Humanism is the belief in the bringing back of the classics and in the greatness of man. Humanists believed in the importance of this life; they believed that if someone had a talent it was a gift given to them by God and they should use to create beauty. Their hope was to of gain fame and grow closer to God. It was this idea, that inspired the Renaissance. Even though humanism was considered a Renaissance idea there were many writers in the late Middle Ages that helped create the basis for future humanist. One of the most important writers was Dante, who wrote The Divine Comedy. Some of the Humanistic concepts that he includes in his Inferno are the revival of the classics, putting an emphasis on the divinity of humans, and the desire to …show more content…
This is a Humanistic idea because Dante placed a human figure at the level of divinity. Another Humanists that are similar to Dante in placing a human at a level of high importance is Petrarch and Pico della Mirandola. Petrarch, like Dante, also suffered from unrequited love because of a girl named Laura. Similar to Dante Petrarch also placed her in the place of divinity and made her the center of all his poems. In all his writings about her he praises her as if she was God when he says, “Greetings in love, who is their Lord, I offer”. He then finishes by saying, “Beholding you then so augments their pain they are consumed with the power to weep,yet in your presence tears they can not shed”. This belief that humans could be divine can also be seen in Pico della Mirandola’s The Oration of the Dignity of Man. Pico also placed people at the level of the divine but instead of single women he believed all men were originated from divine power and that above all others animals due to our free will. This is evident when he says, Thou shalt have have the power, out of thy soul’s judgement, to be reborn, which are divine (48,Mirandola). What he is saying is that man’s ability of free will make him divine, to believe that man is great or divine is a humanistic …show more content…
This can be seen when Virgil says to Dante “…for sitting softly cushioned,or tucked in bed, is no way to win fame; and without it man must waste his life away, leaving such traces of what he was on earth as smoke in wind and foam upon the water. Stand up! Dominate this weariness of yours with the strength of soul that wins in every battle if it does not sink beneath the body’s weight”(xxiv,46-51, Dante). This is a proof that Dante believed that man should try to do great things in their lives so that they may have a legacy. The idea that man should live this life how he wanted, instead of living how the church said they should in order to reach heaven was a very humanistic idea. Pico della Mirandola also believed that through using their talents man could reach heaven. He believed that at the time men's souls were a part of heaven. However because an accident they fell to earth and were separated from God. It is when humans see beautiful art that man has created that they are reminded of heaven’s beauty and grow closer to