Dante Inferno Outline Part 2

THE SCHEDULE OF DANTE’S JOURNEY TO HELL

DANTE’S JOURNEY

The poem begins on Holy Thursday, April 7th running to Easter Sunday, April 10, A.D. 1300

Holy Thursday Dante in the dark wood:

“Midway in our life’s journey, I went astray

from the straight road and woke to find myself

alone in adark wood.” (Inferno 1.1-3)

Good Friday morning: 

 Dante attempts the sunny hill:

“But at the end of that valley of evil

whose maze had sapped my very heart with fear!

I found myself before a little hill

and lifted up my eyes. Its shoulders glowed

already with the sweet rays of that planet

whose virtue leads men straight on every road,” (Inferno 1.13-18)

Good Friday day:

 Dante confronts the three beasts:

“And lo!

almost at the beginning of the rise

I faced a spotted Leopard, all tremor and flow

...

Yet no so much but what I shook with dread

at the sight of a great Lion that broke upon me

raging with hunger, its enormous head

held high as if to strike a mortal terror

into the very air. And down his track,

a She-Wolf drove upon me, a starved horror

ravening and wasted beyond all belief. (Inferno 1.31-60)

Good Friday evening: 

 Dante meets Vergil and begins his journey:

“And as I fell to my soul’s ruin, a presence

gathered before me on the discolored air,

the figure of one who seemed hoarse from long silence. (Inferno 1.61ff)

Holy Saturday morning just past midnight: 

Dante and Vergil approach the River Styx

“But the stars that marked our starting fall away.

We must go deeper into greater pain,

for it is not permitted that we stay.” (Inferno 7.97-99)

Around 4:00 AM: 

Dante and Vergil enter the Seventh Circle (the violent and bestial)

“But come, for it is my wish now to go on:

the wheel turns and the Wain lies over Caurus,

the Fish are quivering low on the horizon,

and there beyond us runs the road we go

down the dark scarp into the depths below.” (Inferno 11.112-116)

Around 6:00 AM (just before sunrise):

Dante and Vergil leave the Fourth Bolgia of the

Eighth Circle

“But come: Cain with his bush of throns appears

already on his wave below Seville,

above the boundary of the hemispheres;

and the moon was full already yesternight,

as you must well remember from the wood,

for it certainly did not harm you when its light

shone down yupon your way before the dawn.” (Inferno 20.124-130)

Easter Sunday morning: 

Dante emerges from Hell.

“He first, I second, without thought of rest

we climbed the dark until we reached the point

where a round opening brought in sight the blest

and beauteous shining of the Heavenly cars.

And we alked out once more beneath the Stars.” (Inferno 34.139-143)

A SUMMARY OF THE LAST DAYS OF CHRIST

Holy Thursday Last Supper Matthew 26.17-35; Mark 14.12-31; Luke 22.7-34; John 13.21-30,36-38

Good Friday Crucifixion. Mt. 27.32-56; Mk. 15.21-41; Lk. 23.26-49; Jn. 19.17-30

Easter Sunday Resurrection. Mt. 28.1-10; Mk. 16.1-10; Lk, 24.1-12; Jn.

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PART 1