Literary Analysis: Dante’s Inferno
The first Canto in Dante’s Inferno, sets the whole poem in motion, giving us an immediate look into the vivid descriptions of Hell through the eyes of Dante the pilgrim. Not only do we ‘see’ that which is happening through his journey, but we also begin to feel Dante’s emotions as well; his hope in seeing the sunlight over the mountaintop and then his fear of the unknown- the beasts who block his path to hope and salvation.
At the beginning of this poem, Dante, in the dark forest, had just awoken, and had wandered away from the right-true path (way) of life (Alghieri, 1.2). Details of Dante’s disorientation are vague, other than the descriptions of how he had become sleepy and strayed away (1.11-12). Even so the description of the dark forest leaves us with the impression that it is dangerous and fearful. He finds himself, there in the wood of confusion, fear and sin; confused and lost seemingly thinking of how he might escape such a place. And so Dante begins to characterize this dark forest as savage, stubborn, bringing of fear and that “death …show more content…
These three beasts sound eerily familiar to a description given in Jeremiah, “Therefore a lion from the forest shall slay them, a wolf of the deserts shall destroy them; a leopard will watch over their cities. Everyone who goes out from there shall be torn in pieces, because their transgressions are many; their backslidings have increased” (5:6 NKJV). Not only do these three beasts represent an obstacle for Dante, causing him to return to his right path. But after making the journey with Dante, through the rest of the poem; it is possible to look back and see in relation to the rest of Inferno, each beast as a representation of each of the three divisions of Hell: desires/incontinence, violence and
The first Canto in Dante’s Inferno, sets the whole poem in motion, giving us an immediate look into the vivid descriptions of Hell through the eyes of Dante the pilgrim. Not only do we ‘see’ that which is happening through his journey, but we also begin to feel Dante’s emotions as well; his hope in seeing the sunlight over the mountaintop and then his fear of the unknown- the beasts who block his path to hope and salvation.
At the beginning of this poem, Dante, in the dark forest, had just awoken, and had wandered away from the right-true path (way) of life (Alghieri, 1.2). Details of Dante’s disorientation are vague, other than the descriptions of how he had become sleepy and strayed away (1.11-12). Even so the description of the dark forest leaves us with the impression that it is dangerous and fearful. He finds himself, there in the wood of confusion, fear and sin; confused and lost seemingly thinking of how he might escape such a place. And so Dante begins to characterize this dark forest as savage, stubborn, bringing of fear and that “death …show more content…
These three beasts sound eerily familiar to a description given in Jeremiah, “Therefore a lion from the forest shall slay them, a wolf of the deserts shall destroy them; a leopard will watch over their cities. Everyone who goes out from there shall be torn in pieces, because their transgressions are many; their backslidings have increased” (5:6 NKJV). Not only do these three beasts represent an obstacle for Dante, causing him to return to his right path. But after making the journey with Dante, through the rest of the poem; it is possible to look back and see in relation to the rest of Inferno, each beast as a representation of each of the three divisions of Hell: desires/incontinence, violence and