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Monday, November 27, 2017

"The Inferno – The Perfect Picture of Hell" by Erl D



The Inferno is the first part of a 14th century epic poem Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri. It tells of Dante’s journey through nine circles of Hell which is then continued by Purgatorio and Paradiso. From the names of the sequels, one can already tell that The Inferno is not written in the English language. The Inferno was written in the Italian. While it would have been ideal for me to read the original text and interpret the story from the original, my inability to read and understand Italian hinders me. Thus, I read an English translation of The Inferno by a modern reader, John Ciardi.
           
The story starts when Dante (a poet) realizes that somehow in his seventy years of his life he has strayed from the “True Way” and into the “Dark Wood of Error” and makes an effort to return to his path. However, the Three Beasts of Worldliness hinder his way and drive him back into the “Dark Wood”. He is then greeted by Virgil (a Roman Poet) who explains that he has been sent by Beatrice (the Divine Symbol of Love) to guide Dante in his journey to the “True Way.” Virgil elaborates that Dante cannot take a direct path of going through the Three Beasts to achieve salvation, but instead has to embark on a more arduous journey which includes passage through all nine circles of Hell in order to complete a portion of his path, the Recognition of Sin.
           
During his journey, Dante learns of the experiences of the sinners from each area of the nine circles which determined their placement in Hell and learns of the sufferings as a result of their sins. In order to give his readers a vivid experience of Hell, Dante uses imagery which stimulates the senses of auditory, touch, olfaction, and especially sight. Included in the imagery of sight, Dante uses the light and dark to symbolize the holiness and the sacrilegious. Dante describes Hell as a place devoid of light which is also a place without virtue and purity. Ciardi praises Dante’s grotesque imagery and follows suit in his translation of The Inferno in using such imagery to describe scenes in Hell. As a result, there are many cases where his readers become sick from such disgusting descriptions (thankfully I am not included in this group).
           
A theme related to the horrible scenes of Hell is that people who are condemned in Hell do not deserve sympathy but deserve eternal damnation. In the beginning of his journey, Dante’s innocence inclined him to sympathize with many of the damned whom spend eternity suffering greatly for their sins done in the mundane world. Virgil rebukes Dante for his misplaced pity numerous times and shows approval when Dante chastised the sinners. Virgil reasons that God’s judgment placed the sinners in their place in Hell and that people should not be dissatisfied with that judgment.
           
Most often, the sinners whom Dante and Virgil see in their journey are significant figures from myths, stories, tragedies, epics, and history itself. This profuse use of allusions allow the reader to make many more connections with the story and better sympathize with each of the sinners. Furthermore, more likely, than not, each of these sinners only committed one sin which had a transient effect on whoever was wronged but suffers eternally in Hell. This leads to another theme that it only takes one sin to become a sinner worth punishing in Hell.
           
Throughout the book, Dante uses many epithets to directly characterize his characters without having to separately, explicitly state his characterization. This is most easily seen with the protective and wise Virgil. Virgil is the book is often called “beloved master”, “Guide”, “all-knowing guide”, and “poet.” Each of the epithets are used to emphasize a characteristic that Dante wishes to highlight at certain moments to affect the reader’s viewpoint of a subject.
           
As a translator of the part of the Divine Comedy, Ciardi organized the lines of the poem in stanzas of three lines with an A-B-A rhyme scheme. While his translation required many enjambments from stanza to stanza and line to line, the rhyme scheme of A-B-A is present throughout the whole Inferno.

Overall, the Inferno by Dante Alighieri that’s translated by John Ciardi is worth reading, especially if one cannot read Italian and is interested looking at how people in the 14th century viewed Hell and how it influenced their actions. This piece of literature may also be interesting to those interested in the possible punishments one may face in Hell. Hopefully none of us go there!

17 comments:

  1. Hell has always been a topic worthwhile of discussion and the way you describe this book encourages me to go out and read it. Your analysis was very descriptive and contained solid vocabulary to explain the plot. It's very interesting to read how dramatic people in the olden days viewed Hell.

