Dante Alighieri was a very untraditional writer, for unlike most other writers he sometimes followed the traditions yet he wasn't afraid to deviate and modify the old epic traditions. Most epics tell the adventures of a hero of old who vanquished evil, and to be honest Dante does recount a hero's journey. There is a major difference though between his and traditions though, because he varies this tradition by making himself the theme/hero/subject/ect of the epic called the Divine Comedy.

Epic poets were traditionally pagan and so they would often call on the Muses, known as patron goddesses of the arts, for their inspirations and to help guide their poems. Unlike them Dante was a Christian, and he refused to use the pagan gods "gods" in this epic. Instead he utilizes the Latin poet Virgil whom he calls "my mentor" and Dante's childhood hero Bice Portinari, whom he gave the name Beatrice as guides for the main character throughout the story.

Epics traditionally begin in "media res" which is Latin for "in the middle." Dante follows this tradition, although it's in his own unique way, by beginning the Divine Comedy "halfway through the journey we are living," or in other words "in the middle of his life".

Many of the epic poems of this time period state the theme of the poem at the very beginning. Likewise, Dante begins to describes in the first stanzas of his poem his fear and disquiet but then he offers a vision of hope to the readers. He says that "to describe the good discovered there / I here will tell the other things I saw".

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