Dante's Divine Comedy

Some time ago now, I lived in Rome. Only for a couple years, but sufficiently to find a people proud of a literary heritage that I knew little about. With very little time on my hands, I could not find a way to benefit from that tradition, although I found that I could read Italian fairly easily. Two things I did manage to read were the original Pinocchio (which is an Italian tale from Florence), and Dante's Inferno, which is a colourful trip through hell. That's the beginning of the longer Divina Commedia, but I stopped there. It's time to make up for it. Another thing I'm trying to accomplish this year is a read through the entire work, which proceeds through Purgatory to Heaven. Not a bad year for it, because the Italians are celebrating 700 years of Dante in 2021. I'll only put portions on the blog, of course. You can find the lot here, for free. Let's begin with this bit from the first song from Hell. After the poet says that he had slipped from the right path and fallen all of a sudden into a wilderness, in what seems to be an allegory for the moral minefield of this mortal life, and was chased towards the west by a wolf. In desperation, he looked about him and saw the figure of the old Roman poet Virgil, who would thenceforth be his guide through the spiritual world. And here Dante pays homage to the poet whose work he loves so much as to copy Virgil's own style (da cui io tolsi lo bello stilo) in these and succeeding verses. 

"'Or se' tu quel Virgilio e quella fonte   

che spandi di parlar sì largo fiume?'

rispuos'io lui con vergognosa fronte.

 

'O de li altri poeti onore e lume,

vagliami 'l lungo studio e 'l grande amore

che m'ha fatto cercar lo tuo volume.

 

Tu se' lo mio maestro e 'l mio autore,

tu se' solo colui da cu' io tolsi

lo bello stilo che m'ha fatto onore.

 

Vedi la bestia per cu' io mi volsi;

aiutami da lei, famoso saggio,

ch'ella mi fa tremar le vene e i polsi".

Inferno, canto 1

Here, Virgil is given to be the honour or glory and light (onore e lume) of other poets, and whose work Dante has pursued and studied with great love (il lungo studio e il grande amore che m'ha fatto cercar lo tuo volume). Virgil is Dante's master and his preferred writer/author (lo mio maestro e il mio autore), and now he as a great sage (famoso saggio) must rescue Dante from the perils of the road. Virgil proceeds to direct Dante down a different and a safer road, saying that the wolf is a vicious thing that kills what she can and will only be finally chased back to hell by some sort of divine Greyhound.

"ove udirai le disperate strida,

vedrai li antichi spiriti dolenti,

ch'a la seconda morte ciascun grida ;

e vederai color che son contenti

nel foco, perché speran di venire

quando che sia a le beate genti."

Inferno, canto 1

Here's the summary of hell and purgatory. Hell is where Dante will hear the desperate cries (le disperate strida) of the damned and see the ancient spirits, now demons (gli antichi spiriti dolenti). Purgatory is where spirits happily burn in fire (contenti nel fuoco), because they hope in a promised glory one day in heaven. Finally, Virgil will not be able to carry Dante to heaven, since as a pagan poet he has not merited neither to enter into nor lead other people there. Another guide will take over once Virgil has led Dante to 'Saint Peter's gate.'