Name: The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri: The Inferno
Author: Dante Alighieri

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The author’s own words. 56 passages of The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri: The Inferno sit in the feed verbatim, exactly as Dante Alighieri wrote them, each with a short reading of what it is doing. The map is ours; the prose is always the book’s.
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9:41

The Cast

Dante the Pilgrim

Main

A living man wakes in a dark wood and must descend through Hell before he can see the stars again.

Locations

The Dark Wood

wood

A man wakes lost in a black forest, with no memory of how he strayed.

Passage

Lost from the true path, he must face dread before hope can guide him.

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The Author’s Pen

Lost In The Gloomy Wood

In the midway of this our mortal life, I found me in a gloomy wood, astray Gone from the path direct: and e’en to tell It were no easy task, how savage wild That forest, how robust and rough its growth, Which to remember only, my dismay Renews, in bitterness not far from death. Yet to discourse of what there good befell, All else will I relate discover’d there. How first I enter’d it I scarce can say, Such sleepy dullness in that instant weigh’d My senses down, when the true path I left, But when a mountain’s foot I reach’d, where clos’d The valley, that had pierc’d my heart with dread, I look’d aloft, and saw his shoulders broad Already vested with that planet’s beam, Who leads all wanderers safe through every way.

Reading

A man admits he cannot account for his own disaster. The narrator, Dante, opens in the middle of his life to find himself lost in a dark wood, and when he tries to explain how he got there, the honest answer is that he cannot: "How first I enter'd it I scarce can say," blaming a "sleepy dullness" that dulled his senses the moment he left the right road. The thought turns when the memory of that fear becomes almost unbearable, "in bitterness not far from death," yet he steadies himself to keep telling, because some good came of it. That good arrives as a physical image: reaching the foot of a mountain, he looks up and sees its shoulders already clothed in sunlight, the first sign that a way out exists.

World Index

The Plot

The Dark WoodThe Upper CirclesThe City of DisThe Circle of ViolenceThe MalebolgeThe Frozen TraitorsLucifer and the Stars

The Cast

Dante the PilgrimVirgilBeatriceFrancesca da RiminiFarinata degli UbertiPier delle VigneBrunetto LatiniGeryonUlyssesCount UgolinoLucifer / DisPaoloArchbishop RuggieriJudas, Brutus, and CassiusCavalcante de’ CavalcantiCharonMinosCerberusCiaccoHeavenly MessengerPope Nicholas IIIThe Three BeastsThe Great PoetsFilippo ArgentiThe FuriesChironNessusHarpiesCapaneusThe MalebrancheMalacodaVanni FucciGuido da MontefeltroThe GiantsAntaeusLuciaPhlegyasMedusaDiomedesThe Gentle Lady of HeavenThe Great Refusal Figure

Locations

AcheronAntenoraBurning SandBurning TombsCaïnaCity of DisCliff above MalebolgeCocytusEighth Bolgia of Evil CounselorsFifth Bolgia of BarratorsFlorenceGate of InfernoJudeccaLimboMalebolgeNoble CastlePassage to the StarsPtolomæaRiver of Blood / PhlegethonSecond CircleSeventh Bolgia of ThievesStyxTenth Bolgia of CounterfeitersThe Dark WoodThe HillThird Bolgia of SimoniacsThird CircleVestibule of the CaitiffsWood of the Suicides

Objects of Note

Boiling PitchBook of LancelotBranch Broken from Pier’s TreeCocytus IceCounterfeit FlorinsDante’s CordFiery TombsGate InscriptionGeryon’s BodyGilded Cloaks of LeadGreat WeightsInfernal Ferry BoatsLucifer’s Three Faces and WingsOld Man of CreteRuggieri's skullSerpents of the ThievesThe StarsUgolino’s TowerUlysses’ FlameUsurers’ Purses

Core Concepts

Betrayal and the Freezing of LoveContrapasso as RevelationDescent as the Way to AscentFlorence as Home and WoundFraud Corrupts RealityHell as Moral ArchitectureHuman Greatness Under JudgmentMemory as Eternal PunishmentPity Under JudgmentReason, Grace, and LimitSpeech Reveals the SoulThe Education of Dante

