Inferno (fragment)
Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita
mi ritrovai per una selva oscura
ché la diritta via era smarrita.
Ahi quanto a dir qual era è cosa dura
esta selva selvaggia e aspra e forte
che nel pensier rinova la paura!
Tant’è amara che poco è più morte;
ma per trattar del ben ch’i’ vi trovai,
dirò de l’altre cose ch’i’ v’ho scorte.
Io non so ben ridir com’i’ v’intrai,
tant’era pien di sonno a quel punto
che la verace via abbandonai.
Glossary
|
WORD
|
DEFINITION
|
POSSIBLE SYNONYMS
|
|---|---|---|
| a dir (v.) | from the verb dire—to utter words so as to convey information | to say, to tell, to recount, to explain, to express |
| a quel punto (phrase) | used to indicate a certain time in which an event or action takes place | at the moment, at the time, in the instant, at the point |
| abbandonai (v.) | from the verb abbandonare—to give up completely | I had abandoned, I had left, I had forsaken, I had renounced |
| ahi (interj.) | expressing physical or emotional pain | ah!, ay!, oh!, ah me!, oh boy! |
| amara (adj.) | painful or unpleasant to accept or contemplate | bitter, awful, agonizing, distressing, nasty |
| aspra (adj.) | having an unpleasantly broken, rocky, and uneven surface | rough, harsh, rugged, jagged, rocky |
| ben (n. or adv.) | 1. noun—that which is morally right 2. adverb—in a good or satisfactory way | good, goodness, virtue, integrity, righteousness; well, properly, completely, thoroughly, fully |
| cammin (n.) | the act of traveling from one place to another | journey, passage, voyage, trek, excursion, wandering |
| che (pron.) | refers to something previously mentioned when introducing a clause giving further information | that, which, in which |
| ché (conj.) | due to the fact that | because, for, since |
| ch’i’ (conj.) | refers to something previously mentioned when introducing a clause giving further information about the speaker | which I, that I |
| com’i’ (conj.) | in what way or manner the speaker does something | how I, whereby I |
| cosa (n.) | refers to a general act of labor or situation | thing, matter, undertaking, task, enterprise |
| cose (n.) | objects or situations that are unnamed | things, items, figures, entities |
| de (prep.) | expressing the relationship between a part and a whole | of |
| del (prep. + art.) | expressing the relationship between a part and a whole already mentioned or assumed to be common knowledge | of the |
| di (prep.) | expressing the relationship between a part and a whole | of, through |
| diritta (adj.) | without a bend, angle, or curve; honorable or upright | straight, direct, even; true, honest, good, proper, moral |
| dirò (v.) | from the verb dire—to utter words so as to convey information | I will speak, I will tell, I will recount |
| dura (adj.) | requiring effort or skill to accomplish, deal with, or understand | hard, difficult, tough, grueling, demanding, exhausting |
| e (conj.) | in addition to | and, as well as, plus |
| è (v.) | from the verb essere—to be | is |
| era (v.) | from the verb essere—to be | was, had been |
| esta (adj.) | referring to a specific thing or situation just mentioned | this |
| forte (adj.) | serious and unrelenting | stern, severe, hard, unfriendly intense, grim |
| inferno (n.) | a place regarded in many religions as a spiritual realm where the wicked are punished after death | inferno, hell, Hades, underworld |
| io (pron.) | used by the speaker to refer to himself or herself | I |
| la (art.) | denoting a person or thing already mentioned or assumed to be common knowledge | the |
| l’altre (art. + adj.) | that which is different or distinct from one already mentioned or known about | the other, those other, the additional, the alternative |
| ma (conj.) | used to introduce something contrasting with what has already been mentioned | but, yet, still, however |
| mezzo (n.) | the point or position at an equal distance from the ends of something | middle, midst, midpoint, center, halfway point |
| mi ritrovai (v.) | from the verb ritrovarsi—to arrive in a specified state, situation, or place | I found myself, I wound up, I ended up |
| nel (prep. + art.) | expressing a period of time during which an event takes place or a situation exists | in the, during the, at the, in the course of the |
| non (adv.) | used to form the negative | not, do not, don’t |
| nostra (adj.) | belonging to or associated with the speaker and one or more other people | our |
| oscura (adj.) | with little or no light | dark, dim, shadowed, black, obscured, gloomy, shadowy |
| paura (n.) | an unpleasant emotion caused by the belief that something or someone is dangerous | fear, fright, dread, horror, terror |
| pensier (n.) | the action or process of thinking | thought, reflection, recollection, contemplation, consideration |
