Dante’s Inferno
January 12th, 2009,I recently finished reading Dante’s Inferno for the first time. Normally I read the Bible for my brief devotional time in the morning, but this time I decided a change was in order. I resolved to read Dante’s classic epic poem.
I don’t have time to comment fully on the poem and Robert Pinsky’s translation, but I will note two things. First, besides being an inquiry into hell and the sins that create it, the poem is a remarkable look at Dante’s time and place - medieval Italy. The politics and history of Italian city states is fascinating as well as frightening. With endless warring, intrigues, scheming, and treachery, their history is not for the squeamish. It makes me wonder if that isn’t the normal way of the world, while the settled peace I’m accustomed to during my lifetime here in the United States is the exception.
Secondly, down at the heart of hell, the temperature is not hot. Instead it’s very cold, and the tormented souls are encased in ice.
Most people would seem to agree that the cold is a kind of hell on earth, though I try not to be one of them. Something to think about during this cold Upper Midwestern winter.
January 12th, 2009 at 2:50 pm
Interesting idea for a devotional reading! I’ve always wanted to read the Inferno…
But you know who else thinks ceaseless strife is the normal state of humankind, though? Dick Cheney.
Not that our soon-to-be-former VP has anything else in common with Dante. But I can’t really trust an Italian Catholic to know much about the pleasures of snow and ice. He was probably too worried about the Germans coming down through the Alpine passes.