Throughout Dante’s Inferno, Virgil leads Dante through the nine circles of Hell, all inhabited by people who committed different sins. Dante begins his journey on ground level and Virgil gradually leads him below the surface of the Earth, descending further and further into Hell. The first circle of Hell scratches the surface of the Inferno and is the beginning of his journey. Canto 4 represents Dante’s trek through the first circle, Limbo. In this canto, Dante describes a dark and dreary place where there is no emotion expressed by the shades that inhabit it. Through the use of symbols and imagery, Dante expresses the greatness of God in the first layer of Hell.
In Canto 4, Dante uses “the light” to symbolize human intellect among the famous poets and philosophers whose souls are suspended in Limbo (“A Study Help”). Dante’s repeated use of “the light” in this canto could easily be overlooked as just simply literal light, but there is a greater meaning behind it. Dante states, “We had not gone too far from where I woke when I made out a fire up ahead, a hemisphere of …show more content…
Dante uses loads of descriptive imagery to help the reader imagine the Hell he is describing through his writing. To convey the emotionless atmosphere of Limbo, Dante uses sound imagery by saying “Down there, to judge only by what I hear, there were no wails but just the sounds of sighs rising and trembling through the timeless air…” (98, lines 25-27). This piece of imagery helps the reader imagine the sounds of despair and grief among the suspended souls. Dante says that there is no physical punishment inflicted upon these “sinners,” which explains why Dante hears no wails. In lines 64-66, Dante compares the souls to woods, saying that “souls were thick as trees.” This helps readers imagine how desperate these souls were, lacking salvation, that they were so thick with grief that they represented
In Canto 4, Dante uses “the light” to symbolize human intellect among the famous poets and philosophers whose souls are suspended in Limbo (“A Study Help”). Dante’s repeated use of “the light” in this canto could easily be overlooked as just simply literal light, but there is a greater meaning behind it. Dante states, “We had not gone too far from where I woke when I made out a fire up ahead, a hemisphere of …show more content…
Dante uses loads of descriptive imagery to help the reader imagine the Hell he is describing through his writing. To convey the emotionless atmosphere of Limbo, Dante uses sound imagery by saying “Down there, to judge only by what I hear, there were no wails but just the sounds of sighs rising and trembling through the timeless air…” (98, lines 25-27). This piece of imagery helps the reader imagine the sounds of despair and grief among the suspended souls. Dante says that there is no physical punishment inflicted upon these “sinners,” which explains why Dante hears no wails. In lines 64-66, Dante compares the souls to woods, saying that “souls were thick as trees.” This helps readers imagine how desperate these souls were, lacking salvation, that they were so thick with grief that they represented