Dante in Romola

Abstract

Early in Romola, Dante is established as a strong part of the cultural milieu of fifteenth-century Florence, familiar to scholars and barbers alike.¹ After some early references self-consciously drawing attention to the poet, however, he seems to be strangely absent from much of the rest of the novel, so that it would be easy to see the presence of ‘il divino poèta’ as providing little more than local colour. The influence of Dante can however be felt over the whole novel, though some of the references are oblique and require a good knowledge of the poet to be appreciated fully.