The Inferno of Dante

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Smith, Elder and Company, 1865 - 187 pages
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Page 24 - Ora incomincian le dolenti note A farmisi sentire: or son venuto Là dove molto pianto mi percote. Io venni in loco d' ogni luce muto , Che mugghia, come fa mar per tempesta Se da contrari venti è combattuto.
Page 13 - Con lieto volto, ond' io mi confortai, Mi mise dentro alle segrete cose. Quivi sospiri, pianti ed alti guai Risonavan per 1' aer senza stelle, Perch' io al cominciar ne lagrimai. Diverse lingue, orribili favelle, Parole di dolore, accenti d...
Page 15 - 1 mio dir gli fusse grave, In fino al fiume di parlar mi trassi. Ed ecco verso noi venir per nave Un vecchio bianco per antico pelo. Gridando : Guai a voi, anime prave! Non isperate mai veder lo cielo : I' vegno, per menarvi ali' altra riva Nelle tenebre eterne in caldo, e 'n gielo: E tu, che se...
Page 21 - Genti v' eran , con occhi tardi e gravi , Di grande autorità ne' lor sembianti : Parlavan rado con voci soavi.
Page 9 - Dirotti perch' io venni, e quel ch' io 'ntesi. Nel primo punto che di te mi dolve. I" era tra color che son sospesi, E donna mi chiamò beata e bella, Tal che di comandare io la richiesi. Lucevan gli occhi suoi più che la Stella: E cominciommi a dir soave e piana, Con angelica voce, in sua favella (I).
Page 77 - Dell' umana natura posto in bando : Che in la mente m' è fitta, ed or m'accora La cara e buona imagine paterna • - Di voi, quando nel mondo ad ora ad ora M...
Page 3 - E come quei che con lena affannata Uscito fuor del pelago alla riva, Si volge all'acqua perigliosa e guata; Così l'animo mio che ancor fuggiva, Si volse indietro a rimirar lo passo, Che non lasciò giammai persona viva.
Page 8 - Ch' uscir dovea di lui, e il chi, e il quale, Non pare indegno ad uomo d' intelletto; Ch' ei fu dell' alma Roma e di suo Impero 20 Nell' Empireo ciel per padre eletto. La quale, e il quale (a voler dir lo vero) Fur stabiliti per lo loco santo, U' siede il successor del maggior Piero.
Page 27 - Noi leggevamo un giorno per diletto di Lancilotto, come amor lo strinse; soli eravamo e senza alcun sospetto. Per più fiate gli occhi ci sospinse quella lettura, e scolorocci il viso: ma solo un punto fu quel che ci vinse. Quando leggemmo il disiato riso esser baciato da cotanto amante...
Page 49 - O Tosco, che per la città del foco Vivo ten vai, cosi parlando onesto, Piacciati di ristare in questo loco. La tua loquela ti fa manifesto Di quella nobil patria natìo, Alla qual forse fui troppo molesto.

About the author (1865)

Born Dante Alighieri in the spring of 1265 in Florence, Italy, he was known familiarly as Dante. His family was noble, but not wealthy, and Dante received the education accorded to gentlemen, studying poetry, philosophy, and theology. His first major work was Il Vita Nuova, The New Life. This brief collection of 31 poems, held together by a narrative sequence, celebrates the virtue and honor of Beatrice, Dante's ideal of beauty and purity. Beatrice was modeled after Bice di Folco Portinari, a beautiful woman Dante had met when he was nine years old and had worshipped from afar in spite of his own arranged marriage to Gemma Donati. Il Vita Nuova has a secure place in literary history: its vernacular language and mix of poetry with prose were new; and it serves as an introduction to Dante's masterpiece, The Divine Comedy, in which Beatrice figures prominently. The Divine Comedy is Dante's vision of the afterlife, broken into a trilogy of the Inferno, Purgatory, and Paradise. Dante is given a guided tour of hell and purgatory by Virgil, the pagan Roman poet whom Dante greatly admired and imitated, and of heaven by Beatrice. The Inferno shows the souls who have been condemned to eternal torment, and included here are not only mythical and historical evil-doers, but Dante's enemies. The Purgatory reveals how souls who are not irreversibly sinful learn to be good through a spiritual purification. And The Paradise depicts further development of the just as they approach God. The Divine Comedy has been influential from Dante's day into modern times. The poem has endured not just because of its beauty and significance, but also because of its richness and piety as well as its occasionally humorous and vulgar treatment of the afterlife. In addition to his writing, Dante was active in politics. In 1302, after two years as a priore, or governor of Florence, he was exiled because of his support for the white guelfi, a moderate political party of which he was a member. After extensive travels, he stayed in Ravenna in 1319, completing The Divine Comedy there, until his death in 1321.

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