I found me in a gloomy wood, astray
-The Inferno: Canto I,1-2
My first introduction to Dante was in Mrs. Brotman's Honors World Literature course my sophomore year of high school. Despite the otherwise mediocre selections available in that class (Chaim Potok's The Chosen...the name Brotman explains itself) this particular work of poetry fascinated me. Part of this was no doubt due to our textbook's inclusion of some of Gustave Dore's illustrations of the work (which I will discuss in the following blog). But a great deal of my fascination with the work was this ethereal and alchemical exploration of the world beyond. At some point that year I had expressed my excitement to my grandfather who responded by presenting me with this volume (beautifully decorated and with ragged-edged pages, very antique) as well as a book of the complete Gustave Dore illustrations from the Divine Comedy (which I will be discussing in my next blog). This book is of particular importance as I can say that it is the first book of my collection. I had many books already on my shelves but it was this particular tome that piqued my appetite to fill my walls with more of its kind.
For anyone not familiar with the work, Dante's first person narrative begins with his allegorical straying from righteous living into a forest signifying his sin. He is rescued by the poet Virgil (The Aeneid) who takes Dante on a journey through the circles of hell (The Inferno), through purgatory (Purgatorio), and dropping him off at the first circle of heaven (Paradiso) where the divine Beatrice guides him the rest of the way toward the Empyrean, or the ultimate vision of God the creator.
Dante's work is based in Medieval Catholic tradition but with a political twist. In addition to a spiritual kunstleroman Dante offers a scathing commentary on contemporary figures, often placing local potliticians in the circles of hell that he deems fit for their apparent sins.
I think the most fascinating aspect of Dante's vision is in his sense of perfect justice. Having grown up Protestant a great deal of the punishments applied for certain sins was foreign and interesting. Though the fury of the harpies, the creaking oars of Charon, and the grotesque mastication of the most heinous sinners of antiquity (Brutus, Cassius, and Judas) by Lucifer himself provide sufficient spectacle for any reader the deeper I dug into the Inferno the more interesting the punishments became.
I remember reading of the story of Paolo and Francesca whom Dante encounters eternally circling in the wind above one of Hell's jagged precipices. This punishment was earned for their participation in an adulturous affair (oddly enough, inspired by stories of Lancelot and Guinevere, ARTHURIAN TIE IN, YAY). Surely a poet who could dream up such a specific punishment for every mortal offense has a great deal to say about the tragectory of human existence.
What is interesting is that Dante, much like Milton, is probably the source of a great number of dogmatic beliefs that were handed down, not from scripture, but from the imaginations of poets. I believe this undoubtedly attests to the social power of poetry; a power that modern education and mechanistic social values attempt to ignore.
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Alighieri, Dante. The Divine Comedy. Trans. Henry Francis Cary. Garden City, New York: International Collectors Library, 1946.
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