Introduction It is Easter morning in the year 1300 when and Virgil and Dante emerge from the pit of the Inferno. Following Dante’s imagery and afterlife structure, we might guess that what comes next is a walk through Heaven – but this is a Catholic poem! The second book of Dante’s Divine Comedy follows the … Continue reading »

Canto 33: Circle 9 – Judecca  “Now see the face of Dis! This is the place where you must arm your soul against all dread.” Here is the bottom, the last circle of the last circle of Hell: Judecca. Not to be confused with any personal or national terms referring to Judaism, Judecca is named … Continue reading »

Canto 31 – Elemental Spirits  “Where the instrument of intelligence is added to brute power and evil will, mankind is powerless in its own defense.” As he and Virgil ascend the containing ridge of Malebolge, Dante thinks he sees the towers of a city before him, and then hears a tremendous trumpet blast. In order … Continue reading »

Canto 28 “An eye for an eye to all eternity, thus is the law of Hell observed in me.” Here Dante finds some of the most revolting in all of Hell’s punishments. Observing the law of retribution (as eloquently stated by one of the sufferers, quoted above), these sinners are punished for schism – the … Continue reading »

Canto 26  And going our lonely way through that dread land among the crags and crevices of the cliff the foot could make no way without the hand I mourned among those rocks, and I mourn again when memory returns to what I saw . . . An unusual canto, this. Dante begins with his … Continue reading »