Fridays Art and Verse (a bit late yet again)

Art: Dante and Virgil in Hell, William Bouguereau, 1850

Excerpt From La Vita Nuova

In that book which is
My memory . . .
On the first page
That is the chapter when
I first met you
Appear the words . . .
Here begins a new life

- Dante, 1293

Dante Alighieri is perhaps the most famous of the medieval Italian writers. Born in Florence in 1265, his masterwork is the Divine Comedy - the account of a dream in which he is guided by Virgil through heaven, purgatory and hell. Beyond that, he was a soldier, a diplomat and a poet who wrote some of the finest romantic poetry of the era. You can find a biography of Dante here.