Reading Notes: Dante's Inferno, Part A

  Stories below are derived from Dante's Divine Comedy, by Tony Kline

Dante and Virgil

• Very good introduction, the author is either talking to himself or directly to the reader. He tells of how lost and scared he was when entering the "impenetrable" woods, creating a personal note to the reader about how fearful he was
• Doesn't say too much, but definitely instilled a mood for the reader to start with the rest of the story
• Included a character called Divine Love
• Will this character be introduced later?
• Or was this just a general idea that the readers should know about?
• A manifestation of a feeling or emotion as a tangible character?
• When Dante met Virgil, Virgil introduced himself in a very odd way. He included many names of his lineage as well as who was associated with him in the past
• It also seemed that Dante knew who Virgil was, and also regarded him as his "master"
• VIRGIL IS HIS GUIDE THROUGH HELL??
• At this point, it makes a lot more sense about who Dante was, but still doesn't mention anything about how Dante was in Hell in the first place

The Gate of Hell and Charon

• There was a spooky line of words, all capitalized, almost as if this was what the main character was hearing at the beginning of the story
• This is a very effective hook for the readers to be more interested in reading the rest of the story
• After leading Dante into the Gates of Hell, there was a list of the things that the character head, sounds such as "sighs, complaints, deep groans, sounded through the starless air"
• 
  
  
  (Dante and Virgil at the Gates of Hell. Source: W. Blake)