Preview

Cycle

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
996 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Cycle
Cycle Although some people may think that translations of original texts will ruin the meaning and the style that the original author wanted to present, it is not true for Robert Pinsky’s translation of The Inferno of Dante. Pinsky’s translation is not only essential, but it also presents the same picture that Dante wanted to. Even more impressive is that Pinsky also takes in the style that Dante writes in while translating the text. Pinsky keeps in mind the specific interlocking rhyme scheme that is in the original text. This vital translation not only forms an image of the specific event, it also brings the poem to life. An example of a specific text that provides powerful imagery is the description of the entrance to hell:
As leaves in quick succession sail down in autumn
Until the bough beholds its entire store
Fallen to the earth, so Adam’s evil seed
Swoop from the bank when each is called, as sure
As a trained falcon, to cross to the other side
Of the dark water; and before one throng can land
On the far shore, on this side new souls crowd.
(Dante, Canto 3 lines 93-99) In canto 3, Dante and Virgil arrive at the Gate of Hell. While walking in, they hear cries of torture and see the dead souls suffering in a terrifying environment. These souls are constantly being bit by flies and wasps, and worms are sucking in their blood and tears. Dante is shocked when he sees this. They continue walking and arrive near the river of Acheron where they see a group of dead souls waiting to be taken across the river. In this scene, Dante arrived at the river of Acheron with Virgil. When they see the group of dead souls, a boat approaches them. On the boat is an old man named Charon. Charon recognizes Dante and persuades Dante to stay away from the dead, and especially, hell. However, Virgil replies saying that this journey has been ordered from above, the gods. Charon does not question anymore; he then transports them across the river. While they are on the

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Dante and Virgil reach the final circle of Hell where traitors who betray their masters are tormented. Lucifer sits half frozen in the ice with three heads and three sets of bat-like wings that beat and keep the lake frozen below. In each of his mouths sits Judas, Brutus, and Cassius, who are considered by Dante to be the worst traitors. The deceased are frozen in the ice to varying degrees depending on how great their sin was. Virgil carries Dante as they descend down the devil’s torso and onto the ice. They then leave through an opening in the rock and begin their ascent out of Hell. The two of them follow the treacherous path through the center of the Earth and past a river before coming out the tunnel on the other side of the Earth and…

    • 144 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Dantes Inferno Essay

    • 476 Words
    • 2 Pages

    While Dante’s imagery is sometimes straightforward, he also has disparate instances where his the elegant diction in his imagery leaves the audience haunted such as when he describes those in hell for committing suicide, “Our bodies will be hung: with every one, fixed on the thornbush of its wounding shade” (XIII. 101). The imagery of this mutilation leaves the audience wondering about the about the wounding shade.…

    • 476 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Inferno begins when Dante strays off the rightful and straight path of moral truth and gets lost in a dark wood. He gets attack by three beasts that symbolize different sins. Fortunately, he then meets the spirit of the Roman epic poet Virgil. Virgil to the rescue! He’s an appropriate guide because he’s very much like Dante, a fellow writer and famous poet. For the rest of the Inferno, Virgil takes Dante on a guided tour of Hell, through all its nine circles and back up into the air of the mortal world.…

    • 386 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Inferno Canto 2 summary

    • 293 Words
    • 1 Page

    In Canto II, Dante calls to the Muses for help. He was suddenly overcome with fear that he may not be able to survive the journey. He questioned his worthiness to take the journey and compared himself to that of Aeneas, the central character in Virgil's Odyssey, and St. Paul: two notable people who have traveled through Hell, Purgatory and Heaven. Virgil chastised Dante for his cowardice upon hearing this. He then tried to lift his spirits by explaining that a woman from Heaven asked Virgil to help Dante on his journey.…

    • 293 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Dantes Inferno

    • 1364 Words
    • 6 Pages

    The development of Dante begins in the first Canto when he is lost in some woods and Virgil appears to him. Dante character in the first Canto shows fear on two occasions. The first sign of fear he expresses is when he tries to travel down the path towards paradise and the she wolf shows herself. Dante demonstrates his fear again when Virgil appears, as Dante yells “have pity on me…..whatever you may be- a shade, a man.” Dante’s dialogue shows his fear as he asks for mercy, before knowing whether or not the being that appeared to him wanted to harm him. As Dante and Virgil began to approach the entrance of hell, Dante began shows to fear as he begins wondering whether or not he should make the journey. Dante begins thinking about how Aeneas and St. Paul made the journey and begins doubting believes that he too should be included in this group. Virgil reproves Dante for his fear and tells him to have courage as Beatrice, the Virgin Mary, and St. Lucia all care for him. Dante upon hearing this decides that he is ready to begin his journey and tells Virgil to lead on. In the first two Cantos, Dante develops his character into a coward as he fears…

    • 1364 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Dante's Inferno

    • 272 Words
    • 2 Pages

    In Dante's Inferno, Hell is described in vivid detail in the eyes of Dante, the main character and author. Sinners are eternally punished with tortures that fit their sins. This idea of retributive justice and the role of human reason in the form of Virgil are the two main themes in the poem. Canto VIII contains Dis, the capital of Hell and is most representative of these themes.…

    • 272 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Cited: Alighieri, Dante, and Robert Pinsky. Inferno. New York, NY: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1994. Print.…

