Dante's Inferno Essay

Evidence from Dante

Thesis:                In Canto 31 of Dante’s Inferno, Dante applies imagery and literary devices to describe what he sees, hears, and smells in Hell.

        To begin with, Dante exerts imagery in Canto 31 to describe the “city” he sees. As Dante and Virgil turn their backs upon the pit, climb the bank, and then cross it, Dante hears a an extremely loud horn. His surroundings were described as, “…less than night and less than day,…” (line 12). The horn was louder than a thunderclap even, or even maybe the Tunguska Meteor.   The comparison of the loudness of the horn to a thunderclap gives the reader an idea of how loud the horn really was. The sound not only grabbed Dante’s attention, but Virgil’s as well. They focused their attention onto a single area. This area appeared to posses towers, and Dante began to relate the glimpse to a city, “…Tell me, master,” I asked, “what city is this?” (line 21). Virgil responded by using an example of a literary device, personification. An example of this is shown,   “…Your imagination strays into confusion” (line 24). The imagination of Dante is given the human ability to stray into confusion. Virgil also gives distance the human ability to deceive human senses; “…How much the distance has deceived your senses” (line 26).  Virgil then releases to Dante the fact that the giant figures seen are not towers, they are giants. The real

identity of this “city” is finally truthfully exposed to Dante. Dante describes this as, “…Just as, when foggy mist is blowing off, The staring eyes bit by bit figure out What it is the airy vapors hide” (lines 34-36). According to Dante, the atmosphere was thick and dark, “…So, while I pierced the thick dark atmosphere” (line 37).

        Second of all, the giants Dante sees are plunged up to their navels in the well they are standing around. Dante was able to recognize one giant, with normal human-like characteristics such as shoulders, a chest, much of his stomach, and both of his arms along his sides. “…Nature surely, when she quit the art Of shaping brutes like these, did the right thing To rob Mars of such executioners” (lines 49-51); this is an example of the literary device personification because nature is given the human ability to shape brutes. The face of the giant appeared to Dante as long and broad. Dante used a simile to compare the face of the giant to a cone, “…His face appeared to me as long and broad As in the pine cone at Saint Peter’s in Rome,” (lines 58-59). The bones were in proportion and the giant was so tall the the bank he was standing in served as an apron to the giant. Dante heard the giant speak, or not speak babble, an unrecognized language by Dante.