Truly divine
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"Midway life's journey I was made aware/that I had strayed into a dark forest..."
Those eerie words open the first cantica of Dante Alighieri's "Divine Comedy," the legendary poem that takes its author through the eerie depths of hell, heaven and purgatory. It's a haunting, almost hallucinatory experience, full of the the metaphorical and supernatural horrors of the inferno, and joys of paradise.
The date is Good Friday of the year 1300, and Dante is lost in a creepy dark forest, being assaulted by a trio of beasts who symbolize his own sins. But suddenly he is rescued ("Not man; man I once was") by the legendary poet Virgil, who takes the despondent Dante under his wing -- and down into Hell.
But this isn't a straightforward hell of flames and dancing devils. Instead, it's a multi-tiered carnival of horrors, where different sins are punished with different means. Opportunists are forever stung by insects, the lustful are trapped in a storm, the greedy are forced to battle against each other, and the violent lie in a river of boiling blood, are transformed into thorn bushes, and are trapped on a volcanic desert.
Well, that was fun. But after passing through hell, Dante gets the guided tour of Purgatory, where the souls of the not-that-bad-but-not-pure-either get cleansed. He and Virgil emerge at the base of a vast mountain, and an angel orders him to "wash you those wounds within," then lets them in.
As Virgil and Dante climb the mountain, they observe the seven terraces that sinners stay on, representing the seven deadly sins -- the angry, the proud, the envious, the lazy, the greedy, the lustful and the gluttons. It's a one-way trip, and you don't even get to look back.
The road up the mountain leads to the gates of Heaven, and soon Dante has been purified to the point where he's allowed to go inside. Virgil doesn't get to enter Heaven, so he passes Dante on to the beautiful Beatrice, the woman he loved in his younger years.
She whisks him up to the spheres of those who are now pure of soul -- the wise, the loving, the people who fought for their religion, the just, the contemplative, the saints, and finally even the angels. And after passing through heaven's nine spheres, he passes out of the physical realm and human understanding -- and sees God, the incomprehensible, represented by three circles inside each other, but all the same size.
Needless to say, it's a pretty wild trip.And admittedly "Purgatorio" and "Paradiso" aren't quite on the writing level of "Inferno," which has the most visceral, skin-crawling imagery and lines ("Fixed in the slime, groan they, 'We were sullen and wroth...'"), and a wicked sense of irony. It makes the angels and saints seem a bit tame.
But there's plenty of power in the second two books, particularly when Dante tries to comprehend God, and almost blows out his brain in the process -- "my desire and my will were turned like a wheel, all at one speed by the Love that turns the sun and all the other stars." It's haunting, and sticks with you long after the story has ended.
More impressive still is his ability to weave the poetry out of symbolism and allegory, without it ever seeming preachy or annoying. Even at the start, Dante sees lion, a leopard and a wolf, which symbolize different sins, and a dark forest that indicates suicidal thoughts. Not to mention Purgatory as a mountain that must be climbed, or Hell as a Hadesian underworld.
Dante's vivid writing and wildly imaginative journey makes the "Divine Comedy" a timeless, spellbinding read, and hauntingly powerful from inferno to paradiso.
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For the uninitiated, probably the definitive edition to read.
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After seeing movies and TV shows with references to The Divine Comedy, I thought it about time to see what all the fuss was about.
There are times when the pace of the poem slows. However this never distracts from the narrative epic adventure from hell to heaven via purgatory. It has stunning descriptive visuals and excellent social comment of the time.
This is a brilliant study of human morality and religion. However I would recommend a little study into ancient mythology and the bible to easier understand this book. Also having not studied the social history of the time I did find it best to read a canto at a time and then read the study notes for that canto to aid my understanding.
This is a once in a lifetime experience to be had by all.
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A true piece of literary history
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I have found this both a difficult to book to review, and to read. In the scope of reviewing I feel thoroughly under qualified to offer my opinion on such a famous and historically significant book and when I was reading it I struggled to keep up with the sheer scale of the ideas that were being put in front of me. As such I can only review this from the point of view of someone who picked it up to attempt to widen his literary experiences. The story gives us Virgil, who is charged with taking Dante through the 3 stages of the afterlife: Inferno, Purgatory and Paradiso and the weighting of words is roughly a third on each. I can honestly say Inferno is by far the strongest of the three and as another reviewer has mentioned Purgatory and especially Paradiso can feel padded and wordy. I can honestly say I enjoyed the experience of reading Dante but I would advise that you don't take it on lightly, the translation of this book is incredible readable and kudos to the translator for that. However the subject matter is tough going, worth it but tough.
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Society through the Medium of Politics and Religion
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Dante Alighieri is a consistingly politician Person and looks like he is subscribing to a religious climate, but he is not. His looks are those of the pupil of Philosophy and rather the pupil of concise Learning, of respect to his classmates but also the person that has so many a lot to say about them and their Whereabouts. The Divine Comedy is simply a great Work of Art. Art in it's purest and Divinest Form. Art in the form that it doesn't dictate the medium and form of the writing but simply describing his work I would state him in the most gullible persons of his Clan. And by Clan I mean of course the White Guelfs. But it is time to see the work step by step. The first part is Inferno and is talking about of course Hell and riding through, like Riders on the Storm by The Doors a favourite group of mine that should be illustrating the reading of it. Hell is a storm for us people of knowledge and information that keeps coming back and back like images of a problematics that is as popular as the war on Iraq nowadays. It is the walk of Dante and his great teacher that have never met Virgil. He is just a Wannabe Poet that in his experience is on an expedition to prove himself for his belief in the work of a much earlier Latin poet. There it is unlikely not to meet with the she-wolf. The she-wolf is the most representable beast in my liking and the perfect picture of violence and raw activism against the war-like face of Death, Destruction and what it comes as pulling these two, the Devil. The second part is Purgatorio. In Purgatorio Dante and his lead after coming through what a rulistic search, see Inferno and where each is punished, offers, finds a different point on God and the angels that protect Him. Inferno is death and demons, Purgatorio is a ship that gives his way through a place, a no-man's land, the neverland that all the forgiven look and understand what they should face to fly away to the next of their steps. Their inner childism that tends to the Skies. They will not all be forgotten from what the society of politics, which is in question, just wants, because the want, the need is there but it is not Redemption. Last but not least is Paradiso. Where the eagles of the ancients fly free and dare to step up to what is divine. Where the angelic faces gather around Mother and most of all where Beatrice who is in the search through all the way from Inferno and Purgatorio to Paradiso, gives her Eroticism to Dante. Gives him the Hope, that The Ancient Hellenes have written " Ero anikate mahan ", that means Eroticism wins all Wars. And she wins the Fight but does not Give In to Dante. She remains to the Skies and the Hope will be with Dante who leaves Virgil, his most profound Way to Poetry and Knowledge, there with the Divine Eagles and Nymphs and Gods, which the Latin mind state as Angels, to understand the Way the Mind of hers work for Love. All in All it is a work which understands the Way God or the Devil or the Purgatoric creatures like to deal with things but only through the way Society on earth deal with the Mind and Need for a better Place for them. All of us...
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An astonishing translation of an astonishing poem
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It is certain that Dante's inferno is one of the greatest pieces of literature ever written, and though purgatory and paradise are not as brilliant, tending to drag in places, they are also well worth reading. This translation is excellent, keeping the rhythm of the orginal, as well as keeping meanings close to their originals. The notes in the back are also excellent, helpful and informative. Most worthy of 5 stars.
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