| per (prep.) | expressing the situation of being enclosed or surrounded by something else; expressing intent | in, inside, within, in the middle of, enclosed by; in order to, so as to |
| pien di (adj.) | containing or holding as much as possible | full of, brimming with, encumbered by, weighed down by |
| poco è più morte (phrase) | implies an essential similarity to the end of one’s life, despite apparent disparities | death is little more, death is nearly better, it’s no better than death, it’s hardly better than death, it’s more or less death |
| qual (pron.) | the thing or things that | what, that which |
| quanto (adv.) | to what degree or extent | how |
| ridir (v.) | to give an account of an event or experience | repeat, recount, explain, tell, relate, relay |
| rinova (v.) | to cause to resume after an interruption | renews, restores, revives, reignites, reawakens |
| selva (n.) | a large area covered chiefly with trees and undergrowth | forest, wood, woods, timberland, jungle, woodland |
| selvaggia (adj.) | living or growing in the natural environment without restraint or order | wild, savage, ferocious, untamed, uncultivated, unruly |
Background
I. About Florence
In Dante’s time, Florence was divided into two political parties that were bitter enemies, the
Guelphs, who supported the power of the Pope, and the Ghibbelines, who supported the Holy
Roman Emperor. As a young man Dante fought with the Guelph cavalry in the victorious battle of
Campolindo. But as soon as the Guelphs took power in Florence they split into two factions, the
Black Guelphs and the White Guelphs ( a division which had nothing to do with race). Dante was on
the White Guelph side. When the Black Guelphs took power they forced Dante to leave the city,
threatening that if he ever returned to Florence he would be burned at the stake. The City Council of
Florence finally cancelled this decree in 2008!
II. About The Divine Comedy
The Divine Comedy is based on the traditional world-view taught by the Catholic Church in the Middle
Ages. The Earth is spherical and is the center of the universe. Guided by Virgil, Dante enters the
underworld through the mouth of a cave and descends in a spiral path down an enormous pit
through the nine concentric circles of Hell, each one worse than the last. At the very bottom, Satan
stands frozen to the waist in ice. Dante and Virgil exit out a tunnel into the Southern Hemisphere,
and the two poets climb up the nine rings of the Mountain of Purgatory, reaching the Garden of
Eden at the summit. Here Virgil, as a pre-Christian pagan, can go no farther, and guided by Beatrice,
Dante ascends through the nine celestial spheres of Paradise to reach the Face of God. The last word
of each of the three sections is stelle, “stars.”
Dante broke with the European tradition of writing all important works in Latin, the language of the
Romans and of the Chutch. Instead, he wrote in the vernacular, or spoken, dialect that middle-class
people spoke in the region of Tuscany where he grew up. Dante called this language “Italian.”
Because of this, he is called the father of the Italian language. A few decades later, Geoffrey Chaucer,
a middle-class Londoner who greatly admired Dante, wrote the first great vernacular work in a
language that would be called English: The Canterbury Tales.
III. About Allegory
Bio
Dante Alighieri was born in Florence, in the region of Tuscany, Italy, probably in the spring of 1265. He fell in love with Beatrice Portinari, a neighborhood girl whom he never got to know very well, when he was nine years old. As a young man Dante studied the Latin poets such as Virgil, Cicero and Ovid, and the Provençal troubadour poets, who wrote of courtly love. The love poems Dante wrote to Beatrice created an important new movement in poetry, the dolce stil novo (new sweet style). Dante’s political enemies forced him to leave his native Florence and live in exile. Dante wrote bitterly about his life as a political refugee: “You are to know the bitter taste/ of others’ bread, how salty it is, and know/ how hard a path it is for one who goes/ ascending and descending others’ stairs.”
Dante wrote his masterpiece, “La Divina Commedia,” a 14,000-line voyage through his entire known universe (Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven), around the year 1312, in exile. Dante was guided in his imaginary journey by the shadow of Virgil, a great poet of ancient Rome. Dante put those people who had passed away whom he hated, including his political enemies, in Hell, where they were subjected to all kinds of torture. He put the people he admired and loved in Heaven, especially his girlfriend Beatrice, who was up there with the Saints and the Virgin Mary.