Italian Language In Dante's Inferno
Nic Parmer
Mr. Wiygul
British Literature
9-27-15
Inferno Written by Dante Alighieri, Inferno is one of the three works that make up The Divine Comedy. The Divine Comedy documents Dante’s travels through Hell (in Inferno), Purgatory (in Purgatorio), and Heaven (in Paradiso). The Divine Comedy helped to establish the roots of what is now the Italian language, as Dante wrote in the Italian vernacular instead of Latin, making his work more accessible to the lower, uneducated classes and establishing a trend of writing in common language. In Inferno, a lion, a leopard, and a she-wolf corner Dante in a dark wood. Dante is unable to find a way to escape these animal assailants, and begins to give up hope. However, Virgil appears and offers to …show more content…
They progress throughout the ditches conversing with various damned souls, such as Guido da Montefeltro, Mohammed, and Odysseus. Finally, the two make it to the end of the eighth circle and the pair descend down the giants well to the realm of the traitors, the frozen river Cocytus into the region called Caina. The poets talk to several notorious traitors, such as Camiscion de’Pazzi and Bocca degli Abati, before plunging even deeper towards the center of the earth, where Lucifer resides. The poets encounter Satan, who has three heads, each one chewing a sinner who has betrayed his benefactor. One head holds Brutus, another Cassius, and the third chews Judas Iscariot. At last, Virgil decides that Dante has seen enough of Hell, saying: “But night is rising, it’s time to leave for Hell has nothing more for us to see.” (34.68). The two climb across the Devil himself, and emerge after much traveling into the daylight. Dante’s Inferno is an epic poem chronicling Dante and Virgil’s journey throughout the depths of the underworld, observing every facet of Hell, every level of sin and it’s corresponding punishment. The deeper the poets venture into the Earth, the more heinous the crimes become. Finally, the poets encounter Satan, who himself punishes traitors, whose crimes are considered the most lowly. Dante uses the circles of Hell to discourage his readers from
Mr. Wiygul
British Literature
9-27-15
Inferno Written by Dante Alighieri, Inferno is one of the three works that make up The Divine Comedy. The Divine Comedy documents Dante’s travels through Hell (in Inferno), Purgatory (in Purgatorio), and Heaven (in Paradiso). The Divine Comedy helped to establish the roots of what is now the Italian language, as Dante wrote in the Italian vernacular instead of Latin, making his work more accessible to the lower, uneducated classes and establishing a trend of writing in common language. In Inferno, a lion, a leopard, and a she-wolf corner Dante in a dark wood. Dante is unable to find a way to escape these animal assailants, and begins to give up hope. However, Virgil appears and offers to …show more content…
They progress throughout the ditches conversing with various damned souls, such as Guido da Montefeltro, Mohammed, and Odysseus. Finally, the two make it to the end of the eighth circle and the pair descend down the giants well to the realm of the traitors, the frozen river Cocytus into the region called Caina. The poets talk to several notorious traitors, such as Camiscion de’Pazzi and Bocca degli Abati, before plunging even deeper towards the center of the earth, where Lucifer resides. The poets encounter Satan, who has three heads, each one chewing a sinner who has betrayed his benefactor. One head holds Brutus, another Cassius, and the third chews Judas Iscariot. At last, Virgil decides that Dante has seen enough of Hell, saying: “But night is rising, it’s time to leave for Hell has nothing more for us to see.” (34.68). The two climb across the Devil himself, and emerge after much traveling into the daylight. Dante’s Inferno is an epic poem chronicling Dante and Virgil’s journey throughout the depths of the underworld, observing every facet of Hell, every level of sin and it’s corresponding punishment. The deeper the poets venture into the Earth, the more heinous the crimes become. Finally, the poets encounter Satan, who himself punishes traitors, whose crimes are considered the most lowly. Dante uses the circles of Hell to discourage his readers from