Dante Alighieri's, The Divine Comedy, Inferno, was written during a very uncertain time of his life. He is middle aged and exiled from his beloved city of Florence. Dante is economically and politically ruined (Cervigni and Vasta 6). He reflects on the past and is repulsed by its significance. The consumption of his guilt, depression, and anger was the impetus for writing this book. In the first paragraph in Canto I, "Midway in the journey of out life I found myself in a dark wood, for the straight way was lost. Ah, how hard it is to tell what that wood was, wild, rugged, harsh; the very thought of it renews the fear! It is so bitter that death is hardly more so. But, to treat of the good that I found in it, I will tell of the other things I saw there." (Alighieri 3) provides a sense where his mind was at the time. Dante is at a crossroads in his life and cannot find the road ahead. The dark wood refers to the uncertainty he was facing at the time. The prospect of death, for Dante, is an escape out of his torment.

Dante made Hell with circles to express the different levels of guilt, depression, and anger. Throughout the circles, you find great poets, writers, biblical characters, and ot

Alighieri, Dante. Vita Nuova. Trans. Dino S. Cervigni and Edward Vasta.

Alighieri, Dante. The Divine Comedy, Inferno. Trans. Charles S. Singleton.

hers, some of whom, in my opinion, do not belong there. I think he puts them there to relieve some of his guilt for the sins he has committed. I feel he uses logic to persuade the reader that if some of these great people are in Hell, then he is not that bad himself.

The University of Notre Dame Press

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1286
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)