Dante Alighieri was born in 1265 in Florence, Italy, to a family of moderate wealth that was involved in the complex Florentine political scene. Around 1285, Dante married a woman chosen for him by his family. Despite this, he remained in love with another woman named Beatrice, and continued to yearn for her even after her sudden death in 1290. Three years later, he published Vita Nuova (The New Life), which describes his tragic love for Beatrice. Around …showed first 75 words of 716 total…

…showed last 75 words of 716 total…call his work a comedy does not mean that the poem is intended to be humorous. Rather, the word "comedy" refers to one of the two classical styles, the other being tragedy. Tragedy was the high style, the style of epics, with plots that flowed from a promising beginning to a destructive end. Comedy was the low style, the style of grotesque caricatures, with plots that flowed from an unhappy beginning to a happy end.