Title: Inferno
Author: Dante Alighieri
Series: Word Cloud Classics
Rating Out of 5: 3 (On the fence about this one)
My Bookshelves: Classics, Horror, Poetry
Dates read: 9th – 10th March 2020
Pace: Slow
Format: Collection
Publisher: Word Cloud Classics
Year: 1320
5th sentence, 74th page: So many voices issued through those trunks
“Abandon all hope, ye who enter here!”
On a divine journey through the depths of Hell, Dante–with his guide, the poet Virgil–witnesses the fate of Earth’s sinners. Inferno, a 14th century poem and the first part of Dante Alighieri’s The Divine Comedy, paints an allegorical underworld in which sinners are punished in accordance with their sins. Journey through the darkness and meet famous historical and mythical figures and the fate that has become them, from Homer and Julius Caesar who dwell in Limbo with the unbaptized and the virtuous pagans, to Judas Iscariot and Satan himself, who dwell in the deepest circle of hell for the sin of treachery. Influential, even after seven centuries in print, readers of Inferno will appreciate the plethora of allusions both within and concerning this work, as well as the moral implications the story develops. Now available as part of the Word Cloud Classics series, Inferno is a must-have addition to the libraries of all classic literature lovers.
Until recently I hadn’t actually heard of Dante Alighieri. And then I found out that he is a classics author from the 1300s… and I was completely intrigued. Reading this collection of some of his works… yeah, I can completely understand the draw to his work and writings. It’s incredibly powerful and just… wow.
I read this around the same time that I started reading The Complete Works of Shakespeare. It’s interesting to compare the language styles and wording in the two different poets. I know that they come from different countries, different times (I think), but they’re both historical, classical powerhouses in the genre. And I love being able to compare the two.
I actually found Alighieri more delightful than Shakespeare. There was so much raw emotion in Inferno. The fear, the horror and the confusion just leaps off of the pages. The short, emotive language is of the sort that I plan to read again and again… there is just something amazingly potent and powerful about it all.
I’m not really a great reader of poetry. I do love it. I’m intrigued by it. But I can’t spend all afternoon sitting there just reading it… I need to be able to read a poem or two and then walk away. I still felt a little like this with this collection… but so much less so than many of the other poetry collections I’ve had the pleasure of reading. There was just something… enthralling about it all.
Earth and Skye 
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