Exile

:See Exile (disambiguation) for other meanings.

Personal exile

Exile was used particularly for political opponents of those in power. The use of exile for political purposes can sometimes be useful for the government because it prevents the exilee from organizing in their native land or from becoming a martyr.

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Exile represented a severe punishment, particularly for those, like Ovid or Du Fu, exiled to strange or backward regions, cut off from all of the possibilities of life as well as their families and associates. Dante describes the pain of exile in the Divine Comedy:

Related Topics:
Ovid - Du Fu - Dante - Divine Comedy

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:«. . . Tu lascerai ogne cosa diletta

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:più caramente; e questo è quello strale

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:che l'arco de lo essilio pria saetta.

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:Tu proverai sì come sa di sale

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:lo pane altrui, e come è duro calle

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:lo scendere e 'l salir per l'altrui scale . . .»

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:". . . You will leave everything you love most:

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:this is the arrow that the bow of exile

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:shoots first. You will know how salty

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:another's bread tastes and how hard it

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:is to ascend and descend

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:another's stairs . . ."

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:Paradiso XVII: 55-60

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Exile has been softened, to some extent, in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, as exiles have received welcome in other countries and have either created new communities within those countries or, less frequently, returned to their homelands following the demise of the regime that exiled them.

Related Topics:
Nineteenth - Twentieth - Homeland

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