    • 1343 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Dantes Inferno

    • 1027 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Dante records journey through hell in the book "The Inferno." Dante's poem records is thoughts and views of the punishments to get to hell and the sins accomplished to get their. Dante breaks down the lay out all the way through hell and give one an idea of the order that the punishments fall to be placed closer to the center of hell. Dante begins during the era of the middle Ages and shows the reader throughout poem of the dominance of the Roman Catholic Church through the Renaissance era.…

    • 1027 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Inferno is Dante’s first poem in his The Divine Comedy. The poem starts with Dante traveling in dark where he loses his way. He is trying to get to his beloved Beatrice who is waiting for him. She sends ghost of Virgil to bring Dante to her. In order to get to Heaven, Dante will have to go through heaven, something that almost everyone did in Christian world. At the beginning, they enter the gate of hell. The First Circle of the Hell is for those people who never done anything good or bad in their life, here they run all day long with hornets biting them. In the Second Circle of the Hell, Dante sees that the some souls are stuck in a devastating storm. In the Third Circle of Hell, Dante sees that Gluttonous…

    • 317 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The first circle of Hell, Limbo, is the final resting place for the people who died before the coming of Christianity or who were never baptized. Dante’s guide through Hell, Virgil, resides in Limbo and Dante expresses “heartfelt grief” (Inferno IV 33) for those stuck here, because, as Virgil describes,…

    • 1041 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Dante Essay

    • 2490 Words
    • 10 Pages

    The implications of every word and line in a literary work such as The Inferno can, at times, be troubling to a new reader, and even to those who possess the skill of inference. However, when approached as closely and minutely as possible, it becomes somewhat simple to draw each word and line separately into something greater, giving new life and meaning to the voice of Dante. Canto XXVI begins with false praise to the city of Florence, moving to the journey of a pilgrim and his guide, during which the pilgrim encounters one who made such a journey as epic as the pilgrim’s, yet further beyond the reaches of God and His world. These two journeys detail the navigation of a somewhat unknown world. One, however, is guided by divinity, the other by way of humanity. This is a reading of the story containing divine guidance.…

    • 2490 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Dantes Inferno

    • 1953 Words
    • 8 Pages

    In The Inferno - Dante’s Immortal Drama of a Journey Through Hell, Dante allows the reader to experience his every move. His mastery of language, his sensitivity to the sights and sounds of nature, and his infinite store of knowledge allow him to capture and draw the reader into the realm of the terrestrial hell. In Canto 6, the Gluttons; Canto 13, the Violent Against Themselves; and Canto 23, the Hypocrites; Dante excels in his detailed portrayal of the supernatural world of hell. In each canto, Dante combines his mastery of language with his sensitivity to the sights and sounds of nature to set the stage. He then reinforces the image with examples that call upon his infinite store of knowledge, and thus draw a parallel that describes the experience in a further, although more subliminal, detail to the reader.…

    • 1953 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Inferno Canto X

    • 410 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Canto X of Dante Alighieri’s Inferno starts with Virgil and Dante on their way to the sixth circle. The sixth circle is where the tombs of those who believe that the soul dies with the body are put. We call them Epicureans. Dante then meets two Epicureans. The first one, Farinata degli Uberti notices Dante because of his accent. Farinata asks who his ancestors are and finds out that they were his enemies. The conversation goes on until another Epicurean appears, Cavalcante dei Cavalcanti. Dante and Cavalcante know each because Guido, the son of Cavalcante is good friends with Dante and he married Beatrice. Cavalcante then asks why his son isn’t with him. Dante gives a reply that makes Cavalcante think that his son is dead. After hearing this, Cavalcante got depressed and went back to his place. Dante realizes that those who are in the sixth circle can only see the future. Farinata and Dante continue their conversation then Virgil calls Dante and tells him that they get going. Dante was left with curiousity as he and Virgil walk a path that disgusted them.…

    • 410 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In Dante's The Inferno, the third circle of Hell is reserved for the gluttonous. After awaking from a faint, Dante soon finds himself in the third circle surrounded by the foul slush. He tells about the black snow falling into the dirty water. Dante also tells of the "stinking dirt that festered there." In this circle lives the three-headed monster Cerberus, ripping and tearing at the sinners as they lie in the sludge. The only soul named in this circle is Ciacco, nicknamed "The Hog." Ciacco was a resident of Florence who was a glutton. He tells Dante that for his offense he lies "rotting like a swollen log," doomed to wallow in the mire and smell the wretched stench for all eternity. Dante, aghast at the putrid-smelling slop, tells Ciacco that the sinner's "agony weighs on my heart and calls my soul to tears." Although he pities Ciacco's condition, he does not hesitate to ask him for information concerning Florence, and it is Ciacco who gives Dante the first political prophecy of The Inferno. Virgil seems to be unmoved by either Ciacco's or Dante's show of feelings. Instead, he takes the opportunity to explain to Dante that as the perfection of judgement nears, both pleasure and pain will become more pronounced. Dante realizes that for the sinners in Hell, this means that the pain of their punishment will become greater. By discussing the foul sludge, the black snow falling, and the putrid scent in the air, Dante shows that those who were gluttonous on Earth will be punished by forever wallowing in the end result of their incontinence, a filthy, stinking pit of…

    • 275 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Dante Alighieri, the author of The Divine Comedy, explores the development of themes by using first person point of view and imagery. He shows this through the descriptions and vivid detail that he provides. In The Divine Comedy, Dante finds himself traveling through the Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso. Within these three stories, there are major themes developed through Alighieri’s first person point of view and imagery.…

    • 704 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays