Dante: The Divine Comedy

“From now on, every day feels like your last

Forever. Let that be your greatest fear.

Your fear now is to regret the past.

Forget your hopes. They were what brought you here.”

Hello all,

This read is under the a Book from the Rory Gilmore Challenge category in my Challenge 2020.

So first and foremost, before we begin, let me get one thing clear – Dante isn’t a story told in the normal fashion…this is a story told by a poem.

In The Divine Comedy, Dante ventures through Hell with Virgil as his guide, and the dramatic human stories it holds…

“But everything is real in Hell.”

…through Purgatory where he studies his spirit and encounters his dead love Beatrice…

“Where souls are purged and so made fit to take the path to Heaven.”

…to his final destination – Heaven.

“And it was there I saw, when I looked through, a sight more wonderful than anything – some of the loveliness revealed to men by Heaven. We could see the stars again.”

This poem/story/collection, however you choose to phrase it questions everything from faith to desire and enlightenment. Like with 1984, the messages it puts across become increasingly realistic with each day! In some ways, they are very similar!

“The devil is not as black as he is painted.”

Dante’s version of Hell had two levels – an upper level of Hell consisting of glutton, greed and wrath and a lower level consisting of violence and fraudulence. The upper level is consumed with self love – wanting the most of everything without being bothered by others whilst accusing the lower level of worse crimes such as ‘wrong’ religion.

“I left the souls who weigh the way guilt feels.”

“Everyone who has ever built anywhere a “new heaven” first found the power thereto in his/her own hell” <- is a quote I found which I feel we can all relate too and especially in these uncertain and often scary times, we must all remember that we all have demons that we are battling with even though we may not show it.

“…time equals hope.”

I enjoyed this! It was unusual and different but yet felt familiar in a strange way! Did any of you feel the same when you read it? Comment below!

You can find this on Amazon

Until next time,

Keep reading,

D x

“The more a thing is perfect, the more it feels pleasure and pain.”