Canto 1 Of Dante's Inferno
literal translation of Canto 1 of Dante’s Inferno tells that Dante is around 35 years old. He is midway through the journey of his life and Biblical life expectancy was 70 years old. He awakened to find himself lost in a dark wood. He didn’t know how he got there or how to find his way out. When he did try to climb out of the darkness to the hilltop where he could see sunlight, his path was blocked by beasts – first a leopard, secondly a lion and thirdly a she-wolf. He then saw Virgil, the poet that wrote the Aeneid, who agreed to be his guide through Hell and Purgatory.
The significance of Canto 1 is the symbolic or underlying meaning to the words. Dante had been going through life without thought to how he was living. He apparently was
on the path of truth, or righteous path, when at some point midway through his life he realized he had strayed and was in a long forgotten place – away from God. When he tried to go back to the path of truth, he was blocked by sins, most likely fraud, violence, and immoderation. These may represent sins he needed to overcome and was having difficulty doing so.
The significance of Canto 1 is the symbolic or underlying meaning to the words. Dante had been going through life without thought to how he was living. He apparently was
on the path of truth, or righteous path, when at some point midway through his life he realized he had strayed and was in a long forgotten place – away from God. When he tried to go back to the path of truth, he was blocked by sins, most likely fraud, violence, and immoderation. These may represent sins he needed to overcome and was having difficulty doing so.