More Literature: Hell & Dante's Divine Comedy

Dante Alighieri was born in 1265 and died in 1321. He wrote the Divine Comedy, a poem that is one of the most famous ever written. It is difficult to go through high school and college without hearing about it.

Dante lived in Florence, Italy, a city that was one of the most powerful in the World. It was powerful in terms of money, political power, and wealthy families. Dante found himself in trouble with the powerful people of Florence and found himself driven out of the city that he loved. He wrote a poem about his feelings toward those responsible for making his life very difficult. He followed an idea first written by a Roman poet by the name of Virgil.

The setting takes place in the afterlife. He, as a mortal, is allowed to view what the afterlife is about. The most intriguing trip takes him to Hell, where he places many of the villains of history suffering outrageous punishments for all eternity. He also puts people who lived in Florence during his own time as sufferers in the Hell that he created.

Dante's Hell was shaped like a cone or a triangle. The highest part of Hell (and also the widest), is inhabited by the people whose sins are the least serious but still bad enough to put them into Hell. The bottom (or the narrowest point of the cone) is the closest to the Devil himself. Very few people inhabit this area. Their sins were the worst and they suffer the greatest torments. I have supplied you with the ninth circle, where the worst of the worst live out their torments closest to the Devil himself. I also included those who sinned against gluttony- those who eat too much and take too much from the world without giving anything back.

I want you, in three to four pages, to describe the suffering that takes place in each level and then tell why you think the ninth level is definitely the worst. I hope you enjoy Hell, and it may even keep you warm during these very cold days of MN winter.

Dante's Divine Comedy
Canto XI
Canto XXXIV



T.S. Eliot, The Wasteland