Examples Of Humanism In The Inferno

“Some people dream of great accomplishments, while others stay awake and do them.” This anonymous quote shows some of the many beliefs of Italian humanists in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, including renowned authors such as Dante Alighieri, Giovanni Pico della Mirandola and Francesco Petrarch. A few of their principles include man’s talents entrusted by God and their free will to choose whether or not to utilize them, man’s connection to the divine being, man’s necessity to accomplish as much on Earth as feasible during a short lifetime, emphasis on this life rather than the next, and the rebirth of Classical culture of Ancient Greece and Rome. Petrarch, the father of humanism, and Mirandola were both heavily inspired by Dante’s poem, The Inferno and its sudden hints of humanistic

A new Christianity was in fact the result of Petrarch’s bringing classical wisdom and morality into the world of religion” (Montano 217).
Petrarch brought a new way of thinking and living into the Medieval minds. Petrarch is considered the father of humanism. Although he reiterated the basic ideas of Dante’s early signs of humanism in the Inferno, he developed them more fully to become the doctrine of Italian Renaissance. These ideals then evolved to be much more intricate and detailed, with the help of Pico della Mirandola. Similarly, Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, who lived from 1463-1494, was a key figure in expanding the Italian Renaissance. One of his most famous works, Oration on the Dignity of Man, Pico della Mirandola praises men and the fact that humans have free will to choose their destiny, the opposite of predestination. He also addresses man’s direct relationship to divinity and the limitless possibilities God has bestowed upon