Abstract
Inferno is a terminology in Italy, which connotes Hell. Dante Alighieri uses this allegory in the form of an epic poem of the 14th century. The poet, Dante, narrates his ordeals as he maneuvers through hell in an effort to reach a certain solace. The chief references in the story circumnavigates between the guides of Virgil. The allegories of the allures determine nine circles of pain and suffering established within the global earthly expanse. The poem and its ordeals are allegorical in the representation of the soul and its journey to God. The inferno in the poem is reminiscent of a cognizant refusal of sin (page 9). This paper appreciates the stylistic nuances of the poem under Divine comedy. The first stance of the poem dwells on style identification throughout the poem. The second aspect of the paper shall categorize the paper in accordance to the literary traditions that dominate the literary context. The last element of the paper synthesizes the two elements to depict the poet’s representation of a wider hell context. Relevant data to complete the task emanates from the poem’s in-depth analysis. Helping texts comes from online periodicals, books on stylistics and literary criticism. The findings from the texts condense to illuminate the poetic analogy explicitly. Throughout the textual analysis, a reader response technique reveals a systematic vane that validates the proper assessment of the poet’s intended audience. The motifs and archetypes that emerge through symbolic allures determine the contextual eminence of the poem.
The poem contains a variety of stylistic devices that contribute to its total explication. The inferno minus the inferno is utterly inadequate and ceases to become an epic display of machismo. The title of the poem is reminiscent of a spiritual journey akin to theology and theodicy. Dante’s choice of Divine Comedy, which is the dominant aspect of the three elementary sections, is a symbolic journey of the self-intuition. The first element called the inferno that emanates from the Italian fancy slang of “hell.’ The English equivalence bears much semblance owing to the dangerous place full of chaos and destruction that the word describes (Shmoop Editorial Team). The presentation of fire in the poem with little instances of burning fire becomes intriguing. A reader response theorist draws from an immense allures of motifs to eke the significance of the title. The inferno that Dante exploits adequately in the poem is representative of light. Light in this context means good deeds and events. According to the poet, evil does not necessarily portend a living creature or a malicious force in the air. It travels deeper to cover the critical nuances that define life. it translated to complete emptiness that permeates the nature of humanity and the inner circles. Therefore, the fire is replaced by a dwelling on blindness and utter confusion that reigns in the human arena.
The tone of the poem is a crucial style that the poet employs to convey different moods and events of the poem. The poem’s tone is a blend of high emotions in certain parts of the poem. At certain intervals of the poem, the poem shifts to sympathy and a spasm of contempt. Dante portrays deep care for the processes that determine the existence of humankind. The hegemonic reference in this style of tonal shift reflects to personal elements of suffering due to the sins of other people. The unique style of crying to damning then fainting from a first person point of view is appealing and interesting. The poet is sympathetic in his reference to the likes of Francesca and Brunetto Latina. These likes do not reveal their sins. Their stories create suspense in the reader on their status in hell. The reaction of the poet is whooping in the mixture of weeping and fainting. The subsequent section of the poem turns to contempt at the likes of fraudsters. These include people like Simon Magus. The poet is categorical not to speak directly about this phenomenon. He employs an omniscient tone that reveals their true nature.
The use of motifs, symbols, and archetypes also emerge in the poem to build up on the dominant themes. The first representational motif is the perfection of justice that belongs to God. Dante creates a perfect semblance between the sins of the soul while on earth in correlation to the punishment that one receives in hell. He is merely insinuating that God’s justice is perfect and falls on each individual equally depending on the magnitude of the sins. Those who are sullen choke on an expanse of mud. The other groups that appear violent and unjustly attack each other become their own enemies. Those who are gluttons start eating their own excrement. The essence of this idea reveals an array of symbolic imagery in the inferno. The creation of hell evident in the encryption at the gate denotes a certain extent of justice in the actions of God. This motif is remini9scent of divine justice that determine the nature of God. The second archetype is evil. The evil appears as a mere contradiction to the will of God. The poem appears as a form of imaginative taxonomy in the crescent of human evil and the typos of Dante’s world. The poet critically allures between elements of judgment, isolation, and exploration. The adjustments of the time in punishments and accolades are detrimental to the thematic concerns of the poem. a reader wonders for instance why certain sins become relevant in the eight circle while other do not go as far as the third slot of hell. Comprehension of this stratification requires adequate background of Dante’s analogy, which follows the current elements of Christian doctrines. The priorities that become eminent in the poem is the will of God in heaven. The depiction of god’s justice as a symbol of adorable justice is critical. The inferno is significant in discussing the real values of sin and the evil deeds that derails the human cognition. The symbolic end of the poem reoccurs in the equinity of evil.
Story telling is another style that becomes eminent in the poem. a poetic verse seldom contains storylines with long subtitles. The inferno depicts nuances of storytelling with a key intent to achieving immortality. The stream of thought that emerges from the storyteller depicts an immortal tendency that emanates from the legacy and legendary epic. Different occasions arise when the characters ask Dante to remember certain earthly attributes. In Canto XXIV, the poet attempts to extol on his features that make him conspicuous in the context. Storytelling emerges as a means of depicting varied legacies.
The poem is a classical literary enactment that reflects the epic period of theodicy and Greek. The values that it asserts negate certain Christian themes of a literary level. The tradition falls between the Greek and Roman eras trailing the Christian morality in literature. The Hell that Dante portrays is a blend of mythological innuendos and ancient creatures, the crucial one being Ulysses. The poetic elements combine several mythic elements that focus on places like rivers Styx and Acheron. The traditional allures relate to the neoclassical styles of Homer and Lucan. The poet makes a direct reference to Virgil as a setting creation and the overt mention of the impossible (SparkNotes Editors).
The incorporation of this stylistics enables the poet to create a dramatic stance and potential. The literary elements also indicate the perpetuation of Christian umbrellas. The allusions and subjugation of religious doctrines validate the different stand of the time. There is heightened significance of the Anglicanism and the Roman Catholic doctrines. The styles and literary tradition employed in the poem is a broad representation of the poet’s inner drive. Hell is a perception that emanates from the poet as an abstract reality that every being shall experience. He creates a correlation between hell and evil in such a way that God appears just in his jurisdiction.
In conclusion, the styles in the inferno portend a large correlation between the various nuances that the human allures must encounter. The essential curtails that determine Christian values terrains the extinct of human environs. The form of the poem is essential and critical to the comprehension of the general allures of the poet.
Reference
Curran, Stuart. Poetic Form and British Romanticism. New York: Oxford University. Press,1989.Print.
Dante, Alighieri, Robert Hollander, and Jean Hollander. Inferno. New York: Doubleday, 2000. Print.
Shmoop Editorial Team. "Inferno Analysis" Shmoop.com. Shmoop University, Inc., 11 Nov. 2008. Web. 13 Dec. 2012.
SparkNotes Editors. “SparkNote on Inferno.” SparkNotes.com. SparkNotes LLC. 2002. Web. 6 Dec. 2012.
The Twilight Symbols: Motifs-meanings-messages. John Hunt Pub, 2012. Print.
