political and personal background”.

(Wilson 2011), asserts fifteenth century writer, Leonardo Bruni’s description of Dante as a poet, as being either one that

Wilson grapples to accept two such contrasting characteristics to present itself from one person or otherwise one Dante Alighieri. Wilson asserts to the reader that the madman that reveals itself within the text is the Dante that suffers severely from Tourette’s syndrome (Wilson 2011). Wilson adds that what makes the poem such an exciting read is the unpredictability of who will say what, be it the, “serene scholarly poet” or the, “vengeful malicious madman”, and when they say it. Not only is Dante’s ‘Inferno’ unpredictable, but the text itself is inconsistent too where the, “possessed Dante”, constantly shifting and changing throughout the poem, as a result so do the opinions of the reader. Dante’s streaks of madness is an important factor that plays an important role when looking at the violence that is being portrayed within the poem and how violence is constructed from a serene and scholarly poet such as