Editing Dante Alighieri (section)

==Education and poetry==
[[File:DanteFresco.jpg|thumb|left|upright=.6|Mural of Dante in the [[Uffizi]], Florence, by [[Andrea del Castagno]], {{Circa|1450}}]]

Not much is known about Dante's education; he presumably studied at home or in a chapter school attached to a church or monastery in Florence. It is known that he studied [[Tuscany|Tuscan]] poetry and that he admired the compositions of the Bolognese poet [[Guido Guinizelli]]—in ''Purgatorio'' XXVI he characterized him as his "father"—at a time when the [[Sicilian School]] ({{Lang|it|Scuola poetica Siciliana}}), a cultural group from [[Sicily]], was becoming known in Tuscany. He also discovered the [[Occitan language|Provençal]] poetry of the [[troubadours]], such as [[Arnaut Daniel]], and the Latin writers of [[classical antiquity]], including [[Cicero]], [[Ovid]] and especially [[Virgil]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poet/dante-alighieri |title=Dante Alighieri |author=<!--Not stated--> |website=poets.org |publisher=Academy of American Poets |access-date=December 20, 2019 |archive-date=April 17, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190417061211/https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poet/dante-alighieri |url-status=live }}</ref>

Dante's interactions with Beatrice set an example of so-called [[courtly love]], a phenomenon developed in French and Provençal poetry of prior centuries. Dante's experience of such love was typical, but his expression of it was unique. It was in the name of this love that Dante left his imprint on the {{Lang|it|[[dolce stil nuovo]]}} ("sweet new style", a term that Dante himself coined), and he would join other contemporary poets and writers in exploring never-before-emphasized aspects of love. Love for Beatrice (as [[Petrarch]] would express for Laura somewhat differently) would be his reason for writing poetry and for living, together with political passions. In many of his poems, she is depicted as semi-divine, watching over him constantly and providing spiritual instruction, sometimes harshly. When Beatrice died in 1290, Dante sought refuge in Latin literature.<ref>{{cite book |title= Names and Naming in Young Adult Literature |series=
Scarecrow Studies in Young Adult Literature |volume=27 |first= Alleen Pace |last=Nilsen|author2= Don L.F. Nilsen |location=Lanham, MD |publisher= Scarecrow Press |year= 2007 |isbn= 978-0-8108-6685-0 |page= 133}}</ref> The ''[[Convivio]]'' chronicles his having read [[Boethius]]'s {{Lang|la|[[The Consolation of Philosophy|De consolatione philosophiae]]}} and Cicero's {{Lang|la|[[De Amicitia]]}}.

[[File:Dante and beatrice.jpg|thumb|right|''[[Dante and Beatrice (painting)|Dante and Beatrice]]'', by [[Henry Holiday]], inspired by ''[[La Vita Nuova]]'', 1883]]

He next dedicated himself to philosophical studies at religious schools like the Dominican one in [[Santa Maria Novella]]. He took part in the disputes that the two principal [[mendicant order|mendicant]] orders ([[Franciscan]] and [[Dominican Order|Dominican]]) publicly or indirectly held in Florence, the former explaining the doctrines of the mystics and of St. [[Bonaventure]], the latter expounding on the theories of St. [[Thomas Aquinas]].<ref name=jmdent>{{cite book |title= The Paradiso of Dante Alighieri |url= https://archive.org/details/paradisoofdantea00dantrich |first= Dante |last=Alighieri |editor= Philip Henry Wicksteed, Herman Oelsner |edition= 5th|publisher= J.M. Dent and Company |year= 1904 |page= [https://archive.org/details/paradisoofdantea00dantrich/page/129 129]}}</ref>

At around the age of 18, Dante met [[Guido Cavalcanti]], [[Lapo Gianni]], [[Cino da Pistoia]] and, soon after, [[Brunetto Latini]]; together they became the leaders of the {{Lang|it|dolce stil nuovo}}. Brunetto later received special mention in the ''Divine Comedy'' (''Inferno'', XV, 28) for what he had taught Dante: "Nor speaking less on that account I go With Ser Brunetto, and I ask who are his most known and most eminent companions".<ref>{{cite book |title= Critical Companion to Dante |first= Jay |last=Ruud |publisher= Infobase Publishing |year= 2008 |isbn= 978-1-4381-0841-4 |page= 138}}</ref> Some fifty poetical commentaries by Dante are known (the so-called ''[[The Rime|Rime]]'', rhymes), others being included in the later {{lang|it|Vita Nuova}} and {{lang|it|Convivio}}. Other studies are reported, or deduced from {{lang|it|Vita Nuova}} or the ''Comedy'', regarding painting and music.{{citation needed|date=January 2021}}