Poetry Review - Dante – The Divine Comedy - Inferno Canto 1

Tweet

I am rereading Dante’s epic poem, The Divine Comedy, because I could do with a few laughs, though it is actually quite a serious horror story, especially his journey through the nine circles of Hell. Here is the beginning of a look at the text Canto (verse) by Canto. The full text in English translation can be found easily for free online. Look for editions with Durer’s astonishing illustration work. The story runs through a single Easter weekend, beginning on Maundy Thursday. It parallels the events of the celebration of the Passion from the Last Supper to the Resurrection and Easter Monday. Though it is set in the year 1300. Dante only just completed writing the poem before his death in 1321. Living, not dead, Dante, playing himself, exactly half-way through his three score years and ten (35) strays into a woodland valley that literally leads to Hell. He sees savage nature in the form of a panther, and a lion fighting with a she-wolf. He fears for his life. He then meets the Greek poet, Virgil, long since dead, who will be his first guide through Hell itself. Virgil tells him that the lion and wolf cannot be passed alive so he must go through Hell, Purgatory and Heaven itself to survive. Dante thrills at the thought of seeing Paradise and the Pearly Gates, oblivious at this stage of the horrors he will see on route as he goes through the darker regions to get there. Arthur Chappell