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  2. Its been a while since ive read the Inferno, but the way you describe it brings back memories of when I did. The analysis you gave of the literary elements has shown me things i never saw when reading it myself as the Inferno is a hard read. Your connection of the elements to the reading shows how well you understood the piece and makes me want to read it again so I can see them in context. Overall your review of the Inferno is insightful, showing your passion for the novel and how strong the novel is. Gavin Gnaster

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  3. After reading this analysis, my interest has been piqued. I usually don't read books because I find them uninteresting with the lack of image and engaging story, but the way you've described it makes it sound like it has both imagery, engaging story, and more. Great job Erl!

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  4. Detailed review and analysis--- I've always heard of The Inferno, but never received the opportunity to read it.

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  5. The way you described the imagery and overall message of the plot seems a bit daunting but interesting none the less. I enjoyed reading your synopsis but your analysis of the poem and its epithets was really enticing. I applaud you for not only reading but understanding the author and their writing.

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  6. Wow Erl, this was a very descriptive and fascinating post that talked about something I didn't think I liked... yet I was interested and wanted to keep reading the whole time! This was a great piece of writing! Thank you for sharing.

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  7. I clicked on this analysis because of the fact the title was literally "The Inferno – The Perfect Picture of Hell" which just sounded super interesting to me. I will probably read this book now because you have peaked my interest. I wish I could read it in Italian because Italian is derived directly from Latin which is a more descriptive language, but I will settle for the English translation that you have mentioned. It was interesting that you mentioned "Virgil" because a lot of modern day pop culture mentions him, and I had no idea where it came from, but now I do. Great Job!

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  8. I'm usually not interested in literature written by old dead white guys, especially when the piece is written in a foreign language and needs to be translated. This book review was very descriptive and introduced me to an interesting book that I never would have found otherwise.

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  9. Great review on a great book! I've read it myself, but couldn't exactly piece together the meaning and events as well as you did. In all, your review is an accurate representation of the book and your writing style.

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  10. Your overview on the book was well written. The description of the contents of Dante's Inferno help to offer an insight to any reader that has yet to read the book. By accurately describing the key points, you were able to do a good job of showing the main idea of the book.

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  11. I sometimes get the feeling that the topic of Heaven and Hell were overrated but, after reading this overview I can see that they live up to our expectations. The layout and sequence of your analysis is splendid. I especially enjoyed your in-depth thoughts on some of Dante's lines as well as your description. Despite not reading the poem, you gave me a better understanding.

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  12. Wow, what an amazing piece you were able to give to us. The simplistic idea of a step by step guide really helps us focus on how to take care of a pet, and you did it so well ! You wrote a piece that resonates with the reader, and giving some of your own experience really gave readers tips & and informative ideas for thought. Great piece enjoyed it a lot !

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  13. Alejandro QuintanillaDecember 6, 2017 at 9:11 PM

    Your analysis and overview of the book really caught my interest, and although I have not heard of the inferno before, its truly sounds like a long epic poem which I would be very interested in reading more about Dante's journey.

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  14. Your overview of the book was very descriptive and enlightening into the main ideas/elements contained in the book. From reading your review I can tell this book might just be my cup of tea.

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  15. Your summary/analysis was well written and made me want to give this book a read. I found it interesting that you mentioned that the descriptions were so disturbing, people got sick. Anyways, great job!

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  16. Your overview of the book was descriptive and enticing. The reason I picked your blog was because of the title, it catches my eye because Hell sprouts many emotions and is a place that people have many different beliefs about. I appreciated how you were specific in your details by telling which type of imagery was used and what rhyme scheme was in place. It shows that you enjoy this book and have read it thoroughly. Your piece was very informative and I am interested in reading it myself. Also, the last line in your blog made me laugh! Great job!

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  17. Wow, I mean this is certainly one of the more interesting pieces I've read. Typically, I struggle with enjoying book reviews because they're not much more then meager analysis and dragged on summary. This, however, goes beyond my expectations. It is insightful and discusses historically significant views of something that it still s pivotal part of our beliefs today. The title alone was an enticing hook, but you delivered with meaningful analysis and offered me intrigue into reading this book. Fantastic work

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