The Author's Pen

Of The Height All Hope LostDante Meets VirgilThe Greyhound’s ChaseBeatrice Sends Him ForthAll Hope Abandon YeNeither Heaven Nor HellCharon SilencedDesiring Without HopeMade Me Of Their TribeMinos Gives SentenceThe Stormy Blast of HellThe Book and the KissFalling Through CompassionCiacco Beneath the RainFortune as Divine MinisterCursd Spirit In FilthThe Closed GatesThe Gate OpensBurning Sepulchres and MoansFarinata Uplifted Among TombsWhere Is My SonFraud Worse Than ForceThe Minotaur At The ChasmThe River of BloodWords And Blood From The BranchA Plea to Clear MemoryCapaneus UnquenchedDante Recognizes BrunettoFollowing Thy StarThe Face of FraudDread In The AirThe Ten TrenchesDemons With LashesBurning Soles Above the PitBackward GaitVirgil Rebukes PityDivine Boiling PitchGolden Cloaks of LeadBurned to Ashes and RebornUlysses and Diomede PunishedThe Witless FlightJoy Turned to ShipwreckThe Dark Cherub's ClaimMohammed MangledThe Unending ItchOne Drop of WaterWhen Error FledAntaeus Lowers Them LightlyThe Frozen LakeBocca Named in ShameCount Ugolino Speaks And WeepsMy Sons Ask For BreadThe Emperor of SorrowThe Three Faced GiantBeheld the Stars

Plot point 01

The Dark Wood

Lost in a dark wood at midlife, Dante is turned back by three beasts until the poet Virgil arrives to guide him through Hell.

Objects of Note

Gate Inscription

Before Dante meets a single sinner, Hell itself tells him to abandon all hope.

The Cast

Virgil

Main

The ancient poet steps from shadow as reason, authority, and rescue in human form.

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The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri: The Inferno

Dante Alighieri

The cast, locations, objects of note, core concepts, and selected passages in the Author’s Pen - at your own pace.

One of 127 classics in the Literah library

The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri: The Inferno feed, as it appears in your mobile

The plot of The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri: The Inferno

The story beat by beat, as Literah maps it.

The Dark Wood
The Upper Circles
The City of Dis
The Circle of Violence
The Malebolge
The Frozen Traitors
Lucifer and the Stars

The author's pen in The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri: The Inferno

The passages themselves, Dante Alighieri's own words, as Literah maps it.

Lost In The Gloomy Woodch. 1
Of The Height All Hope Lostch. 1
Dante Meets Virgilch. 1
The Greyhound’s Chasech. 1
Beatrice Sends Him Forthch. 2
All Hope Abandon Yech. 3
Neither Heaven Nor Hellch. 3
Charon Silencedch. 3
Desiring Without Hopech. 4
Made Me Of Their Tribech. 4
Minos Gives Sentencech. 5
The Stormy Blast of Hellch. 5
The Book and the Kissch. 5
Falling Through Compassionch. 5
Ciacco Beneath the Rainch. 6
Fortune as Divine Ministerch. 7
Cursd Spirit In Filthch. 8
The Closed Gatesch. 8
The Gate Opensch. 9
Burning Sepulchres and Moansch. 9

The characters of The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri: The Inferno

Who is who, as Literah maps it.

Dante the Pilgrimmajor
Virgilmajor
Beatricemajor
Francesca da Riminimajor
Farinata degli Ubertimajor
Pier delle Vignemajor
Brunetto Latinimajor
Geryonmajor
Ulyssesmajor
Count Ugolinomajor
Lucifer / Dismajor
Paolosupporting
Archbishop Ruggierisupporting
Judas, Brutus, and Cassiussupporting
Cavalcante de’ Cavalcantisupporting
Charonsupporting

The locations in The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri: The Inferno

Where it happens, as Literah maps it.

The Dark Woodwood
The Hillhill
Gate of Infernogate
Vestibule of the Caitiffsvestibule
Acheronriver
Limbocircle
Noble Castlecastle
Second Circlecircle
Third Circlecircle
Styxmarsh
City of Discity
Burning Tombscemetery
River of Blood / Phlegethonriver
Wood of the Suicideswood

The core concepts in The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri: The Inferno

What the book keeps returning to, as Literah maps it.

Hell as Moral Architecture
The Education of Dante
Pity Under Judgment
Speech Reveals the Soul
Reason, Grace, and Limit
Contrapasso as Revelation
Florence as Home and Wound
Fraud Corrupts Reality
Betrayal and the Freezing of Love
Descent as the Way to Ascent

The objects of note in The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri: The Inferno

The things that carry meaning, as Literah maps it.

Gate Inscription
Infernal Ferry Boats
Book of Lancelot
Great Weights
Fiery Tombs
Branch Broken from Pier’s Tree
Old Man of Crete
Dante’s Cord
Geryon’s Body
Usurers’ Purses
Boiling Pitch
Gilded Cloaks of Lead
Serpents of the Thieves
Ulysses’ Flame

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The plot of The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri: The Inferno

The author's pen in The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri: The Inferno

The characters of The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri: The Inferno

The locations in The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri: The Inferno

The core concepts in The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri: The Inferno

The objects of note in The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri: The Inferno

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