Which 14th-century Italian poet composed 'The Divine Comedy' (La Divina Commedia), tracing a visionary soul's journey through Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso?
Answer and explanation
Correct answer: D. Dante Alighieri
- Step 1: Composed in the Tuscan vernacular between 1308 and 1321, this three-part theological epic established modern Italian literary language.
- Step 2: Dante Alighieri depicted his allegorical journey through Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven, guided first by the Roman poet Virgil and subsequently by his idealized muse, Beatrice.
Answer
Dante Alighieri
Why not the others: 'Francesco Petrarch' Petrarch is the Renaissance humanist renowned for his vernacular lyric sonnets addressed to Laura in 'Il Canzoniere'; 'Giovanni Boccaccio' Boccaccio wrote 'The Decameron', a collection of 100 tales told by ten young people sheltering from the Black Death outside Florence; 'Niccolò Machiavelli' Machiavelli wrote 'The Prince' (Il Principe) in 1513, a foundational Renaissance political treatise on statecraft.
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