ABSTRACT
At Vico’s solemn words, the figure of Dante seems to rise suddenly, towering over the land of Italy. Dante is a divine poet, entirely different from the erotic, honied, Arcadian, present-day versifiers. Putting aside such disputes of empty formalism, the course of the sixteenth century saw the “Comedy” praised by many who, like Varchi, started from the doctrine of the didactic-oratorical nature of poetry, and praised Dante for the pursuit of a high moral aim in punishing the wicked with pains of Hell and rewarding the good with joys of Paradise. De Sanctis was moved by the healthy impulse, common among romantic critics, to disengage Dante the poet from Dante the theologian, philosopher and practical man. He tried to judge him on his own merits. He also sought to draw criticism away from the allegory of the “Comedy,” although he gave no exact definition of this mode of expression.
