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Dante's Inferno

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The Inferno by Dante Alighieri
The Inferno by Dante Alighieri was; shall I say long and boring, but Dante’s insight to the underworld (Hell) is amazing and interesting. As I read through the on-line book, I became wrapped up in what Dante was attempting to portray in his writing. There are 34 Cantos or verses within “The Inferno” and each verse leads us through Dante’s life and his version of Hell. I perceive that Dante's poem is one big circle which starts down through the depths of hell, up into purgatory, and finally to the pearly gates of heaven. By its connection between each canto, the divine comedy teaches us to work our way through its circles. The book is so descriptive, that you feel as though you are sharing each adventure, …show more content…

Florence was in a disastrous condition, the ruling Guelph party having split into two factions, known as Bianchi and Neri, "Whites" and "Blacks", which were led by Vieri de' Cerchi and Corso Donati, respectively. Roughly speaking, the Bianchi were the constitutional party, supporting the burgher government and the Ordinances of Justice; the Neri, at once more turbulent and more aristocratic, relied on the support of the populace, and was strengthened by the favor of the pope, who disliked and mistrusted the recent developments of the democratic policy of the republic. The discovery of a plot on the part of certain Florentines in the papal service (18 April) and a collision between the two factions, in which blood was shed (1 May), brought things to a crisis. On 7 May Dante was sent on an unimportant embassy to San Gemignano. Shortly after his return he was elected one of the six priors who for two months, together with the gonfaloniere, formed the Signoria, the chief magistracy of the republic. His term of office was from 15 June to 15 August. Together with his colleagues. he confirmed the anti-Papal measures of his predecessors, banished the leaders of both factions, and offered such opposition to the papal legate, Cardinal Matteo d'Acquasparta, that the latter returned to Rome and laid Florence under an interdict. Guido Cavalcanti had been among the exiled Bianchi; having contracted a fatal illness …show more content…

This circle housed the fraudulent ones; the seducers, flatterers and prostitutes. Geryon, a flying monster with different natures, just like the fraudulent, allowed Dante and Virgil to hitch a ride on his back. This circle was divided into ten Bolgias (trenches) or stony ditches with bridges between them. In trench1, Dante sees pimps and seducers much like Pope Boniface VIII who granted indulgence to all pilgrims. Trench 2 he finds flatterers which disgusted him greatly. After crossing the bridge to trench 3, he and Virgil see those who are guilty of simony, which was named after a magician Simon Magnus. Also Dante’s views claim that three popes were guilty of this sin. They were Nicholas III, Boniface VIII and Clement V. Again, crossing another bridge between the ditches to trench 4, they find sorcerers and false prophets, Amphiaraus, Tiresias, Manto, and Eurypylus. Moving along to Bolgia 5, Dante found grifters like Malacoda their escort and the leader of the grifters. These grifters are sunk into a boiling pitch for their punishment. Crossing from bridge to bridge; Dante and Virgil come to Bolgia 6 where they see the hypocrites, the jovial friars and Caiaphas. In the remaining 4 ditches, Dante finds the thieves (Bolgia 7), Vanni Fucci, who during his life was known for his anger and brutality. Borgia 8 claimed the evil counselors and advisers such as

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