His Teacher

Upon reviewing the Inferno, I've noticed something. When in the land of the Sodomites, he sees his teacher and he feels the necessity to bend down, to show that he respects the teacher. But that was Dante the Pilgrim. What about Dante the Poet? Dante the Poet put his teacher into Inferno and in a way called him a homosexual. Yet in his representation, it seemed he looked up to the man. Does Dante the Pilgrim represent Dante the Poet in anyway?

Or does Dante the Pilgrim represent someone else? Or...does he represent humanity? Maybe I could have a thesis on all the analogies that Inferno represents.